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DOJ investigating Trump ally Corey Lewandowski over role at DHS, sources say

October 22, 2026 / 5:52 PM EDT / CBS News

By Sarah N. Lynch, Sarah N. Lynch Senior Justice Department Reporter

Sarah N. Lynch is the senior Justice Department reporter for CBS News, based in Washington, D.C.

Sarah N. Lynch, Nicole Sganga

Nicole Sganga Homeland Security and Justice Correspondent

Nicole Sganga is CBS News’ homeland security and justice correspondent. She is based in Washington, D.C., and reports for all shows and platforms.

Nicole Sganga

The Justice Department is looking into allegations that Corey Lewandowski, a former top adviser to ex-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, used his DHS position for financial gain, two sources familiar with the investigation confirmed to CBS News.

The probe was opened after the Justice Department received a referral from DHS’ Office of Inspector General, which shared its findings in recent weeks.

Lewandowski served as a senior adviser and de facto chief of staff to Noem until both were ousted from the department in March.

The allegations of personal financial profit are connected to contracts established under Noem’s tenure at DHS, one of the sources told CBS News.

Lewandowski has not been charged with a crime, and has denied wrongdoing.

In a statement to CBS News, Corey Lewandowski’s attorney Adam Trigg said: “Mr. Lewandowski has not been contacted by the Justice Department regarding any investigation, and he denies any wrongdoing when he was proudly serving his country in a voluntary capacity.”

The Justice Department declined to comment. CBS News has reached out to DHS for comment.

The investigation was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Lewandowski has been part of President Trump’s circle for years. He served as Mr. Trump’s campaign manager early in the 2016 race, and played a role in his 2020 and 2024 campaigns.

Asked about the reported investigation on Thursday, Mr. Trump told reporters he had just heard about the matter and hadn’t been briefed by Attorney General Todd Blanche, but said: “I want my people to be honest, and if they’re not going to be honest, they have to be prosecuted.”

Mr. Trump said he viewed dishonesty as harming not only the country but also him personally.

“If he’s honest that’s good. If he’s not honest, you have to pay a price,” the president said.

Before Noem and Lewandowski departed DHS, some senior officials privately complained about what they viewed as micromanagement of contracts and operational decisions by the former DHS secretary and her adviser, CBS News has previously reported.

Noem required her personal written approval for contracts, grants and funding obligations above $100,000. Although she intended to tighten oversight, some officials said the policy created significant backlogs for what they viewed as essential funding, including for disaster relief.

Supreme Court rules New Hampshire can ban use of student IDs for midterm voters

October 22, 2026 / 7:53 PM EDT / CBS/AP

The Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for New Hampshire to fully ban the use of student IDs for voting during the midterm elections.

The justices granted a Republican-backed emergency appeal and blocked the use of student IDs as a backup method of identification.

New Hampshire passed a law this year that said student IDs would no longer be an expressly accepted form of identification for obtaining a ballot. The secretary of state then issued guidance barring them as a backup way to prove a voter’s identity.

A judge left the law in place but blocked the guidance in early October, prompting the appeal to the Supreme Court. The Republican National Committee weighed in to support the state.

In its brief one-paragraph decision, the Supreme Court invoked the longstanding “Purcell principle,” quoting a previous 2020 decision that stated that the high court “has repeatedly emphasized that lower federal courts should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election.”

The decision was unsigned. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only justice to publicly dissent from the ruling, arguing that the Purcell principle did not necessarily apply in this case.

“It seems to me that a case involving a court order like the one at issue here—which left the state election rule untouched—does not necessarily fall within the ambit of Purcell and its concern about federal courts ‘changing the election rules’ at the last minute,” Jackson wrote.

The Supreme Court wrote in its opinion Thursday that the lower court “did not point to anything that would justify deviating” from the Purcell principle.

In a statement, Republican New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella praised the ruling, writing that “New Hampshire has a responsibility to protect the integrity of its elections and ensure that election laws are applied as written.”

Formella called it “an important victory for our efforts to defend those laws and prevent last-minute court orders from creating uncertainty for voters and election officials.”

