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Season on the brink for Pelinka, Redick

From Bill Plaschke: They mentioned “The Odyssey,” they talked about “Lord of the Rings,” they referenced “The Hobbit,” they cited the hero’s journey, they predicted a season filled with mythological tales of triumph.

What they didn’t promise was that their Lakers’ team would contend for a championship.

What they couldn’t mention was what will happen to them if they don’t.

The bard Rob Pelinka? Off with your head!

The soothsayer JJ Redick? Drawn and quartered!

In their annual pre-training camp news conference at their practice facility Thursday, Pelinka and Redick talked about fictional characters perhaps because the reality is too grim for words.

Their jobs are on the line with a rebuilding team that might not be good enough to save them, and no amount of cute Gandalf references can change that.

Lakers’ new era opens with a thanks for the LeBron James era

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Dodgers lose to Padres

From Kevin Baxter: The Dodgers didn’t win Thursday. But they got something far more valuable before they even took the field for their 4-2 loss to the San Diego Padres.

With the Atlanta Braves’ loss to the Cincinnati Reds earlier in the day, the Dodgers clinched the second seed in the National League playoffs and the first-round bye that goes with it. That means the Dodgers will get five days off next week to prepare for their playoff opener, a godsend for a bruised and bloodied team that has stumbled to the finish of the regular season.

“I think we all know why it’s important,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said of the break. “There’s a lot of us kind of limping toward the end here, a lot of aches and pains this year.”

For the Padres (89-70), the victory was important because it clinched a wild-card berth and a franchise-record third consecutive trip to the postseason.

In addition to Freeman, who has been hobbled all month by a sore right knee, the Dodgers are rushing to get designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, starting pitcher Blake Snell and closer Edwin Díaz healthy.

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Shaikin: For the Dodgers, the varsity will take it from here

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Angels defeat Athletics

Christian Moore hit a two-run double and had three RBIs, Bryce Teodosio drove in two runs, and the Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Thursday night.

Moore’s RBI single in the second gave the Angels a 1-0 lead, and Teodosio’s one-run groundout pulled the Angels within 3-2 in the fifth before Zach Neto drove in the tying run.

Moore plated two more runs in the sixth with a double to put the Angels back on top for good, 5-4. Teodosio capped the scoring with an RBI single in the eighth.

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Angels box score

MLB standings

Nneka Ogwumike stars in final game

From Marisa Ingemi: The Sparks’ season was mere seconds away from ending on a high note. Then, the Golden State Valkyries scored 13 consecutive points late in the fourth quarter to dissolve a double-digits Sparks lead.

Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike concluded her WNBA career with 17 points and 15 rebounds in the 76-75 loss to the Valkyries. Her double-double was her 19th this season, which set a Sparks single-season record.

Immediately after the game, the Sparks announced that they would name their new practice facility in El Segundo after Ogwumike, who retires as the Sparks’ all-time leading scorer.

The loss itself mattered little. The Sparks were eliminated from postseason contention nearly a month ago after beginning with championship aspirations. In one of their most disappointing seasons to date because of the expectations attached, the Sparks go into the offseason trying to put the pieces together again

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Aaron Donald wants to earn his spot

From Gary Klein: Aaron Donald is still earning his spot.

In his mind, anyway.

During defensive line drills, the Future Hall of Famer continues to go third — even when groups are split — rather than lead.

“Earning my keep right now,” Donald said after Rams practice Thursday. “I’m a guy that likes to work and earn everything I get.”

Donald, 35, has one game under his belt after returning from a two-year retirement to rejoin the team that selected the three-time NFL defensive player of the year in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft.

Donald played 33 snaps in the Rams’ 28-6 victory over the New York Giants on Monday. He made three tackles, including one for a loss.

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This day in sports history

1866 — Jerome Park, named for its founder Leonard Jerome, opens in the Bronx in New York. Jerome, seeking to emulate the British racing system, also establishes the American Jockey Club, precursor to the present Jockey Club, formed in 1894.

1920 — Molly Bjurstedt Mallory wins her fifth title in six years with a two-set victory over Marion Zinderstein in the U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn. championships.

1926 — Walter Hagen wins his third straight and fourth overall PGA Championship. Hagen beats Leo Diegel 4 and 3 in the championship match at Salisbury Golf Links in Westbury, N.Y.

