Gregg Phillips

Gregg Allen Phillips (born October 13, 1960)[1] is the former head of the Mississippi Department of Human Services and the author of a tweet, cited by U.S. President Donald Trump, which falsely alleges, without evidence,[2] that between three and five million non-citizens voted in the 2016 elections.[3][4][5]

Gregg Phillips
Head of the Mississippi Department of Human Services
In office
1993–1995

In May 2022, Phillips executive produced and appeared in Dinesh D’Souza's debunked[6] political film 2000 Mules and pushed a false conspiracy theory about election fraud.[7][8][9] He also falsely claimed to have 40 years of election integrity and research experience. He was partnering on a project with a Texas-based, partisan-conservative organization named True the Vote which falsely alleges widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, even though "on the record there has been still no evidence or proof provided that there was any sort of fraud".[10]

Career

In the 1990s, Phillips campaigned for Republican gubernatorial nominee Kirk Fordice.[3] A year after his election, Governor Fordice in 1993 nominated Phillips to head the Mississippi Department of Human Services. The Mississippi State Senate approved his nomination despite a discrepancy in Phillips' resume uncovered by the Mississippi Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review. In 1994, he privatized the collection of child support in two Mississippi counties by signing a contract with a private company based in Virginia.[11] Phillips left the Department of Human Services in 1995, "under fire from the Legislature for his management of the state welfare programs."[12] A week after leaving Department of Human Services, Phillips was hired by Synesis Corporation, a division of Centec Learning, which had an $878,000 contract to lease mobile learning labs to the University of Mississippi at Oxford as part of LEAP, a literacy program that Phillips favored when he headed the Department of Human Services.[11]

Phillips served as Deputy Commissioner for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission from March 2003 to August 2004.[13] With private consultant Chris Britton, Phillips drafted a 2003 bill privatizing the $1 billion human services system in Texas. The Houston Chronicle found that a company started by Phillips and another company of Britton's received a $670,000 state contract from the Texas Workforce Commission in January 2004.[11] Phillips then ran the health care analytics firm AutoGov.[13] Phillips is described as a "vocal conservative who founded a health-care-data company."[14]

Allegations of grift, ethical misconduct, philandering and cronyism

Government roles

Phillips has faced allegations of ethical misconduct and cronyism, including abusing his previous positions in government in both Mississippi and Texas for personal financial gain.[15][16] In a follow-up report by the Mississippi Legislature, they concluded that, "Mr. Phillips’s actions create the appearance of impropriety, facilitating an erosion of the public trust… [that] could constitute a violation of state ethics laws."[15]

According to The Guardian, Phillips owes the U.S. government more than $100,000 in unpaid taxes.[5][12] An investigation by the Associated Press revealed that Phillips was registered to vote in three states. Phillips responded to this investigation by saying, "Doesn't that just demonstrate how broken the system is? That is not fraud — that is a broken system. We need a national ID that travels with people."[17]

According to Kevin Lyons, spokesperson for the Texas Comptroller, Phillips is unable to do business in the state of Texas. "He's one of our revolving door kind of hustlers," said Andrew Wheat, the research director of Texans for Public Justice.[15]

According to the website Intelius, Phillips has been employed by both the Alabama and Mississippi Republican parties. He is listed as a resident of the capital city of Austin, Texas.[1]

Phillips was found to "award millions in government contracts" to his own personal businesses or associates involved, and then were "quietly shuttered years later".[15]

True the Vote

An investigation by The Center for Investigative Reporting found that Phillips and the Texas-based nonprofit organization True the Vote engaged in questionable transactions that involving more than $1 million sent as grift to its founders, and a longtime romantic affair between the founder Catherine Engelbrecht and Phillips.[18][16]

"The Freedom Hospital" in Ukraine

On June 5, 2022, Gregg Phillips had announced on Truth Social that he had begun a nonprofit under the name "The Freedom Project" and began soliciting donations to raise $25 million dollars for a mobile hospital in Ukraine in response to the Russo-Ukrainian War.[19] He claimed to have already raised half the amount needed due to an in-kind donation from manufacturer MED-1 Partners, however CEO Tim Masud denied making a pledge or offer of any such donation.[20] Additionally, "The Freedom Hospital" posted a video on its YouTube account with a caption saying that its team was reporting from Ukraine.[21] The Freedom Hospital had no role in producing the video, and Christopher Loverro, a Los Angeles-based actor and veteran, who made the video in front of a recently bombed Ukrainian preschool, said he never had any connection to The Freedom Hospital and had not given anyone permission to use his work. Loverro said he reported the video to YouTube and commented on the post, warning: “This is a scam. Do not donate to this organization.” The hospitals in Ukraine never materialized, and Phillips abandoned the project earlier in April 2022, months before making the fundraising posts on TruthSocial according to his attorney.[22] True the Vote was listed as the fiscal sponsor on the website, which has since been deleted.[23]

