A group of right-wing movement leaders signed a Dec. 30 letter to Senate Republicans urging them to “protect the republic” by contesting electors from battleground states won by Joe Biden. Also signing the letter was Cleta Mitchell, the right-wing lawyer who took part in President Donald Trump’s instantly notorious call badgering Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” new votes and “recalculate” the results of the 2020 presidential election to deliver the state’s electoral votes to Trump. On the call, Mitchell said she has been working with Trump’s team for “weeks.”
The letter was released by the Conservative Action Project, which is affiliated with the Council for National Policy, a secretive and influential network of leaders spanning different sectors of the right-wing movement. Many of its leaders have been active in the so-called “Stop the Steal” campaign to overturn Biden’s victory. The group released another letter a few weeks ago, signed by many of the same people, urging state legislatures to overturn swing state results.
The new letter says the Constitution gives state legislatures “plenary power” to choose electors. But, the letter claims, since state election laws were “ignored or violated” this year, “the decisions regarding the electors must revert to the constitutional procedures.”
Here is more from the letter, which repeats claims that have been repeatedly debunked or rejected by courts:
Following the 2020 election, substantial evidence has been presented to courts and state legislatures of clear and extensive election irregularities, violations of state law, and large numbers of illegal votes that were counted and certified. In several states, there are more illegal votes included in the certified numbers than the margin of victory for the certified winner from the state.
More than 50 million American voters believe the election was stolen or somehow illegitimate due to the large number of irregularities, illegal votes improperly counted, the myriad state laws that were ignored or violated, and elections that were conducted in a manner significantly inconsistent with state law.
This situation is unsustainable in a democratic republic. The people must know there is integrity in the election process and that their votes matter. The American people have a right to know and believe that the election of the President of the United States is legitimate and conforms to the plain language of the laws and the United States Constitution.
We call upon you to do your duty under the Constitution. We ask you to conduct a public hearing prior to the counting of electoral votes on January 6, and receive and review the evidence of the problems of the state elections, particularly in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona. We ask you to study carefully and consider the Constitutional obligations and duties conferred upon you as Senators. Be willing to stand up for the Constitution and the rule of law, and contest the electoral votes from these states. Only then will these matters be addressed publicly, and the restoration of the constitutional system assured.
Ken Blackwell, known as a relentless deployer of voter suppression techniques when he served as Ohio secretary of state, also signed the letter. Blackwell, who has used wildly inflammatory rhetoric in making unsubstantiated claims about how the 2020 election was carried out in Pennsylvania, tweeted a video Monday morning urging people to “protect our republic” by demanding that legislators support challenges to the Electoral College certification.
Full list of signers of the Dec. 30 letter as posted by the Conservative Action Project
Alfred S. Regnery
Chairman, Conservative Action Project
President, Republic Book Publishers
The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell
Chairman
Constitutional Congress, Inc.
Brent Bozell, III
Founder and President
Media Research Center
The Honorable Bob McEwen
U.S. House of Representatives
Former Member, Ohio
The Honorable Morton C. Blackwell
President
The Leadership Institute
Thomas Fitton
President
Judicial Watch, Inc.
Jenny Beth Martin
Chairman
Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund
Kelly J. Shackelford, Esq.
Chairman, CNP Action, Inc.
President and CEO, First Liberty Institute
Cleta Mitchell
Attorney
The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop
White House Advisor
President Ronald Reagan (1981-1985)
Mary Vought
Executive Director
Senate Conservatives Fund
Myron Ebell
Director, Center for Energy and Environment
Competitive Enterprise Institute
The Honorable Jim DeMint
Chairman, Conservative Partnership Institute
Member, US Senate (SC 2005-2013)
Ed Corrigan
Vice Chairman, Conservative Action Project
President & CEO, Conservative Partnership Institute
Wesley Denton
Chief Operating Officer
Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI)
William L. Walton
President
Council for National Policy
The Honorable Colin A. Hanna
President
Let Freedom Ring, Inc.
The Honorable Tony Perkins
President
Family Research Council
The Honorable Donald Paul Hodel
U.S. Secretary of Energy (1982-1985)
U.S. Secretary of Interior (1985-1989)
