2026-03-12T16:49:53-0400 / CBS新闻
据直接了解该调查的消息人士向CBS新闻透露，FBI已关闭一项由内华达州最高联邦检察官下令展开的、充满政治色彩的选民欺诈调查。调查发现，在2020年总统选举中，可能仅有38名非公民参与了投票。
FBI于1月底结束了此项调查。此前，内华达州美国助理检察官西格尔·查塔（Sigal Chattah）于去年7月下令FBI展开2020年选举欺诈调查，她声称该调查可能有助于将一个关键国会席位转为共和党优势。消息人士此前曾向CBS新闻透露，她还表示该调查可能会牵连特朗普总统的民主党对手——那些曾追查虚假选举人的州检察长们。
当时，查塔向FBI提供了一个拇指驱动器的数据，该数据由共和党编制，她声称这些数据将显示非公民在2020年选举中进行了投票，并且印第安保留地的居民据称因选票收受现金。
但FBI对内华达州选民名单数据的审查（对照国土安全部的公民身份数据）仅确认了38名可能的非公民选民。消息人士透露，FBI探员还告知查塔办公室，针对任何可能案件的诉讼时效均已过期，这使得提起诉讼站不住脚。
查塔尚未立即回应置评请求。
《华盛顿邮报》此前已报道了此次调查的结果。
在内华达州对2020年选举的调查缺乏任何继续追究的依据，这进一步引发了疑问：为何在佐治亚州和亚利桑那州等摇摆州仍在进行类似调查，以及为何有合理依据表明这些州存在欺诈行为。
今年早些时候，FBI在佐治亚州富尔顿县执行了搜查令，以获取选票和其他记录，部分依据是白宫律师库尔特·奥尔森（Kurt Olsen）提出的说法——他经常提出关于2020年选举存在广泛欺诈的未经证实的指控。
而在亚利桑那州，州参议院议长沃伦·彼得森（Warren Petersen）透露，他最近收到了一份大陪审团传票，要求提供与亚利桑那州参议院2020年对马里科帕县审计相关的记录，并且他已将这些传票交给了FBI。
CBS新闻无法确定为何佐治亚州富尔顿县或亚利桑那州的案件仍在继续，以及这些案件与FBI在内华达州的审查有何区别。
司法部发言人在给CBS新闻的声明中表示：”司法部致力于维护我们选举制度的完整性，并将继续优先确保所有选举保持自由、公平和透明。”
内华达州FBI拒绝置评。
然而，一些选举专家表示，在针对已被揭穿的指控展开调查的同时，部分州的法律系统在捍卫选举完整性方面更为有效。
“2020年选举在全国范围内，包括内华达州，都得到了严格调查，”美国民主中心（States United Democracy Center）选举保护项目主任达克斯·戈德斯坦（Dax Goldstein）表示，”我认为内华达州的系统发挥了作用，而佐治亚州的系统则未能正常运作。”
与此同时，特朗普正在推动国会通过《保障美国选民资格法案》（Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act），该法案要求美国人在联邦选举中亲自出示公民身份证明才能登记投票，并实施投票时的照片身份证要求。
民主党人警告称，该法案可能会剥夺数百万符合条件选民的投票权。
查塔的利益冲突
内华达州FBI甚至对内华达州选举已被揭穿的”特朗普总统选举被窃取”的说法展开初步评估，并让查塔知晓调查结果——这一事实可能会重新引发人们对其参与是否违反联邦道德规则和律师职业道德准则的担忧。
在被任命为临时美国检察官之前，查塔曾作为辩护律师代表全国共和党委员会和内华达州共和党，并为一名被指控作为虚假选举人（试图为特朗普的利益影响选举结果）的男子辩护。该虚假选举人因参与而被民主党总检察长亚伦·福特（Aaron Ford）办公室刑事指控。
查塔还曾担任内华达州共和党全国委员会主席，此前她曾竞选州检察长并输给了福特。
在联邦法院宣布其临时美国检察官任命非法后，查塔目前担任该办公室的第一助理美国检察官。
“司法部在所有回避事项上均遵循职业伦理官员的指导，”司法部发言人向CBS新闻表示。
同样，内华达州的辩护律师乔治·凯莱西斯（George Kelesis）也被特朗普任命为该州的美国检察官。
内华达大学法学院专门研究法律伦理的南希·拉波波特（Nancy Rapoport）教授表示：”如果我们希望人们信任政府及其判断，那么政府必须避免利益冲突。”
查塔此前曾要求FBI审查内华达州共和党编制的数据，她声称这些数据包含非法投票的证据，并且印第安部落成员因选票收受现金。
她告诉司法部高级官员，希望调查能帮助共和党重新获得一个民主党议员的国会席位，并为内华达州一名虚假选举人（她在私人执业中曾代表该人）洗脱罪名。
她还暗示，希望通过调查来调查包括福特在内的其他州检察长，以证明他们与拜登政府非法合谋损害美国利益。
查塔下令展开调查的决定，恰在司法部副部长办公室发布备忘录命令她回避另外6起民事和刑事案件之后几天。这些案件均涉及她加入司法部前曾有政治关联的人。
尽管有这一警告，查塔仍继续推进对2020年选举的调查，并试图联系其他司法部工作人员，这些人曾参与至少一个她明确被要求回避的案件。
周四，查塔在仍称自己为美国检察官的社交账号（X）上评论了其中一个被要求回避的案件。该案件涉及最近对奈县共和党委员莱昂纳多·布伦多（Leonardo Blundo）的起诉，他被指控在新冠疫情期间参与骗取小企业贷款计划。
布伦多此前在新闻稿中盛赞查塔的临时任命，称她是”一位激烈的爱国者”，拥有”卓越的法律头脑”。
周四，查塔转发了一则关于布伦多被起诉的新闻，并表示：”无论涉及人员的职位或身份如何，我们社区绝不允许欺诈行为。”
她办公室发布的关于起诉的新闻稿中未包含她的评论。
在CBS新闻寻求司法部置评后不久，她的社交媒体帖子被删除。
“进入政府的律师不应参与其在私营部门处理过的相同事务，如果她在私营部门处理过与选举有关的任何事务，那么她在政府中就不应参与，”前总统乔治·W·布什时期的白宫伦理律师理查德·佩因特（Richard Painter）表示。
他补充说，尽管总检察长帕姆·邦迪（Pam Bondi）可能已批准豁免令允许她参与，但这种行为将极为罕见。
FBI closes 2020 election fraud inquiry ordered by Nevada’s top federal prosecutor, sources say
2026-03-12T16:49:53-0400 / CBS News
