Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is scheduled to attend the winter gathering of the National Association of Secretaries of State on Friday, forcing the group to reconfigure its agenda, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Secretaries of state play a central role in monitoring and administering elections.
- The 11th-hour addition to the agenda comes as the Trump administration pushes for more voter data from states and hunts for evidence to back up Trump's discredited voter fraud claims.
- Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem were also expected to attend as of Thursday afternoon, but Bondi no longer plans to, according to a source familiar.
- A spokesperson for Noem did not respond to a request for comment, but a source familiar said it's possible only Gabbard will go.
The intrigue: It was not immediately clear what the cabinet secretaries intended to discuss, but organizers added a new session to accommodate them.
- Several Democratic secretaries of state were somewhat confused by the late additions of the Trump officials, according to people familiar with the matter.
- All three were added to the schedule with a 45-minute slot at 3pm ET, according to an agenda seen by Axios.
Driving the news: Gabbard was present at an FBI search of an election center in Fulton County, Georgia on Wednesday. She's playing a key role in investigating the results of the 2020 election, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
- Her presence in Georgia alarmed some Democratic senators and secretaries of state, who were already in Washington for their bipartisan annual meeting.
- "2020, clearly, was the beginning, not the end, of a multiyear, multifaceted effort to dismantle Americans' trust in our elections and our elections themselves," Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told CNN in Washington.
- Bondi, meanwhile, demanded Minnesota's complete voter registration rolls this week. The DOJ is suing more than 20 states for not turning over private voter data.
What they're saying: "The Administration has been in touch about the possibility earlier this week," said a NASS spokesperson of the three officials attending the conference. "A session for them was added to the agenda upon confirmation from the Administration."
- The White House confirmed their attendance earlier today.
Editor's note: This story was updated to reflect that Bondi no longer intends to attend.