The decision comes less than two weeks before New Hampshire voters cast ballots in a closely contested U.S. Senate race.

DOJ has verified 20,000 noncitizens on California voter rolls, federal prosecutor says

“One illegal vote cancels out the vote of an American citizen,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli says

October 22, 2026 1:42pm EDT / Fox News

By James Cirrone Fox News

Federal prosecutor says 20,000 noncitizens in California were mailed ballots
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6407238585112

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli told Fox News Digital that there are potentially thousands more noncitizens on California’s voter rolls.

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A top federal prosecutor in California said federal investigators have determined that all 20,000 people they flagged on the state’s voter rolls as “likely noncitizens” are not U.S. citizens.

Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for California’s Central District, told Fox News Digital that federal investigators have evidence that these 20,000 individuals received mail ballots this month. His office sued California last week seeking a court order to prevent any ballots they return from being counted.

“We’re not asking California to take any drastic steps other than to sequester the ballots from the suspected noncitizens,” Essayli said in an interview on Wednesday. “We believe it’s at a minimum of 20,000. That’s the floor.”

The potential ceiling, he said, is much larger. Essayli referenced a letter Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent to California in July that flagged nearly 200,000 voters as possible noncitizens.

Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, appears at a news conference at the The Spring Street Courthouse on Aug. 13, 2026.(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

DOJ OFFICIAL DEFENDS TRUMP’S NONCITIZEN VOTER PROBE ON ’60 MINUTES,’ ACCUSES SHOW OF EDITING OUT HER ANSWERS

Since then, federal investigators have been sifting through those records to identify people they believe they can verify as noncitizens.

He said 20,000 is only the current tally and expects thousands more names to be added in the coming days.

Earlier this week, Essayli got into a social media spat with Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state’s safeguards against noncitizen voting.

Essayli argued that California is allowing people without citizenship onto the voter rolls through its supposedly lax verification processes, while Newsom said the state follows all relevant federal law governing the integrity of elections.

In court filings, California election officials have pushed back against the Justice Department’s demands, arguing that county election offices lack both the authority and access to federal records needed to verify voters’ citizenship status.

They have also said that sequestering ballots from people on the DOJ list is impossible in cases where the ballots have already been processed. Once a ballot’s signature is verified, it is removed from its identifying envelope and processed alongside other ballots, meaning it can no longer be traced back to an individual voter.

Election workers sort ballots during early voting ahead of the midterm election at City Hall in San Francisco, California, on Oct. 21, 2026.(David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

STATE DEPARTMENT CONSIDERS SHARING PASSPORT RECORDS FOR VOTER CITIZENSHIP CHECKS

“That is true. That’s why we’re getting an emergency court order requiring them to put those ballots aside,” Essayli said. “Ballots have already gone out, people are filling them out and they’re being returned in process as we speak. So, the crime is occurring in real time.”

The DOJ escalated its push for immediate court intervention Wednesday, asking the judge to rule on its emergency request by noon Thursday. In Los Angeles County alone, officials have already processed 331,000 ballots, according to court records.

Essayli’s office filed suit on Oct. 15, roughly two weeks after California sent out mail ballots, including to the possible noncitizens on the DOJ list, according to the federal government.

When asked why the Justice Department didn’t act sooner, Essayli explained that investigators did not know exactly which voters would receive ballots until they were sent.

Los Angeles officials warn they cannot verify voter citizenshiphttps://www.foxnews.com/video/6407199356112

ELECTION CRIME ARRESTS KEEP PILING UP AS DEMS INSIST IT ‘JUST DOESN’T HAPPEN’

He said California should cooperate with the federal government to expedite the process of verifying voters’ citizenship.

That would involve providing additional identifying information, including driver’s license numbers and Social Security numbers when available, that federal investigators could cross-check against government databases.

California and dozens of other states treat this information as confidential and have refused to turn it over to the federal government, prompting the DOJ to take several of them to court.

In a separate lawsuit from Sept. 2025, the DOJ tried to compel California to provide its complete, unredacted voter-registration database, including names, Social Security numbers, home addresses and voting histories.

