California to deploy observers to watch DOJ poll monitors during election

California will deploy its own observers to watch U.S. Department of Justice poll monitors during the state's election next week, state Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta said.

“They’re not going to be allowed to interfere in ways that the law prohibits,” Bonta said on Monday during a virtual news conference, NOTUS reported. “We cannot be naive. The Republican Party asked for the U.S. DOJ to come in.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Friday that the DOJ was sending election monitors to watch polls in California and New Jersey during their general elections next week.

The California election is on the state's Proposition 50, which would approve new congressional districts that would net Democrats an estimated five more seats.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom called Trump’s deployment of poll monitors an act of voter intimidation and suppression.

“This is a bridge too far,” Newsom said on Friday.

Bonta claimed that the federal government monitoring state elections was evidence of Trump’s intentions to challenge future elections.

“He is laying the groundwork. He is socializing an idea that is very dangerous,” Bonta said, noting that Trump claims he won the 2020 presidential election. “All indications, all arrows show that this is a tee up for something more dangerous in the 2026 midterms — and maybe beyond.”

Democratic New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin called the DOJ's actions “highly inappropriate,” saying it “has not even attempted to identify a legitimate basis for its actions.”

Next week is New Jersey’s gubernatorial election between Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Republican former assembly member Jack Ciattarelli.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, reportedly asked the White House to deploy the poll monitors.

Dhillon posted on X on Friday, responding to Newsom's intimidation claims, saying, "Lol calm down bro. The @TheJusticeDept under Democrat administrations has sent in federal election observers for decades, and not once did we hear that this was voter intimidation from states such as  California. Do you really want to go there? Isn’t transparency a good thing?"