New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill called President Trump a liar over his election integrity claims even though she already knew her administration was about to disclose that more than 35,000 potential noncitizens are on the state's voter rolls. That is the accusation from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, and it cuts directly at the credibility of Sherrill's public pushback: the governor signed onto a multistate rebuke of Trump on the same day the data was surfacing.
What Dhillon alleges, and why the timing matters
Trump's July 16 primetime address accused China of acquiring sensitive voter data, alleged that U.S. intelligence agencies concealed that finding from the public, and claimed several Democratic-run states carry large numbers of noncitizens on their voter rolls. Department of Homeland Security data released alongside the speech put the figure for New Jersey at more than 35,000 potential noncitizen registrants.
Sherrill joined 23 other Democratic governors on a statement formally led by Kentucky Governor Andrew Beshear, calling Trump a liar and accusing him of trying to "intimidate and silence voters." Dhillon's reading is that Sherrill had no standing to make that charge. "She knew it, and she still went online and called the president a liar and said he was exaggerating," Dhillon said. "Shame on you, governor."
The counterargument
Sherrill has not accepted that framing. Her spokesman Sean Higgins pointed to comments she made outside a grocery store in Essex County, where she said her administration is running an independent investigation to determine how the registration problem occurred. Her sharper objection is about intent: she told WCBS that the Trump administration's priority is to "weaponize" the data rather than fix the underlying election administration failure.
That objection is not hers alone. Pennsylvania, New York, and several other states have declined DOJ requests for voter registration data, pointing to federal law and state privacy protections as constraints on what can be shared.
What the DOJ says comes next
Dhillon framed cooperation as effectively obligatory. States willing to work with the department will receive assistance; states that refuse will face lawsuits. The DOJ has already sued New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Dale Caldwell. Dhillon gave Sherrill five business days, expiring Tuesday, to hand over the voter data her office requested. Sherrill signaled she would not comply.
The line to watch is whether the DOJ's litigation posture accelerates. Dhillon described the problem as bipartisan and said she expects to help any state willing to engage. The figure she returned to was the one she said matters most at the voter level: every illegitimate registration, she argued, cancels a legitimate New Jersey vote.