The FBI has closed a politically charged voter fraud inquiry sought by Nevada’s top federal prosecutor, after finding only 38 non-citizens may have voted in the 2020 presidential election, sources with direct knowledge of the probe told CBS News.
The FBI ended the inquiry in late January, after Sigal Chattah, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Nevada, had ordered the bureau in July to open a 2020 election fraud probe that she claimed could help flip a key congressional seat in Republicans’ favor. She also said it could ensnare President Trump’s Democratic opponents — state attorneys general who had gone after fake electors — sources previously told CBS News.
At that time, she provided the FBI with a thumb drive of data compiled by the Republican Party that she claimed would show that non-citizens had voted in the 2020 election and that people on Indian reservations were accepting cash for ballots, the sources previously said.
But an FBI review of Nevada voter roll data, compared against Department of Homeland Security citizenship data, only identified 38 possible non-citizen voters. In addition, FBI agents told Chattah’s office that the statute of limitations to pursue any possible case had also expired, which made bringing a case untenable, according to sources familiar with the case.
Chattah did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The results of the inquiry were reported earlier by the Washington Post.
The lack of any basis to pursue voter fraud investigations into the 2020 election in Nevada raises further questions about why similar inquiries are being pursued in other swing states, including Georgia and Arizona, and why there is probable cause to suggest fraud occurred in those other states.
Earlier this year the FBI executed a search warrant in Fulton County, Georgia, to gain access to ballots and other records that was premised in part on claims made by White House attorney Kurt Olsen, who has frequently made unproven claims about widespread election fraud in the 2020 election.
Then in Arizona, state Senate President Warren Petersen revealed that he had recently received a grand jury subpoena seeking records in connection with the Arizona state Senate’s 2020 audit of Maricopa County, and he said that he had turned them over to the FBI.
CBS News could not determine why the Fulton County, Georgia, or Arizona cases have proceeded, and what distinguishes them from the review in Nevada by the FBI.
“The Justice Department is committed to upholding the integrity of our electoral system and will continue to prioritize efforts to ensure all elections remain free, fair, and transparent,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News.