In January, a district court sided with California and dismissed the case, calling the government’s request “unprecedented and illegal.” The DOJ appealed the ruling and litigation is ongoing.

Natasha Garcia drops off her 2026 midterm election ballot with her daughter Lala during early voting at Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder in Norwalk on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, in Los Angeles, California.(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

MAP IT: DOJ ILLEGAL VOTING CRACKDOWN SWEEPS 17 STATES AS RAZOR-THIN ELECTIONS FACE SCRUTINY

“If California will make available or submit its records, we can quickly put them through our established systems to determine who’s a citizen and who’s not,” Essayli told Fox News Digital. “They’re forcing us to do it the hard way, which we’re willing to do because this is very important.”

He said every person on the current 20,000-name list was individually reviewed by a federal employee at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Homeland Security Investigations.

California officials, however, have questioned the reliability of the DOJ list.

Monica Flores, an assistant registrar-recorder in Los Angeles County, said in a court declaration that her office conducted a preliminary review of a sample of 200 records from the list that were associated with LA County addresses.

Of those, 112 corresponded to canceled or inactive voter registrations, meaning no ballot was mailed to those individuals for the November election, Flores said.

In this photo, an official vote by mail ballot, mailed to a Southern California resident ahead of the general election is seen on Oct. 17, 2026, in Los Angeles, California.(Jay L Clendenin/Getty Images)

TRUMP ADMIN WANTS TO REQUIRE TAX FILERS TO DISCLOSE CITIZENSHIP STATUS TO IRS

“I don’t believe that, actually,” Essayli said. “The information we have is that they likely received ballots. So we are asking for the names of people they claim whose registration has been canceled.”

Essayli added LA County did not say when these registrations were canceled. He raised the possibility at least some were canceled after federal officials provided the state with their list.

“If they’re canceling now based on the records we provided, that’s great news,” Essayli said. “But that’s all to be determined.”

In the 200-person sample reviewed by LA County, Flores said that among records where birthplace was “meaningfully reported,” 38.9% indicated the person was born in the United States, which she called “strong evidence of citizenship.”

Multiple people vote early at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office on Oct. 19, 2026.(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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Essayli similarly disputed this conclusion, arguing that the birthplace information — much like the citizenship information itself — was provided by the registered voters themselves.

“They’re not independently checking any of this information,” Essayli said. “They’re going off the information that was provided to them by the person who registered to vote.”

The California Secretary of State’s office and the LA County Registrar-Recorder’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Essayli said that his office is determined to follow through with its investigation because “one noncitizen voting is too many.”

“One illegal vote cancels out the vote of an American citizen. There are a lot of local elections that are decided on very few votes,” he said. “Noncitizens cannot vote in federal elections, and we intend to enforce that law.”

James Cirrone is a writer on the Breaking/Trending News team at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to james.cirrone@fox.com.

Australia pastor case ‘canary in the coal mine’ for American Christian freedoms: TPUSA leader

October 22, 2026 2:42pm EDT / Fox News

Turning Point USA’s vice president of faith is urging Trump to apply diplomatic pressure on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

By Jasmine Baehr

Turning Point USA Faith VP Lucas Miles tells Fox News Digital he’s contacted Trump administration officials, warning that government scrutiny of a church’s religious practices could set a dangerous precedent for American Christians.

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A Turning Point USA faith leader is calling on President Donald Trump to intervene after Australian lawmakers grilled a Christian church leader about his religious beliefs, including whether he influences members’ marriages, hairstyles and even pet ownership.

Lucas Miles, vice president of faith at Turning Point USA, told Fox News Digital he contacted the White House Faith Office and several administration officials over what he described as a politically motivated investigation into the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.

“We’ve reached out to the faith office, we’ve reached out to several members of the administration to make sure that they’re aware of this,” Miles said. “We’re hoping to see some response and action soon.”

