By Gabe Cohen, Jeremy Herb, CNN
(CNN) – The Department of Homeland Security’s extensive operation aimed at uncovering election fraud has involved analyzing tens of millions of records, examining numerous nonprofit voter-registration organizations, and even considering the use of undercover agents to probe groups suspected of aiding noncitizens in registering to vote, according to recently acquired internal documents.
The documents released on Wednesday by the advocacy group Democracy Forward provide insight into one part of the Trump administration’s growing campaign for election integrity. This initiative has enlisted federal investigators along with immigration databases and voter records to pinpoint noncitizens believed to have registered or voted illegally.
Homeland Security Investigations, which is the investigative branch of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, characterized this effort as a phased national program that includes acquiring voter-roll data, performing data analysis, following up on investigative leads, and conducting field investigations.
This operation utilized an enormous amount of data. A report from HSI dated June 1 indicated that investigators had processed 50.6 million records sourced from a Justice Department dataset and an additional 48.4 million records obtained by Heather Honey, who serves as a senior counselor to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. The report refers to these as “independent sources of information,” although it does not specify what those sources are or clarify whether both datasets contained unique individuals. HSI mentioned that they were conducting further analysis on this data to identify potential investigative targets.
These records highlight Honey’s involvement in an initiative that spanned across various federal agencies. Her previous efforts questioning the validity of the 2020 election have been supported by Trump and his associates. Within DHS, personnel aimed to include officials working under Honey in receiving HSI’s weekly reports on voter fraud while another report specifically linked the dataset containing 48.4 million records directly back to her.
“It appears the president and his allies want to pick their voters, as opposed to the way things are supposed to function in a democracy where voters pick their leaders,” Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman said in a statement.
CNN has reached out to DHS for comment.
The documents also indicate that investigators were looking beyond just individual suspected voters. An internal assessment noted that HSI was taking a “network-based investigative approach” focusing more on organization analysis rather than solely individual leads. Investigators examined several nonprofits and voter-registration organizations across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other states while also looking into groups connected with an Ohio company thought by investigators to be involved in voter-registration fraud.
However, many of those reviews revealed no signs of misconduct. Investigators reported finding no derogatory information regarding numerous New Jersey groups they assessed; there was no suspicious financial activity found during another nonprofit review; and they closed an inquiry related to Ohio after exhausting all investigative leads.
Still, earlier records reviewed by CNN showed that in Franklin County, Ohio, an HSI agent sought information from election officials about several organizations including the Ohio Organizing Collaborative- a progressive group focused on boosting voter turnout- which federal agents raided four months later in June after this interaction.
Nonetheless, HSI considered employing bolder investigation strategies. A report from June suggested officials were contemplating using undercover agents to interact with organizations suspected of promoting or enabling illegal registration among noncitizens. New Jersey and Pennsylvania were flagged as key areas for these operations. The document noted that undercover agents could be deployed for evidence gathering and tracing financial support if it was determined an organization was actively recruiting noncitizens for registration purposes.
The-CNN-Wire
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