connie hair gohmert

==<a href="https://www.msnbc.com/congress/jan-6-hearings/live-blog/live-updates-analysis-day-5-rcna34785" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.msnbc.com/congress/jan-6-hearings/live-blog/live-updates-analysis-day-5-rcna34785</a><div class="styles_cardTimestampzTumd styles_eventEndedKgMbW" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; --ts--text-color:var(--grey-70,#2a2a2a); --ts--font-weight:400; --ts--letter-spacing:-0.5px; --ts--font-family:var(--founders-cond); margin-top: 0.5625rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="styles_timestampdS4G7 timestamp" style="box-sizing: border-box; --ts--font-family:var(--founders-mono); --ts--font-weight:var(--normal); font-weight: var(--ts--font-weight); letter-spacing: var(--ts--letter-spacing,normal); line-height: var(--leading-100);">99d ago /</div></div><h2 class="styles_cardHeadlinepyPuZ" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.75rem 0px 1.25rem; --card-headline--color: inherit; --card-headline--font-family:var(--founders-cond); --card-headline--font-size:var(--text-24); --card-headline--font-weight:var(--normal); --card-headline--line-height:var(--leading-100); font-weight: var(--card-headline--font-weight); line-height: var(--card-headline--line-height); clear: both; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Day 5 offers new evidence — and new mysteries</h2><div class="styles_cardBylineiFouW" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; --cb--byline-thumbnail--margin:0 var(--spacing-2) 0 0; --cb--authors--color:var(--grey-60); --cb--authors--font-size:1; --cb--authors--font-family:var(--founders-cond); --cb--authors--font-weight:normal; --cb--authors--line-height:var(--leading-100); --cb--authors--margin:0; display: flex; margin-bottom: var(--spacing-5); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="styles_innerBqhn1" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><p class="styles_authorspctbg" style="margin: var(--cb--authors--margin); box-sizing: border-box; align-self: center; font-weight: var(--cb--authors--font-weight); line-height: var(--cb--authors--line-height);">Lisa Rubin</div></div>As at prior hearings, the House select committee offered new evidence today, including evidence of GOP congressmembers’ consciousness of guilt. (<a href="https://www.msnbc.com/congress/jan-6-hearings/live-blog/live-updates-analysis-day-5-rcna34785?icid=ed_npd_nn_nn_np_liveblog#rcrd3029" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">You don’t ask for a pardon </a>unless you think there’s a decent chance you broke the law — and could be prosecuted.)But some of the new evidence was just as puzzling as it was tantalizing. Consider two examples.First, the committee asserted today that <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/congress/jan-6-hearings/live-blog/live-updates-analysis-day-5-rcna34785?icid=ed_npd_nn_nn_np_liveblog#rcrd3011" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">lawyer Ken Klukowski</a>, who served in the Justice Department for a hot minute, collaborated with John Eastman and Jeffrey Bossert Clark on aspects of Trump’s scheme. But how did Klukowski come to DOJ, where, as Liz Cheney noted, he was specifically assigned to Clark, in the first place?one clue comes from the Dec. 28, 2021 email the committee showed today, in which GOP activist and Family Research Council fellow Ken Blackwell advocated that Eastman and Klukowski brief Pence and his team. That email was sent to two people: Rep. Louis Gohmert’s chief of staff, Connie Hair, and <a href="https://www.cpi.org/staff/ed-corrigan/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Ed Corrigan</a>, the president and CEO of the Conservative Partnership Institute, or CPI. If CPI sounds familiar to you, it should. It’s where <a href="https://www.cpi.org/staff/mark-meadows/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Mark Meadows </a>is now a “Senior Partner,” and it was <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-gave-1m-meadows-nonprofit-weeks-after-jan-6-panel-n1288334" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">the beneficiary of a $1 million donation from Trump</a> in the weeks after the select committee was created.What sway, if any, Corrigan and Hair had over Pence and his staff is unknown. But it bears noting that Corrigan had prior experience filling administration jobs for Trump; <a href="https://www.cpi.org/staff/ed-corrigan/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">as his CPI bio reads</a>, he led “the personnel selection process for all domestic policy departments” for Trump’s 2016 transition.Second, the committee noted, in describing the run up to the Jan. 3, 2021 Oval Office meeting, that <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/congress/jan-6-hearings/live-blog/live-updates-analysis-day-5-rcna34785?icid=ed_npd_nn_nn_np_liveblog#rcrd3028" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">Jeff Clark was already being referred to as </a>the acting attorney general on White House call logs late that afternoon. The <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/no-simple-fix-patching-gap-trump-january-6-call-log-rcna22900" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">absence of call logs for Jan. 6</a> itself has already been thoroughly explored, but is it possible that such logs for other, significant days reveal more than we would have expected? Looks like we’ll have to wait at least until hearings resume next month to find out.
---<div class="styles_cardTimestampzTumd styles_eventEndedKgMbW" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; --ts--text-color:var(--grey-70,#2a2a2a); --ts--font-weight:400; --ts--letter-spacing:-0.5px; --ts--font-family:var(--founders-cond); margin-top: 0.5625rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="styles_timestampdS4G7 timestamp" style="box-sizing: border-box; --ts--font-family:var(--founders-mono); --ts--font-weight:var(--normal); font-weight: var(--ts--font-weight); letter-spacing: var(--ts--letter-spacing,normal); line-height: var(--leading-100);">99d ago /  9 22 access</div></div><h2 class="styles_cardHeadlinepyPuZ" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.75rem 0px 1.25rem; --card-headline--color: inherit; --card-headline--font-family:var(--founders-cond); --card-headline--font-size:var(--text-24); --card-headline--font-weight:var(--normal); --card-headline--line-height:var(--leading-100); line-height: var(--card-headline--line-height); clear: both; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The key role played by Ken Klukowski</h2><div class="styles_cardBylineiFouW" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; --cb--byline-thumbnail--margin:0 var(--spacing-2) 0 0; --cb--authors--color:var(--grey-60); --cb--authors--font-size:1; --cb--authors--font-family:var(--founders-cond); --cb--authors--font-weight:normal; --cb--authors--line-height:var(--leading-100); --cb--authors--margin:0; display: flex; margin-bottom: var(--spacing-5); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="styles_innerBqhn1" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;"><p class="styles_authorspctbg" style="margin: var(--cb--authors--margin); box-sizing: border-box; align-self: center; font-weight: var(--cb--authors--font-weight); line-height: var(--cb--authors--line-height);">Lisa Rubin</div></div>In November of last year, the House select committee issued <a href="https://january6th.house.gov/sites/democrats.january6th.house.gov/files/20211109%20Klukowski.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">a subpoena to Kenneth Klukowski,</a> a lawyer and former aide to Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark. And in its press release, the committee was fairly transparent as to why: <a href="https://january6th.house.gov/news/press-releases/select-committee-subpoenas-former-officials-close-ties-former-president" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">Klukowski “was </a><a href="https://january6th.house.gov/news/press-releases/select-committee-subpoenas-former-officials-close-ties-former-president" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">involved in drafting a letter</a><a href="https://january6th.house.gov/news/press-releases/select-committee-subpoenas-former-officials-close-ties-former-president" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;"> that urged legislatures in certain states to delay certification of the election</a>.” He also helped Clark prepare for the now-infamous <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/congress/jan-6-hearings/live-blog/live-updates-analysis-day-5-rcna34785?icid=ed_npd_nn_nn_np_liveblog#rcrd2973" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">Jan. 3, 2021 meeting</a>. That, of course, was the meeting at which all assembled but Clark said they would resign if Trump fired Rosen and made Clark acting attorney general.But who is Klukowski?For starters, he’s a guy with a long history in the conservative legal and political worlds, including with Team Trump. In November 2016, Politico reported that<a href="https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/politico-influence/2016/11/more-lobbyists-on-the-transition-217372" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box;"> Klukowski, who was then senior counsel at director of strategy at the First Liberty Institute, joined the Trump transition team</a> as an advisor on “protecting constitutional rights.” By 2018, while still at First Liberty, he argued, in an op-ed for the Washington Examiner in support of an Oregon couple that <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tag/supreme-court?source=%2Foregon-encourages-intolerance-by-punishing-aaron-and-melissa-klein" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">refused to bake a same-sex wedding cake</a>. Unsurprisingly, Klukowski, a former Family Research Council director, was named as a member of<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-christian-legal-army-behind-masterpiece-cakeshop/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box;"> the “Christian legal army”</a> in The Nation’s reporting on those lawyers’ growing influence in state attorneys generals’ offices and federal courts. Klukowski’s relationships with key Trump world figures are also substantial. A former senior legal editor at Breitbart, he has<a href="https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2016/07/03/klukowski-americas-written-constitution-1787-revolutionary/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box;"> known former Trump advisor Steve Bannon for years</a>. (Here’s<a href="https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2017/12/12/klukowski-and-bannon-talk-trumps-jerusalem-move-on-breitbart-news-daily/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box;"> them talking together</a> on Breitbart.) And <a href="https://www.chapman.edu/LAW/files/publications/november-19-2012.