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Heather Honey, a high-profile denier of Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, has been assigned to an elderly position in the united state Department of Homeland Protection in which she’ll aid oversee the nation’s election infrastructure.
Honey is a protege of Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer that attempted to aid Trump reverse the 2020 election results In 2024, ProPublica reported that Honey had actually played an essential role in Mitchell’s behind-the-scenes initiative to change Georgia’s election policies to allow Republican authorities to object to a potential Trump loss in that year’s presidential race. Honey also promoted political election conspiracy theory theories , including one Trump mentioned in a speech to his followers prior to they stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021
Though states do the on-the-ground work of running political elections, DHS supports them with tasks past their abilities, such as securing IT facilities and citizen data sources from international intrusions. The firm, with bipartisan assistance, tackled this role in the consequences of Russia’s disturbance in the 2016 election
Specialists on voting and state election authorities alerted that Honey’s consultation as DHS’ deputy aide secretary of political election stability might erode count on in between state and federal officials, triggering states not to share info with the agency.
“We are witnessing a hazardous trend: the altitude of well-known bad-faith stars like Heather Honey,” stated Adrian Fontes, Arizona’s Democratic assistant of state, in a declaration, pointing out Honey’s “well-documented history of spreading political election exists that have actually been debunked in court.”
Fontes called her participation with DHS “deeply troubling” and claimed “when the firm provides a platform to people who have actively worked to deteriorate public trust fund, it comes to be tougher to watch DHS as a dependable partner in political election safety and security.”
A DHS representative did not answer concerns from ProPublica on Honey’s consultation or the precise nature of her obligations. Honey really did not react to telephone calls or e-mails. The White Home also didn’t react to a request for remark. Her name is noted on the company’s leadership structure online, and her appointment was initially reported by the website Freedom Docket
In the first Trump administration, the federal government set up programs created to secure united state political elections from international interference, including the Cybersecurity and Framework Protection Firm, an arm of DHS. However Trump soured on this and various other campaigns after the supervisor of CISA openly rebutted his cases that the 2020 political election was stolen.
Given that the beginning of the 2nd Trump presidency, the management has actually gutted those programs, reducing thousands of workers at CISA Its supervisor, Chris Krebs, is now under government investigation , DHS has stated; Krebs told CNN that the examination appeared to be an act of political retribution. The Justice Department has also curtailed a program focused on battling foreign influence projects. Attorney General Pam Bondi created in a memorandum that the Justice Division’s program was dissolved to “complimentary sources to attend to extra pressing priorities, and end dangers of more weaponization and misuses of prosecutorial discernment.”
David Becker, the executive supervisor of the Facility for Election Advancement and Research, a nonprofit concentrated on structure rely on American elections, stated the cuts had taken apart “almost all” of DHS’ capacity to safeguard political election facilities. He claimed state elections officials feared that Honey’s visit, integrated with the program cuts, indicated the Trump management’s intent to remove bulwarks of reasonable united state elections.
“The hiring of a political election conspiracy philosopher with no political election knowledge or experience is the culmination of this reversal,” Becker said. “DHS now appears poised to end up being a key amplifier of false political election conspiracy theories pushed by our opponents.”
Two resources knowledgeable about Honey’s working with at DHS claimed she began helping the firm recently. An organizational chart dated Aug. 18 on the department’s web site recognizes her as a leader in the firm’s Workplace of Method, Policy and Program. Her position had not been on a variation of the web site archived in July, and officials in former managements said that there’s been no such task previously.
It’s unclear yet what Honey will look after, but previous DHS authorities claimed that deputy assistant secretaries are usually the firm’s top professionals in their disciplines. They’re commonly associated with composing executive orders and crafting policies. They likewise serve as liaisons to the White Home and the National Safety Council.
Since Honey began, Trump has actually introduced ” an activity to get rid of” mail-in ballots and electing equipments by means of executive order, though a top aide subsequently stated the administration would seek those objectives via legal action. DHS has actually additionally endangered to cut off concerning $ 28 million in grants to assist states get ready for terrorism and calamities if they don’t alter voting rules to comply with the management’s top priorities, NPR has reported
Honey’s duties likely would include assisting to arrange the federal government’s plan actions if foreign stars make breaches right into the nation’s election systems, former officials said. To do this, and to assess the security of election framework, someone in her position would generally have accessibility to identified information, consisting of the federal government’s election-related intelligence.
Experts shared problem concerning Honey’s portfolio, given her history of spreading out misinformation.
“Heather Honey’s past deceptive claims regarding vote matters in Pennsylvania, among other points, have actually helped fuel incorrect conspiracy concepts about swiped elections,” stated Larry Norden, an election expert at the Brennan Facility for Justice at NYU Law, a detached regulation and policy team.
Before coming to be scooped in the “Stop the Steal” motion, Honey had no experience in the federal government or as a political election administrator, working as a Pennsylvania-based private detective
After the 2020 election, she became a professional for a Republican-backed audit seeking proof of scams in ballots cast in Maricopa Region, Arizona. According to e-mails between workers working on the testimonial, which ended up reaffirming Biden’s win , Honey aided prepare the final report
Since then, Honey has actually led a minimum of 3 organizations devoted to transforming political election systems in means championed by traditionalists, such as tightening qualification demands for people to be on citizen rolls. Participants of Honey’s Pennsylvania Fair Political elections, a state chapter of Mitchell’s nationwide Election Stability Network, have tested the qualification of thousands of locals to be on voter rolls.
Honey has actually likewise been associated with many various other initiatives to transform elections around the country, consisting of an effective push to obtain many states with Republican management to pull out of a bipartisan interstate partnership to share data to make electing even more protected.
Do you have information you can share concerning Heather Honey or political elections function being carried out in the federal government, specifically at the Division of Homeland Safety? Get in touch with press reporter Doug Bock Clark at [email protected] or on Signal at 678 – 243 – 0784 If you’re concerned concerning confidentiality, have a look at our recommendations on one of the most safe means to share ideas
This tale was originally published by ProPublica