The Justice Department is detailing its work to help secure the November election amid concerns on Capitol Hill about potential threats.
Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte on Friday sent a previously unreported letter to the heads of five Senate committees, who had raised concerns earlier this month about a range of election threats. The letter outlined the DOJ and FBI’s work on three fronts: the right to vote, foreign threats and threats of domestic violence.
“The mission of the Department of Justice is to uphold the rule of law, keep our country safe, and protect civil rights. Defending our democracy is critical to each of these three priorities … [which] are essential to the functioning of our democracy and to maintaining the confidence of all Americans in our democratic system of government,” Uriarte wrote in the letter.
The letter — a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO — was sent to Rules and Administration Chair Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Intelligence Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.), Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Gary Peters (D-Mich.).
The five senators sent a letter to the Justice Department and other agencies within the intelligence community earlier this month to “express concerns” about potential threats to the election and urge the administration to “prioritize preparations to detect, prevent, and mitigate threats against election systems, officials, and workers.”
Senators will also get an all-member briefing Wednesday afternoon on foreign threats to U.S. elections, according to a Senate source familiar with the plan.
Lawmakers have increasingly raised concerns about attempts to meddle in or threats to the November election, with concerns about the potential for violence growing in the wake of the two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump.
Uriarte, in his letter, referenced the two incidents and plots by foreign actors to assassinate current or former U.S. officials in recent years, as well as the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol.
“The Department deploys every tool at its disposal to combat such violence and threats of violence,” Uriarte added.