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">connections between Klukowski and Trump attorney John Eastman date back to at least 2012</a>.” He even appeared with another Trump campaign lawyer, <a href="https://www.wmal.com/2018/07/09/ken-klukowski-sidney-powell-and-john-malcolm-on-the-larry-oconnor-show/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">Sidney Powell</a>, on talk radio in 2018.Yet <a href="https://twitter.com/LevineJonathan/status/1166410005022744579" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">Klukowski did not join the Trump administration until late August 2019</a>, when he joined OMB as a special counsel under<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/in-new-legal-memo-white-house-budget-office-defends-withholding-aid-to-ukraine/2019/12/11/0caa030e-1b95-11ea-826b-14ef38a0f45f_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;"> then-general counsel Mark Paoletta</a>, who later became embroiled in the withholding of aid to Ukraine underlying Trump’s first impeachment. (Today, Paoletta and Klukowski have<a href="https://www.schaerr-jaffe.com/about/attorneys" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;"> reunited in private practice</a> at Schaerr Jaffe, a boutique law firm well stocked with conservative legal stars.) And he didn’t leave the White House for the Justice Department until mid-December 2020, which begs the question: Why would anyone, much less someone with a plum White House gig, take a job expected to last little more than a month?As expected, the committee has some answers. First, Klukowski “parachuted into the Department... with only 36 days left until [the] inauguration” and then “drafted th[e] Georgia letter with Mr. Clark” just days before the Oval Office showdown between Clark and his DOJ bosses.Second, Klukowski worked with his old friend Eastman, including after he joined DOJ, to quietly aid Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. Ken Blackwell, a GOP activist and former Ohio Secretary of State, suggested Pence and his staff would benefit from a briefing from Eastman and Klukowski. Still, Blackwell cautioned they not “overexpose Ken given his new position.” Klukowski’s value, apparently, was as both a willing soldier for Trump, and an under-the-radar insider. As Cheney summed up, the evidence shows “Klukowski was simultaneously working with Jeffrey Clark to draft the proposed letter to Georgia officials to overturn their certified election and working with Dr. Eastman to help pressure the Vice President to overturn the election.” And that determination, coupled with reporting that <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/23/law-enforcement-trump-official-coup-00041767" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">federal law enforcement seized electronic devices from Clark’s home yesterday</a>, is not a good development for Klukowski.<div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 252); font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">=</div>=<a href="https://www.rawstory.com/ginni-thomas-connie-hair/">https://www.rawstory.com/ginni-thomas-connie-hair/</a>no lnxREVEALED: Ginni Thomas texted friend whose boss tried to get Trump election challenges to Supreme CourtTimothy EvansApril 20, 2022Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, had more than just Mark Meadows as a texting buddy in the effort to overturn Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election.She was also communicating with none other than Connie Hair, chief of staff to Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), who signed on to two failed legal efforts to challenge the results -- one of which could have ended up before her husband and the U.S. Supreme Court, CNN reports.Ginni Thomas' newly reported exchanges with Hair are amplifying calls for Justice Thomas to recuse himself from any election- or insurrection-related matters that might come before the court.Stephen Gillers of NYU School of Law, is one of those calling for a Thomas recusal. "Mrs. Thomas has a First Amendment right to speak publicly and forcefully on issues that might come before the Supreme Court without thereby forcing recusal of her husband," Gillers told CNN. "But in the current situation, her interests are caught up in cases that could come before the court."Ginni Thomas reportedly has a years-long friendship with Hair, including attending social outings with her at which Clarence Thomas was present. Their text exchanges, which Ginni Thomas shared with Meadows, demonstrate the ardor with which she was working to subvert the voting will of the American people and promote discredited theories of massive fraud."Was on a call with the Trump campaign manager and legal folks for a briefing this morning. WE ARE SEEING THIS THROUGH TO THE END OF THE COURT/COUNT BATTLE," Hair posted on Nov. 7, four days after the election. And on Nov. 21, Hair posted: "Massive amounts of voter fraud in big cities throughout the contested states."The Supreme Court ultimately decided not to take up Gohmert's lawsuit against then-vice president Mike Pence or a Texas case the lawmaker supported against states Trump lost.=CFJ's paid media consultant, <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Connie_Hair&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Connie Hair (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-image="background-image" none="none" background-position="background-position" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip">Connie Hair</a>, is part-time director of communications for Representative <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Trent_Franks&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Trent Franks (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-image="background-image" none="none" background-position="background-position" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip">Trent Franks</a> (R-Arizona) and a media consultant for the "controversial <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project:%22Armed_Rednecks_at_the_Border%22" class="mw-redirect" title="Minuteman Project: " armed="Armed" rednecks="Rednecks" at="at" the="the" border="Border" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-image="background-image" none="none" background-position="background-position" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip">Minuteman Project</a>." Hair is also a paid media consultant for the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fisher_Center_for_Alzheimer%27s_Research_Foundation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-image="background-image" none="none" background-position="background-position" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip">Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation</a> in New York. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0821AZindc21.html" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-image="background-image" linear-gradient="linear-gradient" transparent="transparent" url="url" background-position="background-position" right="right" center="center" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" repeat="repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[4]</a>=Minuteman Project (MMP) is a group that aims to recruit individuals to volunteer to help prevent illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona. "Americans doing the jobs Congress won't do. Operating within the law to support enforcement of the law," its website states. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.minutemanproject.com/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[1]</a>The Minuteman Project modeled its name on the Minutemen from Massachusetts in the late 1700s. Initially launched in April 2005 as a month-long project, it caused concen about "unforeseen results" within the ranks of the U.S. Border Patrol. The Border Patrol's official position is "it doesn't need the project's assistance." <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.svherald.com/articles/2005/03/27/local_news/news1.txt" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[2]</a>The organization was created by <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jim_Gilchrist" title="Jim Gilchrist" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Jim Gilchrist</a> and <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Chris_Simcox" title="Chris Simcox" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Chris Simcox</a>, but the later left the organization in April, 2005 and went on to rename his <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Civil_Homeland_Defense&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Civil Homeland Defense (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Civil Homeland Defense</a> patrol group as <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Civil_Defense_Corps_Inc." title="Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Inc." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Inc.</a><a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20050706-9999-1n6watch.html#" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[3]</a><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#About" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1About</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Leadership" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.1Leadership</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#2005_Split_in_the_minuteman_movement_and_between_Gilchrist_and_Simcox" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.22005 Split in the minuteman movement and between Gilchrist and Simcox</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Reaction_of_Border_Patrol_agents" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.2.1Reaction of Border Patrol agents</a></li></ul></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Other_Minuteman-related_groups" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2Other Minuteman-related groups</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Minuteman_Civil_Defense_Corps_Inc." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.1Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Inc.