1949 — Louise Suggs wins the U.S. Women’s Open by 14 strokes over Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

1962 — Sonny Liston knocks out Floyd Patterson at 2:06 of the first round at Comiskey Park in Chicago to win the world heavyweight title.

1966 — Gloria Ehret wins the LPGA Championship by three strokes over four-time champion Micke Wright.

1982 — Ricky Edwards rushes for 177 yards and four touchdowns to help Northwestern end its 34-game losing streak in a 31-6 victory over Northern Illinois.

1988 — Americans sweep the medals in the long jump at the Seoul Olympics; Carl Lewis wins his second gold of the Games with leap of 8.72m ahead of teammates Mike Powell & Larry Myricks.

1988 — Super swimmer Matt Biondi wins his fifth gold medal of the Seoul Olympics anchoring the victorious American 4 x 100m medley relay team.

1994 — Oliver McCall scores a major upset by stopping Lennox Lewis 31 seconds into the second round to capture the WBC heavyweight title in London.

1995 — Jerry Rice has 181 yards receiving in San Francisco’s 27-24 loss to Detroit. It’s his 51st 100-yard game, which breaks Don Maynard’s NFL record.

1997 — WNBA announces it will add Detroit & Washington, D.C. franchises.

2000 — American basketball player Vince Carter jumps over 7 foot 2 Frédéric Weis in 2000 Summer Olympics, known in France as “le dunk de la mort” (the dunk of death).

2004 — Bobby Seck of Hofstra throws eight touchdown passes to tie an Atlantic 10 mark and set a school record in the Pride’s 62-43 victory over Rhode Island.

2005 — Fernando Alonso becomes Formula One’s youngest champion by finishing third in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Alonso, 24, a six-time winner in his third full season in Formula One, ends Michael Schumacher’s five-year hold on the title.

2010 — Collingwood and St. Kilda plays to a 68-68 tie, the first in an Australian Rules football grand final since 1977, setting up a rematch to decide the league title.

2011 — The Detroit Lions snap a 13-game losing streak with a 26-23 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions, who won in the Metrodome for the first time since 1997, are 3-0 for the first time since 1980.

2013 — Skipper Jimmy Spithill and Oracle Team USA win the America’s Cup with one of the greatest comebacks in sports history to keep the oldest trophy in international sports in the United States. Spithill steers Oracle’s space-age, 72-foot catamaran to its eighth straight victory, speeding past Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand in the winner-take-all Race 19 on San Francisco Bay. All but defeated a week ago, the 34-year-old Australian and his international crew twice rallies from seven-point deficits to win 9-8.

2016 — Rory McIlroy rallies to enter a three-man playoff and win the FedEx Cup. After trailing by three shots with three holes to play in the Tour Championship, McIlroy holes a 15-foot birdie putt on the fourth extra hole to win the playoff and claim the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus.

2022 — Laver Cup Men’s Tennis, London: Team World sweeps final day for 13-8 victory over Team Europe; tournament marks retirement of Roger Federer.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1941 — Pete Reiser’s homer and Whitlow Wyatt’s five-hitter helped Brooklyn beat the Boston Braves 6-0 and clinch the Dodgers’ first pennant in 21 years.

1955 — Detroit’s Al Kaline, at the age of 20, became the youngest player to win a batting title, finishing his second season with a .340 average. Ty Cobb was one day older when he won the crown, batting .350 in 1907, also playing for Detroit.

1956 — Sal Maglie of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitched a 5-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies.

1960 — The New York Yankees clinched manager Casey Stengel’s 10th and last American League pennant with a 4-3 victory over Boston.

1965 — Satchel Paige, at 60, became the oldest player in the majors, taking the mound for Kansas City and pitching three scoreless innings over the Boston Red Sox. He gave up one hit, to Carl Yastrzemski.

1965 — Willie Mays, who hit 51 home runs in 1955, joined Ralph Kiner as only the National Leaguers to have more than one 50-home run season.

1974 — Dr. Frank Jobe transplanted a tendon from Tommy John’s right wrist to the Dodger pitcher’s left elbow. The revolutionary ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction allowed John to win an additional 164 games, more than half of his career total of 288 victories.

