(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The Biden-Harris DOJ on Thursday condemned alleged election interference through voter disinformation, while turning a blind eye to leftist comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s targeting of Trump voters.
In a strongly worded statement posted on X, the DOJ vowed to prosecute anyone who misleads voters about voting times or locations, calling it a “serious offense.”
“The Justice Department is vigilant in prosecuting those who try to mislead voters,” the statement read, alongside a graphic saying, “Ensure your information is accurate and report any misleading or fraudulent claims to local authorities or the FBI.”
Spreading false information about voting times or locations is a serious offense. The Justice Department is vigilant in prosecuting those who try to mislead voters. #KnowYourRights pic.twitter.com/52GmxFQvDN
— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) October 31, 2024
The statement came a day after Kimmel opened his Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue by telling Trump voters to vote “late” or on Nov. 7—two days after the actual election.
“I don’t know if you guys know about this but we have an election coming up. If you can vote early, vote early. If you can’t vote, vote early, vote on time. If you want to vote for Trump, vote late, vote very late–do your voting on Thursday or maybe Friday,” Kimmel claimed, as seen in a video shared on his YouTube channel.
Clips of the remarks made their way onto X on Thursday, with journalist and Grabien founder Tom Elliott among the first to share them.
Jimmy Kimmel: "If you want to vote for Trump, vote late. Vote very late. Do your voting on Thursday or maybe Friday." pic.twitter.com/Il1Ch6S0eE
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 31, 2024
Kimmel’s remarks, part of an apparent joke, drew ire from critics who accused the DOJ of failing to put its money where its mouth is.
Critics noted that the DOJ has prosecuted others with far less influence than Kimmel, whose show averaged roughly 1.6 million viewers on Tuesday, according to LateNighter.
“Douglas Mackey was sentenced to prison for less, and he didn’t use federally licensed airwaves when spreading this election misinformation,” one user wrote on X.
In 2023, Douglas Mackey, a social media personality known as Ricky Vaughn, was sentenced to seven months in federal prison on a “Conspiracy Against Rights” conviction.
The DOJ claimed Mackey established online group chats where he tricked Hillary Clinton’s supporters into believing they could vote via text message. It isn’t immediately clear whether anyone failed to vote because of the messages.
Many critics pointed out that the DOJ should apply the Mackey precedent and hold Kimmel accountable:
It’s not enough to make this a talking point. Some Republican AG should indict this guy on the grounds that he is engaged in voter suppression. Let’s do to them what they have beeen doing to us @DougMackeyCase pic.twitter.com/8ygUdsk2ph
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) October 31, 2024
Jimmy Kimmel tells MAGA supporters to vote late,
“If you wanna vote for Trump vote late.. very late. Do your voting on Thursday or Friday”
Didn’t Douglas’s Mackey get sent to prison for doing this in meme form?
& he only had 58k followers on Twitter
Is this legal? pic.twitter.com/QizDkkAUkb
— 🪶Native Patriot 🇺🇸 (@LaNativePatriot) October 31, 2024
VOTER SUPPRESSION: I remember when the DOJ prosecuted people for making election-related jokes. Douglas Mackey was convicted of a felony for sharing a meme to 58K followers. Meanwhile Jimmy Kimmel broadcast his election joke to 2 million ABC viewers. Will Jimmy be prosecuted? pic.twitter.com/MV84peAAYz
— @amuse (@amuse) October 31, 2024
What’s striking to me is that Jimmy Kimmel has clearly never heard of Douglas Mackey or what the DOJ did to him. He’s completely unaware because mainstream media never reported it.
Kimmel will wake up likely still unaware and unbothered by the justice department https://t.co/EqXmXmqKOj
— Corey Inganamort 🪚🌴🪚 (@TheBirdWords) October 31, 2024