</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Texas_Minutemen" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.2Texas Minutemen</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#California_Coalition_for_Immigration_Reform" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.3California Coalition for Immigration Reform</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Friends_of_the_Border_Patrol" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4Friends of the Border Patrol</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Border_Watch" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.5Border Watch</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Record_and_controversies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3Record and controversies</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Recent_activities" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.1Recent activities</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#U.S.Border_Patrol" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.2U.S. Border Patrol</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Recruitment_of_volunteers" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.3Recruitment of volunteers</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Connections_with_White_Supremacy_groups" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.4Connections with White Supremacy groups</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Allegations_of_minutemen_screwing_up_Border_Patrol_operations" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.5Allegations of minutemen screwing up Border Patrol operations</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#General_criticisms" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.6General criticisms</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-18" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Relationship_with_George_W.Bush" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.7Relationship with George W. Bush</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-19" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Contact_details" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4Contact details</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-20" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Articles_and_resources" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5Articles and resources</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-21" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#SourceWatch_resources" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.1SourceWatch resources</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-22" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Sources" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.2Sources</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-23" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#External_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.3External links</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-24" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Calls_for_Volunteers" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.4Calls for Volunteers</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-25" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Articles.26_commentary" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.5Articles & commentary</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-26" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#Pre-2005" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.5.1Pre-2005</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-27" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#2005" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.5.22005</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-28" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#2006" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.5.32006</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">About</h2>On its website the group states their mobilization is "a call to peacefully assemble at the Arizona-Mexico border to bring national awareness to the decades-long careless disregard of effective U.S. immigration law enforcement. It is a reminder to Americans that our nation was founded as a nation governed by the 'rule of law', not by the whims of mobs of ILLEGAL aliens who endlessly stream across U.S. borders. Accordingly, the men and women volunteering for this mission are those who are willing to sacrifice their time, and the comforts of a cozy home, to muster for something much more important than acquiring more 'toys' to play with while their nation is devoured and plundered by the menace of tens of millions of invading illegal aliens." <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.minutemanproject.com/default.asp?contentID=2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[4]</a>"Future generations will inherit a tangle of rancorous, unassimilated, squabbling cultures with no common bond to hold them together, and a certain guarantee of the death of this nation as a harmonious 'melting pot'", resulting in "political, economic and social mayhem." <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.minutemanproject.com/default.asp?contentID=2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[5]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Leadership</h3><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%23222%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jim_Gilchrist" title="Jim Gilchrist" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Jim Gilchrist</a>. Gilchrist is a retired Orange County, California, accountant. In 2005 he stated that he was considering a run for Congress. <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a></li></ul><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">Main article: <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jim_Gilchrist" title="Jim Gilchrist" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Jim Gilchrist</a></dd></dl><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">2005 Split in the minuteman movement and between Gilchrist and Simcox</h3>In late April 2005 (after the April 2005 <a class="mw-selflink selflink" style="text-decoration: inherit; background: none; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold;">Minuteman Project</a> operation on the Arizona-Mexico border), Chris Simcox split off from Jim Gilchrist and the Minuteman Project. Simcox then renamed his Civil Homeland Defense patrol group the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. In July 2005 the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that he had been "establishing chapters in other states, with hopes of staging a borderwide patrol event in October." <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[2]</a>While Gilchrist said he and Simcox parted amicably, activists interviewed by the Union-Tribune said it was due to conflicting "egos" and competition for the "glamour" and "glory" of the media attention the minutemen received over their Arizona operation. <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[3]</a>The split was part of a larger round of infighting and splintering within the minuteman movement in the summer of 2005. In June 2005, Gilchrist cut ties with two volunteers he characterized as "wackos" after they took issue with emails he sent to Minuteman Project members promising consequences for those engaged in infighting. Gilchrist has said he has sought to copyright the "Minuteman Project" name (some groups use "Minuteman while others use "Minutemen"), but said, "If they want to use Minuteman, you can't stop them. To try to stop them would be to upset them." <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[4]</a><div style="margin: 0.5em 0.75em; border-collapse: collapse; background: rgb(220, 232, 248); border: 1px solid rgb(92, 121, 181); padding: 0.25em;">See also: <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Civil_Defense_Corps_Inc." title="Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Inc." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Inc.</a></div><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Reaction of Border Patrol agents</h4>The Border Patrol's official position has been that professionals, not civilians, should guard the border. When the movement was splitting in 2005, Chris Bauder, President of the National Border Patrol Council - Local 1613 (San Diego), said he thought it had to do with clashing political ambitions. <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[5]</a> However, that was a direct response to questions by the reporter regarding the political clash between the Andy Ramirez from Friends of the Border Patrol and other minutemen organizations. Ulimately, the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nbpc1613.org/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">National Border Patrol Council - Local 1613 (San Diego, CA)</a> has consistently maintained that they respect the right of citizens to serve on the border in a capacity similar to a "neighborhood watch" program. The NBPC - Local 1613 is thankful for the attention that the minutemen organizations have brought to the border and are thankful to have assistance from volunteers.[<a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SourceWatch:Citation_needed" title="SourceWatch:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]Unfortunately, most of the minutemen organizations attempted to claim success at securing a section of the border by using the same strategy that has been employed by the Border Patrol since 1994 when Operation Gatekeeper was implemented in the San Diego Sector. This strategy requires the deployment of an excessive amount of resources to an area of the border. This strategy is referred to as "displacement" in the criminal justice field because the intent of the increased resources is to displace the unwanted activity to another location. In the case of the border, people who attempt to enter illegally are pushed to other areas of the border that have less resources. The strategy makes it look as though the operation is a success when in reality all of the traffic is just entering at another location of the border where there is less attention or less visibility by the public. The steadily increasing number of illegal aliens in the United States since 1994 has proven that the strategy is a failure and should be abandoned <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nbpc1613.org/Pages/NewsMedia/MediaFAQ.htm" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">National Border Patrol Council - Local 1613 Media FAQ</a>.<h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Other Minuteman-related groups</h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Inc.</h3>Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Inc. is a similar group founded by Minuteman Project co-founder <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Chris_Simcox" title="Chris Simcox" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Chris Simcox</a> after a split with Gilchrist in 2005 (see above). It has several affiliated groups, including the New Mexico Minutemen (not to be confused with the Minuteman Project-affiliated New Mexico Minutemen - see below).<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">Main article: <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Civil_Defense_Corps_Inc." title="Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Inc." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Inc.