The Department of Homeland Security opened a coordinated voter fraud investigation across nine states this week, and Democratic election officials are not taking the news well...
CNN reported that internal federal guidance directs Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to build criminal cases against people suspected of illegally registering or voting. The effort is described as a "coordinated criminal voter fraud surge initiative" and will run from early September through mid-October.
Agents began work Tuesday in Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York and Connecticut.
The operation targets noncitizens who registered or cast ballots, including immigrants accused of voting before they naturalized. DHS has directed investigators to coordinate with US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which means a noncitizen caught voting faces more than a fine. Criminal charges, a denied citizenship application and deportation are all on the table.
The enforcement push runs through DHS's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, which lets states cross-check voter rolls against federal citizenship and immigration records. Mullin announced in July that states seeking DHS election-related grants must run their rolls through SAVE as a condition of funding.
"Working with Secretary Lutnick, we are going to make our security enhancements mandatory," Mullin said.
"The machines have to be secured, and your voter registration list needs to be scrubbed. We need to make sure that individuals that are legally able to vote are voting."
Skeptics might ask whether any of this produces actual prosecutions. It has. Recent federal cases include a Honduran illegal alien arrested for voting in seven federal elections dating back to 2008, a Mexican national who pleaded guilty after falsely claiming citizenship, an Australian national arrested for voting in multiple federal elections, a Chinese national facing voter fraud charges and an illegal alien sentenced for voting under a stolen identity for more than two decades.
While Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office said it would comply with the investigation, officials in the targeted Democratic-run states denounced the operation almost immediately.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber's office called the operation part of "a broader effort to intimidate Californians" and dismissed DHS's findings as "seemingly baseless."
Connecticut Democratic Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas struck a more careful tone, saying she welcomed "any investigation into election malfeasance" while hoping the intent was to find wrongdoing rather than "create chaos."
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said he learned about the probe from media reports and complained DHS never contacted his office. "It's troubling that Homeland Security is wasting taxpayer dollars investigating a phenomenon we know to be false," Hobbs said, calling the operation "another attempt by the federal government to cause chaos and confusion ahead of the midterms."
Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called the probe "a joke" and told Trump to "stay out of it because voting is a state issue and not a federal issue."
New Jersey offers the cleanest test case of the whole fight. The Trump administration identified at least 35,000 potential noncitizen registered voters in the state. In July, Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill tried to get ahead of the story by admitting the state had 6,600 registered noncitizen voters herself. But then she refused to hand voter data over to the Trump administration.
"While ICE Homeland Security Investigations is not able to comment on any active investigations, HSI is actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. "Our message to aliens who vote in American elections is clear: we will find you, arrest you, and you will face the consequences—including criminal charges and deportation."
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has turned his department into the tip of the spear for President Trump's election integrity push, and he has done it with numbers Democrats would prefer nobody repeat. DHS has flagged more than 24,000 potential noncitizens on voter rolls nationwide since April of last year, and Mullin said an audit of four states alone, California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada, turned up more than 250,000 potential noncitizen registrations.
"One thing that I love about numbers, and I love about facts, is they don't lie," Mullin told reporters, warning that election officials who fail to secure the midterms could face fines or jail time.
Tyler Durden Thu, 09/03/2026 - 20:30Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com,
Spot LNG prices for Asian buyers went up to almost $26 per million British thermal units yesterday for a 5% weekly gain following the resumption of strikes between the United States and Iran.
Spot LNG for Asia traded at $25.908 per mmBtu late on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed traders, after President Donald Trump said "We took out all of the new equipment that they tried to build along the Strait of Hormuz - some defensive, some offensive ... It was a very heavy attack last night, and we're prepared to do another one any time we want."
Prices in both Asia and Europe had jumped at the end of last week after Qatar's state-owned firm QatarEnergy extended the force majeure on its LNG deliveries into November amid still-blocked transits through the Strait of Hormuz.
Prices in Asia were driven by South Asian buyers, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, seeking spot supply to replace term supply from Qatar that cannot leave the Persian Gulf. Per tender documents seen by Bloomberg, utilities in South Korea, India, Taiwan, and Bangladesh are looking to buy spot cargoes for October and November.
