Thousands of supporters of former president Donald Trump have been trained how to pressure local election officials to refuse to certify the vote ahead of November’s election, according to a new report from Lawfare.
David Clements, a former law professor who gained notoriety promoting Trump’s baseless claims about the 2020 election being stolen from him, has hosted training sessions across the county, billed as a “Gideon 300” tour—named for the biblical figure who defeated a vast army with just 300 men.
This year, he has hosted events attended by thousands of people in at least 40 counties in more than a dozen states, including battlegrounds Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, according to Lawfare.
People cast their in-person early ballot for the 2024 general election at a polling station in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on October 31, 2024. Thousands of people have been trained to pressure local election officials to withhold certification of election results.
Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images
Clements has been crisscrossing the country rallying Trump supporters to learn how to pressure local leaders to withhold certification of future elections. He pivoted to polling management training after leaving his university job following several disputes with administrators, as The Washington Post and Reuters reported in 2022.
His training events have involved simulations of county election board meetings, where Clements demonstrates tactics that can be used to confront local officials to get them to withhold certification. For example, by physically occupying the space, getting control of the microphone or by surrounding someone who is filibustering, to prevent their removal by law enforcement.
“You have to create a righteous, sober-minded, well-spoken, articulate mob, if you will, because that’s the only thing that will work short of where we’re headed, which is a kinetic civil war—if we don’t get this resolved peacefully,” he told trainees at a meeting inside a church in Georgia in September, according to Lawfare.
In a lengthy interview with the publication, Clements denied that he was encouraging lawlessness or violence, saying that local election officials do have the authority to withhold certification if fraud is suspected.
“Everyone’s preparing themselves for what could be a very, very kinetic situation in the months leading up to certification,” he said. “And all of my efforts have not been to escalate rhetoric. It’s actually to diffuse, talk, use our words.”
Clements has been contacted for further comment via social media. The Trump campaign has been contacted for comment via email.
Clements’ efforts aren’t isolated—dozens of far-right advocacy groups have focused on training election-related activists at the local or state level, USA Today has reported.
Among the most prominent are My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell‘s Cause for America and Election Integrity Network run by former Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell.
Trump has continued to falsely claim that he lost the 2020 presidential race to President Joe Biden due to widespread fraud, allegations that were rejected by judges, state election officials and audits. No credible evidence to support such claims has emerged.
The former president has also continued to claim that he expects his Democratic opponents to cheat in November’s election, urging his supporters to turn out and make his vote tally “too big to rig.”
Election workers across the county have also been training, to prepare for threats and confrontations ahead of the election on November 5.
“Threats are rising to election officials and workers, and it is crucial to take them seriously,” Robert Pape, Professor of Political Science and director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago, previously told Newsweek.
“Indeed, the threat could grow not just on Election Day, but through the official tabulation and state certification of the vote counts.”
