Heather Honey, a high-profile denier of Donald Trump’s loss within the 2020 election, has been appointed to a senior place within the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety wherein she’ll assist oversee the nation’s election infrastructure.
Honey is a protege of Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who tried to help Trump overturn the 2020 election results. In 2024, ProPublica reported that Honey had performed a key function in Mitchell’s behind-the-scenes effort to vary Georgia’s election guidelines to permit Republican officers to contest a possible Trump loss in that yr’s presidential race. Honey additionally promoted election conspiracy theories, together with one Trump cited in a speech to his followers earlier than they stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Although states do the on-the-ground work of operating elections, DHS helps them with duties past their capacities, resembling protecting IT infrastructure and voter databases from international intrusions. The company, with bipartisan help, took on this function within the aftermath of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
Specialists on voting and state election officers warned that Honey’s appointment as DHS’ deputy assistant secretary of election integrity might erode belief between state and federal officers, prompting states to not share info with the company.
“We’re witnessing a harmful development: the elevation of identified bad-faith actors like Heather Honey,” mentioned Adrian Fontes, Arizona’s Democratic secretary of state, in a press release, citing Honey’s “well-documented historical past of spreading election lies which have been debunked in courtroom.”
Fontes known as her involvement with DHS “deeply troubling” and mentioned “when the company offers a platform to people who’ve actively labored to erode public belief, it turns into more durable to view DHS as a dependable companion in election safety.”
A DHS spokesperson didn’t reply questions from ProPublica on Honey’s appointment or the precise nature of her obligations. Honey didn’t reply to calls or emails. The White Home additionally didn’t reply to a request for remark. Her title is listed on the group’s management construction on-line, and her appointment was first reported by the website Democracy Docket.
Within the first Trump administration, the federal authorities arrange packages designed to defend U.S. elections from international interference, together with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company, an arm of DHS. However Trump soured on this and different initiatives after the director of CISA publicly rebutted his claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
For the reason that begin of the second Trump presidency, the administration has gutted these packages, chopping hundreds of employees at CISA. Its director, Chris Krebs, is now under federal investigation, DHS has mentioned; Krebs told CNN that the investigation gave the impression to be an act of political retribution. The Justice Department has also rolled back a program aimed toward combatting international affect campaigns. Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi wrote in a memorandum that the Justice Division’s program was disbanded to “free sources to deal with extra urgent priorities, and finish dangers of additional weaponization and abuses of prosecutorial discretion.”
David Becker, the chief director of the Middle for Election Innovation and Analysis, a nonprofit targeted on constructing belief in American elections, mentioned the cuts had dismantled “almost all” of DHS’ capability to guard election infrastructure. He mentioned state elections officers feared that Honey’s appointment, mixed with this system cuts, signaled the Trump administration’s intent to remove bulwarks of truthful U.S. elections.
“The hiring of an election conspiracy theorist with no election information or experience is the fruits of this reversal,” Becker mentioned. “DHS now seems poised to turn out to be a main amplifier of false election conspiracies pushed by our enemies.”
Two sources conversant in Honey’s hiring at DHS mentioned she started working for the company final week. An organizational chart dated Aug. 18 on the department’s website identifies her as a leader within the company’s Workplace of Technique, Coverage and Plans. Her place wasn’t on a model of the website archived in July, and officers in former administrations mentioned that there’s been no such job beforehand.
It’s not clear but what Honey will oversee, however former DHS officers mentioned that deputy assistant secretaries are usually the company’s high consultants of their topic areas. They’re typically concerned in drafting govt orders and crafting insurance policies. Additionally they function liaisons to the White Home and the Nationwide Safety Council.
Since Honey began, Trump has announced “a motion to do away with” mail-in ballots and voting machines through govt order, although a top aide subsequently said the administration would pursue these targets by means of legislative motion. DHS has additionally threatened to chop off about $28 million in grants to assist states put together for terrorism and disasters in the event that they don’t change voting guidelines to evolve to the administration’s priorities, NPR has reported.
Honey’s duties doubtless would come with serving to to prepare the federal government’s coverage responses if international actors make intrusions into the nation’s election methods, former officers mentioned. To do that, and to evaluate the safety of election infrastructure, somebody in her place would usually have entry to labeled info, together with the federal government’s election-related intelligence.
Specialists expressed concern about Honey’s portfolio, given her historical past of spreading misinformation.
“Heather Honey’s previous deceptive claims about vote counts in Pennsylvania, amongst different issues, have helped gas false conspiracy theories about stolen elections,” mentioned Larry Norden, an election skilled on the Brennan Middle for Justice at NYU Regulation, a nonpartisan legislation and coverage group.
Earlier than turning into swept up within the “Cease the Steal” motion, Honey had no expertise within the federal authorities or as an election administrator, working as a Pennsylvania-based private investigator.
After the 2020 election, she turned a contractor for a Republican-backed audit looking for proof of fraud in ballots forged in Maricopa County, Arizona. In keeping with emails between workers engaged on the assessment, which ended up reaffirming Biden’s win, Honey helped draft the final report.
Since then, Honey has led no less than three organizations devoted to transforming election systems in methods championed by conservatives, resembling tightening eligibility necessities for individuals to be on voter rolls. Members of Honey’s Pennsylvania Honest Elections, a state chapter of Mitchell’s nationwide Election Integrity Community, have challenged the eligibility of thousands of residents to be on voter rolls.
Honey has additionally been concerned in quite a few different efforts to remodel elections across the nation, including a successful push to get many states with Republican management to drag out of a bipartisan interstate partnership to share knowledge to make voting safer.
Do you might have info you’ll be able to share about Heather Honey or elections work being achieved within the federal authorities, particularly on the Division of Homeland Safety? Contact reporter Doug Bock Clark at doug.clark@propublica.org or on Sign at 678-243-0784. When you’re involved about confidentiality, check out our advice on the most secure ways to share tips.
Christopher Bing and William Turton contributed reporting.
