Atlanta – A major new ProPublica investigation reveals senior Trump officials met behind closed doors with election deniers who tried to overturn the 2020 election. Their discussions centered on a strategy to press for a “national emergency” that they believe would expand presidential powers over elections to let the president seize control of the 2026 midterms.

The new ProPublica investigation was published just days after the Washington Post reported on a draft executive order that could serve as the vehicle for that emergency election‑takeover strategy.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because in October the New York Times reported that this same “national emergency” idea had been circulating inside Trump’s orbit for months. ProPublica’s report documents a direct connection between the White House and the Election Integrity Network (EIN), a well‑funded, professional organization that has become the central hub shaping plans to interfere with the 2026 election.

EIN was founded by Cleta Mitchell – Trump’s 2020 attorney who played a central role in efforts to overturn his loss. Mitchell was on the call pressuring Georgia’s Secretary of State to “find” 11,780 votes, and she was at the meeting reported on by ProPublica, too. The Washington Post reported that weeks earlier, Mitchell met with White House officials about election policy. In September 2025, Mitchell joined a nationally syndicated program, Washington Watch, to tout ways a president could use a national emergency to exert power over how elections are run.

One of the officials who joined this new meeting covered in ProPublica’s report was also at the center of the New York Times’ earlier reporting: Heather Honey – now a senior Department of Homeland Security official and a former EIN leader – underscoring how this “national emergency” strategy has moved from the fringe into the machinery of government.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM PROPUBLICA’S REPORTING

Trump Officials Are Secretly Coordinating With 2020 Election Deniers

• On February 19, high‑ranking federal officials – including White House lawyer Kurt Olsen and DHS “election integrity” official Heather Honey – attended a 30‑person summit convened by Trump’s former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and attended by Cleta Mitchell.
• ProPublica reports – based on videos, photos, emails, and recordings – that multiple participants previously worked to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss and are now pressing him to take over this year’s midterms. This is not speculation.

The Goal: A Fake “National Emergency” to Hijack Elections

• At the summit, activists urged Trump officials to declare a national emergency so he could “get around the Constitution’s directive that elections should be run by states,” ban voting machines, and end mail‑in ballots.
• Patrick Byrne, the former Overstock.com CEO who has bankrolled election‑denial efforts since 2020, said Trump has “played nice” so far in not seizing control of American elections and now must do “the muscular thing: declare a national emergency.”
• Activist Will Huff said Olsen and other administration representatives agreed to take the group’s “consensus” for a national emergency back to Trump: “It’s got to be a national emergency.”

EIN Is the Connective Tissue Embedding Deniers in Government

• The summit capped months of private meetings and calls between administration officials and conservative activists, many routed through Cleta Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network.
• ProPublica reports that before joining DHS, Heather Honey and CISA’s Marci McCarthy were both leaders in EIN.
• Weeks after starting at DHS, Honey briefed EIN activists and a Republican secretary of state on “her work for election integrity inside DHS” on a call organized by Mitchell.
• Ethics experts say this kind of privileged access for a former employer would have violated prior guardrails and highlights how election deniers are now embedded “inside the machinery of government.”

Why This Story Matters for 2026

• This is not a one‑off meeting – it is evidence of a sustained, organized effort to move the 2020 election denial network inside the government and exert federal power in an attempt to influence future elections.
• EIN is the connective tissue of that effort, connecting Flynn, Mitchell, Honey, McCarthy, and other activists to federal officials who could shape how the 2026 midterms are run.
• ProPublica’s reporting makes clear: the line between partisan election deniers and the federal officials overseeing our elections has been deliberately blurred, and the push for a “national emergency” takeover may already be on the president’s desk.
• Reporters covering democracy, voting rights, national security, or the 2026 midterms should read the full ProPublica investigation and follow the money, personnel, and policy moves radiating from the Election Integrity Network.

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