J6 Committee Ignores Witness’s Ties To Zuckerberg-Funded Group That Manipulated 2020 Election

Ben Ginsberg, a January 6th committee witness, works under one of the organizations whose “Zuck Bucks” funding may have compromised the 2020 election — a fact committee representatives did not disclose during the televised hearing on June 13.

Ginsberg is the co-chair of the Election Official Legal Defense Network (EOLDN), which “connects licensed, qualified, pro bono attorneys with election administrators who need advice or assistance.” EOLDN is a project of the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR). As The Federalist previously reported, CEIR’s grants to states for “nonpartisan voter education” ahead of the 2020 election may have given Democrats an advantage in key states.

Through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Priscilla Chan and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donated $69.5 million to CEIR as well as $350 million to the Center for Tech and Civic Life.

Mollie Hemingway, Editor in Chief of The Federalist, writes in her book “Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections” that CEIR and CTCL did not merely attempt to influence the election from the outside but to infiltrate them from within.

“What made 2020 different was that for the first time ever, the groups that supported Democrats were allowed, on a widespread basis, to cross that bright red line that separates government officials who administer an election from political operatives,” Hemingway writes. “Unelected liberal activists were allowed to embed in government offices and actually take over election administration duties in crucial battleground states.”

While CEIR claims to be nonpartisan, The Star News Network reported that in 2020 the group gave a $12 million grant to the Michigan Center for Election Law and Administration, which used $11.8 million of this grant to pay two Democratic political consulting firms.

Earlier this year, the State of Wisconsin Office of the Special Counsel published an investigative report stating that for Wisconsin election officials accepting EOLDN’s services might be a violation of state law.

“Since EOLDN’s free legal services will have foremost in mind protecting the interests of CTCL, CEIR, Zuckerberg, and Chan, it will influence the election officials’ official actions and judgment,” the report said, continuing: “CTCL, Zuckerberg, and Chan financed the illegal drop boxes and election bribery, so EOLDN’s free legal services to the election officials could be reasonably seen as a ‘reward’ for their participation in unlawful actions related to the election.”

Neither Ginsburg, Rep. Bennie Thompson, who introduced him, nor Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who questioned him, mentioned his work under CEIR as the co-chair of EOLDN. None of them brought up CEIR or CTCL at all. The discussion of fraud focused narrowly on legal challenges from the Trump campaign and post-election reviews in battleground states, both of which Ginsberg said lacked credible evidence.

Olivia Hajicek is an intern at The Federalist and a junior at Hillsdale College studying history and journalism. She has covered campus and city news as a reporter for The Hillsdale Collegian. You can reach her at [email protected].

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