WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Member of the Senate Rules Committee, demanded answers from Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), on why DOJ hired an attorney convicted of election interference to conduct election monitoring for the Department. 

“According to credible reports, the Civil Rights Division sent a recently hired attorney to conduct election monitoring for the Department of Justice who was previously convicted of election interference. Deploying politically motivated individuals to carry out DOJ’s poll monitoring efforts threatens to undermine Americans’ faith in the electoral process ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections,” wrote Senator Welch. 

“In 2016, David Levin pleaded guilty to conducting a cyberattack to obtain the credentials of a Supervisor of Elections for Lee County, Florida, which he then used to enter restricted portions of the state’s Division of Elections and the county’s election websites. He served 20 days in jail and received two years of probation. According to Mr. Levin’s arrest warrant, he demonstrated how he hacked the website in YouTube videos and a local television interview,” the Senator continued. “The Department has not confirmed whether Mr. Levin is working for the Civil Rights Division. But publicly available images and videos from the Department’s election monitoring activities during the recent Minnesota primary elections captured Mr. Levin with William Mohrman, who is a Senior Counsel in the Division. One video shows a local election judge interacting with Mr. Levin and Mr. Mohrman as they monitored Minnesota’s August primary.” 

“On August 25, 2026, you stated in an interview with Bloomberg News that the Department would send approximately 1,000 employees to monitor the 2026 midterm elections. In that interview, you declined to state where those monitors would be sent, but DOJ has already deployed primary election monitors to eleven states and hundreds of polling locations. This announcement, combined with Mr. Levin’s presence at election monitoring activities in Minnesota, raises serious questions about who the Division will send to conduct election monitoring during the midterm elections,” the Senator concluded. 

Senator Welch requested answers to the following questions by October 8, 2026, to better understand the Division’s election-related work: 

1. Please identify the factors that the Civil Rights Division considers when determining whether election monitors will be sent to a particular polling location. 
2. Does the Civil Rights Division have a policy prohibiting individuals convicted of, or charged with, election-related offenses from participating in election monitoring on behalf of the DOJ? 
3. Did Mr. Levin participate in DOJ election monitoring during the 2026 primary election in Minnesota? If so, what was his authority and who approved of his participation? 
4. Does the Civil Rights Division intend to have Mr. Levin participate in election monitoring during the 2026 midterm election in November? 
5. Are there other Civil Rights Division employees who have been convicted of, or charged with, election interference offenses? 
6. Were DOJ officials aware of Mr. Levin’s convictions for hacking election websites before he was hired? 
7. Please describe Mr. Levin’s involvement in the Division’s election-related work. 

Read and download the full text of Senator Welch’s letter to AAG Dhillon. 

Senator Welch has led efforts pushing back on AAG Dhillon’s leadership of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and the Trump Administration’s efforts to deny millions of Americans their right to vote. In August, Senator Welch urged the Department of Homeland Security to reverse a policy that restricts states from receiving full disbursement of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Homeland Security Grant Program counterterrorism funding if they do not comply with new election-related conditions, including participation in the agency’s flawed SAVE system anddisclosing sensitive voter information.   

Earlier this year, Senator Welch delivered a scathing criticism of statements and actions by AAG Dhillon and others in her division for pushing the mass collection of sensitive and private voter data. The Senator emphasized that the division’s actions—in light of the upcoming 2026 midterm elections—risk disenfranchising eligible voters and are contrary to the Civil Rights Division’s statutory mandate to ensure all Americans can freely vote. 

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