1980 — Oakland’s Brian Kingman lost his 20th game when the A’s were defeated by the Chicago White Sox 6-4. Kingman was the first pitcher to lose 20 games with a winning team since Dolf Luque went 13-23 for the 1922 Cincinnati Reds.

1984 — Rusty Staub of the Mets became the second player to hit homers as a teenager and past his 40th birthday. Staub’s game-winning home run off Larry Anderson to give the Mets a 6-4 victory over Philadelphia at Shea Stadium. Ty Cobb was the other major leaguer to accomplish the feat.

1987 — San Diego’s Benito Santiago set a modern major league record for rookies by hitting safely in his 27th consecutive game in a 5-3 loss to the Dodgers.

1998 — The New York Yankees set the AL record for wins with their 112th, beating Tampa Bay 6-1 to break the victory mark held by the 1954 Cleveland Indians.

2001 — Richie Sexson and Jeromy Burnitz became the first teammates to hit three home runs apiece in a game as Milwaukee defeated Arizona 9-4.

2003 — Toronto’s Carlos Delgado became the sixth player to homer in four straight at-bats in one game as the Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 10-8 at SkyDome. Delgado tied the game at 8-8 in the eighth with his fourth homer, a solo shot off Lance Carter.

2007 — Prince Fielder, at 23 years, 139 days old, became the youngest major league player to hit 50 home runs in a season, connecting twice in Milwaukee’s 9-1 rout of St. Louis.

2013 — The New York Yankees failed to make the playoffs for only the second time in 19 years, getting mathematically eliminated during their 8-3 loss to Tampa Bay.

2016 — Jose Fernandez, 24, ace right-hander for the Miami Marlins, was killed in a boating accident.

2017 — Aaron Judge broke Mark McGwire’s major league record for home runs by a rookie, hitting a pair for the second straight day to raise his total to 50 and lead the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals 11-3.

2018 — Max Scherzer became the 17th pitcher since 1900 to strike out 300 batters in a season, reaching that milestone by fanning 10 in seven innings during Washington’s 9-4 win over Miami.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

The In Memoriam segment at the 78th Emmy Awards opened with a tribute to Catherine O’Hara from her movie and TV kids — Macaulay Culkin, Annie Murphy and Dan Levy.

“There are all kinds of words I could use to describe Catherine,” Culkin said as he took the stage with the “Schitt’s Creek” stars. “She was encouraging, she was warm, she was funny, but the word that I think of is ‘mama.’”

O’Hara, of course, played Culkin’s mother in “Home Alone” and “Home Alone 2.”

“She wasn’t just a wife and mother to [husband] Bo and [sons] Matthew and Luke. She was my mom. She was our mama,” Culkin said, looking toward Murphy and Levy. “And by extension, she’s all of our mama…. She may have forgotten me twice, but we will always remember her.”

Murphy and Levy also shared personal anecdotes about their TV mom. Murphy spoke about O’Hara’s laugh, and the many interactions she’s had with fans “that remind [her] how profoundly Catherine has impacted the world … because she brought us joy.” Levy shared what it was like to work with O’Hara and how she taught him to “always say yes.”

Singer-songwriter Noah Kahan performed a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” as images of actors, writers, directors and other industry figures who died this year were projected onto the stage.

Among those honored in the segment were James Van Der Beek, Hayden Panettiere, Eric Dane, Vincent Pastore, Hal Williams, Tim Curry, Shelley Fabares, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Anthony Head, Diane Ladd, Sid Krofft, Ted Turner and Bob Mackie.

The segment closed with tributes to James Burrows and Rob Reiner from Jamie Lee Curtis.

“For over 1,000 episodes of television, the great James Burrows set a standard of comedy directing that will be cherished and studied for generations to come,” Curtis said. “And sadly, last year, we lost another cherished legend. Our beloved Meathead, Rob Reiner.”

Reiner won a posthumous Emmy for guest actor in a comedy series for his work on “The Bear” earlier this month. Curtis said Reiner broke the record set by his father, Carl Reiner, for the longest gap between acting Emmys.

“He was generous and kind and funny as hell and a friend to all,” Curtis said. “We all miss Rob and Michele [Singer] and all those we lost this year.”

The ceremony also featured a tribute to Dolly Parton earlier in the evening with Sally Field and Reba McEntire.

