A front-page investigation from the New York Times published last week reveals that Donald Trump allies are laying the groundwork for an attempted hostile takeover of American elections – beginning with a fake “national emergency” designed to override local and state procedures, sideline Congress, and reshape voting rules with executive power.
The story broke last week as the lead feature on the NYT homepage and appeared on the front page of Thursday’s print edition – yet has been underreported elsewhere.
Operatives from the Election Integrity Network are being appointed to key federal government positions to attack the independence of elections from the inside. The Election Integrity Network (EIN) is a group founded by Cleta Mitchell, one of Trump’s lawyers and an architect of the plot to overturn his 2020 election loss.
EIN is well-funded and spreads mis- and disinformation, pressures election officials with recruited activists, and engages in lobbying efforts to advance voter suppression laws in Congress and state legislatures. One top EIN operative, now in a U.S. Department of Homeland Security role, says they can “take steps without Congress” and “mandate” election rules for states.
Key Takeaways From The New York Times Investigation
Trump Allies Discussed Invoking a “National Emergency” to Seize Control of Elections:
Senior officials aligned with Trump are plotting a “national emergency” that they believe would allow them to mandate changes to local and state election procedures without going through Congress – based on Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims courts have repeatedly rejected.
On a call with right-wing activists in March, before her appointment to the Homeland Security Department, Ms. Honey suggested that the new administration could declare a “national emergency” and justify dictating new rules to state and local governments.
“We can take these other steps without Congress and we can mandate that states do things.” – Heather Honey.
Heather Honey is Now a Senior Federal Official at DHS:
Honey, best known for promoting the false claim that Pennsylvania had more votes than voters, is now serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Election Integrity at DHS.
Heather Honey, a former leader in Trump’s Election Integrity Network, now holds a top federal position overseeing election integrity at DHS. She has openly discussed using emergency powers to override state laws, going around Congress, and using debunked fraud claims to drive federal action.
“So in Pennsylvania, you had 205,000 more votes than you had voters.” – Donald Trump, Jan. 6 speech (false claim circulated by Honey).
More Election Deniers are Gaining Influence:
Marci McCarthy, another EIN operative, is now Public Affairs Director at CISA, the agency responsible for protecting U.S. election infrastructure. Together, McCarthy and Honey are reshaping how the federal government talks about – and enforces – election policy.
McCarthy, EIN operative and former DeKalb County GOP Chair in Georgia, is now the Public Affairs Director at CISA, helping manage messaging and priorities.
By staffing DHS and CISA with election skeptics and EIN activists, the administration is turning the institutions meant to safeguard democracy into enforcement arms for their agenda, threatening election security, sowing confusion, and normalizing false claims as tools of federal policy.
This is a Power Grab:
The goal isn’t election security – it’s control. The NY Times documents how Trump’s team is embedding conspiracy theorists in government, inventing crises, and using false claims to justify a federal takeover of elections.
Election deniers are being embedded in federal agencies with the goal of manufacturing chaos and using it to seize control.
“These people are not coming with an objective frame of mind to say let’s look at the facts and see where that takes us,” said Matt Crane, a former Republican elections official who is the executive director of the Colorado Clerks Association and served until earlier this year as a consultant for CISA.
“They have their destination in mind and cherry-pick facts to help stand up their crazy theories, so there’s nothing objective about it,” said Matt Crane.
Protecting independent elections is critical to a functioning democracy.
Stay vigilant,
Fair Fight Team
Another angle that will be hard to explain to the general public how pernicious and damaging this is to a fair democracy.
Don't doubt this for a minute.
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