Van Drew targets noncitizen voting

Good morning!

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a Republican seeking reelection in November, brought New Jersey’s voter registration debacle to D.C. on Tuesday.

Van Drew, who chairs a House subcommittee on oversight, hauled experts in front of the panel to talk about New Jersey’s recent revelation that thousands of noncitizens were registered to vote in 2023 and 2024, and more than 300 of them had actually cast ballots.

“Elections can come down to one vote, so yes, we are going to keep asking questions to make sure that it is only Americans voting in American elections,” Van Drew said.

Van Drew and other Republicans have demanded information from New Jersey regarding the mess. Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell has said he would comply but Van Drew said the documents the GOP has received from New Jersey “has been useless.”

Van Drew’s characterization of the issue was challenged by a Republican from Arizona, Stephen Richer, who was Maricopa County recorder until GOP voters ousted him in 2024. Richer told the committee Tuesday that Arizona had a similar problem with noncitizens getting registered to vote even though that state has a documented proof of citizenship requirement to register. He called the error a “coding mistake” and said noncitizens make up an infinitesimally small portion of the nation’s voting population.

“American elections are accessible, secure, and accurate. We should be proud. Nonetheless, we should continue to improve American elections, and we should have conversations about documented proof of citizenship. But we must be honest about the reality of noncitizens voting,” Richer said.

Courts: The Trump administration is urging a federal judge to reject New Jersey’s new law that largely bars ICE agents (and other law enforcement) from wearing masks. Immigrant advocates pushed the Sherrill administration to sign the law after numerous instances of masked ICE agents detaining people without identifying themselves. The Trump administration argues the law violates the U.S. constitution and says if New Jersey wants federal agents not to mask, it should solve that problem at the ballot box. “If New Jersey wishes to change the conduct of federal officers, its officials should win federal elections, not try to criminalize federal law enforcement,” federal attorneys said in the filing.

Public defender: AJ McDougall has a fascinating story about our state’s public defender, Jennifer Sellitti, and her side gig hunting shipwrecks. Sellitti lost her partner, Joe Mazraani, last year during a dive, and Sellitti has continued their mission. “The way I see it, I have no other choice,” she said.

D.C.: A U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing turned spicy on Tuesday when Sen. Cory Booker tore into FBI Director Kash Patel, with Booker (who is seeking reelection in November and is expected to seek the White House in 2028) calling Patel a “thug.” “My concluding remark is we don’t have an FBI director. We have a lackey here who is using government, and frankly, he’s not even a good lackey. He’s an incompetent lackey. He’s like an 18-year-old kid who wants to join a fraternity that he could never be a member of, doing keg stands and chugging with friends,” Booker said. The senator continued until the committee’s chair, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, asked him, “Are you ready to shut up?”

War: The cost of the war in Iran has exceeded $40 billion and will continue to cost taxpayers up to $3 billion a month, according to a new congressional analysis that says the war is also depleting the nation’s missile defense interceptors. Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, disputed a reporter’s characterization of the war as a war. “You called it a war,” Blanche said. “I disagree with that characterization, as does most of Congress.”

The Boss: The estate of a man who says Bruce Springsteen owes him more money for use of the man’s vintage car, which graced a Springsteen album cover, lost again in court in its push to squeeze more money out of the Boss. New Jersey dry cleaner Louis A. Billotti got $1,200 for the use of his Pontiac, but his son said Billotti told him before his death that Springsteen had promised him more. That amounts to double hearsay, an appellate court ruled Tuesday, and is inadmissible as evidence.