Trump allies gear up for ‘election integrity’ summit in Detroit

Allies of former President Donald Trump are hosting an ‘election integrity’ summit in Detroit on Friday and Saturday, an event that will feature political figures who have made unproven allegations of fraud and Committee staffers National Republican.
The Election Integrity Network is organizing the rally. The group is chaired by conservative attorney Cleta Mitchell, who served as “pro bono counsel for Trump’s legal team in Georgia,” according to its website.
Mitchell was on the phone Jan. 2, 2021 during which Trump asked Georgia election officials to “find” enough votes to declare him the winner of the battleground state, according to the Associated Press.
The Election Integrity Network is a project of the Conservative Partnership Institute, which includes former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows as a lead partner.
The summit will include presentations titled “Starting and Building Local Task Forces/Becoming a Presence in the Local Election Office”, “Working Together to Fight the Left” and “Becoming Part of the Election Machinery: Election Inspectors in the Michigan,” according to an agenda obtained by The Detroit News.
The election inspectors’ discussions will be led by Matthew Seifried, appointed election integrity director for Michigan’s Republican National Committee. Josh Findlay, appointed National Director of Election Integrity for the RNC, will be part of the ‘Working Together to Fight the Left’ panel.
The Election Integrity Network and the RNC did not immediately provide comment on the event Thursday. The summit will take place at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center.
Cindy Berry, Township of Chesterfield Clerk, will participate in a discussion at the summit on mail-in voting and voting systems. Berry said she was contacted by someone from the Michigan Republican Party about the possibility of speaking at the event.
People want secure elections they can trust, Berry said.
“I hope to bring a professional perspective,” she said.
Also on the agenda will be former Michigan state senator Patrick Colbeck, who repeatedly made unproven allegations of fraud in the November 2020 election, and Erick Kaardal, an attorney. of the Thomas More Society.
In April 2021, Dominion Voting Systems accused Colbeck of leading a “misinformation campaign” while touring Michigan to give presentations titled “Case for MI Decertification”. The Thomas More Society was embroiled in unsuccessful litigation that sought to compel battleground state legislatures, including Michigan, to approve their states’ election results.
Lavora Barnes, chairwoman of the Michigan Democratic Party, said the conference lineup read “like a who’s who of democracy destroyers.”
“It’s not surprising given the rampant fraud that runs deep within the RNC and Michigan Republican Party,” Barnes said. “This conference agenda makes it clear that Republicans are committed to keeping the ‘big lie’ alive until the 2022 election.
“It’s not shocking that Republicans boldly and publicly continue their attempts to undermine our democratic institutions and it’s something we – the Michigan Democratic Party – fight against every day,” Barnes said.
The summit agenda indicates that Michael Gableman, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, will deliver a keynote address. He investigated allegations of fraud in Wisconsin.
According to information provided to an attendee, “no video or audio recordings of any of our training and education sessions” will be permitted at the event.
Trump lost Michigan’s November 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden by 154,000 votes or 3 percentage points. A series of court rulings, more than 200 audits and an investigation by the GOP-controlled Senate Oversight Committee confirmed the finding.