Senior Leader Bruce Hales of Plymouth Brethren Church and family pictured in this undated photo.(Courtesy Plymouth Brethren Christian Church)

UK LAWMAKER WARNS IT’S ‘OPEN SEASON’ ON CHRISTIANS AS HE SOUNDS ALARM OVER ‘TWO-TIER JUSTICE’

The controversy intensified during an Oct. 16 parliamentary hearing examining allegations of coordinated political activity by church members during Australia’s 2025 federal election.

Independent MP Monique Ryan questioned the church’s global leader, Bruce Hales, about whether members considered him an “elect vessel” or a direct messenger from God. She also asked whether members sought his guidance on marriage, housing, pets, clothing and facial hair.

Liberal MP Ben Small objected to the questioning, calling it “patently ridiculous” and “so far off the terms of reference for this inquiry.”

Another lawmaker interjected that hairstyles had no bearing on electoral matters, while the committee chair allowed the questioning to continue.

“When an Australian parliamentary committee tasked with investigating election matters begins interrogating a Christian leader about his theological convictions, serious questions must be asked about the purpose of the inquiry,” Miles said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.

“Bruce Hales was summoned to answer questions about electoral conduct, not to defend the doctrines of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church before the government,” he added.

BISHOP ROBERT BARRON: THE WAR ON CHRISTIANS IS REAL AND THE WORLD CAN NO LONGER STAY SILENT

Pastor Lucas Miles, vice president of faith at Turning Point USA, told Fox News Digital he contacted the White House Faith Office regarding an investigation into the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.(Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Miles argued that the line of questioning may illustrate a broader threat to religious freedom.

“The troubling shift from election oversight to religious scrutiny gives every appearance of a politically motivated witch hunt,” he said.

Hales denied directing, funding or coordinating political campaigning during the 2025 election, maintaining that church members acted independently.

“I had no involvement whatsoever in relation to any members who volunteered or took part in any aspect of the 2025 federal election,” Hales told the committee.

Lawmakers questioned whether a sermon in which Hales said Australia needed to be “happy again, smiling again” influenced members’ political activities, citing subsequent campaign messaging that echoed his words.

His son, Gareth, acknowledged encouraging people already involved in campaigning but denied directing an organized church campaign.

CHRISTIAN WOMAN PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO NEW ‘ORWELLIAN’ CHARGES FOR STANDING AND SILENT PRAYER

Rapid Relief Team volunteers, part of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church’s charitable arm, deliver food for police and first responders in Washington, D.C., in 2026. TPUSA Faith leader Lucas Miles is urging President Donald Trump to address an Australian parliamentary investigation involving the denomination.(Courtesy of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church)

The committee is also examining allegations of intimidation and coordinated campaigning during the election. Church leaders have denied organizing or condoning improper conduct.

Hales said he did not support harassment or intimidation and maintained that individual members should be accountable for their own actions.

“In a free society, government has every right to investigate violations of election law, but it has no business putting Christian doctrine on trial,” Miles said.

The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, which traces its roots back roughly 200 years, says its roughly 55,000 members worldwide follow a “Doctrine of Separation,” distancing themselves from certain secular activities and practices they believe conflict with biblical teachings.

The church rejects descriptions of the denomination as a cult, maintaining that its members freely practice their faith and contribute to their communities through businesses and charitable initiatives.

The hearing also turned to the United States when Sen. Steph Hodgins-May questioned Hales about Turning Point USA’s support for the church and whether church leaders had met with the Trump administration.

Hales said he had never met Trump but understood that some church members in New York had briefly met the president.

Miles, who is not a member of the denomination, said he wants Trump to apply diplomatic pressure on Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and urge an end to the inquiry.

“What I would like to see, first of all, is some pressure applied, whether that be through diplomatic channels or through the president himself,” Miles told Fox News Digital.

Miles said he remains hopeful the administration will take action and warned that the controversy could establish a troubling precedent for American churches, pointing to past disputes involving religious organizations and government restrictions in the United States.

“They’re making this about trying to really smear the church because of specific doctrines that they might hold to, and I think this is a canary in the coal mine for religious liberty across the globe that when we see a Western nation like Australia,” Miles said. “The government [is] against the church and against the Christian church in particular, I think this is reason for the rest of the world to wake up.”

