The legislative panel overseeing elections within the Republican-controlled House has recruited two ex-Trump administration personnel who were implicated in the 2020 false elector hoax.
The alignment between Trump's 2024 team and the Republican-led committee managing election oversight implies that the same individuals involved in Trump's lawful maneuvers are being stationed in vital positions on Capitol Hill before Congress' symbolic yet crucial duty of certifying the 2024 election on January 6, 2025.
The appointments also indicate that the Republican-dominated House is poised to flood the zone with Trump's newest string of lies concerning ballots, vote counting, and the election process, and is preparing to contest a potential defeat in November.
The Committee on House Administration, typically a low-key body, plays a significant role on January 6 when Congress verifies the election. If the Republicans retain control of the House, the panel's chairman, Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, is expected to be one of the four lawmakers seated at the dais reading electoral votes, and his staff will be guiding members on the procedures at hand.
Recently, committee Republicans hired Joshua Findlay, a former Trump campaign lawyer, to serve as a consultant on election law matters until the end of this Congress, as per the consultant contract obtained by CNN. Previously, they appointed Thomas Lane, another Trump official who acted as a backup fake elector in Arizona in 2020, to oversee their inquiry into elections.
Over the past year, according to committee documents, the House Administration elections subcommittee has engaged with organizations such as the Republican National Committee, now under Trump's control and his campaign; the Conservative Partnership Institute, a group affiliated with Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows; and the Election Integrity Network, led by Cleta Mitchell, who was on the phone with Trump in January 2021 urging Georgia's secretary of state to "find" the votes necessary for his 2020 presidential election victory.
The committee confirmed the appointments to CNN. "Chairman Bryan Steil is dedicated to improving our nation's election integrity and increasing Americans' confidence in our elections," a spokesman stated.
Findlay participated in phone calls and meetings about fake electors through at least mid-December 2020, specifically in Georgia, according to sources and deposition transcripts obtained by CNN. He then served as the Republican National Committee’s national director of election integrity.
In an email chain with Trump lawyers and campaign officials discussing the next steps with the alternate slate of electors, Findlay provided an update on the electors' status and litigation in each battleground state.
"I have also attached drafts of voting instructions, ballots, and Certificates of Vote for each state. These documents will require review to ensure they comply with state and federal law" Findlay wrote on December 11, 2020, as per emails obtained by CNN.
According to his consultant contract, Findlay will advise GOP members and staffers assigned as election observers on significant battleground states about election laws and intervening if observers are denied access to election sites.
A committee spokesperson told CNN that Findlay's contract ends on November 30 and is only related to the Election Observer Program.
Findlay has collaborated closely with Mitchell, who assisted Trump in attempting to overturn the 2020 election. He eventually informed the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, that he could not find evidence to back up the fraud allegations in Georgia.
"I think there were a lot of legitimate concerns about election administration in general. But, you know, the major complaints you would hear about, such as massive vote swaps and the like, we never – at least in Georgia, we never found any evidence of that," Findlay stated in May 2022.
Republicans on the committee previously hired another Trump official who acted as a backup fake elector in Arizona in 2020 to lead their investigation into elections. Emails obtained by CNN show that Lane was involved in planning who would serve as fake electors in Arizona, collecting contact information, and discussing the locations where the fake electors would meet. Lane was slated to substitute as a fake elector if there were absences on the day the fake electors in Arizona met, according to documents obtained by CNN.
Lane, now listed as the Elections Counsel & Director of Elections Coalition on committee records, was also subpoenaed by the Department of Justice as part of the federal investigation into the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
"I'm here to do everything I can to make this successful," Lane wrote in an email thread on December 12, 2020, discussing fake elector logistics with then-Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro and Arizona state party chair Kelli Ward, one of the most vocal advocates for the scheme in the state.
Steil, who supported the verification of the 2020 presidential election result, is now dealing with conflicting parties as the previous president and his supporters, who claim the 2020 election was rigged, are urging Steil to lead the charge this time, specifically through his investigation into ActBlue, the Democratic digital fundraising platform.
At a Juneau, Wisconsin rally, Trump commended Steil, stating, "You have a young, talented congressman, and he's on a committee, a crucial one, studying fraud and the fraud within the Democratic Party, particularly their campaign financing practices. It's a massive scandal."
Praising Trump, Steil reported his panel's investigation into ActBlue to five Republican attorneys general.
"They're delving into this information, Mr. Trump. I believe they'll uncover a plethora of answers for you soon," Steil said.
Steil's legal team has been scrutinizing ActBlue's donor verification policies and procedures for almost a year, but broadened the examination in August, demanding the FEC to immediately intervene and compel ActBlue to validate the credit card details of online contributors.
As part of his referral to the five Republican attorneys general in September, Steil referenced "whistleblower reports" and offered "detailed donor records" based on "extensive data analysis, scrutinizing over 200 million FEC records from the past 14 years."
Democrats on the committee have not been granted access to this information, as per a source familiar with the situation who spoke to CNN. (Since Republicans hold a majority, they are not obligated to share their findings.)
The panel's decision to heighten its investigation also sparked controversy. ActBlue informed Steil in November 2023 that they did not necessitate donors to verify their information online prior to payment, but Steil waited nine months before formally appealing to the FEC to intervene in August. Steil's account of events highlights this delay.
Given the recent push from the panel to publicize its findings, a senior Republican aide told CNN, "We tried to bring these issues up in the non-election sphere, and we received absolutely no coverage at all."
Historically, the House Administration panel is perceived as an extension of the House speaker and minority leader, as all committee members are selected by the party leaders and play a significant role in decision-making processes.
Both parties aim for bipartisanship. However, this is less of a reality now, particularly in relation to elections, as per a source familiar with the committee's operations.
"Now, it's become a pure partisan affair with both sides throwing rotten fruit at each other," the individual said. "This isn't how it used to be; it only recently transformed into this."
CNN's Marshall Cohen, Zachary Cohen, and Paula Reid contributed to this report.
The Republican-led House committee's hiring of Joshua Findlay, a former Trump campaign lawyer, indicates a deep involvement of individuals from Trump's 2020 team in elections-related matters, potentially influencing the politics surrounding the 2024 election.
The Committee on House Administration's role in verifying the election on January 6, 2025, and the Republican-dominated House's expected use of the panel to contest potential election losses, underscores the significant impact of politics on the electoral process.
