Operation Fake News: Secret Movement Behind Trump's Election Misinformation Revealed — From Years of Republican Activists' Recordings
Donald Trump's secret team of lawyers and sleuths in bid to swing 2024 election his way.
Oct. 31 2024, Updated 9:44 a.m. ET
Donald Trump has a secret army of political activists who have been battling hard since he lost the last election to try and swing the new vote in favor of the Republican party.
And they will move into action and claim the process was rigged for a second time if he loses again.
Donald Trump has a secret army of political activists who have been battling hard since he lost the last election to try and swing the new vote in favor of the Republican party.
One of his election lawyers set out to keep the lies and theories about his loss alive and alter electoral practice for this year's contest RadarOnline reports.
The lawyer Cleta Mitchell brought together grass-roots activists, Republican lawyers, party officials, and rich funding groups into a vast national network.
One of Donald Trump's election lawyers set out to keep the lies and theories about his loss alive and alter electoral practice for this year's contest.
Over the past four years, her Election Integrity Network has turned Trump’s falsehoods about corruption in the democratic system and turned them into action.
They have been laying the groundwork that could be used to contest a Trump defeat.
Its participants have taken internet conspiracy theories to Congress. They successfully lobbied for new state election laws and procedures, diving deep into the intricacies of election regulations. They took to the streets on the hunt for evidence of election fraud.
Over the past four years, election lawyer Cleta Mitchell's Election Integrity Network has turned Trump’s falsehoods about corruption in the democratic system and turned them into action.
The New York Times has obtained recordings of more than 400 of those meetings, over 400 hours of conversations, along with additional documents and training materials.
Groups funded by the megadonors Rebecca Dunn, and Richard Uihlein, as well as the Bradley Impact Foundation — provided organizational and financial backing.
The New York Times has obtained recordings of more than 400 of those meetings, over 400 hours of conversations, along with additional documents and training materials.
Ms. Mitchell and others who played pivotal roles in Mr. Trump’s attempt to subvert the 2020 election, including the former law professor John Eastman, the architect of the fake electors scheme, advised the ranks of activists as they sought to remove thousands of voters from the rolls and pushed to reimagine how elections are certified.
Mitchell’s network nurtured a cast of amateur election sleuths and armchair experts who often see evidence of election fraud in processes that they misinterpret.
Cleta Mitchell and others who played pivotal roles in Mr. Trump’s attempt to subvert the 2020 election, including the former law professor John Eastman, the architect of the fake electors scheme, advised the ranks of activists as they sought to remove thousands of voters from the rolls and pushed to reimagine how elections are certified.
In Nevada, they tried to have dozens of voters tossed off the rolls because they did not live in the state, only to learn some of the voters were members of the military posted overseas.
When a retired family doctor in Georgia claimed to have designed new software that could identify ineligible voters, the Texas attorney general called and asked how he could help, the records show. Experts said the methodology was fundamentally flawed.
In Nevada, they tried to have dozens of voters tossed off the rolls because they did not live in the state, only to learn some of the voters were members of the military posted overseas.
These activists are now embedded in the nation’s election system
Some sit on election boards, where they will be tasked with certifying results. Thousands will serve as poll monitors and workers posted at precincts across swing states where they will document what they say are signs of malfeasance or fraud.
These activists are now embedded in the nation’s election system.
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Asked for comment, Ms. Mitchell said the activists "are dedicated to reclaiming our election systems to help ensure that the elections are conducted in accordance with applicable law, that the process is fully transparent and that election officials count the votes accurately".
Republican losses in the midterm elections left the network looking for a new, more aggressive strategy for 2024. It settled on a mass effort to rid the voter rolls of people believed to be ineligible.
Republican losses in the midterm elections left the network looking for a new, more aggressive strategy for 2024.
John Richards Jr., the doctor from Georgia, developed a software system he said could be used to identify suspicious voter registrations. On conference calls, leaders instructed activists to pore over records and go searching for evidence that voters’ addresses were wrong.
They knocked on doors, drove by parking lots, looked up utility records, and took photos. They discussed searching for voters with "ethnic names".
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