“If this can happen in Australia, if it can happen places like England and Canada, it certainly can happen America if we don’t stay alert,” he said.

Miles emphasized that Christians should be free to participate in politics without their churches automatically being held responsible for their individual choices.

“Just because individual private citizens who happen to go to a church have a similar opinion about politics, that does not constitute a grand conspiracy,” he said.

He urged Trump to pursue what he called “faith-based diplomacy” to defend religious liberty abroad.

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“Religious liberty means nothing if it only protects those whose beliefs the government approves of,” Miles said.

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Jasmine Baehr is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital, where she covers politics, the military, legal debates surrounding life and family policy, as well as faith and culture.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6407154439112

MAHA adviser who introduced RFK Jr. to Trump quits admin amid frustrations over food policy

2026-10-22 3:21 PM ET / CNN

By Sarah Owermohle, Adam Cancryn

American entrepreneur and special government employee for Health and Human Services Calley Means speaks during a news conference at the Health and Human Services Department in Washington, DC, on April 22, 2025.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/File

Calley Means, a prominent figure in the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, resigned from his position as a senior Trump health official on Thursday over frustrations with the government’s progress tackling chronic disease, according to multiple people familiar with his decision.

Means confirmed his departure in a statement, that he is resigning “with tremendous respect for President Trump and Bobby Kennedy.”

A top adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Means’ exit comes mounting frustration from MAHA supporters over government inaction on ultraprocessed foods and pesticides.

It represents the latest blow to the political alliance between the president’s “Make America Great Again” base and Kennedy’s MAHA voters, who helped power Trump to the White House in 2024, only for them to grow increasingly disillusioned as their key food and health priorities stalled.

This month, a coalition of MAHA activists released a “scorecard” claiming the administration had failed most of its promises to restrict pesticide use, promote healthier foods and break up special interests in Washington.

Means, who was widely credited with introducing Kennedy to Trump – eventually leading the former to endorse him and end up in his Cabinet – had served as one of Kennedy’s closest outside advisers before officially joining the administration. He held a temporary role at the White House, then later became a top adviser at HHS. Trump nominated his sister, Casey Means, as surgeon general, though this was later withdrawn.

MAHA unhappy with delays

Means, who had championed Trump as a candidate willing to overhaul the government’s approach to food and health regulation, grew increasingly frustrated over delays in advancing a series of policies at the center of the MAHA agenda, three people familiar with the matter said.

Trump health officials had initially hoped that policies, including an effort to create a definition for ultraprocessed foods, would be finalized well before the midterm elections. Instead, they’ve faced continued delays in the White House and sharp pushback from major agriculture industry groups.

Means decided to quit primarily because of those delays, the people familiar with his thinking said.

He is the latest in a string of senior health officials who have quit or been fired in recent months as voters soured on Kennedy’s controversial vaccine policies and the White House sought to pivot its health agenda toward more popular policy priorities.

In August, Means stood alongside Kennedy at an HHS event where the secretary promised a slew of policies aimed at cracking down on artificial food dyes, sweeteners and other additives in popular foods.

But their announcement stopped short of requiring food manufacturers to prove their ingredients are safe – a long-held priority for MAHA advocates.

The delay has stoked anger among MAHA advocates promising retribution at the ballot box.

Means, in a post on X, said that Kennedy and Trump “laid out a vision of combatting the entrenched, dark forces in DC that profit from Americans getting sick” and have made significant progress in the past two years. “More policy and cultural change has happened around these goals in the past 2 years than any time in history – and I know this movement is just getting started,” he wrote.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kelly Ryerson, a MAHA advocate known for her activism on pesticides, said of Means: “I am impressed that he completed over two years at HHS fighting the food battle, despite all of the obstacles presented by corporate interests.”

“Sophisticated legal roadblocks and political shenanigans designed to appease corporate interests have made progress nearly impossible,” Ryerson added. “Big Food and Big Ag only continue to survive by owning our elected officials and regulators, and they are currently succeeding.”

