CNN —
As the Republican-led committee prepares to take center stage in an unknown post-election landscape upon its return to Congress, House Republicans on the committee with broad jurisdiction over national elections have announced the 2020 False Voters Plan. Hired at least two former Donald Trump campaign officials involved in In November.
The overlap between Trump’s 2020 team and the Republican-led committees responsible for election oversight means that the same people involved in Trump’s legal maneuvers are now in crucial but largely ceremonial roles in Congress. Previously, it has been shown that he was placed in an important position in the National Diet Building. To certify the 2024 election on January 6, 2025.
The appointment also puts the House, now under Republican control, in a favorable position to flood the region with President Trump’s new series of lies about ballots, vote counting and the election process, leading to a potential defeat in November. This shows that they are building the foundations to counter this. .
The usually low-profile House Administration Committee will also play an important role on January 6, when Congress certifies the election. If Republicans maintain the House majority, the committee’s chairman, Rep. Brian Still of Wisconsin, is expected to be one of four lawmakers to sit on stage and read the electoral votes. The committee’s staff will advise lawmakers on the ongoing process.
Earlier this month, Republicans on the committee hired former Trump campaign lawyer Joshua Findlay to serve as a consultant on election law issues until the end of this Congress, according to a consulting contract obtained by CNN. They previously hired Thomas Lane, another Trump official who served as a sham electoral reserve in Arizona in 2020, to lead the election investigation.
The House Governmental Elections Subcommittee has met with groups such as the Republican National Committee, which is currently under the control of Mr. Trump and his campaign, over the past year, according to committee records. the Conservative Partnership Institute, a group associated with President Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows; And the Election Integrity Network, run by Cleta Mitchell, said that in January 2021, President Trump urged Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” the votes he needed to win the 2020 presidential election. I was talking on the phone.
The committee confirmed the hiring to CNN. “Chairman Brian Steele is committed to strengthening the integrity of our nation’s elections and increasing the American people’s confidence in them,” the spokesperson said.
Mr. Findlay participated in calls and meetings regarding fake electors, particularly in Georgia, through at least mid-December 2020, according to people familiar with the discussions and depositions obtained by CNN. He later served as the National Election Integrity Director for the Republican National Committee.
In a series of emails with Trump’s lawyers and campaign officials, Findlay discussed how to move forward with the elector replacement plan, and discussed the status of the electorate and litigation with battleground states. Provided the latest information to the group.
“I have also attached draft voting instructions, ballots, and certificates for each state,” Findlay wrote on Dec. 11, 2020, according to an email obtained by CNN.
According to the consulting contract, Mr. Findlay will advise Republican lawmakers and committee staff dispatched as election observers in key battleground states on election laws and assist them in cases where observers are denied access to election sites. will intervene.
A commission spokesperson told CNN that Findlay’s contract ends on Nov. 30 and relates only to the election observer program.
Mr. Findlay has worked closely with Mr. Mitchell, who helped Mr. Trump try to overturn the 2020 election. He ultimately told the House Select Committee conducting the investigation on January 6, 2021, that he found no evidence to support the fraud allegations in Georgia.
“I think there were a lot of legitimate complaints about election administration in general. But, you know, we never had any of the big complaints that you often hear about large-scale vote flips and things like that,” he said. At least in Georgia, we found no evidence of that at all,” Findlay said. In May 2022.
Republicans on the committee previously tapped another Trump official who served as a sham electorate in Arizona in 2020 to lead the election investigation. Emails obtained by CNN show Lane was involved in planning who would serve as fake electors in Arizona, gathering contact information and discussing where the fake electors would meet. According to documents obtained by CNN, Mr. Lane was scheduled to serve as a substitute elector in the event of an absence on the day Arizona’s fake electors were assembled.
Lane, who is currently listed in the committee’s records as a campaign consultant and campaign coalition director, was also subpoenaed by the Justice Department as part of a federal investigation into a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Lane sent a series of emails on Dec. 12, 2020, including with then-Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro and Kerry Ward, one of the most outspoken Arizona party chairs. “I am here to do everything in my power to make this work a success,” he wrote. Vocal supporters of the plan in the state are discussing the logistics of fake electors.
If the Republicans retain control, Chairman Steil, who is running for re-election, will take center stage in the January 6, 2025 election.
Putting Steil and his committee’s role in context, a Republican official familiar with the process told CNN: , you have to use your turn signals, your brake lights are out, that’s the role of the House Manager. So I don’t think you can overstate the role they play today. ”
Steil, who voted to certify the 2020 presidential election, is hopeful that the former president and his allies, who claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen, will carry the torch this time around, especially through Steil’s investigation. Therefore, they must fight against competing forces. ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s online fundraising platform.
Earlier this month, at a rally in Juneau, Wisconsin, President Trump said of Steil: “We have a young, talented congressman, and he’s on a committee, and it’s a very important committee. We are investigating possible misconduct within the organization.” They’re doing it in the form of campaign contributions. And it’s a tremendous scandal. ”
Mr. Steil praised Mr. Trump and explained how he handed over the committee’s investigation into ActBlue to five Republican attorneys general.
“They’re digging into this information, Mr. Trump. I think they’ll have a lot of answers soon,” Steil said.
Steil’s legal team has been investigating ActBlue’s donor verification policies and procedures for nearly a year, but in August they expanded their investigation and immediately intervened with the FEC, demanding that ActBlue verify the credit cards of donors who donate online. I asked to confirm the information.
As part of his referral to five Republican attorneys general in September, Steil cited “reports received from whistleblowers” and “extensive data review of over 200 million FEC records over the past 14 years. provided “detailed donor records” based on “analysis”.
Democrats on the committee were not given any of this information, a person familiar with the process told CNN. (Republicans are in the majority, so they don’t have to share their findings.)
Questions have also been raised about the timing of the committee’s escalation of the investigation. ActBlue told Steil in November 2023 that it does not require donors to verify information online before making payments, but Steil did not formally ask the FEC to intervene in August until 9 The months of waiting were revealed in Steil’s own recount of events.
In response to the committee’s recent efforts to publicize its work, one Republican official told CNN, “We’ve tried our best to bring these points up in areas other than elections, but there’s literally no coverage at all.” There wasn’t,” he said.
The House Administration Committee has historically been seen as an extension of the House Speaker and minority leader because, unlike other committees, party leadership selects all members and is deeply involved in decisions.
Both sides want it to operate in a bipartisan manner. But one person familiar with the committee’s work said that is not the case now, especially when it comes to elections.
“Now they’re throwing rotten fruit back and forth like this pure partisan thing,” the source said. “That’s what happened. It wasn’t like that until recently.”
CNN’s Marshall Cohen, Zachary Cohen and Paula Reed contributed to this report.
