CNN Leans on New Jersey Governor to Downplay Suspicious Voter Rolls

Nicholas Fondacaro
September 3rd, 2026 4:34 PM

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During Wednesday’s OutFront, CNN host Erin Burnett was irked that the Trump administration had agents with the Department of Homeland Security examining voter rolls and removing noncitizens. While framing it as President Trump willing letting Americans be exposed to terrorism and sex trafficking, Burnett brought on Democratic New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, who recently announced her state had registered thousands of noncitizens, to downplay the problem and claim Trump was trying to steal the midterms.

Leading into the segment, Burnett tried to claim there was no reason for the investigation at all and that the investigators were the ones who couldn’t be trusted.

“The agents are scouring voter rolls for non-citizens, despite a lack of evidence of any major fraud or any widespread fraud at all,” she proclaimed, despite the fact she was about to bring on a governor who admitted over 6,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in her state, with hundreds casting ballots.

“Documents also show agents are using personal information about voters, including partial Social Security Numbers, in their search,” Burnett said, trying to fear monger that the investigators were mishandling their sensitive personal information.

Of course, she omitted that fact that the Social Security Numbers the investigators were using were the ones the noncitizens illegally acquired in order to illegally register to vote.

 

 

Burnett repeatedly suggested Trump was willingly allowing terrorism and sex trafficking to go unstopped in order to chase down his pet project:

These agents have reportedly been pulled from normal duties, and their normal duties are very important ones. Investigating human trafficking and terrorism. They have been reassigned to focus on this.

(…)

Governor, I appreciate your time. So, I just emphasized here that you've got agents that usually investigate human trafficking and terrorism are now being - scouring for voter fraud. What do you think about that. If this effort by Trump to use those agents for this purpose?

When given the floor, Sherrill ignored her admittance to thousands of such cases in her own state. She repeatedly asserted suggestions of voter fraud were “baseless claims” and that it was a “desperate” attempt “to steal the election” (Click “expand”):

As we see Trump's numbers increasingly go down, his policies become more and more unpopular, costs going up for everyone a the President enriches himself through his corrupt enterprises, we see him grow more and more desperate to steal the election.

And your reporting talks about these investigations going on as you're pulling agents from other important jobs. We've heard stories of DOJ people going into polling places in Wyoming. We've heard these baseless claims.

I myself have asked for evidence of the reporting of the baseless claims, and we've never been presented with anything. We have been asked to produce our voter rolls to the administration. I've refused because, again, this is just an attempt for the President to steal an election that he knows he can't win.

 

 

Burnett followed up by actually noting that Sherrill had previously announced the illegal voter registrations and cast ballots. Instead of pressing her on what steps were taken to make sure it didn’t happen again or if the perpetrators prosecuted, Burnett whined about it giving Trump evidence to point to:

BURNETT: And, you know, you came out and put all this out there. Are you worried that an error like that gives Trump, though, the opening to make the voter fraud claims to say, ‘hey, New Jersey, give us your voter rolls since you showed us that problem, what if there's more?

SHERRILL: I think what the people of New Jersey want to see is a transparent, accountable government so they understand what's going on and how it's going to be fixed and rectified.

That is what I'm presenting to people and keeping them informed. And Trump is doing the exact opposite, making spurious claims, presenting no evidence, constantly hiding the ball from people. And he knows it's not working, which is why you see these desperate attempts to, in any way possible, steal the outcome of the election.

Burnett was more interested in claiming there was no reason for DHS agents to be investigating voter fraud than grilling a governor who admitted there was voter fraud in her state.

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront
September 3, 2026
7:20:28 p.m. Eastern

ERIN BURNETT: Breaking news. Hundreds of Homeland Security agents are now assigned to Trump's hunt for election fraud, according to brand new reporting tonight from The New York Times.

The agents are scouring voter rolls for non-citizens, despite a lack of evidence of any major fraud or any widespread fraud at all. Documents also show agents are using personal information about voters, including partial Social Security Numbers, in their search.

These agents have reportedly been pulled from normal duties, and their normal duties are very important ones. Investigating human trafficking and terrorism. They have been reassigned to focus on this.

Out front now, the Democratic governor of New Jersey, Mike Sherrill. She is also a former federal prosecutor and U.S. Navy helicopter pilot.

Governor, I appreciate your time. So, I just emphasized here that you've got agents that usually investigate human trafficking and terrorism are now being - scouring for voter fraud. What do you think about that. If this effort by Trump to use those agents for this purpose?

GOV. MIKIE SHERILLE (D-NJ): As we see Trump's numbers increasingly go down, his policies become more and more unpopular, costs going up for everyone a the President enriches himself through his corrupt enterprises, we see him grow more and more desperate to steal the election.

And your reporting talks about these investigations going on as you're pulling agents from other important jobs. We've heard stories of DOJ people going into polling places in Wyoming. We've heard these baseless claims.

I myself have asked for evidence of the reporting of the baseless claims, and we've never been presented with anything. We have been asked to produce our voter rolls to the administration. I've refused because, again, this is just an attempt for the President to steal an election that he knows he can't win.

BURNETT: So, let me ask you about this in the context of the entire investigation that's going on, but also what you just said there, governor, about that they've requested the voter rolls and you've declined to provide them.

You made headlines recently when you got ahead of a story, you came out and announced it. Right? So this was transparency. You said that 6,600 noncitizens in New Jersey had been improperly registered to vote by the DMV. This was before you were elected. It turns out more than 300 of them actually voted.

And, you know, you came out and put all this out there. Are you worried that an error like that gives Trump, though, the opening to make the voter fraud claims to say, ‘hey, New Jersey, give us your voter rolls since you showed us that problem, what if there's more?

SHERRILL: I think what the people of New Jersey want to see is a transparent, accountable government so they understand what's going on and how it's going to be fixed and rectified.

That is what I'm presenting to people and keeping them informed. And Trump is doing the exact opposite, making spurious claims, presenting no evidence, constantly hiding the ball from people. And he knows it's not working, which is why you see these desperate attempts to, in any way possible, steal the outcome of the election.

Because I think many of the candidates in the GOP are desperate to figure out a pathway away from him. They haven't yet.

And you also see this attempt to really target people and move the story away from his failures. Well, it's not working here in New Jersey. We're fighting hard. We're going to run a safe and fair election, and we're going to make sure that people continue to get evidence they can trust, which I think will be more important than ever as he continues to try to shut down all mail voting across the country.

BURNETT: Right. Which, of course, that was that is the big development overnight as well.

(...)

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