Unsubstantiated and false voter fraud claims

In 2013, Phillips' firm partnered with the partisan-conservative, Texas-based organization True the Vote to, according to Phillips, update and analyze voter registration data in the U.S. to supposedly identify indicators of each person voting such as: citizenship or non-citizenship, identity, and felony status.[24][14] He has falsely asserted that his organization has evidence that between three and five million votes were illegal in the 2016 presidential election, and that the 2020 election was rigged to steal the election from Trump, but has not provided any such evidence other than fabricated evidence in the form of Russian maps manipulated to look like American maps tracking non-existing vote mules.[25][26][27][28] Phillips made his voter fraud claims before voter history data was available in most jurisdictions.[27]

2000 Mules (2022)
Main article: 2000 Mules

In May 2022, Dinesh D'Souza released 2000 Mules, a debunked[6] political film which alleged that Democrat-aligned individuals were paid to illegally collect and deposit ballots into drop boxes in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin during the 2020 presidential election, based on unsubstantiated allegations by True the Vote involving cellphone data.[29][30]

Philip Bump of The Washington Post wrote about the faulty "reliability of [Phillip's] analysis of data collected from cellphones", saying "there's good reason to think that Phillips's analyses don't include precise measurements of proximity to ballot drop boxes".[29]

According to Houston Public Media and NPR, Phillips made a "false claim" that alleged research helped "solved a murder of a young little girl in Atlanta", with True The Vote acknowledging it had reached out to law enforcement "more than two months later", and had "played no role in those arrests or indictments".[31][32]

Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger examined one instance of voter fraud falsely alleged by Phillips, whereby a man delivered multiple ballots to a dropbox. Raffensberger stated that his office found no wrongdoing: "We investigated, and the five ballots that he turned in were all for himself and his family members."[31]

Eight Arizona Republican officials held a meeting with about 200 others to hear a presentation from Phillips weeks after the release of 2000 Mules. Phillips characterized the press as "journalistic terrorists"[29] for demonstrating the film's lack of proof. Asked if he had turned over evidence to law enforcement, Phillips said he had given data to the Arizona attorney general's office and the FBI a year earlier, though the offices said they never received it.[33]

Jennifer Wright, chief attorney at Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich's election integrity unit, worked for Gregg Phillips at True the Vote before going to work for Brnovich.[34] Phillips alleged his group investigated the ballot harvesting in San Luis, Arizona, resulting in the arrest of former school board member and former San Luis Mayor Guillermina Fuentes.[35] Records show the investigation was done in August 2020 and the indictment occurred in December 2020.[36][37] Phillips also claimed that these two indicted suspects pled guilty after having watched the film 2000 Mules. Alma Juarez pled guilty on January 18, 2022[38] and Guillermina Fuentes pled guilty on April 11, 2022,[39] whereas the film had a wide release on May 25, and limited screenings May 2 and 4, 2022, making this impossible.[40]

Konnech, Inc. (2022)

In late 2022, Phillips falsely alleged in a social media and podcast campaign that his associates had discovered evidence that Konnech, a poll worker management software company, had stored data on a Chinese computer server and allowed the Chinese government to access it. Phillips said the discovery had been made by two associates who hacked Konnech's servers. Konnech filed a federal defamation suit against True the Vote in September, also alleging True the Vote acquired information on millions of poll workers from the alleged hack. During an October court hearing, the involvement of a third Phillips associate was disclosed, but Catherine Engelbrecht and Phillips declined federal judge Kenneth Hoyt's demand to identify the man, asserting he was an FBI informant and in danger from drug cartels. Hoyt told them if they didn't identify the man within two days, and present the poll worker data they allegedly obtained, they would be held in contempt of court and jailed; they were jailed for contempt on October 31, 2022.[41][42] Engelbrecht and Phillips appealed their incarceration to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel of which ordered them released on November 8.[43]

