Secretary Warner seeks Congressional Investigation on Election Interference

Charleston, W.Va. – West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner wants to ensure the integrity of all elections, especially those wherein we elect the U.S. President. To avoid repeating past bad acts, Congress should investigate and hold bad actors accountable.

Two weeks before the 2020 presidential election, 51 intelligence “experts” purposely misled the American public by falsely implying that the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation. The main actor, former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell, admitted under oath that they did so to help Joe Biden get elected president. They intentionally gave Biden a fabricated talking point to use in the final presidential debate by pointing the finger at Russia. The FBI did not reveal the truth about the laptop until long after the election. The affair was not only disinformation (purposely lying), it was also election interference by our own federal government agencies.

“When former CIA officials collude with the FBI to cover up political information, and then encourage social media to demote the story as Mark Zuckerberg publicly admitted, that is the most insidious election interference imaginable,” Secretary Warner said. “We expect trouble from China, Russia, and Iran. We shouldn’t have to keep an eye on the very institutions that are supposed to keep us safe. Americans need to be aware this occurred, and we must take action to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

Warner noted, “The first step to solving a problem is to acknowledge there is a problem.”

Warner went on to say, “Agencies within our federal government should acknowledge what happened, their role in lying to America and the subsequent cover up, and what actions they have taken to correct the problem. I have called on the CIA, FBI, CISA, and DOJ to address the situation. To date none have responded, which is why I called on Senator Shelley Moore Capito to ask the Senate for a hearing into the matter.”

Two weeks ago, Secretary Warner asked Senator Capito (see below), the leader of the West Virginia delegation in Washington, D.C., to encourage her colleagues to convene a hearing on the improper role of the various U.S. government agencies and their contract employees in the 2020 presidential election. Acknowledging their improper actions in the 2020 election -- and doing so now before the 2024 election -- would go a long way to restoring confidence in our government and our elections.

In the letter to Senator Capito, Secretary Warner references recent findings and allegations regarding improper federal agency involvement in the 2020 election. Secretary Warner believes that, despite the U.S. Senate not being in session, these new revelations warrant immediate attention from the Senate to build on the U.S. House’s investigation into the weaponization of the federal government.

Over the last several years, Warner has been the leader of a group of Secretaries of State throughout the country who have publicly discussed this critical matter. Warner has made numerous requests to the FBI and CISA (see the latest correspondence by clicking here) to discuss allegations of wrongdoing by agents of their agencies during the 2020 presidential election. Last month, Warner was invited to testify on election security before a hearing hosted by the U.S. House of Representatives where, once again, he raised this issue. Yet, the Biden administration, the FBI, and CISA refuse to publicly discuss the matter.

“If the agencies won’t do it themselves,” Warner said, “then Congress must impose safeguards to prevent disinformation by federal agencies from ever again affecting the outcome of a presidential election. People who purposely lie to the American public – especially to change the outcome of an election – must be held accountable.”

"Here we are less than a month before the November General Election and federal government officials still refuse to talk about what happened in the last presidential election," said Secretary Warner.

“In fact, it has gotten worse,” Warner said. “President Biden has tried to make the entire federal government a ‘get out the vote’ mechanism for partisan benefit. Presidential Executive Order (EO) 14019 calls on all 600 federal agencies to usurp the power the U.S. Constitution clearly gives to the states. Article 1, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution says the manner of holding elections shall be left to the states, and that includes the way people are registered to vote. EO 14019 is a clear overreach by the federal government, and it must be rescinded. Federal agencies, just like federal employees, should not be turned into political operatives.”

While continuing to combat the federal government and enforce the rights given to states under the U.S. Constitution, Warner said, "Confidence in West Virginia elections is at an all-time high. Our county clerks are doing a magnificent job, and we have the best equipment and systems in the world. Our National Guard, Fusion Center, and cyber security experts are constantly monitoring our critical election infrastructure, and the Legislature has prescribed safe, secure ways to run our elections. If we can keep the federal government out of our election process, we will continue to lead the nation in election integrity."

LETTER TO SENATOR CAPITO:

September 26, 2024

The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito
Member of the United States Senate
170 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

RE: Request for Congressional Inquiry

Dear Senator Capito,

Attached to this email are separate letters that I sent this week to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Jen Easterly, Director of the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The purpose of those letters was to demand a response to the repeated inquiries I've made to CISA regarding security, transparency, and confidence in the upcoming November 5 General Election. I write now to request the U.S. Senate to formally inquiry into the intelligence community’s actions in 2020 that improperly influenced the election, and to take steps to prevent political interests from using the federal government for political gain.

As you know, I have been deeply concerned and troubled by the Biden Administration's reluctance to formally address allegations surrounding the involvement of the FBI and CIA in the 2020 election. On September 11 of this year, I restated my concerns before the Committee on House Administration when I testified on Capitol Hill. My written testimony is also attached.

On July 18, 2024, I sent a letter to Director Easterly asking CISA for a thorough response to state chief election officials regarding the disinformation and improper role of the federal government in the 2020 election, as well as what protocols have been put in place to prevent a recurrence in November. CISA refuses to address these concerns, further eroding confidence in our elections.

The 2024 general election is less than six weeks away. As one of the nation’s chief election officials, I would like to know if the FBI now believes it was correct in staying silent about an operation run by CIA contract employees and former employees that was done for the express purpose of helping one candidate over another. See, e.g., Michael Morell’s testimony to House Judiciary. If proper, why was it proper, and if not, what has the FBI done to correct the situation and prevent their act of omission in the future?

The first step to solving a problem is to acknowledge there is a problem. The CIA should acknowledge their fast-tracking approval of release of the letter by the 51 “experts” was improper; the FBI should acknowledge their silence on the “experts” letter that called the Hunter Biden laptop story Russian disinformation was ill-advised, and the FBI should not have told Facebook to suppress the New York Post’s story on the issue; and CISA should now acknowledge the other U.S. Government agencies interference in our elections was improper. The 2020 election was not “the most secure in U.S. history.”

In a classified briefing held just yesterday, I again raised these issues with representatives of numerous U.S. Government agencies but was again rebuffed and received an answer by a representative of CISA that was non-responsive to my specific inquiry.

People within the WV Fusion Center said there were people who now choose not to vote, citing the problems with the 2020 election. “Why should we bother to vote, when no one has fixed what happened in 2020?” they ask. This is the most insidious form of voter suppression—when people lose faith in our own federal government. We need assurance that the Biden Administration is doing everything possible to prevent a repeat of 2020.

By this correspondence, I am respectfully requesting that you encourage the U.S. Senate to compel Director Wray and Director Easterly to appear before the appropriate Senate Committee to address these concerns. State election officials and the voters need reassurance that the upcoming general election is secure and free of improper influence from federal agencies. That assurance can best be provided through testimony under oath from both individuals, confirming that the proper safeguards are in place.

I am prepared to assist you in any way. Thank you in advance for your leadership and positive response to this request.

Sincerely,

Mac Warner
WV Secretary of State

Cc: U.S. Senator Joe Manchin
Congresswoman Carol Miller
Congressman Alex Mooney
FBI Director Christopher Wray
CISA Director Jen Easterly