Democracy Docket "Warner was reportedly behind a DOJ effort in Missouri to access voting machines used in the 2020 election and personally contacted at least two county clerks earlier this year requesting “permission to access, physically inspect and perhaps take physical custody” of Dominion voting machines. "
By Matt Cohen
November 15, 2025
Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the president has made it clear that voter suppression is a top priority. In March, Trump issued a sweeping anti-voting executive order that could disenfranchise millions. And while courts have blocked key provisions of his order, the White House promised that another order, likely targeting mail voting, is on the way.
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Marci McCarthy, director of public affairs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
As chair of the DeKalb County, Georgia Republican Party, McCarthy amplified false claims of mass voter fraud, raised doubts about the results of the 2020 election, and spread disinformation about faulty voter machines in Georgia. McCarthy led a failed Republican lawsuit challenging the Peach State’s use of Dominion Voting Systems that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) called a “last-minute effort to push false claims about Georgia’s voting system and cast doubt on the upcoming presidential election.”
Now McCarthy is the chief spokesperson for CISA, the nation’s top cybersecurity agency, which is a part of DHS. Since Trump’s return to power, CISA has ceased all its election security work, leaving states without a critical resource for securing elections from foreign and domestic cybersecurity threats.
During a recent call with state election leaders, Honey, the senior DHS official, explained that CISA gutted its election security work because the agency was “moving into censorship and telling Americans what they should believe,” according to an election official who was on the call.
“It was deeply disturbing,” said the election official, who spoke with Democracy Docket on the condition of anonymity. “It’s not accurate, it’s defamation, and it’s just absurd.”
Kurt Olsen, special government employee at the White House
Olsen, a former Trump campaign lawyer, played a key role in the president’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. Olsen was involved in Texas’ challenge of the election results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin. And Olsen pushed DOJ officials to file a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court to nullify the election results, urging the court to order a special election in four states where Trump lost.
Trump reportedly tapped Olsen last month to join the White House as a “special government employee” to investigate the 2020 election and other voting-related issues. The scope and circumstances of Olsen’s new role are vague, but the Wall Street Journal reported that it’s a temporary, 130-day appointment. Trump reportedly asked Olsen to “work on election issues important to him,” which includes examining election machines, probing the 2020 election, and helping to weed out disloyal federal employees.
Mac Warner, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division at DOJ
As the top election official for West Virginia from 2017 until earlier this year when he was appointed to his DOJ role, Warner amplified far-right conspiracies about the 2020 election and restricted voter access.
“The 2020 election was stolen, and it was stolen by the CIA,” Warner falsely claimed during a Republican gubernatorial debate in 2023. “They colluded to sell a lie to the American people two weeks before the election. I don’t want three-lettered agencies determining the outcome of presidential elections.”
Now Warner is working in a nebulous “Interagency Weaponization Working Group,” where he’s investigating false claims about 2020 and taking steps to restrict voting access. Warner was reportedly behind a DOJ effort in Missouri to access voting machines used in the 2020 election and personally contacted at least two county clerks earlier this year requesting “permission to access, physically inspect and perhaps take physical custody” of Dominion voting machines.
Warner also used his position as a member of the board of advisers for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to pressure the federal voting panel to implement provisions of Trump’s anti-voting order. A district court last month blocked the EAC from implementing the provision of Trump’s anti-voting order demanding a proof-of-citizenship requirement on the federal voter registration form.