Match of the Day pundit Rob Edwards says Liverpool’s Alexander Isak is playing with greater “confidence” after scoring four goals this season – one more than he managed in the whole of last season.

WATCH MORE: Football video on the BBC

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Wrexham co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac have taken a light-hearted jab at this weekend’s opponents Southampton by referencing the Spygate saga in a cheeky social media post.

The Saints visit their Championship rivals at the Racecourse Ground on Saturday (15:00 BST) and the Hollywood duo did not miss their chance to make light of last season’s play-off drama.

Southampton were kicked out of the play-off final and docked four points after an intern was found observing semi-final opponents Middlesbrough in training, with similar incidents later found to have taken place at Oxford United and Ipswich Town earlier in the campaign.

Wrexham’s A-list duo appeared in a video on Wrexham’s X account, which started with Reynolds emerging from behind a tree.

In a skit nominally aimed at promoting shirt sponsor Firefox, Deadpool star Reynolds says: “Today, for no particular reason, we want to talk about the importance of privacy.”

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator Mac adds: “Specifically, how to prevent spies from seeing what you’re doing.”

While the English Football League has declined to comment on the video, BBC Sport has been told that senior EFL figures feel the video is in poor taste.

Discussing internet safety, Reynolds jokes about searching for “how to run a football club” before the pair declare privacy is “important to people everywhere”, specifically name-checking Middlesbrough, Oxford and Ipswich.

Reynolds concludes by saying: “Refreshing, huh? An organisation that actually respects your privacy.”

The 59-second clip ends with the pair looking at a mobile phone, purportedly showing a Southampton pickleball team in practice.

Rob Reiner has won a posthumous Emmy for his appearance in Season 4 of “The Bear.”

On Sunday, the Television Academy hosted the second night of Emmy ceremonies, where guest actor awards were among those announced. Reiner, who died in December, won for guest actor in a comedy series for his appearance as Albert Schnurr, a consultant who mentored line cook Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson), on the FX show’s fourth season. It was his third Emmy Award, having previously won twice for supporting actor in a comedy for “All in the Family.”

While Reiner largely focused on directing, writing and producing in the latter part of his career, he would occasionally make appearances on TV shows and in films. He was most recently seen in an episode of Larry David’s HBO series “Larry David in Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: an Almost History of America,” which aired in July. In the final season of “The Bear,” which premiered at the end of June, the show nodded to Reiner, referencing a line from his 1987 film “Princess Bride.”

Guest actress in a comedy series was awarded to Betty Gilpin for “Widow’s Bay.” In the Apple TV horror-comedy series, she plays Sarah Westcott Warren, wife of the founder of the town at the center of the show.

On the drama series side, Ernest Harden Jr. won for guest actor in a drama series for “The Pitt,” while Shailene Woodley won for guest actress in Season 2 of “Paradise.” It is the first Emmy Award for both actors.

In HBO’s medical drama, Harden played Louie, an alcoholic who was a regular visitor at the Pitt, befriending many of the doctors and nurses on staff. However, tragedy strikes after a medical emergency, leaving the staff to mourn him during the Fourth of July shift. Meanwhile, in Hulu’s postapocalyptic series, Woodley played Annie, a former tour guide at Graceland and survivor of the Day. Her storyline dovetails with Xavier, played by series lead Sterling K. Brown, and the pair share an intense and emotional moment.

Also announced were supporting actor and actress in a limited series, which went to David Harbour and Linda Cardellini, who both won their first Emmys, for “DTF St. Louis.” In the series, they play a husband and wife whose marriage is struggling, and they become enmeshed with a local TV weatherman, played by Jason Bateman, who was also nominated in the category.

The first pair of Emmy ceremonies, formerly called the Creative Arts Emmys, were held over two nights two weekends before the Primetime Emmy Awards and honored many of the behind-the-scenes workers and craftspeople in television. An abridged version of the ceremonies will be broadcast Sept. 12 on FXX and stream on Hulu the following day. The Primetime Emmy Awards will be held Sept. 14 in Los Angeles with Mariska Hargitay as host.