</a></dd></dl><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Texas Minutemen</h3>A June 2005 story in the San Diego Union-Tribune cited <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Shannon_McGauley&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Shannon McGauley (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Shannon McGauley</a> as the leader of the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Texas_Minutemen&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Texas Minutemen (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Texas Minutemen</a> and reported him as saying that he had trained with Gilchrist in Arizona and had obtained permission to use the Minuteman name. However, while McGauley said his group adhered to Minuteman Project operating procedures, he was uninterested in Simcox's Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[6]</a>"We're all real Minutemen," McGauley said, "We all went to Arizona together and served in the desert with those snakes, where the trash was, with the scorpions. Our objectives are the same, but we just want to keep it a Texas operation. I don't want to be part of some corporation." <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[7]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">California Coalition for Immigration Reform</h3>A June 2005 story in the San Diego Union-Tribune cited <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Barbara_Coe&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Barbara Coe (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Barbara Coe</a> as head of the "controversial" California Coalition for Immigration Reform. In the story Coe complained about anti-illegal-immigration group leaders attacking Gilchrest, saying, "To me it is just incredible, with as much as has been accomplished thanks to Jim Gilchrist, that anybody would do anything to make even a little bump in the road." <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[8]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Friends of the Border Patrol</h3>Friends of the Border Patrol planned to perform border patrols in San Diego County in September 2005 called "FBP Border Watch." It is run by <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Andy_Ramirez&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Andy Ramirez (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Andy Ramirez</a>, who ran two unsuccessful campaigns as a Democrat for the California state Assembly in the mid 1990s. In 2005 Ramierez declined to rule out the possibility of eventually running for federal office. The group received funding from the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carlsbad_Republican_Women_Federated&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Carlsbad Republican Women Federated (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Carlsbad Republican Women Federated</a> in May 2005. <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[9]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Border Watch</h3>The Border Watch group is led by <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jim_Chase&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Jim Chase (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Jim Chase</a> of Oceanside, California, who changed its name from the "United States Border Patrol Auxiliary" in 2005. Chase has been at odds with both Gilchrist and Simcox, among others. <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[10]</a>Chase and Andy Ramirez of the Friends of the Border Patrol attacked each other in a series of news releases and interviews in May 2005. Ramirez said he had received "alarming" e-mails from Chase and that he had condoned the use of snipers for a July 2005 event he was planning. Chase said Ramirez misunderstood him but Ramirez stood by his account. <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[11]</a>Chase said in 2005 that the fight between Ramirez and him drove him to publicly split with the larger minuteman movement, saying, "I keep hearing all these things: I'm a rogue. I'm a Rambo. I want to shoot the heads off people... I'm a flower child compared to Gilchrist and Simcox." <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[12]</a>Gilchrist says the two generally get along, but showed a reporter what he said was an e-mail from Chase saying, "In the name of the father, son, and holy spirit, come on James ... be a man or be an ass." <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[13]</a>Chase said he would eschew the spotlight and condemned the minuteman infighting, saying, "Anything I do is going to be hidden, covert." However, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Chase "is still working with other groups along the border, including a New Mexico group called the New Mexico Minutemen that is engaged in a rivalry with" a <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Civil_Defense_Corps&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Minuteman Civil Defense Corps</a>-sanctioned group of the same name." <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[14]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Record and controversies</h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Recent activities</h3>Gilchrist said in 2005 that the group was awaiting non-profit status and that he hoped it would soon go after employers of illegal immigrants. <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[15]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">U.S. Border Patrol</h3>"The <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Department_of_Homeland_Security" class="mw-redirect" title="Department of Homeland Security" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Department of Homeland Security</a> recently assigned more than 500 additional border patrol agents to the Arizona-Mexico border. Many observers believe the move is a response to the Minuteman Project, a group of civilian volunteers who patrol the area looking for <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Illegal_immigration" title="Illegal immigration" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">illegal immigrants</a>." <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4569377" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">NPR, March 31, 2005</a>.<h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Recruitment of volunteers</h3>The search for volunteers commenced prior to November 1, 2004, when a recruitment notice by James W. Gilchrist of Aliso Viejo, California, then acting as "interim coordinator", was posted on the Frosty Wooldridge website. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.frostywooldridge.com/info/minuteman_project.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[6]</a><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%23222%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">In Spring 2005, volunteers were asked "to converge on the southern border of Arizona for the purpose of aiding the U.S. Border Patrol in 'spotting' intruders entering the U.S. illegally."</li></ul><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%23222%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Described as a "strictly" volunteer project, those who chose to participate would not receive "financial subsidies" but were advised that they would need "a tent, sleeping bag etc." and would "be responsible for all costs" involved, then estimated at up to $3,500 for 30 days, exclusive of travel.</li></ul><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%23222%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The proposed "area of observation" was anticipated to "be a 10-mile stretch of forested highlands, and lowlands along the San Pedro River."</li></ul><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%23222%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">On November 1, 2004, the Project had already recruited "66 volunteers from the following 12 states: Arizona 36; California 11; Colorado 1; Florida 2; Massachusetts 2; NewMexico 4; Ohio 3; Oklahoma 1; Oregon 2; Texas 2; Virginia 1; Wyoming 1."</li></ul>"Many of the volunteers were recruited over the Internet, and some planned to be armed." <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050405/ap_on_re_us/border_volunteers_4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[7]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Connections with White Supremacy groups</h3>"The Internet-driven recruiting effort for the Minuteman Project has almost 900 volunteers and last week alone generated more than 1 million hits on the project's Web site, organizers said. The organization claims on its website that it "has no affiliation with, nor will we accept any assistance by or interference from separatists, <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Racism" title="Racism" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">racists</a> or supremacy groups or individuals, no matter what their race, color, or creed." <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.minutemanproject.com/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[8]</a>However, "the patrol also has drawn major interest on <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=White_supremacy" title="White supremacy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">white supremacist</a> Web sites and in their chat rooms. An <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Aryan_Nation" class="mw-redirect" title="Aryan Nation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Aryan Nation</a> site links directly to the Minuteman Project home page with the words: 'A call for action on part of ALL ARYAN SOLDIERS'," reported the Arizona Republic. <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[16]</a>Hedi Beirich, deputy director of the Alabama-based <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Southern_Poverty_Law_Center" title="Southern Poverty Law Center" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Southern Poverty Law Center</a>, expressed skepticism over claims by Minuteman organizers' that they will be able to weed out white supremacists. "You have this vulnerable population crossing the border, and these semi-crazed Nazis who hate immigrants. It's just a combustible mix," she said. <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[17]</a>Minuteman organizer <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Chris_Simcox" title="Chris Simcox" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Chris Simcox</a>, however, claimed that it screens applications from participants for connections to white supremacists and kicked one person off who was posting comments on a white supremacist website. Simcox said that he was upset about the links and comments from white supremacist websites but said there was nothing he could do about them. An <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Aryan_Nation" class="mw-redirect" title="Aryan Nation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Aryan Nation</a> website listed the Minuteman operation on its calendar of "white power" events and has a chat room specifically for the operation that contained postings talking about killing Mexican soliders and sending them home in body bags. <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[18]</a>Gilchrest also denies charges of racism, saying, "Some people have said I'm racist, and that's just not true... My son-in-law is a full-on Mexican, and my grandson is half-Mexican... It's not a race thing. This is an enforcement of law issue. I've said this so many times I get tired talking about it." <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[19]</a>There has been some evidence that Neo-Nazis have been connected to the Minuteman Project, with the knowledge of the leadership. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=610" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[9]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Allegations of minutemen screwing up Border Patrol operations</h3>During a April 2005 convergence of Minuteman volunteers on the Arizona-Mexico border, the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S.Border_Patrol&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="U.S. Border Patrol (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">U.S. Border Patrol</a> claimed the activists were accidentally setting of sensors that alert B.P. agents to border intruders. Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Jose Maheda said the actions were forcing agents to respond to false alarms. <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[20]</a>"Every sensor has to be addressed," Maheda said. "It's taken away from our normal operations." <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[21]</a>The Border Patrol opposed the Minuteman operation. "The possibility for something going drastically wrong is very high," Maheda said. <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[22]</a>The <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Federation_of_Government_Employees&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="American Federation of Government Employees (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">American Federation of Government Employees</a> (<a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=AFL-CIO" title="AFL-CIO" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">AFL-CIO</a>) Local 2544 Border Patrol union, whose website is often critical of agency policy, posted a comment in 2005 there that contradicted the Border Patrol's allegations:<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MINUTEMAN PROJECT: We want to make it clear because we've had a lot of questions about this.....we have not had one single complaint from a rank-and-file agent in this Sector about the Minutemen. Every report we've received indicates these people are very supportive of the rank-and-file agents, they're courteous, many of them are retired firefighters, cops, and other professionals, and they're not causing us any problems whatsoever. Reports of them causing "ground sensors" to go off are exaggerated because most of those are being set off by the ACLU sneaking around trying to find the Minutemen doing something wrong. The Minutemen have succeeded in shifting the bulk of the illegal alien traffic out of the Naco corridor. If only President Bush were so supportive of the rank-and-file agents.<a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[23]</a></blockquote><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">General criticisms</h3>Human and civil rights groups stated that they would monitor the situation to ensure that the rights of illegal immigrants are respected. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7272318" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[10]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Relationship with George W. Bush</h3>President <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_W.Bush" class="mw-redirect" title="George W. Bush" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">George W. Bush</a> said that "he opposes a civilian project to monitor illegal aliens crossing the border, characterizing them as 'vigilantes.'" <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minuteman_Project#cite_note-24" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[24]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Contact details</h2>The Minuteman Project Jim Gilchrist
P.O. Box 3944
Laguna Hills, California, 92654-3944
Website (General): <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.minutemanproject.com/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" break-word="break-word" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">http://www.minutemanproject.com/index.html</a>
Website (Border Patrollers):<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.minutemanhq.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" break-word="break-word" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">http://www.minutemanhq.com</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Articles and resources</h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">SourceWatch resources</h3><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%23222%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Homeland_security" class="mw-redirect" title="Homeland security" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">homeland security</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Illegal_immigration" title="Illegal immigration" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">illegal immigration</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=North_American_Union" title="North American Union" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">North American Union</a> / <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=North_American_Union/Related_SourceWatch_Resources" title="North American Union/Related SourceWatch Resources" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Related SourceWatch Resources</a></li></ul>=<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-family-research-councils-insurrection-connections/">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-family-research-councils-insurrection-connections/</a>the Family Research Council, a major player in the religious-right political movement, was deeply involved in former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election—a fact made all the more apparent by revelations during the June 23 public hearing of the House select committee investigating the conspiracy that led to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.<div class="mce-content-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; line-height: 1.5;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">We had already known that FRC publicly supported Trump’s schemes to unlawfully stay in power. FRC President Tony Perkins and other leaders connected with the secretive Council for National Policy had <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/right-wing-leaders-join-call-for-state-legislatures-to-overrule-voters-and-give-election-to-trump/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">signed a letter</a> in mid-December 2020 falsely claiming, “There is no doubt President Donald J. Trump is the lawful winner of the presidential election. Joe Biden is not president-elect.” That letter called on state legislatures in six battleground states won by Joe Biden to “appoint clean slates of electors to the Electoral College to support President Trump.” It urged the House and Senate to reject pro-Biden electors from those states.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">FRC Executive Vice President Jerry Boykin also signed that letter, as did Kenneth Blackwell, FRC’s senior fellow for human rights and constitutional governance. Blackwell, a <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/04/ken-blackwell-ohio-brown-senate/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">notorious</a> voter suppresser who abused the power of his office when he was Ohio’s secretary of state, was all-in on Trump’s election lies from the earliest days of the so-called “Stop the Steal” movement. Just days after the election, Blackwell used <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/notorious-voter-suppressor-kenneth-blackwell-denounces-pennsylvania-governor-and-his-legion-of-darkness/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">wildly false and inflammatory language</a> in support of Trump’s claims, denouncing Pennsylvania’s governor, who defended his state’s election results from false claims of voter fraud, and “his legion of darkness.”<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/trump-lawyer-cleta-mitchell-signs-letter-by-hard-right-leaders-urging-gop-senators-to-contest-swing-state-electors/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Blackwell and Perkins signed a second open letter</a> at the end of December 2020 urging Senate Republicans to contest the votes from five battleground states.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">Two days before the insurrection at the Capitol, Blackwell <a href="https://twitter.com/kenblackwell/status/1346073374016102402" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">tweeted</a> a video message using the “Stop the Steal” hashtag. “This is not a time for sideline sitters or backbenchers,” he said. “You must do what you can with what you have where you are. Our republic demands it.”<p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">It turns out that Blackwell was busy behind the scenes, too.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">At the Jan. 6 committee’s June 23 hearing, Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney <a href="https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2022/06/26/ohio-officials-pat-cipollone-ken-blackwell-jan-6-capitol-hearings/7717349001/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">revealed</a> the contents of a Dec.28, 2020, email from Blackwell that read in part, “As I stated last week, I believe the VP and his staff would benefit greatly from a briefing by John and Ken.”<p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">“John” would be John Eastman, <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-sordid-record-of-john-eastman-the-latest-right-wing-lawyer-on-trumps-legal-team/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">the far right-wing lawyer</a> who <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/what-we-learned-from-day-three-of-the-jan-6-hearings/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">doggedly pushed illegal schemes</a> to keep Trump in power based on false claims of election fraud and bogus theories about the vice president’s power to single-handedly decide who would become the next president. “Ken” referred to Ken Klukowski, a <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-christian-legal-army-behind-masterpiece-cakeshop/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">religious-right lawyer</a> and pundit, longtime associate of Blackwell, and former director of FRC’s Center for Religious Liberty.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">Blackwell’s email was sent to Ed Corrigan, a former Heritage Foundation vice president who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/magazine/trump-government-heritage-foundation-think-tank.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">served</a> as part of the leadership team of Trump’s transition and now <a href="https://www.cpi.org/staff/ed-corrigan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">heads up the Conservative Partnership Institute</a>, which <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/another-right-wing-group-touts-election-integrity-project-led-by-trump-attorney-cleta-mitchell/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">promotes voter suppression in the name of “election integrity.”