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House Speaker Mike Johnson provided details to conservative social media figures before the public announcement, raising concerns about transparency and the influence of digital creators in politics.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, the Louisiana Republican, briefed selected conservative influencers on details of his new election integrity bill before its formal announcement.
According to NBC News, this approach was designed to bolster grassroots support before the official unveiling.
Johnson’s bill, which claims to reinforce laws against noncitizen voting — a practice already prohibited — was shared behind the scenes with prominent conservative figures, including those associated with the anti-LGBTQ+ social media account Libs of TikTok, managed by Chaya Raichik, NBC News reports. This account, along with Raichik, has been recently added to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Extremist Files for spreading misinformation and for links to multiple bomb threats and threats of violence against individuals, schools, hospitals, and other establishments.
The influencers were provided detailed information about the bill by Johnson’s team well in advance of its public introduction, setting the stage for a pre-planned social media campaign on X, formerly known as Twitter. Ryan Fournier, the chair of Students for Trump, was among the first to post about the bill at 3:50 p.m. ET on Friday, the day of the announcement, emphasizing the bill’s goal to ensure that “only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections.”
Already, only U.S. citizens can vote.
Shortly after, at 4:22 p.m., account DC_Draino urged followers to support the bill, highlighting that it would require “blue states to obtain proof of citizenship for voter registration.” A post from EndWokeness followed at 4:40 p.m., claiming that the legislation would introduce punishment for election workers who register noncitizens to vote.
At 5:04 p.m., the Libs of TikTok account made a more provocative statement: “Democrats are purposely importing millions of criminal illegal aliens for their voter base while removing voter ID requirements so they can rig our elections. Congress needs to pass the ‘Safeguard American Voter Eligibility’ Act!” This post, made shortly before Johnson and former President Donald Trump’s news conference, aimed to intensify the sense of urgency and necessity surrounding the bill’s passage.
These strategic posts were all part of the orchestrated effort to drum up support for the bill before it was officially unveiled alongside Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, with the goal being buzz and support on social media, NBC News reports. The timing and content framed the bill as an urgent measure to protect American democracy despite already illegal and rare noncitizen voting.
As Johnson’s press conference started, Isabella DeLuca, another prominent conservative influencer, took to X at 5:07 p.m. to post about the legislation, NBC News reports. She wrote, “Speaker Johnson just introduced the SAVE Act, a pivotal measure to fortify our democracy and save our elections.”
DeLuca, who had been arrested last month on charges related to the January 6 Capitol insurrection for allegedly aiding in an assault on police officers, had set her X account to private earlier that day.
