The conservatives running the Bradley Foundation couldn’t accept President Trump’s 2020 election loss, so it helped fund an “Election Integrity Network” in an attempt to add credence to the former president’s false claims that there was widespread systematic election fraud. Oh, and it’s run by Cleta Mitchell – the lawyer who was on Trump’s call to Georgia asking election officials to find him 11,700 votes.
Now, as Trump faces a federal indictment for mishandling classified documents, making false statements, and obstruction of justice, the Bradley Foundation is supporting a campaign to undermine the Department of Justice. The Conservative Partnership Institute, which it funds (and which is led by Mitchell), gave $583,701 in 2021 to the Center for Renewing America – over half of the organization’s operating budget.
This organization is led by former Trump officials Jeffrey B. Clark and Russell T. Vought. Clark was a former official at the DOJ, and as The New York Times pointed out, “was the only senior official at the department who tried to help Mr. Trump overturn the 2020 election.” Vought was director of the Office of Management and Budget and previously wrote an article for Newsweek Is There Anything Actually Wrong With ‘Christian Nationalism?’
As you can expect, in their eyes, like Trump’s, the former president is a victim of a conspiracy by the “deep state”, which includes the DOJ, not a victim of his own contempt for the rule of law.
In a statement to the New York Times, Voght wrote:
“Conservatives are waking up to the fact that federal law enforcement is weaponized against them and as a result are embracing paradigm-shifting policies to reverse that trend.”
But oddly, their answer to this fantastical allegation that the DOJ has been weaponized is to undermine its independence from the president which would actually allow it to be potentially weaponized.
Imagine Trump, who recently told supporters in March that “I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution,” being empowered to use the DOJ at his own personal discretion. If the Bradley Foundation gets its way, justice, along with voting rights and an educated electorate will be stories for history books (that probably won’t be allowed to be taught.)