</a> It also went to Rep. Louis Gohmert’s chief of staff Connie Hair, whose promotion of Big Lie conspiracies about the election was <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/ginni-thomas-quoted-rep-gohmerts-chief-of-staff-in-texts-to-mark-meadows-at-trump-white-house-report-says" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">quoted by Ginny Thomas</a> in her post-election emails to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows. Completing the circle, Meadows is now <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/congress/jan-6-hearings/live-blog/live-updates-analysis-day-5-rcna34785" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">a “senior partner” at the Conservative Partnership I</a>nstitute, which <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-gave-1m-meadows-nonprofit-weeks-after-jan-6-panel-n1288334" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">received $1 million from Trump’s PAC </a>shortly after the Jan. 6 committee was created.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">Klukowski had <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/ken-klukowski-breitbartcom-writer-and-anti-lgbtq-lawyer-joins-trump-administration" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">joined</a> the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget in the fall of 2019. After the 2020 election, Klukowski was parachuted into the Justice Department office of Jeffrey Clark, who was scheming to drag the DOJ into Trump’s efforts to overturn the election in key battleground states. Blackwell clearly seemed to recognize the bad optics of Klukowski’s involvement, urging in his email, “As I also mentioned, make sure we don’t overexpose Ken given his new position.”<p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">Clark has unwillingly played a starring role in the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation, which has painstakingly exposed his effort to get Trump to name him acting attorney general. Clark and others had originally planned to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/06/23/us/jeffrey-clark-draft-letter.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">send a letter</a> to Georgia legislators—a letter that Klukowski helped Clark write—falsely claiming that the DOJ had identified major election problems in the state and encouraging them to convene a special session to consider naming a pro-Trump Electoral College slate. When Clark’s DOJ superiors blocked his scheme, Trump seriously considered making Clark acting attorney general so he could carry it out, abandoning the plan only after other top Justice Department officials threatened a massive leadership resignation that would swamp news of the letter and define Trump’s legacy.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">As Rep. Cheney <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/january-6-hearings-june-23/h_adcf42b67a4ed25dcf46f1ae5d3ae012" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">concluded</a>, “This email suggests that Mr. Klukowski was simultaneously working with Jeffrey Clark to draft the proposed letter to Georgia officials to overturn their certified election and working with Dr. Eastman to help pressure the vice president to overturn the election.”<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">In other words, while a battle raged between principled White House and Justice Department officials who were committed to upholding the election results and facilitating a peaceful transfer of power and the defeated president and his power-at-all-costs supporters, current and former FRC leaders were in the trenches with Trump and the would-be election overthrowers.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">Their collusion on Trump’s attempt to overturn the election is far from the first Blackwell-Klukowski collaboration. They co-authored numerous partisan diatribes in the form of op-eds and books, including “Blueprint: Obama’s Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency” and “Resurgent: How Constitutional Conservatism Can Save America.” In 2016, Klukowksi <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-perry-back-trump-because-of-the-supreme-court/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">guest-hosted</a> FRC’s “Washington Watch” radio program and had Blackwell on as a guest.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">At FRC’s October 2021 Pray Vote Stand conference—the rechristened activist gathering known for years as the Values Voter Summit—Blackwell <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/stop-the-steal-activist-ken-blackwell-backs-state-voter-suppression-slams-federal-voting-rights-legislation-at-religious-right-activist-conference/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">slammed</a> federal voting rights legislation and backed new voting restrictions being put in place by Republican state legislators.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;">The revelations of the Family Research Council’s all-out effort to help Trump stay in power despite his rejection by voters makes it even more appalling to <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/family-research-council-irs-church-status" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">learn from ProPublica</a> that FRC has successfully petitioned the IRS to change its official classification to that of an association of churches, a tactic that Right Wing Watch has reported has been used by other religious-right groups like <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/heres-how-focus-on-the-family-convinced-the-irs-to-call-it-a-church/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Focus on the Family</a> and <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/focus-on-the-family-has-declared-itself-a-church-avoiding-irs-disclosure-rules/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Liberty Counsel</a> to evade public scrutiny and accountability.<div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-family-research-councils-insurrection-connections/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;"><div class="tags" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; border-top: 5px solid rgb(239, 243, 243); margin-bottom: 2em; padding-top: 1em;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;">Tags: <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/connie-hair/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Connie Hair</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/ed-corrigan/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Ed Corrigan</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/jeffrey-clark/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Jeffrey Clark</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/jerry-boykin/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Jerry Boykin</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/ken-blackwell/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Ken Blackwell</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/ken-klukowski/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Ken Klukowski</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/kenneth-blackwell/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Kenneth Blackwell</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/mark-meadows/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Mark Meadows</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/tony-perkins/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Tony Perkins</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/capitol-insurrection/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Capitol Insurrection</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/house-select-committee-on-jan-6/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">House select committee on Jan. 6</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/conservative-partnership-institute/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Conservative Partnership Institute</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/council-for-national-policy/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Council for National Policy</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/family-research-council/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Family Research Council</a></div></div>
=https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/20/politics/ginni-thomas-mark-meadows-connie-hair-texts-january-6/index.htmlc<cite class="el-editorial-source" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; font-feature-settings: " kern="kern" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility">NN) </cite><cite class="el-editorial-source" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; font-feature-settings: " kern="kern" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility"> </cite>A day before the 2020 presidential election, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/10/politics/ginni-thomas-trump-influence/index.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">Virginia "Ginni" Thomas</a> mugged for the camera wearing a Trump baseball cap with her friend Connie Hair, chief of staff to GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, at an event supporting the then-President in pictures <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConnieHair1/posts/10220757132471421" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">posted</a> on Facebook at the time.<div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_E31E06D5-C62B-2C29-C05C-431C3C656EAF" data-act-id="paragraph_1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);">A month later, in her now-infamous texts to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/24/politics/ginni-thomas-mark-meadows-text-messages/index.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows</a>, Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, referred to Hair and claims about election fraud while urging Meadows to fight the election result.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_7E9178F9-15F6-3E9F-2282-431C3C685856" data-act-id="paragraph_2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);">Around that same time, Hair's boss, Gohmert, filed or supported two lawsuits challenging the election that eventually landed before the Supreme Court.</div><ul class="cn cn-list-hierarchical-xs cn--idx-4 cn-zoneAdContainer" data-layout="list-hierarchical-xs" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style: none; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_EA09BA03-7675-8C49-47A4-431C3C6CC328" data-act-id="paragraph_3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Ginni Thomas' years-long relationship with Hair, including social outings that Clarence Thomas attended, as well as her texting with Meadows add another dimension to an ongoing <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/06/politics/justice-clarence-thomas-wife-ginni-poll-recusal/index.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">debate over whether her husband should recuse himself</a> from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6 insurrection, especially when his wife is closely aligned to people who advocated overturning the election.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_EA09BA03-7675-8C49-47A4-431C3C6CC328" data-act-id="paragraph_3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);">to be sure, Thomas and Hair were voicing their opinions on the election. At the same time, however, Hair was a top aide to a congressman who would file or sign on to election litigation that landed before the court where Thomas sits. And Hair herself posted on Facebook about the need to fight in court over the election.