The FBI in Nevada declined to comment.
But some election experts suggest the legal system in some states is working more effectively to defend their elections amid investigations into already de-bunked claims.
“The 2020 election has been investigated robustly in Nevada and across the country,” said Dax Goldstein, the Election Protection Program Director for the States United Democracy Center.
“I think that in Nevada we saw the system work, and in Georgia, I think the system didn’t work properly.”
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, is pushing Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which would require Americans to show proof of citizenship in person to register to vote in federal elections and implement photo ID requirements for voting.
Democrats have warned the bill could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.
Conflicts of interest for Chattah
The fact that the FBI in Nevada even opened a preliminary assessment into debunked claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Mr. Trump — and kept Chattah looped into the findings — will likely renew fresh concerns about whether her involvement violates federal ethics rules and rules of professional conduct for attorneys.
Before she was appointed interim U.S. attorney, Chattah worked as a defense lawyer representing the National Republican Committee and the Nevada Republican Party, and she also defended one of the men accused of acting as a fake elector to try to sway the results of the 2020 election in Mr. Trump’s favor. The fake elector was criminally charged for his role by Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford’s office.
Chattah also served as a chairwoman for the Republican National Committee in Nevada, and she previously ran for state attorney general against Ford and lost.
Chattah is currently serving as the office’s first assistant U.S. attorney, after a federal court declared her appointment as interim U.S. attorney unlawful.
“The Department follows the guidance of career ethics officials on all recusal matters,” a Justice Department spokesperson told CBS News.
George Kelesis, a defense attorney in Nevada who also represented one of the fake electors in Nevada, has since been appointed by Mr. Trump to serve as the state’s U.S. attorney.
“If we want people to trust the government and the government’s judgment, then the government has to make sure that it avoids conflicts of interest,” said Nancy Rapoport, a law professor at the University of Nevada who specializes in legal ethics.
“You just don’t want to raise a question about fairness. The government has so many resources compared to private citizens,” she said. “You don’t want people scratching their heads and asking ‘was this above board?’”
Chattah previously asked the FBI to review data compiled by the Nevada Republican Party that she alleged contained evidence showing that people living in the U.S. illegally cast ballots in the 2020 election and that members of Indian tribes allegedly received cash for ballots.
She told senior Justice Department officials that she hoped the probe would allow Republicans to win back a congressional seat held by a Democrat, and exonerate Nevada’s fake electors, one of whom she represented in private practice, sources with direct knowledge of the matter previously told CBS News.
She also suggested using the probe to investigate other state attorneys general — including Ford — to establish they and the Biden White House had unlawfully conspired against the United States.
Chattah’s decision to launch the probe came just days after the deputy attorney general’s office issued a memo ordering her to recuse herself in six other civil and criminal cases — all of which involved people who had political ties to Chattah before she joined the Justice Department, according to both documents and sources familiar with the matter.
Despite that warning, Chattah pressed ahead and requested the probe into the 2020 election and she also continued trying to reach out to other Justice Department staff who had worked on at least one of the matters from which she was explicitly recused, multiple sources tell CBS News.
Screen grab from X, March 12, 2026
On Thursday, Chattah used her X account — which still refers to her as a U.S. attorney — to comment on one of the six cases from which she was ordered to recuse.
The case involves the recent indictment of Nye County Republican Commissioner Leonardo Blundo, who is accused of committing fraud against a government program that gave small businesses loans to keep them afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Blundo previously gushed over Chattah’s initial appointment as interim U.S. attorney in a press release, referring to her as a “fierce patriot” with a “brilliant legal mind.”
On Thursday, Chattah reposted a news article on Nye’s indictment, saying, “Fraud will not be tolerated in our community — regardless of the position or identity of those involved.”
The press release issued by her office announcing the indictment contained no comment from Chattah.
Her social media post was later removed, not long after CBS News sought comment from the Justice Department.
“A lawyer who is entering the government shall not participate in the same matters that she worked on in the private sector, so if she worked on anything to do with the election in the private sector, then she shouldn’t work on it in the government,” said Richard Painter, who was the White House ethics lawyer during President George W. Bush’s tenure.
He added that while it’s possible that Attorney General Pam Bondi may have granted a waiver to allow her to participate, such an act would be highly unusual.
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