Bonta accuses federal government of intimidating California election workers Play

California Attorney General Rob Bonta says the federal government is trying to bully, frighten, and intimidate public servants in Los Angeles just ahead of the midterm elections.

This comes as federal police arrested 28 people across the state Monday on charges of voter fraud.

Some of those people, elderly and in their pajamas, said they were confused, didn't remember ever registering to vote, and said they had not voted — and there has been no proof that they did.

Last week the Justice Department warned Los Angeles County that officials could face prosecution if they process or tabulate any ballot from someone the federal government suspects is a non-citizen. The Justice Department has not said how the list of suspected non-citizen voters was drawn up.

This would not be the first time the Trump administration has come up with a list containing errors.

Friday the federal government sued California seeking to block the state from counting mail ballots from people on this secret list. The lawsuit alleges more than 20,000 people who may be non-citizens are registered to vote in California.

Registering to vote is not itself a crime and can happen accidentally when getting a driver's license.

Bonta says the officials targeted by the administration are public servants working to count votes accurately and to protect the right of Californians to vote.

"We will see what the facts show ... see if they get any convictions or if they have to drop charges again.

"But 28 arrests out of the 23 million registered voters shows that this is just a drop in the bucket numerically," he said.

"There is no widespread voter fraud being committed in California."