The winners from Sunday’s ceremony:

Television Movie
“Remarkably Bright Creatures”

Supporting actor in a limited or anthology series or movie
David Harbour, “DTF St. Louis”

Supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or movie
Linda Cardellini, “DTF St. Louis”

Guest actor in a comedy series
Rob Reiner, “The Bear”

Guest actress in a comedy series
Betty Gilpin, “Widow’s Bay”

Guest actor in a drama series
Ernest Harden Jr., “The Pitt”

Guest actress in a drama series
Shailene Woodley, “Paradise”

The complete list of winners for Sunday’s ceremony can be found at televisionacademy.com.

Rob and Michele Reiner’s son Jake Reiner has reportedly tied the knot with fiancée Maria Gilfillan.

The couple got married in a small ceremony in early August, TMZ reported Monday.

The duo has kept the relationship largely out of the spotlight. Jake shared images on Oct. 7, 2025, on Instagram of him and Gilfillan attending a wedding in Las Vegas. They went to the L.A. premiere of Rob’s film “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” with his entire family in September.

In an interview with ABC7’s Marc Cota-Robles, released Aug. 27, Jake appeared to be wearing a wedding band.

Jake’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jake’s sit-down interview with ABC7 marked the first time the former reporter spoke to the press after his parents were fatally stabbed in their Brentwood home on Dec. 14, 2025. His 27-year-old sister, Romy Reiner, discovered the bodies and his younger brother, 32-year-old Nick Reiner, was arrested in connection to the crime.

“Every moment that I wake up, I’m reminded of my reality, and you’re living through that every single day,” Jake, 35, told ABC7.

In July, a grand jury indicted Nick on murder charges with special allegations of committing multiple murders and lying in wait, making him eligible for life without parole or the death penalty if convicted. Nick has pleaded not guilty. A pretrial hearing is slated for Sept. 15.

“I don’t care how it’s explained to me. I don’t care what facts come out. I will never understand why this happened,” Jake shared with ABC7, adding that he has not spoken to his brother since his parents’ deaths.

In an essay written by Jake on his Substack in April, he expressed being robbed of many milestone moments following his parents’ deaths. “My parents won’t be at my wedding, they won’t get to hold their future grandchild, and they won’t get to see me have the successful career I’m still seeking,” Jake wrote. “It simultaneously breaks my heart and enrages me.”

Jake wrote that his dad helped him overcome personal obstacles: “No subject was ever off-limits.”

“Whenever I was in a difficult relationship, he would challenge me and say, ‘You need to really think about what draws you to a person like this, and once you figure that out and break that pattern, you’ll find the person who is truly right for you,’” Jake wrote in the April essay. “I’m proud to say I have found that person in Maria, and I couldn’t be more grateful she had the chance to know and love my parents.”

Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.

Two of the highest-ranking law enforcement officials in California are publicly sparring over the integrity of state elections, trading barbs on social media that highlight the fierce partisan divide on the issue heading into the November midterms.

In a post to X on Wednesday, First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, accused California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, the state’s highest-ranking law enforcement official, of fighting to “preserve non-citizens’ access to mail ballots” and “shield fraudsters and illegals from accountability.”

On Thursday, Bonta fired back, accusing Essayli of being “more interested in currying favor with a desperate wannabe dictator” — a reference to President Trump — “than upholding the law himself.”

Bonta and Essayli’s back-and-forth followed an announcement from Bonta that California and 24 other Democratic-led states were suing to block the U.S. Postal Service from implementing new nationwide rules on mail ballots that were developed at Trump’s behest.

Late Thursday, a federal judge sided with the states, issuing a temporary restraining order halting the implementation of those rules as the litigation continues. An appeal is likely.

Such a public and personal rift between Bonta and Essayli is highly unusual and has broader implications, given the California Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles coordinate on statewide law enforcement initiatives and traditionally maintain a cordial relationship.

They have worked together in recent years to target Los Angeles street gangs trafficking guns and drugs statewide, as well as international drug syndicates trafficking fentanyl and other narcotics through L.A.

The U.S. Justice Department at times finds itself on the opposing side of litigation involving local or state law enforcement partners, including in cases in which it investigates local police departments for civil rights violations and forces them into consent decrees, as it has done with the Los Angeles Police Department.

However, it is extremely rare for U.S. attorneys and top state law enforcement officials to engage in direct attacks on each other’s integrity — or the integrity of state voting processes, which both are tasked with defending. Federal prosecutors in particular have historically sought to avoid the appearance of political partisanship and rarely taken aim at elected officials over policy matters.