</div><ul class="cn cn-list-hierarchical-xs cn--idx-8 cn-zoneAdContainer" data-layout="list-hierarchical-xs" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style: none; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><div class="zn-bodyread-all" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_C9459B98-E648-C5C8-C3E9-431C3C750550" data-act-id="paragraph_5" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">"Was on a call with the Trump campaign manager and legal folks for a briefing this morning. WE ARE SEEING THIS THROUGH TO THE END OF THE COURT/COUNT BATTLE," Hair <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConnieHair1/posts/10220875885880182" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">posted</a> on November 7, four days after the election. And on November 21, Hair posted: "Massive amounts of voter fraud in big cities throughout the contested states."</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_4AA3179C-9885-0D56-718B-431C3C793CBE" data-act-id="paragraph_6" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">It's rare for the spouse of a Supreme Court justice to be so politically active, and legal ethicists say a line may be crossed when Ginni Thomas' interests collide with her husband's work. Some say the reputation of the Supreme Court is at stake.</div><ul class="cn cn-list-hierarchical-xs cn--idx-12 cn-zoneAdContainer" data-layout="list-hierarchical-xs" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_6B6E711A-4603-DF69-4B71-431C3C7C0022" data-act-id="paragraph_7" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">"Mrs. Thomas has a First Amendment right to speak publicly and forcefully on issues that might come before the Supreme Court without thereby forcing recusal of her husband," said Stephen Gillers of NYU School of Law. "But in the current situation, her interests are caught up in cases that could come before the court."</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_16DC8E86-59EB-3FAF-B886-431C3C7FEB20" data-act-id="paragraph_8" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Gillers believes that Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from any upcoming cases concerning the Capitol attack. Following the revelation of the Meadows texts, Democratic senators have introduced legislation meant to address questions of recusal and other ethics issues.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_3D9AEB9B-0EAF-F572-BE84-431C3C8215E6" data-act-id="paragraph_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Washington is a town where powerful people frequently hobnob, and Ginni Thomas <a href="https://freebeacon.com/courts/exclusive-ginni-thomas-sets-the-record-straight-on-january-6/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">maintains she kept</a> her conservative political activism separate from her marriage. Her husband has not commented publicly on calls for him to recuse -- or even resign -- after <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/24/politics/ginni-thomas-mark-meadows-text-messages/index.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">his wife's texts to Meadows were revealed</a>.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_A43899E0-9A56-9A33-DC56-431C3C858BBC" data-act-id="paragraph_10" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">A friend of the Thomases who is familiar with the situation contends Ginni Thomas and Hair say they did not talk about specific cases that Gohmert was involved in and that Hair did not know about Gohmert's lawsuits before they were filed.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_EB926279-C14C-11AC-08FE-431C3C8983EE" data-act-id="paragraph_11" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">"Hair is a friend of Ginni Thomas," the source said. "They had a general concern about the election."</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_0D8785AD-B155-BD28-4BCC-431C3C8C0BED" data-act-id="paragraph_12" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">In the end, the high court took neither Gohmert's lawsuit against then-Vice President Mike Pence, nor a case from Texas that Gohmert supported against states that Donald Trump lost.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_3BDAC7AA-CF56-5AE0-F4C4-431C3C8F4C52" data-act-id="paragraph_13" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Ginni Thomas declined to comment to CNN through a lawyer.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_579064F8-5CFD-90A8-36BE-431C3C932986" data-act-id="paragraph_14" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Hair didn't respond to emailed questions about her interactions with the Thomases, nor did Gohmert's office.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_E9B04DDF-F420-CD27-DA91-431C3C966FED" data-act-id="paragraph_15" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Earlier this month, Gohmert <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpQDEBydyCs" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">defended the ethics </a>of both Ginni and Clarence Thomas on the House floor, saying Ginni Thomas' activism shouldn't put pressure on the justice to recuse from any cases. Thomas returned to the bench in person at the Supreme Court this week, after being hospitalized for an illness around the same time that the news of his wife's communications with the Trump White House about the election broke.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_F8CB9BC2-A9B0-3694-44DA-431C3C9A23AA" data-act-id="paragraph_16" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">"Now, Justice Thomas is being told he needs to recuse himself because he has a wife who thinks for herself. We can't have that, these liberals say. Yet the hypocrisy rises higher and higher with every comment they make about Justice Thomas and/or his wife," Gohmert said in his speech.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_41AC64D2-6C80-8611-82B6-431C3C9D3898" data-act-id="paragraph_17" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">"What happened to the old ideas of liberals being these caring, compassionate people who would never judge one's spouse by the acts or thoughts of the other?" Gohmert added. "Well, those have gone by the wayside, and we see exactly what is at play here."</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_EF3C4A6D-4633-7189-06ED-431C3CA11B7E" data-act-id="paragraph_18" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Ginni Thomas also has a close friendship with Meadows, and a case involving him landed before the Supreme Court in recent months. In that case, the court <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/20/politics/supreme-court-trump-white-house-docs/index.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">allowed the release </a>of hundreds of documents from the Trump White House to the House select committee investigating January 6. Clarence Thomas was the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/19/politics/supreme-court-trump-white-house-docs/index.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">only one </a>to publicly dissent.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_5C5DC936-6EE6-7E57-970E-431C3CA506A2" data-act-id="paragraph_19" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">The documents in that case did not include Meadows' texts with Ginni Thomas that he had voluntarily turned over to the committee. The committee has said<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/28/politics/january-6-committee-ginni-thomas/index.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;"> it will seek to interview</a> Ginni Thomas, CNN has reported.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_31989BB1-8E2E-3ABE-8DD5-431D95E6142A" data-act-id="paragraph_20" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 32px 0px -5px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 500; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 40px; font-feature-settings: " kern="kern" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility">Dinners with friends</h3></div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_8495FAEF-7416-AB1D-0707-431C3CAC01DB" data-act-id="paragraph_21" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">The Thomases have kept in contact with Hair for years, according to several <a href="https://imgur.com/EKCHrg" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">photos and messages</a> shared on Facebook by Hair and others and obtained by CNN.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_584313BC-C372-9EE4-C841-431C3CB2BDC6" data-act-id="paragraph_22" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">In 2016, Hair posted about attending a Colbie Caillat concert, sending her thanks for a "fun" evening to Ginni Thomas. Hair posed for photos with Clarence Thomas and at dinner with him, his wife and others the night of the concert, according to Facebook posts.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_EC0683C3-4388-3176-6891-431C3CBACAC5" data-act-id="paragraph_23" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Hair has worked in Gohmert's office since 2010, according to congressional staffing records.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_CC496FC2-D98F-A643-6BE8-431C3CC04553" data-act-id="paragraph_24" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">In 2017, she took a new round of pictures with Clarence and Ginni Thomas, this time inside the justice's chambers. That day, January 20, 2017, Clarence Thomas had sworn in Pence as vice president. In her Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConnieHair1/posts/10210007379174307?cft[0]=AZVq064jgGrTpEMuRD_4f4YxpY0IXGN9I8p_AVsMiFNy6uJpKCVFXngnynd3_6ISv8u8wVy_FawRaDLhoj4OhWsyL7YmpqFl93mYMcio56mUBA&tn=%2CO%2CP-R" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">post</a>, Hair calls the Thomases "great friends."</div><div class="elleafmedia elleafmedia--facebook" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_16DADDF9-7447-4D0F-97A0-47CDFACED87E" data-act-id="paragraph_25" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_32C68FB6-83A6-E7A5-C7C2-431C3CC62D0E" data-act-id="paragraph_26" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">And in 2019, Hair <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/26/us/politics/trump-ginni-thomas-meeting.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">took part in a meeting</a> at the White House with Trump and Ginni Thomas to discuss hiring more Trump loyalists in his administration, according to a senior Trump administration official.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_2FF8F9A8-08C0-67E2-A1B8-431C3CCBAB4D" data-act-id="paragraph_27" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Over the past decade, Ginni Thomas and Hair's photos together and posts tagging each other are numerous.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_C8C222F5-DB12-8242-3A7B-431C3CD19C89" data-act-id="paragraph_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Then after the 2020 election and January 6 Capitol riot, Hair on her Facebook wall shared coverage of Clarence Thomas dissenting on a Supreme Court election case, writing, "GOD BLESS HIM." The case was a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/22/politics/election-pennsylvania-republicans-supreme-court/index.