Von Spakovsky Predicts Massive Court Battles After Trump Releases Election Security Documents

Following President Donald Trump’s primetime address Thursday announcing the release of newly declassified documents related to election security and foreign interference, former Federal Election Commission member and former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) official Hans von Spakovsky said the disclosures were “shocking” and predicted they could trigger extensive litigation over voter registration rolls and election administration.

During an appearance on Friday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, von Spakovsky responded to the White House’s release of documents that the administration says detail vulnerabilities in election infrastructure, alleged foreign acquisition of U.S. voter data, voter registration investigations, and reviews of noncitizens on state voter rolls.

“I was shocked but not surprised,” von Spakovsky said. “Shocked that something like this had happened, and surprised that it was hidden and that there were steps that should’ve been taken that were not.”

Von Spakovsky argued that intelligence agencies should have alerted state officials once they became aware of alleged compromises involving voter registration databases.

“As soon as intelligence agencies had figured out that the voter registration databases of states had been hacked, they had a duty to immediately notify state election officials in those states so they could fix those vulnerabilities, notify registered voters. I mean, that’s the kind of steps you have to take, and yet this was kept from them,” he said.

He compared the situation to the 2015 data breach of the Office of Personnel Management, in which personal records of millions of current and former federal employees were compromised.

“I, in fact, was one of them,” he said. “I got a letter from OPM notifying me of this and telling me I had to keep a careful watch on the potential misuse of that information. That’s the kind of thing that should have happened, and yet it didn’t.”

The White House released the documents after Trump’s address, asserting they demonstrate long-standing vulnerabilities in election infrastructure and alleging foreign efforts to obtain American voter information.

Asked about criticism from Democratic lawmakers, von Spakovsky said he believes opponents are failing to engage with the released material.

“Well, they are basically minimizing themselves out of as a political force of this country. When they won’t even acknowledge what has been produced here,” he said.

He added that the information released by the administration came from intelligence agencies.

“Look, the president wasn’t just up there talking. He was doing it all based on what? Intelligence reports from the CIA… the FBI, the Office of National Intelligence. So they can’t claim that he’s somehow making this up,” he stressed.

Von Spakovsky argued that states should review their election systems and address any security concerns identified in the documents.

“Their reaction ought to be, ‘Boy, we need an in-depth investigation into this.’ All of the states need to look at their election systems to address any of the vulnerabilities and fix [them],” he said.

Von Spakovsky compared the situation to a major data breach affecting a credit reporting company.

“This is as if the Democrats are saying to, let’s say, Equifax… ‘Oh, don’t do anything about it. There’s nothing to see here, and don’t notify any of the individuals whose information might have been stolen. Let’s just pass over this and forget about it.’ That’s their attitude,” he said.

Discussing information highlighted during Trump’s address, von Spakovsky pointed to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data referenced by the administration.

“One of the other things that came out during the speech… is that ten states voluntarily compared their statewide voter registration lists… they found 400,000 people who are dead who are still registered to vote, and 28,000 aliens who are registered to vote,” he noted.

Von Spakovsky continued by discussing additional comparisons that he said DHS conducted using public records.

“DHS then, using public records, compared the databases of four states… and what did they find? A quarter million aliens who are registered to vote,” he said.

Those figures were cited by the White House as part of its broader election integrity initiative.

Von Spakovsky predicted that disputes over voter registration maintenance could result in significant court battles.

“We are headed to huge litigation because under the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, both of those laws require states to maintain clean, accurate voter rolls,” he said, adding that the DOJ has authority to enforce those statutes.

“What you’re going to see, if, for example, Nevada refuses to take the aliens who’ve been discovered on their voter rolls off the rolls, is the Justice Department’s going to sue them and say, ‘You are not complying with either of these federal laws.’ So yeah, you are going to see litigation,” he said.

When asked how long such litigation could last, von Spakovsky said, “It may drag out for quite a while, particularly if the Justice Department gets in front of one of the too many rogue federal judges appointed by Joe Biden, who’ve been trying to stop voter maintenance cases from going forward.”

When Leahy asked whether the developments could lead to a constitutional crisis, von Spakovsky offered a different take.

“I don’t know about a constitutional crisis. I do think we have a crisis in our court system over judges refusing to actually enforce the law, and that’s a problem and a real issue,” he said.

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