Where Trump Has Installed Election Deniers in Government
New York Times
Mar-26-2026
When President Trump sought to overturn his loss in the 2020 election and remain in power, resistance from within his own government helped to stop him.
Top Justice Department officials rejected his specious claims that the vote had been marred by widespread fraud. Senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security refused to go along with his outlandish efforts to seize voting machines. Cybersecurity experts praised the count as secure, and the intelligence community sidestepped his requests to declare that foreign nations had interfered in the results.
But Mr. Trump’s second term looks very different. The president has filled his administration with people who are sympathetic to his baseless claims that the presidential race more than five years ago was stolen.
These officials have been put into positions across the federal government, at the White House and in agencies where they could play a role in undermining the midterm elections and the 2028 presidential cycle.
At the same time, Mr. Trump has maintained allies in Congress and in state governments who could wield significant power over the process of counting votes and the seating of members of the House.
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, sidestepped questions about Mr. Trump’s personnel decisions and instead asserted that he was “committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections.” She pointed to the president’s efforts to have Congress pass legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification to vote, prohibit mail-in ballots and bar the practice of ballot harvesting — having one person turn in mail ballots for several others.
“The vast majority of Americans support President Trump’s common-sense election integrity agenda,” Ms. Jackson said.
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said that the agencies were focused on keeping elections safe and secure, and were working to carry out the president’s policies on elections. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
With Mr. Trump consistently seeking to sow doubts about the integrity of elections, the number of election deniers he has installed across the administration means he would face fewer checks on any efforts to undermine an outcome he did not like, and could more easily amplify baseless claims of fraud.
Here is a list of some of the key players, appointed by Trump to create an illusion that fraud was committed in 2020, under: if there was no fraud, why are all these people working on it?
Moat were involved in effort that failed to win in local, federal and supreme court cases. Some multiple times (for instance all the efforts supporting Kari Lake's claims of fraud).
Kurt Olsen
Clay Parikh
Tuksi Gabbard
Pam Bondi
Kash Patel
Harmeet K. Dhillon
Eric Neff
Christopher Gardner
Megan Frederick
Joseph Voiland
Sigal Chattah
Jeanine Pirro
Markwayne Mullin
Heather Honey
Marci McCarthy
Gregg Phillips
David Harvilicz
Mar-26-2026
When President Trump sought to overturn his loss in the 2020 election and remain in power, resistance from within his own government helped to stop him.
Top Justice Department officials rejected his specious claims that the vote had been marred by widespread fraud. Senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security refused to go along with his outlandish efforts to seize voting machines. Cybersecurity experts praised the count as secure, and the intelligence community sidestepped his requests to declare that foreign nations had interfered in the results.
But Mr. Trump’s second term looks very different. The president has filled his administration with people who are sympathetic to his baseless claims that the presidential race more than five years ago was stolen.
These officials have been put into positions across the federal government, at the White House and in agencies where they could play a role in undermining the midterm elections and the 2028 presidential cycle.
At the same time, Mr. Trump has maintained allies in Congress and in state governments who could wield significant power over the process of counting votes and the seating of members of the House.
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, sidestepped questions about Mr. Trump’s personnel decisions and instead asserted that he was “committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections.” She pointed to the president’s efforts to have Congress pass legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification to vote, prohibit mail-in ballots and bar the practice of ballot harvesting — having one person turn in mail ballots for several others.
“The vast majority of Americans support President Trump’s common-sense election integrity agenda,” Ms. Jackson said.
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said that the agencies were focused on keeping elections safe and secure, and were working to carry out the president’s policies on elections. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
With Mr. Trump consistently seeking to sow doubts about the integrity of elections, the number of election deniers he has installed across the administration means he would face fewer checks on any efforts to undermine an outcome he did not like, and could more easily amplify baseless claims of fraud.
Here is a list of some of the key players, appointed by Trump to create an illusion that fraud was committed in 2020, under: if there was no fraud, why are all these people working on it?
Moat were involved in effort that failed to win in local, federal and supreme court cases. Some multiple times (for instance all the efforts supporting Kari Lake's claims of fraud).
Kurt Olsen
Clay Parikh
Tuksi Gabbard
Pam Bondi
Kash Patel
Harmeet K. Dhillon
Eric Neff
Christopher Gardner
Megan Frederick
Joseph Voiland
Sigal Chattah
Jeanine Pirro
Markwayne Mullin
Heather Honey
Marci McCarthy
Gregg Phillips
David Harvilicz