References
  1. "Gregg Allen Phillips". Intelius.com. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  2. Smith, David; Belam, Martin (December 1, 2016). "How a dubious tweet about illegal votes found its way to Trump's megaphone". The Guardian.
  3. Lussenhop, Jessica (January 28, 2017). "Gregg Phillips: The man claiming 3m illegal votes". BBC News.
  4. Ryan, Josiah (January 27, 2017). "Trump-cited study author (still) refuses to show proof of voter fraud". CNN. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  5. Swaine, Jon (January 27, 2017). "Trump's voter fraud expert owes US more than $100,000 in unpaid taxes". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  6. Bump, Philip (May 17, 2022). "Analysis - Discussing the gaps in '2000 Mules' with Dinesh D'Souza". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  7. "PolitiFact - The faulty premise of the '2,000 mules' trailer about voting by mail in the 2020 election". Politifact.com.
  8. "The dishonest pivot at the heart of the new voter-fraud conspiracy". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  9. "FACT FOCUS: Gaping holes in the claim of 2K ballot 'mules'". Apnews.com. May 3, 2022. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  10. "Fox News host confronts Mo Brooks on voter fraud claims in tense interview". Newsweek.com. May 29, 2022.
  11. Mitchell, Jerry (January 26, 2017). "Voter fraud probe traced back to ex-MS welfare head". The Clarion-Ledger.
  12. Ratcliffe, R.G. (January 2, 2005). "Privatization role reveals ethics gap in state law". Houston Chronicle.
  13. Svitek, Patrick (November 28, 2016). "Trump's unsupported claim of voter fraud appears to have Texas roots". The Texas Tribune.
  14. Murray, Mark. "Who is Gregg Phillips, the Man Trump Name-Checked to Prove Voter Fraud?". NBC News. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  15. "Gregg Phillips, Donald Trump's Voter Fraud Guru, Blasted as a 'Revolving Door Hustler'". The Daily Beast. January 28, 2017.
  16. "Trump's Favorite Voter-Fraud Activist Hedges His Claims". The Atlantic. January 31, 2017.
  17. Burke, Garance (January 30, 2017). "AP: Trump's voter fraud expert registered in 3 states". AP News. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  18. "She Helped Create the Big Lie. Records Suggest She Turned It into a Big Grift". Revealnews.org. June 8, 2022.
  19. McGaughy, Lauren. "Freedom Hospital - Truth Social - June 5, 2022". documentcloud.org. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  20. Jaramillo, Cassandra (January 23, 2023). "Promoters of Election Lies Also Hyped a Hospital for Ukraine. That Never Happened Either". ProPublica.org.
  21. "Preschool bombed in Avdiivka by Russia - 18 April, 2022". YouTube.com. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  22. McGaughy, Lauren; Morris, Allie (January 23, 2023). "Texas nonprofit hyped a Ukraine war hospital that never happened". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  23. "The Freedom Hospital". archive.org. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  24. Phillips, Gregg. "The Cause". VotersTrust. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  25. Philip Bump (May 19, 2022). "Even the geolocation maps in '2000 Mules' are misleading". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  26. "AP FACT CHECK: Trump cites man's dubious voter fraud claims". The Big Story. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  27. "Donald Trump's bogus claim that millions of people voted illegally for Hillary Clinton". Washington Post. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  28. "Did 3 million undocumented immigrants vote in 2016?". @politifact. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  29. Philip Bump (June 2, 2022) [2022-06-01]. "Ballot collectors are 'mules.' Skeptical reporters are 'terrorists.'". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  30. Philip Bump (May 17, 2022) [2022-05-11]. "'2000 Mules' offers the least convincing election-fraud theory yet". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  31. "A pro-Trump film suggests its data are so accurate, it solved a murder. That's false". Houstonpublicmedia.org. May 17, 2022.
  32. "A pro-Trump film suggests its data are so accurate, it solved a murder. That's false". NPR.org.
  33. Neff, Terri Jo (August 14, 2022). "FBI, AGO Have No Record Of Getting True The Vote's Hard Drive Of Purported Election Fraud Data". Arizona Daily Independent News Network. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  34. "Dems: AG's hire for elections integrity unit has fueled bogus election fraud claims". Azmirror.com. August 22, 2019.
  35. "The small-city voter fraud case that doesn't prove Donald Trump right". WashingtonPost. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  36. "Prison Sought for Arizona Official in Ballot Harvesting Case". Usnews.com. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  37. "Records show coordinated Arizona ballot collection scheme". KOLD13. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  38. "Alma Juarez Plea" (PDF). Arizona Attorney General. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  39. "Fuentes Sentencing Agreement" (PDF). Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  40. Palmer, Ewan (May 5, 2022). "Donald Trump holds screening of "2,000 Mules" documentary at Mar-a-Lago". Newsweek. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  41. Paybarah, Azi (October 31, 2022). "True the Vote leaders sent to jail after contempt ruling by federal judge". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  42. Huseman, Jessica (October 31, 2022). "Two leaders of True the Vote jailed by federal judge for contempt of court". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  43. Sarnoff, Marisa (November 8, 2022). "Fifth Circuit Releases Two Conservative Election Conspiracists Jailed for Refusing to Comply with Lower Court's Order". Law&Crime. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.