Michael A. Roman is an American Republican political operative and opposition researcher.[1][2] He was director of election day operations for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, and was subsequently involved in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.[3] He previously worked on Trump's 2016 campaign and served in Trump's White House in 2017 and 2018.[1][4] Prior to joining the Trump campaign, he ran an in-house intelligence unit for the Koch brothers.[3]
Mike Roman | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 7, 1972 |
| Occupation | Political operative |
| Known for | Campaign and White House aide to Donald Trump, indicted for attempts to overturn the 2020 election. |
| Political party | Republican |
Roman has a history of making misleading and unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud,[3][5] and posted baseless and deceptive claims of voter fraud on Election Day 2020.[6] After Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, Roman was involved in the plan to produce false electoral votes to challenge the legitimate electoral votes of certain swing states at the January 6 certification. He delivered the false elector paperwork for Michigan and Wisconsin to U.S. representative Mike Kelly who provided them to U.S. senator Ron Johnson. Staff for Ron Johnson then tried to get these lists to Vice President Mike Pence before the count of the electoral votes on January 6, 2021.[7]
On September 12, 2022, The New York Times reported that agents of the U.S. Justice Department seized Roman's cell phone in conjunction with 40 subpoenas issued in the investigation of the false electors.[8] CNN reported in June 2023 that Roman had entered into a proffer agreement with the Smith special counsel investigation.[9] Roman was subsequently indicted by state prosecutors in Georgia,[10][11][12] Arizona,[13][14][15] and Wisconsin.[16][17][18]
Career
editHe began his career as a Republican Party activist in Philadelphia, his hometown.[19][20] Early in his career Roman was a political consultant in his home state of Pennsylvania and in New Jersey.[1] He worked for State Representative John Perzel and ran the 56th Ward in Northeast Philadelphia for him until Perzel was indicted and later went to prison . He was director of Election Day operations at the Republican National Committee.[21][1] He has been employed by the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain.[1] Roman also served as chief of staff to former Illinois Congressman Bobby Schilling.[22]
Roman was a senior advisor on the 2016 Trump campaign as the campaign's chief poll watcher.[23][24][25]
Prior to joining the Trump presidential campaign, Roman headed up an intelligence gathering operation for Charles and David Koch, industrialists and high-profile Republican donors.[26] The now-defunct office surveilled and gathered intelligence on liberal opponents of conservative policies.[26][2]
Roman describes his blog Election Journal as dedicated to "fraud, cheating, dirty tricks, absurdity and other election news."[27][21] According to Richard L. Hasen, Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine, the blog appears to focus, "only on incidents favoring Republican's claims against Democrats".[21] During the 2008 presidential election, Election Monitoring, combined GoogleMaps, with Twitter, Flickr and YouTube to enable voters and poll watchers to post what they saw as instances of voter disenfranchisement and election fraud in a real time, online map.[28] One scholar, while recognizing the non-verifiable nature of this approach, asserted that it "opens up new potential for election monitoring that addresses some of the limitations that established and official (election monitoring organizations) face".[28]
After Trump's inauguration, Roman was appointed to a position in the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Special Projects and Research. Politico described it as "a vague title that reveals almost nothing." His appointment drew attention at the time because in previous administrations it was unusual for opposition researchers to work directly for the White House—they would typically remain employed by the campaign or the presidential transition team.[1] Roman ultimately left the White House in April 2018.[4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f Cook, Nancy (February 11, 2018). "The mysterious oppo researcher working in the White House lawyer's office". Politico.