“It’s devastating, but had to be done,” Alex Clark, an influencer who runs a popular MAHA-themed podcast for Turning Point USA, said, referring to Means’ exit.“I would have had no choice but to leave too.”

JD Vance is happy to tell you about his Machiavellian politics

2026-10-22T18:14:15.341Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/22/politics/jd-vance-ramaswamy-ad-politics

Americans have become plenty familiar with Machiavellian politics during the Donald Trump era. The president is certainly a practitioner, regularly ignoring morality, facts and the law in his pursuit of raw power and other goals.

And Vice President JD Vance is cut from the same cloth.

The main difference is that Vance will operate that way and then happily explain how that’s exactly what he’s doing.

The most recent example is Vance’s remarkable defense of Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s widely panned ad featuring the estranged mother of his opponent, Democrat Amy Acton. The ad is controversial because Acton has said she hasn’t seen her mother since she was 12 years old, when her stepfather was indicted for sexually abusing her and her mother stayed with him.

The ad basically amounts to politically weaponizing a family trauma involving alleged child sex abuse.

Many Ohio Republicans are practically climbing over one another to distance themselves from it. They include Gov. Mike DeWine, Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Sen. Jon Husted, who is on the ballot alongside Ramaswamy on November 3.

But not Vance. He stepped forward Wednesday to urge Republicans to put on their big-boy pants and do what it takes to win.

“Well, I’ll be honest with you: Whether the ad was appropriate or not is not really my concern,” Vance began, citing a bunch of alleged offenses Democrats have committed against Republicans.

“Politics is a tough business, and my message to my fellow elected Republicans,” Vance added, “is if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days.”

At a later campaign rally in Ohio, Vance said the ad “calls it out like it is, and calls Amy Acton a liar.”

Vance’s defense of Ramaswamy included plenty of whataboutism. But his comments also came with a healthy dose of amorality — i.e. saying he was indifferent to the propriety of the ad.

Trump is no stranger to that kind of shamelessness. And he can be pretty blunt about it, too. But Vance has more of a tendency to explain his political calculations and say why he’s downplaying moral considerations.

And he’s done it a lot.

His comments Wednesday sounded like another major defense he offered of a highly controversial campaign tactic: the false 2024 claim that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating people’s pets.

In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash back then, Vance said he was willing to “create stories” to draw attention to the negative impact of mass migration on places like Springfield.

When Bash pressed him on that phrasing, Vance didn’t concede that the particular “story” he and Trump were telling was false. But he argued that the ends (drawing attention to an important issue) justified the means (surfacing wild rumors).

Vance offered a similar calculation a few weeks later while defending Trump’s false claim that a Venezuelan gang had taken over large swaths of Aurora, Colorado.

When ABC’s Martha Raddatz noted that the GOP mayor of Aurora had called the claims “grossly exaggerated,” Vance responded: “That means there’s got to be some element of truth here.”

He again suggested Trump’s wild, false claims were usefully drawing attention to the much smaller kernels of (arguable) truth behind what he was saying.

After the Trump administration admitted it had wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia last year, Vance exaggerated the evidence that Abrego Garcia was tied to a gang, which remains unproven. He added that it was “gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimize.”

Amid GOP debates over whether to more forcefully denounce antisemites like Nick Fuentes and to distance the party from Tucker Carlson, Vance refused to take a side.

Vance said around that time that “antisemitism and all forms of ethnic hatred have no place in the conservative movement.” But he also delivered a speech in which he said he didn’t “bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to deplatform.” He added that “we have far more important work to do than canceling each other.”

And after revelations last year about young GOP leaders in a group chat saying vile, racist things, Vance signaled he would ignore the issue because of what Democrats had done.

He specifically pointed to violent text messages from then-Democratic Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones.

“This is far worse than anything said in a … group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia,” Vance wrote on X. “I refuse to join the pearl-clutching when powerful people call for political violence.”

(It’s worth noting that many Democrats had, in fact, denounced Jones’ very ugly text messages.)

It was a far cry from how Vance used to talk about these issues.

