The next attorney general will likely be an election denier

Monday afternoon, “Election integrityA call organized by conservative podcaster Steve Stern appeared Who is an election denier? Reworked years ago Conspiracy theories About rigged elections and hijacked voting machines.

These types of calls have been happening for years. But unlike similar calls I listened to in 2021 and 2022, which were filled with then-unknown activists and most of them screaming into the void, this call was filled with people who were allegedly part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. They claim they are still listening to the president when it comes to trying to undermine democratic elections in the United States.

As Trump prepares to choose the next Attorney General after the decision to dismiss him last week Pam BondiSome of these numbers claim to have already made an impact.

A number of speakers complained that it was in Trump’s best interests to have him in office Ministry of Justice He dropped the ball when it came to making real changes regarding how elections are conducted in the country — a matter reserved, under the Constitution, for the states and Congress.

“The fact that these things are not being investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent possible” — the “things” he was referring to are allegations that voting machines were used to rig the election — “is deeply concerning to me, because it means that some people on our side, or on our alleged side, are literally shooting down, obstructing and manipulating,” said House Representative John Eastman. Engineer this effort He announced the cancellation of the 2020 election, and is now a senior fellow at the far-right think tank the Claremont Institute, in a call on Monday.

Previous shame National Security Advisor Michael Flynn He agreed, adding, “We just wasted a year by not getting where the Department of Justice should have gotten,” before going on to refer to people at the agency as the “deep state.”

The Department of Justice actually was They are working hard to undermine confidence in the electionsand filed dozens of lawsuits against states demanding that they share unredacted voter lists. And it might as well Take it apart The highly respected Voting Division within the Civil Rights Division, replacing lawyers with experience with Trump loyalists who spread election conspiracies. But Flynn was not the only one who was unaffected.

“Pam Bondi was terrible,” said Wayne Root, a right-wing radio host who previously promoted the false conspiracy about former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. “No terrible deep state thieves and Democrats, no crooks and traitors, no arrests of any kind.” “We have to change that. I hope he comes up with the right prosecutor. I’ve given him some good suggestions.” Root claimed he urged the president to fire Bondi shortly before she was removed from office.

He also claimed during the call that he sent a text message to Trump last month urging him to sign an executive order on mail-in voting. A few days later, Root says, Trump signed the order. (Route did not tell WIRED if the president responded. “The president is the only person who decides if and when to sign an executive order,” Abigail Jackson, a White House press secretary, told WIRED.)

Root’s short list includes several favorites for the role of attorney general, but all of those nominated to replace Bondi on a permanent basis have significant bona fides when it comes to promoting election-denying conspiracy theories.

Todd Blanche, the current acting attorney general, is well aware of Trump’s claims about a rigged election. Blanche, who served as Bondy’s deputy prosecutor, was previously Trump’s personal attorney and served on the president’s defense teams on charges related to… Stormy Daniels, Keep confidential documentsand Obstructing federal elections.