By: Shashi M
December 7 2020
Whistleblowers came forward to speak about election integrity at Amistad Project's press conference but we cannot determine their authenticity.
Whistleblowers came forward to speak about election integrity at Amistad Project's press conference but we cannot determine their authenticity.The Amistad Project, part of the Thomas More Society law firm, held a press conference on Dec. 1, where several whistleblowers gave eyewitness testimony about alleged election fraud in key battleground states in the United States. The Amistad Project claims to have uncovered hundreds-of-thousands of ballots affected by election fraud in five states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. However, we cannot determine the whistleblowers' reliability and whether their account of events is genuine. On Nov. 24, the Amistad Project announced that they are filing several federal and state lawsuits challenging the presidential election results in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona. The Amistad Project identifies itself as a national conservative legal organization. In a release, the project stated that the Trump campaign is joining with the Amistad project on these lawsuits on a case-by-case basis, according to Rudy Giuliani, who remains the head of the campaign’s legal efforts. Washington Post found that the organization has a tie to President Trump’s legal team, raising questions about their investigation's independence. Senior Trump campaign legal adviser Jenna Ellis serves as special counsel to the Thomas More Society, and they confirmed her relationship with the group. Still, it said she has no role in its election-related activities. "Ellis is a Thomas More Society special counsel and is also listed as part of the “Leadership and Advisory Board” on a website used by Amistad to raise money and publish its legal briefs", reported WaPo. Moreover, Tony Shaffer, a retired defense intelligence official who sits on the Trump campaign’s advisory board, appeared at an Amistad news conference in Virginia on Dec. 1 as the group’s “lead investigator” in its hunt for voter fraud. However, Ellis's affiliation with the organization — as well as other links between Trump’s team and the conservative group raises questions about the authenticity of their investigation. It can also be viewed as a coordinated effort to push unfounded claims about voter fraud. The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear a case filed by the group, with a conservative justice on the seven-member elected panel writing that he found its lawsuit included “glaring flaws that render the petition woefully deficient.” Justice Brian Hagedorn issued a stern warning to the group’s attempt to get the court to overturn the presidential election, which he termed “the most dramatic invocation of judicial power” he had ever seen. Working in conjunction with a team of former Trump campaign data analysts, Amistad also has claimed to have shared its findings with the FBI. The Justice Department declined to comment. Attorney General William P. Barr also said that the department has found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. So far, no evidence of widespread voter fraud has been uncovered in the United States.