Back in 2017, some Republicans defended Trump’s controversial comments about the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, by pointing to supposed extremism on the left.

But Vance urged them to get their own house in order.

“I think we need to be able … to point the finger at that evil and name it without trying to point the finger at somebody else,” Vance said on CNN at the time.

Nine years later, the potential 2028 presidential hopeful has not only embraced a much more zero-sum view of politics; he’s also copped to it — and repeatedly so.

Justice Department investigating Republican operative Corey Lewandowski over alleged contract misconduct at DHS, sources say

2026-10-22T18:38:31.502Z / CNN

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Evan Perez, Kaitlan Collins, Priscilla Alvarez, Holmes Lybrand

Updated Oct 22, 2026, 2:58 PM ET

PUBLISHED Oct 22, 2026, 2:38 PM ET

Corey Lewandowski speaks to the press in July 2024..(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Justice Department prosecutors are investigating allegations of contract misconduct at the Department of Homeland Security, including the role of Corey Lewandowski who worked as de facto chief of staff to former Secretary Kristi Noem,according to multiple people familiar with the investigation.

The probe follows a criminal referral for Lewandowski from the DHS Inspector General’s office, which has been examining contracting practices at the agency during Noem’s and Lewandowski’s tenure, according to one of the people familiar.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the matter.

“Mr. Lewandowski has not been contacted by the Justice Department regarding any investigation, and he denies any wrongdoing when he was proudly serving his country in a voluntary capacity,” Lewandowski’s attorney Adam Trigg told CNN.

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately return a request for comment on the matter.

The referral is an unusual move for the Trump administration, which has been hesitant to criminally investigate its own members.

Critics have instead largely accused the Justice Department of improperly targeting the president’s political enemies and accused DHS of protecting their own employees from scrutiny.

In recent months, as the allegations of possible corruption emerged, Washington, DC, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro told officials in her office that she wanted investigators to look into claims of kickbacks connected to contracting at DHS, according to a second source familiar with the investigation.

It’s still not clear which US Attorney’s office is leading the investigation.

Prosecutors have been awaiting results from the DHS inspector general probe, the person familiar with the probe said.

Related article Corey Lewandowski, left, and Kristi Noem. Getty Images DHS internal watchdog launches investigation into handling of contracts under Noem, Lewandowski 3 min read

Lewandowski, a Republican operative, became a fixture at DHS early in President Donald Trump’s second term, serving as Noem’s chief adviser. But on paper, he was originally tapped to serve as a special government employee — a unique role meant to span a limited number of days.

Lewandowksi’s straddling of senior government functions at DHS and service as a special government employee was uncharted territory, according to multiple people who spoke with CNN.

Homeland Security officials ultimately viewed Lewandowski, a Trump ally, as Noem’s gatekeeper. He left the department when Trump fired Noem.

Noem’s handling of contracts within DHS was one of the main catalysts for her ouster by Trump earlier this year, notably when she claimed that Trump knew of a $220 million ad campaign prominently featuring the secretary.

During her tenure, Noem also tightened her grip on her department’s purse strings, ordering that every contract and grant over $100,000 had to cross her desk for approval — a move that Noem frequently defended as intended to cut down on waste but that multiple Homeland Security officials found unusual and unnecessary.

The inspector general, Joseph Cuffari, complained to Congress in early March that Homeland Security leadership had been obstructing some of his work.

Biden-appointed judge blocks voter-fraud probes in battleground states just days before midterms

October 22, 2026 12:53pm EDT / Fox News

Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín ruled that armed agents conducting home interviews likely violate the Voting Rights Act

By Robert Schmad, Fox News

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A Biden-appointed federal judge in California ruled Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security must halt certain investigations into suspected illegal voting, citing concerns over voter intimidation.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, the jurist in question, was born in Mexico and nominated to the federal bench by President Joe Biden in 2022. Before becoming a federal judge, Martínez-Olguín spent about six years at the American Civil Liberties Union, a progressive civil rights organization, where she worked on women’s and immigrants’ rights issues.

