On the heels of President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated and false claim-recycling prime-time address, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin today singled out New Jersey, saying he would use “maximum pressure” to ferret out any "illegally cast votes" in the upcoming November general election.

In a statement on Friday, Mullin said he sent a letter to secretaries of state in four states, including NJ, citing preliminary reviews of the states' records.

"A preliminary @DHSgov review found over 250,000 non-citizens registered to vote in four states: California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Nevada. This shouldn’t be a red or blue state issue: ONLY Americans should elect American leaders. We’ve put these governors on notice. States must work with us to ensure free, fair, and honest elections."

In the letter, he asked election officials to check voter rolls for people who ‌are not U.S. citizens, and threatened states that refuse to cooperate.

Earlier today, commenting on the speech the President delivered last night, Lieutenant Governor Dale Caldwell, who serves as secretary of state in New Jersey, said Trump is only trying to scare people. He would not comment at this time on Mullin's letter, as he said he has not yet seen the letter.

More, from The Hill:

“We’re not trying to get into anything else, but we’re saying that the machines had to be secured and that your voter registration list needs to be scrubbed,” he told reporters on Friday.

“I will tell you if the states choose not to participate — we will make sure that we make those states a priority to look at who voted in their states and hold the election officials accountable,” he added.

Mullin spent much of the press conference exploring the possibility that noncitizens might vote in elections, even though studies have found instances are incredibly rare.

The left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice found 30 instances of noncitizen voting out of 23.5 million votes as it reviewed in the 2016 election. Meanwhile, the conservative Heritage Foundation found just 24 instances of noncitizen voting over the 20-year period between 2003 and 2023.