Pakistan, on the other hand, rejected an LNG offer to its last prompt tender earlier this week, as it was priced at over $27 per mmBtu, which the state-owned gas trading company considered too high a price. The cargo was offered by BP.
Recent developments in the Middle East suggest the resumption of normal LNG flows out of the Persian Gulf is nowhere in sight. In light of a seasonal pick-up in demand for gas, chances are that LNG prices will go higher still, likely pricing out some buyers. Gas prices are surging in Europe as well, making it more difficult for gas buyers there to start buying ahead of the winter season.
Tyler Durden Thu, 09/03/2026 - 20:05A new investigation is putting Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s social media operation under scrutiny after revealing that City Hall has cultivated a network of nearly 200 online creators to help distribute information about the administration, according to the New York Post.
The Columbia Journalism Review reports that members of the network receive regular material from the mayor’s communications staff, including announcements, suggested messaging, videos and other content they can incorporate into their own posts.
Much of that communication reportedly takes place in a private Signal group called “NYC Creators Announcements.” The group is overseen by Emilia Rowland, City Hall’s Director of New Media and Cultural Communications, along with members of her staff.
The Post writes that Rowland reportedly earns $175,000 annually. City Communications Director Anna Bhar, who oversees the broader communications operation, is paid $260,000.
The network has roots in Mamdani’s 2025 mayoral campaign, when supportive creators organized around an effort known as Creators4Zohran. After Mamdani became mayor, City Hall established a more formal way of communicating with many online creators and supplying them with material about the administration.
That connection between a campaign era supporter network and an official City Hall communications operation is now receiving attention from government watchdogs. Money is another part of the story.
The CJR investigation did not find that influencers were paid to post favorable coverage of Mamdani. City Hall also says the mayor’s office has not paid creators for collaborations or content production.
The investigation did find, however, that some influencers have received taxpayer funded compensation for work connected to specific advertising or public messaging campaigns run by city agencies.
Influencer marketing itself is not new to New York City government. Agencies have used outside marketing companies and online personalities for public information campaigns for years. According to the reporting, such campaigns have commonly cost between $5,000 and $20,000.
The New York Post also reports that a review of current contracts identified more than $100,000 in spending this year by the Department of Social Services connected to a social media campaign. The underlying three year contract predates Mamdani and was signed in 2025 under former Mayor Eric Adams.
One important question remains unanswered: Which members of the influencer network have received city money, and how much have they received?
Watchdog groups say that information should be readily available so New Yorkers can distinguish between someone independently expressing support for the mayor and a creator who has also had a financial relationship with city government.
There are separate concerns about City Hall’s decision to use Signal. Government communications concerning official business generally have to be retained in accordance with public records requirements. Signal is an encrypted messaging application that includes an option allowing messages to disappear.
City Hall maintains that officials are permitted to use Signal when authorized and says employees still must comply with applicable record retention rules and New York’s Freedom of Information Law. It has not been established publicly whether messages inside this particular group are set to disappear.
Mamdani said his administration intends to comply with legal requirements governing city records and said officials would investigate and correct any failure to meet those requirements.
Nile Berry, an influencer who belongs to the group, told reporters that only a small number of administration officials are able to send messages and described most of the information they distribute as ordinary announcements. He also acknowledged that using Signal could create questions because of the app’s association with private communications.
The story comes as Mamdani’s broader communications strategy is already facing scrutiny, including criticism of the administration’s $54 million Office of Mass Engagement and other publicly funded media initiatives.
There is an important distinction here. The reporting does not show that City Hall simply handed 200 influencers checks in exchange for praising Mamdani.
What it does show is an unusually close relationship between the administration and a large collection of sympathetic online creators. City employees provide material directly to the network.
Some creators in this broader ecosystem have done paid work for city agencies. The operation includes people who previously participated in a campaign era supporter network. Much of the communication occurs through a private Signal channel.
Tyler Durden Thu, 09/03/2026 - 19:40