High-level right-wing influencers were informed about the president of the Chamber Mike Johnsonin voter registration bill well before its announcement, in what appears to be a coordinated social media campaign aimed at drumming up support for the legislation, which has already died upon reaching the Senate.
Conservative influencers posted dozens of times before Johnson, R-La., publicly announced the project alongside the former president donald trump at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, calling on Congress to pass the bill, which has not yet been introduced, and offering policy details that are not yet publicly available.
The legislation targets the voting of non-citizens, which is already illegal and very rare. Johnson appeared at Mar-a-Lago at a time when your role as spokesperson is in a precarious position, with attacks from far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has a significant following on social media. Getting some public support and praise from Trump could give Johnson some protection with the Republican base, as well as garner support from conservative social media influencers.
At 3:50 pm ET on Friday, Ryan Fournier, president of Students for Trump, which has a million followers on X, appears to have been the firstO I have postEd the name and details of the invoice.
Johnson’s press conference was scheduled to begin at 4:30 pm ET on Friday, but began shortly after 5 pm. Neither Johnson nor his office provided details about the legislation before Friday’s event when questioned by NBC News. His office confirmed on Monday that basic information about the bill had been sent in advance to conservative-leaning influencers, but did not specify which influencers.
In the hours leading up to Johnson and Trump’s press conference, posters on social media, including Libs of TikTok, DC_Draino It is End of Awakening, promoted legislation online. Everyone called the bill the “SAVE Act,” although Johnson did not name it as such.
“PASS THE BILL,” DC_Draino wrote at 4:22 p.m., claiming the bill would “require blue states to obtain proof of citizenship for voter registration.”
In X, EndWokeness wrote that the bill would add penalties for election officials registering noncitizens to vote.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, republished the EndWokeness post at 4:40 p.m., saying he authored the bill. A spokesman for Roy said the bill has not yet been introduced, but Roy posted a screenshot of the first lines of the legislation before Johnson’s speech.
The bill died on sight, with Democrats controlling the Senate. Johnson said Friday, however, that simply putting the bill to a vote would be “interesting.”
“When we put this bill on the floor, we will see record voting from both Republicans and Democrats,” he said. “They will have to stay on the record. Do you believe that Americans, and only Americans, should be the ones who vote in American elections? We are about to find out their answer.”
It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in state and federal elections, although some municipalities allow noncitizens to vote only in local elections.
Chrissy Clark, a conservative influencer who contributes to Turning Point USA, appears to have been one of the people who received advance information about the legislation.
“House Speaker Mike Johnson just released information about the SAVE Act, which basically has the sole purpose of only U.S. citizens being able to vote in federal elections — what a concept,” Clark said in a video posted more than 20 minutes before Johnson starts talking.
Clark’s post included several details about the project that were not yet public.
“The message he is trying to convey is that you should be required to provide proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration. This does not necessarily mean a state-issued ID,” she said in the short video produced, which was posted on TikTok and X.
Clark’s post is tagged with the hashtag #partnership, a tag some influencers use to disclose that they have been paid for their posts. Clark did not respond to an emailed request for comment, and Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for comment about paying influencers. Two days after this article was published, Clark posted in X that she was not told by Johnson “nor would she EVER accept money from a Republican/RNC.”
Another conservative-leaning Twitter and TikTok account, Ding News, posted a self-produced video about the “Common Sense SAVE Act” at 4:11 p.m., nearly an hour before the press conference. An email sent to Ding News was not returned.
Another conservative influencer, Isabella DeLucaposted about the legislation at 5:07 p.m., the minute the press conference began.
“House Speaker Johnson just introduced the SAVE Act, a critical measure to strengthen our democracy and save our elections,” DeLuca wrote on Twitter.
Last month, DeLuca was arrested on charges dated Jan. 6, with the FBI saying she climbed into the U.S. Capitol through a broken window and helped deliver a table out a window that was used to assault police officers. Her Twitter account was set to private earlier in the day, before her post about Johnson’s bill.
“America’s democracy depends on the integrity of our elections,” the January 6 defendant wrote.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with