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">too-late attempt </a>by Pennsylvania Republicans to challenge the state's use of mail-in ballots, and Thomas <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20-542_2c83.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">expressed a fear </a>that mail-in balloting could allow for fraud in future elections.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_FBAF99E3-391E-112C-DE8C-431C3CD65525" data-act-id="paragraph_29" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">And in text messages to Meadows, which CNN obtained last month, Ginni Thomas quotes Hair in November 2020 as she implores the Trump White House to stick with its claims of election fraud.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_DF4B0007-9B50-A372-BD68-431C3CDCEA26" data-act-id="paragraph_30" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">"This war is psychological. PSYOP. It's what I did in the military. They are using every weapon they have to try to make us quit... It is fake, fraud and if people would take a deep breath and look at things through that filter we will see this through and win," Ginni Thomas texted Meadows on November 14, 2020.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_1F4F278E-210E-F105-9578-431C3CE187A5" data-act-id="paragraph_31" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">She then cites Hair's name in the text, implying the words came from her friend. The source familiar with the Thomases said Ginni Thomas was cutting and pasting Hair's own words from another text chain, to send to Meadows.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_981D665A-D2AB-706C-588A-431F36ADC9E0" data-act-id="paragraph_32" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 32px 0px -5px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 40px; font-feature-settings: " kern="kern" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility">Gohmert headed to SCOTUS</h3></div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_1FE77FFD-5D41-570E-4E70-431C3CEA1BDB" data-act-id="paragraph_33" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Soon after these texts, Gohmert's office took part in two cases that challenged the election result at the Supreme Court.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_92AB9F32-B430-DA92-92FD-431C3CF053BA" data-act-id="paragraph_34" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">First, Texas' attorney general went straight to the high court to sue Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin -- all swing states Joe Biden had won -- claiming they had conducted their elections unconstitutionally.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_47CEC00E-9B32-FB4A-EAA7-431C3CF7F9E2" data-act-id="paragraph_35" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">The case theoretically could have given the Supreme Court the power to throw out the presidential election result. Gohmert was one of 126 Republican members of Congress <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22O155/163550/20201211132250339_Texas%20v.%20Pennsylvania%20Amicus%20Brief%20of%20126%20Representatives%20--%20corrected.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">to sign on to an amicus brief</a> supporting Texas before the high court.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_3F603039-3C69-73BD-4ECE-431C3CFD4274" data-act-id="paragraph_36" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">On December 11, just days after the case had been filed, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/11/politics/supreme-court-order-texas-election-case/index.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">a majority of justices rejected the attempt,</a> saying Texas had not shown it had the legal right to challenge how another state conducts its election.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_29C28A0E-8582-E376-684D-431C3D059019" data-act-id="paragraph_37" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Clarence Thomas signed on to a two-sentence statement, penned by Justice Samuel Alito, arguing a procedural point that the court should not have dismissed the case outright because it fell under the court's "original jurisdiction." But importantly, Thomas and Alito did note that they would grant no other relief to Texas in the case.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_B9B0B1D8-DF13-0896-2D55-431C3D0C86A2" data-act-id="paragraph_38" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">A source close to Thomas believes that the justice's position on that case and others shows he was not swayed by his wife's interests.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_E1EE202C-2F40-46DE-8A35-431C3D13F8C0" data-act-id="paragraph_39" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Even with that swift loss at the Supreme Court, Gohmert's office wasn't finished aiming election challenges at the high court.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_D92849DA-2723-B44D-4BF8-431C3D1BBC2B" data-act-id="paragraph_40" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">In late December, Gohmert tried with a case of his own. The congressman sued Pence directly. The lawsuit asked the court to force Pence to stop the Electoral College certification of Biden's win.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_FB49DD35-671B-F4B0-10C0-431C3D233238" data-act-id="paragraph_41" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">That <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/31/politics/pence-gohmert-electoral-college-lawsuit/index.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">prompted Pence's lawyers</a> to speak up in court, asking a federal judge to dismiss Gohmert's case. It was a crucial early moment of the vice president publicly defending his role of presiding over the Senate. Pence has stood by his position that the vice president couldn't overturn the election and courts should not have either.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_0059D73B-B98B-01E4-0B6B-431C3D2BD314" data-act-id="paragraph_42" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">The<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/02/politics/gohmert-pence-electoral-college-case-appeal-dismissed/index.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;"> Gohmert case</a> eventually made its way to the Supreme Court on January 6, the day of the Electoral College certification.</div><ul class="cn cn-list-hierarchical-xs cn--idx-50 cn-zoneAdContainer" data-layout="list-hierarchical-xs" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_A9819F33-E4FA-867F-D6F7-431C3D350A68" data-act-id="paragraph_43" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">"Our nation stands at the crossroads of a Constitutional crisis fraught by chaos and turmoil brought into play by a viral plague, anti-democratic interference from domestic and foreign sources, and hastily enacted State voting measures ostensibly placed to protect voters from catching the plague," <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20A115/165483/20210106111314445_Gohmert%20v%20Pence%20Stay%20Appl%20signed.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">Gohmert's filing</a> said.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_3E0A5F5C-A78A-3884-C508-431C3D3EFB10" data-act-id="paragraph_44" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">The court denied its request the next day, with no dissents noted.</div></ul></div><p class="zn-bodyparagraph zn-body__footer" data-act-id="paragraph_45" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.375; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);">CNN's Ariane de Vogue, Ryan Nobles, Zachary Cohen and Gabby Orr contributed to this report.
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Connie Hair - Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) (Dec. 2010-), Chief ...https://www.legistorm.com › person › bio › Connie_L_HairSee more about Connie Hair including contact information, congressional salary, employment history and other biographical information.
Connie L. Hair, Congressional Staffer - Salary Data - LegiStormhttps://www.legistorm.com › person › Connie_L_HairSee Congressional salary data for Connie Hair, for all positions held in the U.S. House of ... Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Start Date 01/03/22, End Date 03/31/22 ...Connie Hair (@ConnieHair) · Twitterhttps://twitter.com/ConnieHairTucker Carlson: Fossil fuels are the thing that make the US a rich country - but Biden doesn't care www.foxnews.com/opinion… #FoxNewsTwitter · 21 hours agoHow Did We Miss This Video? The WEF Told Us in 2018 That They Are Bolshies and They Are Coming for the United States of America pjmedia.com/columns/kev…Twitter · 2 hours agoAnti-Trump Stanford law prof Pamela Karlan quietly leaves DOJ amid attacks on 'unethical' $1M salary
nypost.com/2022/07/12/p… via @nypostTwitter · 22 hours agoLiz Cheney Epitomizes Never Trumpers’ Betrayal Of Our Nation
thefederalist.com/2022/…Twitter · 22 hours agoButtigieg defends protest disrupting Kavanaugh dinner washex.am/3AAXZDqTwitter · 3 days agoView on Twitter
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX-01) | AAFAhttps://www.congressweb.com › aafa › info › mbr_idLouie Gohmert (R-TX-01). Congressman since 2005 ... Chief of Staff Connie Hair. Scheduler Chelsea Cohen. Legislative Director Suanne Edmiston.
Ms. Connie Hairhttp://m.lobbyists.info › Legislators › StaffProfileProfile Issues. Ms. Connie Hair. Chief of Staff Rep. Louie B. Gohmert Jr. (R-TX-01) T: 202-225-3035 E: connie.hair@mail.house.gov. No Issues Found.
Ginni Thomas Quoted Louie Gohmert's Chief of Staff in 'Big ...https://www.thedailybeast.com › ginni-thomas-quoted-r...Apr 20, 2022 — Virginia “Ginni” Thomas mentioned her friend Connie Hair, who happened to be GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert's chief of staff, in text messages to ...
Connie Hair - Texas State Directory Onlinehttps://www.txdirectory.com › online › personConnie Hair. Last modified on: 06-25-2020 13:38:34. Back to US House Representative Louie Gohmert. Chief of Staff (US House Representative Louie Gohmert) ...
Ginni Thomas also texted Meadows about another friend who ...https://www.cnn.com › 2022/04/20 › politics › ginni-tho...Apr 20, 2022 — ... her friend Connie Hair, chief of staff to GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, at an event supporting the then-President in pictures posted ...
Connie Hair - Chief of Staff - Gohmert | ZoomInfo.comhttps://www.zoominfo.com › Connie-HairView Connie Hair's business profile as Chief of Staff at Gohmert. Find contact's direct phone number, email address, work history, and more.
Does Connie Hair edit Wikipedia for her boss? - Gender Deskhttps://genderdesk.wordpress.com › 2018/12/14 › does-...Dec 14, 2018 — Connie Hair has been a consultant for Coalition for a Fair Judiciary (“the only grass-roots organization that stands in the gap between the ...===</div></ul></div></ul></ul></div></div></div>