Yesterday (Tuesday), Americans cast their votes in crucial midterm elections for Congress, which will determine the balance of power in Washington and the margin of action for President Donald Trump during the last two years of his second term.
The vote turned into a popular test of Trump's policies and influence, in light of dissatisfaction with the high costs of living, immigration policies, and the war with Iran.
While Democrats are betting on seizing control of Congress to restrict the president's agenda, they face the dilemma of transforming popular opposition to Trump into a legislative program that meets the aspirations of voters, amid a growing discrepancy in their domestic priorities.
On Tuesday, the US Department of Justice deployed officials across the United States to monitor the progress of the voting process in the midterm congressional elections in electoral districts with a Democratic majority, in conjunction with the expansion of a criminal investigation related to an election campaign to win a seat in the Senate for the state of Alaska.
The ministry announced that it would send 1,000 electoral observers to districts in all fifty states. An analysis conducted by Reuters showed that Democratic candidate Kamala Harris defeated President Donald Trump in about two-thirds of those electoral districts in the 2024 presidential elections.
Black and Latino voters constitute a majority in many of these electoral districts, which are concentrated in states that may determine who will control the US Senate.
The Trump administration followed a strict approach to monitoring the elections. She pressed states to obtain voter registration data and said tougher measures were needed to ensure public confidence in the voting process.
That included asking the Supreme Court to temporarily block California from counting mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 voters who federal officials say are likely noncitizens. The Supreme Court rejected this lawsuit on Monday evening. Critics have described these measures and the surveillance program as potential voter intimidation.
In the state of Alaska, a state of turmoil prevailed in the Senate race after the New York Times reported last week that the campaign of Democratic candidate Mary Peltola contributed to attracting a third candidate with the same first and last name as her Republican competitor, Dan Sullivan. Peltola denied any involvement.
The Ministry of Justice opened a criminal investigation into these accusations, and is working to expand the scope of this investigation.
An informed source, who requested that his name not be published, said that the ministry sent letters to more than 20 people notifying them that they were subject to a criminal investigation.
The source added that one of the recipients of these letters is voting rights attorney Mark Elias, whose law firm often represents Democrats in court.
The US Department of Justice said on Tuesday that the Arc of Triumph, which President Donald Trump proposed to build in Washington at a height of 76 metres, will not be completed until after the end of his second term.
The project is scheduled to be approved next Thursday, but it faces several legal challenges demanding an American judge to stop it. The Ministry expects that construction work in the first six to eight months will focus exclusively on digging underground and building foundations, and construction work above the ground is not expected to begin before May at the earliest.
The government stated that the total construction period is expected to take between 33 and 39 months, according to Reuters news agency.
