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Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson will fly to Florida on Friday to join the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, four-times indicted ex-president Donald Trump for a press conference to promote House legislation aimed at banning non-U.S. citizens from voting, which is already a criminal felony.
USA Today reports during the event “the top House Republican will tout the legislation to ‘elevate the issue of non-citizens voting in federal elections,’ according to a person familiar with the planning.”
The paper also reports, “non-citizens are already not allowed to vote in federal elections in the United States, and it’s not a common occurrence. No state currently allows non-citizens to cast a ballot in state-level elections either, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, though some municipalities may have their own rules for local races.”
The baseless attack on non-citizen voting quickly became part of the GOP echo chamber.
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“It’s sad that we have to propose and fight for legislation to ban illegal aliens from voting. But that’s what happens when Democrats allow millions to illegally cross into our country to try and rig our elections,” Steve Cortes, a Fox News contributor and former Trump campaign operative falsely claimed on social media Thursday in response to the Johnson-Harris event.
Attorney and policy director for the American Immigration Council, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, responded to Cortes: “It’s already illegal for undocumented immigrants to vote in federal elections. It’s so illegal that it’s a felony, a ground of deportation, AND a near-permanent ban to receiving any future immigration benefit.”
The press event comes at a critical time for both Trump and Johnson, as NCRM reported Wednesday.
On Monday, the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president will begin in lower Manhattan, at the famed New York State Supreme Court where Trump will face 34 criminal felony charges of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments in an alleged effort to protect his 2016 presidential campaign.
Meanwhile, the embattled Speaker of the House is facing a tangible ouster threat from U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who weeks ago filed a motion to vacate. It is the same procedural tool far-right Republicans invoked last year that stripped Kevin McCarthy of his Speakership.
Both Trump and Johnson are election deniers.
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Congresswoman Greene is a strong ally of Trump, but both Trump and Johnson being able to show their base that they are aligned on what Trump claims is a critical issue is a win for both the Speaker and the ex-president.
Professor and political scientist David Darmofal commented, “The purpose of this event is twofold: 1) to continue to cast false doubt on the free & fair election of 2020 that elected President Biden & Vice President Harris, & 2) to reduce minority turnout.”
The non-citizen voting conspiracy theory may be linked to one of Trump’s top “Big Lie” promoters, attorney Cleta Mitchell who was on Trump’s infamous call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
“The false notion that undocumented immigrants are affecting federal elections has been floating around for over 100 years, experts say, but this year, due in part to an increase in migrants at the southern U.S. border, the idea could have new potency,” NPR reported last month. “The narratives are being pushed by prominent right-wing figures including Cleta Mitchell, a former adviser to Donald Trump, along with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee himself.”
NPR added it “acquired a two-page memo Mitchell has been circulating laying out ‘the threat of non-citizen voting in 2024.’”
In reality, there are few credible claims of election fraud in the U.S., certainly none that would have altered the outcome of any election in modern times (with the possible exception of some local elections,) including the 2020 presidential election, according to numerous studies, reports, experts, and Trump’s own Attorney General.
Both Donald Trump and Speaker Johnson are responsible for leading efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump is now facing federal criminal charges for his alleged role in the January 6 insurrection and other attempts to interfere in the election, and he is also facing state criminal RICO charges over his alleged efforts to overturn the results.
After he won the Speaker’s gavel last year, the Brennan Center for Justice labeled Johnson the “Most Powerful Election Denier in Washington.”
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