In response to RNC Co-Chair Lara Trump saying the RNC will partner with election-denying conspiracy theorist Scott Presler, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Scott Presler is not a ‘grassroots hero’ – he’s an election-denying, far-right MAGA extremist who has peddled QAnon conspiracy theories, spread lies about the 2020 election, and was at the Capitol on January 6. By announcing plans to partner with Presler, Lara Trump and the RNC are once again putting election denialism front and center of Trump’s MAGA takeover of the party: They’ve made election denial a litmus test for their hires, are spreading baseless lies about the 2020 election, and are partnering with conspiracy theorists and serial liars like Presler. Donald Trump and his MAGA allies are making it clear that democracy is on the line this November, and the American people are going to reject his dangerous MAGA agenda at the ballot box.”

NEW: Lara Trump said the RNC will partner with election denier and conspiracy theorist Scott Presler.

RNC Co-Chair Lara Trump: “Scott Presler is a grassroots hero. … I said I want Scott on our team. … We got together and we said, however we can legally partner, we’re going to legally partner, so the RNC and the Trump campaign are gonna be working side by side with Scott Presler and his organization to ensure that we are utilizing all of the power that we have together.”

Lara Trump backtracked after initially announcing plans for the RNC to hire Presler.

NBC News: “Scott Presler, a conservative activist who has spread conspiracy theories, won’t be getting an RNC job”

“Lara Trump, the RNC’s new co-chair, initially said she wanted to hire Scott Presler for its ‘legal ballot-harvesting’ division.”

Presler is a far-right MAGA extremist who has peddled QAnon-fueled conspiracy theories and lies about the 2020 election, worked for an anti-Muslim hate group, and was literally on Capitol grounds during the January 6 insurrection. 

NBC News: “[Presler] has a large online following and has helped spread a wide range of conspiracies, including about QAnon, in recent years. Presler was director for a group critical of Islam that organized ‘March Against Sharia’ protests and helped plan ‘stop the steal’ rallies ahead of Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.”

WCCO: “Presler, a Virginia native, planned several ‘stop the steal’ rallies in addition to being on the Capitol grounds the day of the insurrection. Presler also described the siege on the Capitol as ‘the largest civil rights protest in American history.’”

Pennsylvania Capital-Star: “The Trump rally was organized by Scott Presler, formerly a paid organizer for the Virginia Republican Party, and a speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference this year. He called for an audit of the election results.”

“Attendees, including Presler, repeated false claims of voter fraud in Michigan, stemming from a typo in results from a small county, according to the New York Times. Presler could not cite any examples of voter fraud in Pennsylvania.

“‘Be assured, if I have to set up my own independent commission, I will be looking through votes to make sure there is no fraudulent, illegal activity,’ Presler said.”

Media Matters: “Media Matters previously documented that Presler promoted QAnon in dozens of instances on his Instagram account. Presler has also worked for the anti-Muslim group Act for America, which, The Associated Press wrote, ‘is identified by the Anti-Defamation League as the largest anti-Muslim group in America.’”

And Presler backed disgraced Senate candidate Roy Moore, who was accused of sexually assaulting women and minors. 

@ScottPresler: “Interesting that these accusations against Roy Moore come out a month before Election Day, just like what happened to President Trump. #RoyMoore”

@ScottPresler: “I think Jeff Flake just won the election for Roy Moore. Flake just galvanized every angry Republican to vote. #JeffFlake”

The RNC is still pushing baseless lies about the 2020 election, even after Lara Trump claimed MAGA Republicans have moved on.

CNN: “RNC under Lara Trump spreads ‘massive fraud’ claims about 2020 election”

“The Republican National Committee last week sent out a scripted call to voters’ phones on behalf of new co-chair Lara Trump saying Democrats committed ‘massive fraud’ in the 2020 election. It’s the latest example of how the RNC under the former president’s daughter-in-law is perpetuating lies about the 2020 election.

“Even after she was elected co-chair and said claims of a stolen election are ‘in the past,’ she didn’t repudiate those baseless accusations.”

Under Trump’s MAGA rebrand of the RNC, election denialism is a litmus test for getting hired.

Washington Post: “Those seeking employment at the Republican National Committee after a Trump-backed purge of the committee this month have been asked in job interviews if they believe the 2020 election was stolen, according to people familiar with the interviews, making the false claim a litmus test of sorts for hiring.

“The questions about the 2020 election were open-ended, two people familiar with the questioning said. ‘But if you say the election wasn’t stolen, do you really think you’re going to get hired?’ one former RNC employee asked.”

CNN: “Over the past few weeks, Trump advisers have asked those seeking employment at the RNC about their views of fraud during the 2020 election, with the question serving as an apparent litmus test for hiring, the sources said.

“The new hiring questions come as Trump continues to falsely claim, both publicly and privately, that the 2020 election was rife with fraud, and suggest that President Joe Biden stole the election from him — a rallying cry that has united many GOP voters around him.”

As the RNC merges with the Trump campaign and continues its extreme MAGA rebrand, the roster of MAGA extremists and conspiracy theorists among its leadership only continues to grow. 

New York Times: “Mr. Trump likes Mr. Whatley for one overwhelming reason, according to people who have discussed him with the former president: He is ‘a stop the steal guy,’ as one of the people described him. He endorses Mr. Trump’s false claims about mass voter fraud … Mr. Whatley has baselessly claimed that election security efforts from Republicans in North Carolina stopped Democrats from cheating.”

CNN: “Likely frontrunner for RNC chair parroted Trump’s 2020 election lies”

“Michael Whatley, the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, shared false claims that Republican observers were prevented from accessing polling locations and repeatedly said Democratic cities in swing states were engaged in ‘massive fraud.’”

CNN: “She also played a key role in the Trump campaign’s fake electors scheme after he lost the 2020 election, working closely with Trump advisers to organize the plan in seven battleground states. The scheme formed the basis of parts of Smith’s election subversion indictment against the former president, which says Trump and his allies created ‘fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding’ in Congress on January 6, 2021, and ‘disenfranchise millions of voters.’

“Bobb was also a correspondent during the 2020 election for the fringe pro-Trump network OAN, where she promoted false claims that the election was rigged. The voting technology company Dominion sued Bobb and OAN for defamation in 2021. Some of her on-air segments were also referenced in a separate defamation case against OAN filed by Smartmatic, another aggrieved voting company. OAN and Bobb have denied wrongdoing in these civil cases.”

New York Times: “A self-described conspiracy theorist and election denier, Ms. Bobb will take on a role overseeing Republican election integrity efforts — after years of aggressively promoting false claims about the 2020 election. Her appointment reflects the ascendant role of election deniers in Republican leadership and in Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.”