That tradition certainly has faltered under Trump, who has filled the Justice Department with outspoken loyalists who make no secret of their allegiance to him. And Essayli, the administration’s embattled appointee to lead one of the largest federal prosecutor’s offices in the country, has been no exception.

Essayli did not respond to a request for comment on the public exchange Thursday.

A spokesperson for Bonta’s office, which has sued this Trump administration more than 85 times, said in a statement that office staff regularly work with the U.S. Justice Department and federal prosecutors to keep Californians safe, and that work won’t stop “just because some are dead set on politicizing our work and theirs.”

At a news conference this week touting major crime declines in the state, Bonta said partnerships with both local and federal law enforcement remain a vital part of public safety in the state.

“That remains the secret sauce — the magic — when it comes to making our communities more safe. Working together, collaborating, sharing intel and resources and teaming up,” he said. “That remains a priority and is behind a lot of our success.”

Still, the new Postal Service rules sparked a clash. The rules require states to submit lists of eligible voters to the Postal Service and to use new ballot envelopes with digital bar codes that would allow the Postal Service to identify and reject ballots that don’t match those lists. Trump requested the changes as part of a broader executive order in March to combat what he claims is widespread voter fraud across the country and particularly in big blue states such as California.

Independent election experts say there is zero evidence of such problems existing in significant numbers. The Trump administration has said that is because states are keeping voter rolls secret and refusing to cooperate with federal efforts to vet them for noncitizens and other ineligible voters.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a separate lower court ruling blocking the Postal Service changes, on the grounds that they had yet to be implemented and had not yet caused any harm to the states challenging them. The high court made clear, however, that it was not weighing in on the substance or merits of the rules themselves.

Essayli has long made allegations of voter fraud in California, and lawyers in his office were involved in an unsuccessful lawsuit in which the Justice Department sought California’s unredacted voter rolls. After the Supreme Court issued its ruling, and Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged the state would sue again, Essayli responded to defend the administration’s efforts.

“These measures wouldn’t be necessary if states like California didn’t allow non-citizens to easily register to vote and get mail ballots,” he wrote. “We are actively identifying ineligible citizens on California’s dirty voter rolls and will soon announce criminal arrests related to our election fraud investigation.”

Essayli’s office did not respond to a request for information on those alleged arrests or its broader investigation.

Then, on Wednesday, Bonta, who is seeking reelection in November, announced the latest lawsuit challenging the merits of the Postal Service rules, which he noted had been formally issued last week. He called the rules “an unlawful overreach that shows just how far President Trump will go to control elections,” and the state’s lawsuit an effort to “protect election integrity.”

Essayli soon replied, writing, “What election integrity? You’re fighting to preserve non-citizens’ access to mail ballots. I’ve never seen a state AG fight this hard to shield fraudsters and illegals from accountability. Imagine if he used his efforts to protect citizens.”

On Thursday morning, Bonta replied. “Simply untrue. We’re fighting to uphold the constitution and protect California’s right to administer our own elections,” he wrote.

“If you’re really concerned with election integrity, might I suggest starting with Donald Trump who: asked for 10,000+ votes from election officials in Georgia, fueled January 6, seized ballots, and issued two blatantly unlawful elections executive orders,” Bonta said.

After he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and asked him to “find 11,780 votes” for Trump to swing the state from Biden to him.

A later congressional investigation found that Trump provoked his supporters into attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to prevent the certification of Biden’s win. This January, the FBI raided and seized ballots from an election center in Fulton County, Ga. — a focus of Trump’s 2020 election denial.

“Trump has repeatedly shown he’ll stop at nothing to interfere in our elections. He’s repeatedly broken the law, so we’ve repeatedly taken him to court,” Bonta continued in his post. “Unfortunately, it appears that the First Assistant is more interested in currying favor with a desperate wannabe dictator than upholding the law himself.”

In agreeing late Thursday to halt the Postal Service rules, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani wrote that the court did not have “any evidence regarding fraudulent absentee or mail-in voting” before it, and that the Postal Service’s “interest in correcting an unsubstantiated problem through likely unconstitutional means is dwarfed by the overwhelming risk of pervasive disenfranchisement of citizens who need access to mail ballots in order to vote.”

Bonta, back on X, praised the ruling, writing, “President Trump must keep his hands off our elections.”