Seth Keshel, a former Army intelligence captain who has promoted some of the most outlandish false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, wrote that he was recently invited to the White House to brief “one of President Trump’s most critical staff members” on election integrity. Also in this week’s Eye On The Right: the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) new top lawyer worked for a leading anti-voting law firm, Democracy Docket reported exclusively; and a look into the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) new voter integrity task force.

As always, thanks for reading. 

— Matt Cohen, Senior Reporter

A prominent Arizona election denier briefed the White House on election integrity

Since 2021, Seth Keshel, an avowed Trump supporter and former Army intelligence captain, has traveled the country spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. He’s given a presentation to thousands of people falsely alleging that former President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory was illegitimate, and has pitched a 10-point plan that includes banning early voting and requiring every American to register to vote. 

Keshel — whose wife, Rachel, is a member of the Arizona legislature — wrote online last week that in May he gave a presentation on election integrity and the 2020 election at his most prominent venue yet: The White House. 

Keshel wrote that he gave his presentation “to one of President Trump’s most critical staff members and his own key staff — someone who undoubtedly interfaces with the President daily.”

Keshel didn’t say specifically what he discussed at the White House but that it contained “actionable” information “never shared publicly.” He also divulged that the briefing topic was "key 2021-25 research on election integrity" and predicted that the information “could change the elections world.”

Ever since Trump returned to the White House, far-right figures and conservative extremists who were once on the fringes have been embraced and celebrated by the GOP. People like Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer don’t just have Trump’s ear — they’re regularly invited to the White House for private chats with the president.  

Given all that, it comes as no surprise that someone like Keshel would be welcomed to the White House to give a presentation on election integrity. But it absolutely scares me. With the Trump administration’s all-out assault on voting and elections, someone like Keshel advising the White House on election integrity is nothing short of a five-alarm fire. 

And it sounds like the White House is taking Keshel seriously.

“If they weren’t, there’s no way I would have been there,” Keshel wrote. “I believe there is plenty left to come with regard to what is the most important domestic issue threatening our liberty, and I would like to personally thank all of you for allowing me to remain an independent voice in this field for over three years since being pushed off the corporate gangplank for standing up for what I believe is right and just.”

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The DOJ’s new top voting lawyer worked for a leading anti-voting law firm

Since Trump’s return to power, the DOJ has undergone a radical transformation — especially in its voting section. The section has dropped voting rights cases, seen a mass exodus of lawyers and received a new mandate to find alleged voter fraud instead of protecting voting rights.

And now it has a new leader: Maureen Riordan is the new top voting lawyer at the DOJ, according to a new DOJ lawsuit, which identifies her as “Acting Chief, Voting Section.”

Riordan spent nearly 17 years as a lawyer at the voting section, according to her LinkedIn bio. But from 2021 until last month, she served as litigation counsel at the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), a leading anti-voting legal group that has worked for years to spread fear about illegal voting and press election officials to tighten voting rules.

In 2022, Riordan appeared on a podcast hosted by Cleta Mitchell, who participated in Trump’s infamous December 2020 phone call on which he pressed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) to find enough votes to hand Trump the state. Mitchell is a former chair of PILF — as well as a favorite of this newsletter.

“What we have now is an election integrity movement,” Mitchell declared on the podcast with Riordan. “And we want to keep building on that and training people and deploying them in a way that actually does reclaim our election systems from the left.” 

“I agree,” said Riordan.

“No comment here,” a Justice Department spokesperson said when Democracy Docket asked about Riordan’s hiring.

PILF specializes in pressuring states and counties — by threatening and bringing litigation — to more aggressively remove voters from the rolls. As part of that effort, it has worked to stoke fear about the threat of non-citizen voting, which is extremely rare. A 2017 PILF report titled “Alien Invasion” claimed to have found thousands of ballots cast by noncitizens in Virginia. Election administrators and reporters found numerous flaws in the report’s methodology.

A lawsuit brought by PILF against Galveston County, Texas led to a ruling that significantly limited the ability of the Voting Rights Act to protect the voting power of racial minorities in the 5th Circuit.

PILF’s founder and president, Christian Adams, resigned from the DOJ’s voting section in 2010 after the department declined to pursue a case involving alleged intimidation of white voters by a Black activist.

The group’s board of directors includes prominent leaders of the conservative push to restrict voting, including the Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky and Ken Blackwell of the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute. A former PILF director, John Eastman, concocted a plan to allow Trump to stay in power after the 2020 election by having then-Vice President Mike Pence throw out electoral votes for Biden in key states.

Among Riordan’s legal work for PILF was a 2024 amicus brief in a Republican case that aimed to strike down New York’s vote-by-mail law. Restricting mail voting has been a top priority for the GOP nationwide.

ALEC sets sights on anti-voting state-level bills

Among the most influential state-level conservative groups is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a massive corporate-funded think tank that’s best known for drafting model legislation for state GOP lawmakers. 

For more than 50 years ALEC has worked behind the scenes as a Republican “bill mill” to push a myriad of far-right policies into state legislatures across the country — including voter suppression bills like strict voter ID. Recently, the group announced it’s renewing its anti-voter push with a new “Process and Procedures Task Force” to focus on passing a whole new slate of state-level voter suppression bills.

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In recent years, ALEC has been responsible for drafting controversial anti-voting bills like the SAVE Act, Only Citizens Vote Act and the School Board Election Date Act. In a recent press release, the group said its new task force “will expand these efforts” with a focus on “streamlining government, strengthening voter ID requirements, blocking foreign influence through illicit campaign donations, and addressing concerns over the late arrival and counting of mail-in ballots.”

That last topic — grace periods for mail-in ballots — is the latest target in the GOP’s war on voting, Democracy Docket has reported. Trump’s sweeping anti-voting executive order would press states to reject all mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, as would the national SAVE Act. And a GOP lawsuit challenging Mississippi’s ballot receipt deadline law is poised to be considered by SCOTUS. Currently, 16 states and Washington, D.C. allow for these ballots. But given ALEC’s history, it’s a safe bet they’ll do everything they can to eliminate those laws in every state where they wield influence. 

“It’s time to safeguard the electoral process through the principles of federalism, transparency, and constitutional integrity,” ALEC CEO Lisa B. Nelson said. “For more than a decade, we’ve watched the rise of misinformation, media manipulation, and coordinated campaigns designed to undermine faith in elections. Now is time to act.”