Patrick M. Byrne, then chairman and chief executive officer of Overstock.com, stands for a photo at an Overstock warehouse in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., on Thursday, April 29, 2010.
A former Trump administration aide and a leader with a pro-Trump Christian group are helping Patrick Byrne run a nonprofit that has pushed false election conspiracy claims, according to a filing reviewed by CNBC.
The document states that Emily Newman was an advisor to Donald Trump in his administration. The disclosure report was filed in Delaware, according to the Florida division of corporations website. The mailing address for The America Project is in Florida.
Rob Weaver is listed on the form as the group's chief financial officer.
He said he pumped $1 million into the group. The nonprofit organization doesn't have to reveal its donors.
The America Project spent over $3 million on an election audit in Arizona that showed Joe Biden defeated Trump. There are three videos on the website that claim there were major discrepancies in the election. There was no widespread voter fraud in the last election.
There are other wealthy businessmen making false, pro-Trump claims about the election being rigged. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell told CNBC that he has spent $25 million on his own campaign.
The revelation about the America Project's leadership comes as a House select committee investigates the deadly Capitol Hill riot on January 6 and Trump allies' roles in organizing the events that preceded the insurrection. Lawmakers were voting to confirm Biden's Electoral College victory. Trump has been lying about the election.
Newman was a liaison to the Department of Health and Human Services in the White House and later became a chief of staff to the head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. She worked with Sidney Powell and other lawyers on a failed election lawsuit in Michigan that challenged the results. Biden won the state of Michigan.
According to a report by Axios, a group of Trump loyalists met with the president at the White House in December to convince him to use his powers to fight the results of the election. The White House meeting was also attended by Powell.
A permit filed to the U.S. Department of the Interior shows that Weaver was an organizing member of the Washington, D.C. rally. The permit says the event was supposed to include a peaceful protest, prayer and fast in support of election integrity, transparency and reform.
Michael Flynn, a former national security advisor to Trump who was pardoned by the former commander in chief, was a speaker at the event.
Flynn is in a video. Joseph Flynn can be seen in multiple videos on the group's account. A group of Trump allies, including Michael Flynn, were subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the deadly Capitol Hill riot.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, the estimated net worth of the former CEO of Overstock is about $75 million. He self-published a book called "The Deep Rig: How Election Fraud Cost Donald J. Trump the White House, By a Man Who Did Not Vote for Him." The New Tang Dynasty network was told earlier this year that he had contributed at least $1 million to the America Project.
Multiple government officials on both sides of the aisle have said that the 2020 election was not a fraudulent one, despite the fact that in that interview, in which he announced the group's founding, he said it was. William Barr, who was Trump's Attorney General, said there was no widespread election fraud.
During that interview with NTD, he did not name the people who were working for the group, but he did say they were killers and savvy operators who he was working with to continue the fight. He said that they have very smart, shrewd insiders who are making the moves that you want made.
The leaders of the county said that the audit proved that Biden won the election in Arizona, which is the largest county.
The representatives for The America Project did not reply to the request for comment.