- ^ a b Haberman, Maggie (21 April 2016). "Koch-Backed Group Breaks Up Its Intelligence Unit". New York Times. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
- ^ a b c "Trump 'army' of poll watchers led by veteran of fraud claims". Associated Press. 2020-11-03. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
- ^ a b Cook, Nancy (28 April 2018). "Oppo researcher leaves White House". Politico. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
- ^ Analysis by Marshall Cohen (30 September 2020). "How a false claim about anti-Trump bias at Philadelphia polling places jumped from Twitter to Trump's mouth at the debate". CNN. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
- ^ Brandy Zadrozny. "Vote Watch: Conservative media influencers get early start pushing misleading claims about Pennsylvania election". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
- ^ Kyle Cheney; Nicholas Wu (July 15, 2022). "Trump campaign operative who delivered Jan. 6 false elector lists is identified". Politico.
- ^ Thrush, Glen; Haberman, Maggie; Goldman, Adam; Feuer, Alan (September 12, 2022). "Justice Dept. Issues 40 Subpoenas in a Week, Expanding Its Jan. 6 Inquiry". The New York Times. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
- ^ Zachary Cohen; Kaitlin Collins (June 29, 2023). "Former Trump campaign official cooperating with special counsel in 2020 election interference probe". CNN.
- ^ Schonfeld, Zach; Lee, Ella; Beitsch, Rebecca (15 August 2023). "Meet the 18 people charged with Trump in Georgia indictment". The Hill. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
- ^ Lynch, Sarah N.; Thomsen, Jacqueline (16 August 2023). "Who are the people indicted with Trump in Georgia election case?". Reuters. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
- ^ "Trump, 18 others indicted for trying to overthrow 2020 Georgia election".
- ^ Sanchez, Yvonne Wingett (2024-04-25). "Meadows, Giuliani and other Trump allies charged in Arizona 2020 election probe". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
- ^ Schutsky, Wayne (26 April 2024). "Meadows, Giuliani, 11 'fake electors' from 2020 are among those indicted in Arizona". NPR. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
- ^ "Trump allies Meadows, Giuliani among 18 indicted in Arizona election interference case". CBC News. 24 April 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
- ^ Rabinowitz, Hannah; Cohen, Zachary (4 June 2024). "Three Trump allies charged in Wisconsin fake elector scheme". CNN. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
- ^ Bauer, Scott (June 4, 2024). "Wisconsin attorney general files felony charges against attorneys, aide who worked for Trump in 2020". Associated Press. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
- ^ Cheney, Kyle (4 June 2024). "3 Trump operatives charged in Wisconsin for 2020 election gambit". Politico. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
- ^ Raghallaigh, Ciaran (6 June 2004). "O'Neill's Bhoys get Philly fillip". Sunday Mirror (London). ProQuest 339533782.
- ^ Lieberman, Brett (31 March 1995). "They came "to make a crowd for Specter"". The Patriot-News. ProQuest 273219362.
- ^ a b c Hasen, Richard (2012). The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300184211. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
- ^ Tibbetts, Ed (28 December 2010). "Schilling makes staff hires". The Quad-City Times. Retrieved 2019-07-19.
- ^ Jacobs, Ben (October 18, 2016). "Controversial Republican Mike Roman to run Donald Trump's 'election protection'". The Guardian.
- ^ Levitz, Eric (October 8, 2016). "Trump Names Guy Who Accused the New Black Panthers of Voter Intimidation As Head of 'Election Protection'". New York Magazine. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
- ^ Gauthier, Brendan (October 19, 2016). "Donald Trump taps shadowy GOP researcher Mike Roman as chief poll-watcher". Salon.com. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
- ^ a b Vogel, Kenneth (18 November 2015). "The Koch intelligence agency". Politico. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
- ^ Brennan, Chris (24 October 2016). "2008 video weak support of 'rigged' idea: Trump building excuse if he loses". Philadelphia Inquirer. ProQuest 1831569518.
- ^ a b de Jong, Jorrit (Spring 2008). "Trends and Challenges in Election Monitoring". Innovations: 162. doi:10.1162/itgg.2008.3.2.159.
This would add some pertinent personal info about the subject: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/02/mike-roman-trump-georgia-election-case-fani-willis/ Adding another reference from THE GUARDIAN: https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/28/trump-election-day-director-waging-war-election-philadelphia