California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom demanded that Trump officials face “prison time” following the release of a bombshell whistleblower report on suspected election interference.
President Donald Trump has long sought to restrict mail-in voting for the upcoming midterms. His controversial voter ID bill known as the SAVE Act includes several restrictions on mail-in voting, but has stalled in Congress, and an executive order he signed in March to restrict mail-in voting has been temporarily blocked from being implemented.
According to a whistleblower report released by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), however, it appears the U.S. Postal Service is pressing ahead with Trump’s directive regardless, implementing a “secretive, rushed” system that would give the agency unprecedented control over verifying voter eligibility. The report sparked outrage, including with Newsom, who called for immediate action.
“Defying court orders to engage in election interference should bring prison time,” Newsom wrote Tuesday in a social media post on X. “Lock them up. Defend democracy.”
Newsom was not alone in his condemnation of the Trump administration’s apparent skirting of the courts. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee described Trump’s “attack on vote-by-mail” as “alarming” and “much more serious than previously known.”
“Trump is creating a new tracking system at the US Postal Service that is untested, dangerous, and threatens to totally disrupt ballot delivery for millions of American citizens,” reads a statement from House Oversight Democrats.
“This is an unconstitutional and dangerous power grab and must be permanently and immediately blocked. We are fighting in the courts to protect the right to vote. We will have more to come on this serious and illegal attack on our vote by mail system.”
Defying court orders to engage in election interference should bring prison time.
Lock them up.
Defend democracy. https://t.co/92DiZ790KB
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 1, 2026