The activist groups suing DHS “demonstrate[d] that they are likely to succeed in their claim that Defendants have run afoul of the Voting Rights Act’s prohibition of intimidating voter assistance and mobilization,” according to Martínez-Olguín.

DOJ OFFICIAL DEFENDS TRUMP’S NONCITIZEN VOTER PROBE ON ’60 MINUTES,’ ACCUSES SHOW OF EDITING OUT HER ANSWERS

The Department of Homeland Security has directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport undocumented immigrants who vote in American elections.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

The public’s “interests in safe elections, free from interference or intimidation, far exceed (the government’s) purported interest in combating unlawful voting by non-U.S. citizens,” she added.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, maintained that noncitizen voting in federal elections is a crime and that DHS has statutory authority to investigate suspected violations. Martínez-Olguín did not find investigating noncitizen voting as itself unlawful, but instead argued that DHS’ methods likely violate the law as it used unreliable source data and sent armed agents to homes to conduct interviews, which could constitute intimidation.

STATE DEPARTMENT CONSIDERS SHARING PASSPORT RECORDS FOR VOTER CITIZENSHIP CHECKS

Members of Homeland Security Investigations listen as FBI Director Kash Patel speaks during a press conference on Oct. 23, 2025 in New York City.(Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Lawyers representing the federal government conceded that some American citizens may have been looked at in connection with DHS’ investigations, but contended that in-person interviews were “expressly designed to resolve the discrepancies.”

Noncitizen voting is rare, but cases of illegal voting have been documented. News broke earlier this year, for example, that New Jersey erroneously placed over 6,000 non-citizens on its voter rolls. The Justice Department announced charges against 16 individuals in September, including noncitizens accused of voting illegally in federal elections, and brought additional election-related charges in October.

NEW JERSEY REMOVES 6,600 PEOPLE FROM VOTER ROLLS WHO WERE ELIGIBLE TO CAST A BALLOT FOR 2024 ELECTION

US President Donald Trump (R) speaks as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (L) looks on before he signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 31, 2026. President Donald Trump on March 31 signed an order seeking to crack down on mail-in voting, escalating his push to restrict a popular way of casting ballots in US elections. Trump’s executive order follows repeated attacks by the 79-year-old Republican on US elections, based on his disproven conspiracy theories about supposed cheating by his Democratic opponents. It was unclear whether Trump has authority to impose the measures and legal challenges were almost certain, with a possible final decision being left to the Supreme Court.(Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)

Martínez-Olguín’s order blocks DHS from carrying out certain field investigations into suspected illegal voting involving U.S. citizens in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. Several of those states are led by Democrats who have opposed the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies, and some face high-profile elections in November.

Cracking down on illegal voting has been a priority for the second Trump administration, though it has yet to produce evidence of widespread noncitizen voting.

The judge delayed enforcement of her order until Friday, giving the Trump administration time to appeal, and set the restrictions to expire on Election Day unless otherwise ordered.

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“DHS is laser focused on identifying, prosecuting, and removing aliens who vote and dilute the votes of U.S. citizens. ONLY Americans should elect American leaders,” a spokesperson for the department told Fox News Digital. “We have no plans to question or investigate people we believe to be U.S. citizens.”

Why Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s condemnation of Vivek Ramaswamy’s attack ad could swing the race

2026-10-22T17:23:51.520Z / CNN Politics

By Dana Bash, CNN

Published 1:23 PM EDT, Thu October 22, 2026

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Why Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s condemnation of Vivek Ramaswamy’s attack ad could swing the race

Inside Politics

Dana Bash and the “Inside Politics” panel react to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s condemnation of Vivek Ramaswamy’s attack ad against Amy Acton that features her estranged mother. DeWine, a Republican, has endorsed Ramaswamy as his successor in the upcoming Ohio gubernatorial race.

4:09 • Source: CNN

What early voting data is showing ahead of midterms

1:12 PM EDT, Thu October 22, 2026 / CNN

David Chalian

CNN Political Director & Washington Bureau Chief David Chalian joins CNN’s Pamela Brown in the Situation Room to explain what we’re learning from the more than 18 million pre-election ballots cast so far.