Lara Trump: ‘Election integrity’ program to recruit 100,000 poll watchers, prosecute cheaters

Lara Trump, the co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, vowed on Friday to prosecute anyone caught cheating in November’s presidential election. 

Ms. Trump, who is also former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, made the promise at Turning Point USA’s convention in Detroit after announcing that the RNC would be launching an initiative to train and mobilize thousands of election workers across the country. 

“We are also sending a loud and clear message out there to anyone who thinks about cheating in an election,” she said. “If you cheat in an election, we will find you, we will track you down and we will prosecute you to the full extent of the law.”

Earlier on Friday, Ms. Trump and RNC co-chairman Michael Whatley announced that the organization will begin an ambitious training program to sculpt 100,000 people into election watchdogs.

Ms. Trump told the crowd that the “election integrity” program will recruit and train poll watchers, poll workers and lawyers to work in election centers across the country. 

She said lawyers who want to sign up don’t even need to know election law, noting that the RNC will “train you on exactly what you need to be looking for.” 

The former president, who has long claimed the 2020 election was rigged, reshaped the RNC in recent months when he placed his daughter-in-law and Mr. Whatley into leadership positions. 

Ms. Trump said the RNC has been lacking the past four decades, failing to train election workers while Democrats geared up poll observers.

“Now we have this amazing opportunity so we can train you to work in a polling location. We can train you to work in a tabulation center where the mail-in ballots come in,” Ms. Trump said. “We also want attorneys to work in every major polling location. So we are not reactive. We are proactive. The second you see an issue, we address it.”

Ms. Trump’s remarks came a day ahead of her father-in-law’s scheduled speech at the conservative convention, where the former president and his campaign are making a hard play to shore up support in battleground Michigan over the weekend.