High-profile right-wing influencers were briefed by House Speaker Mike Johnson voter registration bill Long before its announcement, what appeared to be a coordinated social media campaign was designed to drum up support for legislation that was dead on its way to the Senate.
Conservative influencers posted dozens of times before Johnson, R-La., Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., publicly announced the bill, urging Congress to pass the bill, which has yet to pass. is presented and offers policy details that have not yet been made public.
Legislation targets non-citizens to vote, it is now illegal and very rare. Johnson was spotted at Mar-a-Lago at one point when his eloquence is in limbo, has a significant social media following with her attacks on far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. Getting some public support and praise from Trump could give Johnson some protection with the Republican base, while also boosting support from conservative social media influencers.
On Friday at 3:50 p.m., Ryan Fournier, president of Students for Trump, who has a million followers on X, appears first the there isSted name and details of the bill.
Johnson’s press conference was scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. ET on Friday, but didn’t begin until after 5 p.m. Neither Johnson nor his office would provide specifics about the legislation before Friday’s event when asked by NBC News. His office confirmed Monday that information about the bill had been sent in advance to conservative-leaning influencers.
Hours before Johnson and Trump’s press conference, social media posters, including Libs of TikTok, DC_Draino and The Last Awakening, promoted the legislation online. They all called the bill the “SAVING Act,” though Johnson didn’t call it that.
DC_Draino wrote at 4:22 p.m., “PASS THE KASSAR,” claiming the bill would “require proof of citizenship for voter registration from blue states.”
EndWokeness at X wrote that the bill would add penalties for election officials registering noncitizens to vote.
Rep. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, retweeted EndWokeness’s post at 4:40 p.m. and said he authored the bill. Roy’s spokesman said the bill not yet sued, but Roy placed A screenshot of the first few lines of the legislation before Johnson’s speech.
The bill, which is controlled by Democrats in the Senate, has arrived. Johnson said Friday that simply bringing the bill to a vote would be “interesting.”
“When we bring this bill up for debate, you’re going to see a record vote by Republicans and Democrats,” he said. “They’re going to have to go on the record. Do you believe that Americans and Americans alone should vote in American elections? We’re about to find out.”
It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in state and federal elections, although some municipalities only allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.
Chrissy Clark, a conservative influencer who contributes to Turning Point USA, appears to be one of the early adopters of the legislation.
“Speaker Mike Johnson just threw out information about the SAVE Act, the sole purpose of which is that only US citizens can vote in federal elections – what a concept,” Clark said in a video released more than 20 minutes before Johnson began his speech.
Clark’s post included numerous details about the bill that have not yet been made public.
“The whole message he’s trying to convey is that you need to provide proof of US citizenship to register as a voter. It doesn’t necessarily mean a government-issued ID,” he said in a short video posted on TikTok and X.
Clark’s post was tagged with the hashtag #partnership, a tag that some influencers use to disclose that they are getting paid to post. Clark did not respond to an emailed request for comment, and Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the influencer payment.
Another conservative-leaning Twitter and TikTok account, Ding News, posted a video about the “common sense SAVE Act” at 4:11 p.m., about an hour before the press conference. An email to Ding News was not returned.
Another conservative influencer, Isabella DeLucaThe press conference on the legislation was posted at 5:07 p.m.
“Speaker Johnson just introduced the SAVE Act, a key measure to strengthen our democracy and save our elections,” DeLuca tweeted.
Last month, DeLuca was charged and arrested on Jan. 6, when the FBI said he entered the U.S. Capitol through a broken window and helped pass a table through the window used to attack police officers. His Twitter account was kept private earlier in the day, ahead of Johnson’s tweet about the bill.
On January 6, the defendant wrote: “America’s democracy depends on the integrity of our elections.”