Category: Trump Administration / Department of Justice — Civil Rights Division Senior Attorney (Formerly Acting Head) Role: Senior attorney, DOJ Civil Rights Division (2025–present); former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division (January 2025 – confirmation of Harmeet Dhillon); former West Virginia Secretary of State (January 2017 – January 2025); U.S. Army veteran; brother of current West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner. Priority: P1 — Publicly claimed, in a 2023 Republican gubernatorial primary debate, that “the 2020 election was stolen, and it was stolen by the CIA.” Participated in “Stop the Steal” protest activity. Was placed at the top of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division — the very unit with statutory jurisdiction over voting rights — for the first year of the second Trump administration, and has since led inter-agency work targeting state voter rolls and 2020 election records, including a July 7, 2026 DOJ letter warning West Virginia officials of possible “criminal liability” over the state voter registration list.

Basis for Inclusion

Subject Classification: Public Official — sitting DOJ Civil Rights Division senior attorney; former Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights; former Senate-confirmed statewide constitutional officer (WV Secretary of State).

Anchor(s) Met: Anchor E — held documented senior federal office (Acting AAG, DOJ Civil Rights Division) with direct policy and enforcement authority over federal voting-rights law; currently continues in Civil Rights Division senior-attorney capacity. Anchor A (statewide elected office, WV Secretary of State 2017–2025) also present.

What Is NOT the Basis for Inclusion: Warner’s Army service and general Republican party affiliation are background. Media commentary characterizing him as an election denier is descriptive but not the accountability finding; the accountability finding is the documented (a) public “CIA stole the election” statement in an official candidate-debate setting, (b) participation in Stop the Steal protest activity, and (c) subsequent official federal-office actions targeting voting infrastructure.

How Speech Is Treated: Warner’s private opinions about elections would not be scored; the “CIA stole the election” statement is scored because it was made in an official candidate-forum capacity and directly connects to the enforcement priorities he now pursues from federal office.

Overview

Andrew McCoy “Mac” Warner served two terms as West Virginia Secretary of State (2017–2025). Following Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, Warner publicly defended Trump’s stolen-election claims, participated in Stop the Steal protest activity, and — in a 2023 Republican gubernatorial primary debate — stated that “the 2020 election was stolen, and it was stolen by the CIA.” His gubernatorial bid was unsuccessful. In January 2025, the second Trump administration appointed him Acting Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ Civil Rights Division, giving him supervisory review authority over the division’s voting, education, disability rights, and policy sections. He served in that acting capacity until the Senate confirmation of Harmeet Dhillon as Assistant AG for Civil Rights. Warner then became a senior attorney within the same division, where he has continued to lead work on election-related federal enforcement — including a July 7, 2026 letter, signed by AAG Dhillon and issued while Warner was operationally involved, warning the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office (headed by Warner’s brother, Kris Warner) that “any election officer, including the chief election officer of the state, who knowingly retains noncitizens on the state’s SVRL or facilitates noncitizens in receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability.”

Background

Warner served in the U.S. Army as a JAG officer and served overseas in Afghanistan. He served two consecutive terms as West Virginia Secretary of State (2017–2025). He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2024. He is the brother of Kris Warner, the current West Virginia Secretary of State. He holds a J.D. and was admitted to practice law prior to his federal appointment.

Documented Actions

1. Public Statement That “The 2020 Election Was Stolen and Was Stolen by the CIA” (2023 Republican Gubernatorial Primary Debate)

Evidence: During a 2023 Republican gubernatorial primary debate, Warner — then the sitting West Virginia Secretary of State (and thus the state’s chief election officer) — stated on stage that “the 2020 election was stolen, and it was stolen by the CIA.” The statement was made in his official capacity as an announced statewide candidate and while holding constitutional office as the state’s chief election officer. The claim has been documented as false by federal courts, state canvasses, and every credible investigation into the 2020 election.

Source: Bloomberg Law, “Warner, Who Said CIA Stole Election, Now Leads DOJ Civil Rights”; Ballotpedia; Wikipedia entry citing debate coverage; Democracy Docket, “The DOJ Lawyer and Hardcore Election Denier Probing 2020.”

Pattern: State chief-election-officer publicly repudiating the certified result of a national election.

2. Participation in “Stop the Steal” Protest Activity (Post-2020)

Evidence: Following Trump’s 2020 loss, Warner publicly defended Trump’s election-fraud claims and participated in “Stop the Steal” protest activity. He continued to characterize the 2020 election result as illegitimate throughout his second term as WV Secretary of State and into his 2024 gubernatorial campaign.

Source: Wikipedia; Bloomberg Law; Democracy Docket.

Pattern: Elected state chief-election-officer joining organized protest activity targeting the certified result of a federal election.

3. Appointment as Acting Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ Civil Rights Division (January 2025)

Evidence: In January 2025, the incoming Trump administration named Warner Acting Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ Civil Rights Division. Warner informed division employees he would exercise review responsibility over the division’s Voting, Educational Opportunities, Disability Rights, and Policy sections. This is the same DOJ component with statutory responsibility for enforcing the Voting Rights Act, Section 2 vote-dilution cases, and federal-observer authority.

Source: Bloomberg Law; The Center Square, “DOJ warns West Virginia leaders of consequences if non-citizens vote”; Democracy Docket, “The DOJ Lawyer and Hardcore Election Denier Probing 2020”; West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Pattern: Placement of a documented 2020 election denier at the top of the federal voting-rights enforcement apparatus.

4. Inter-Agency Task Force Advancing the “Weaponization” Executive Order and 2020 Election Probes (2025–2026)

Evidence: Warner now serves as a senior attorney in DOJ Civil Rights, where he has taken several steps to advance restrictions on voting and to investigate claims about the 2020 election. According to Democracy Docket reporting, his election-related probe activity is tied to his role in an inter-agency task force created to advance Trump’s executive order targeting the so-called “weaponization” of the federal government.

Source: Democracy Docket, “The DOJ Lawyer and Hardcore Election Denier Probing 2020”; Bloomberg Law.

Pattern: Inter-agency deployment of Civil Rights Division authority to advance election-denial theories.

5. July 7, 2026 DOJ Criminal-Liability Letter to the West Virginia Secretary of State (Kris Warner)

Evidence: On July 7, 2026, the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office received a letter from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon (DOJ Civil Rights Division) warning that “any election officer, including the chief election officer of the state, who knowingly retains noncitizens on the state’s SVRL or facilitates noncitizens in receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability.” The letter was addressed to the state office headed by Kris Warner, the current West Virginia Secretary of State and Mac Warner’s brother. West Virginia responded that its office is unaware of any evidence of noncitizens on its voter rolls and asked DOJ to share any credible information warranting investigation. In April 2026, W.Va. Citizens Action Group filed an intervenor motion against a related DOJ effort to obtain West Virginia voter records.

Court/administrative record: DOJ Civil Rights Division letter dated July 7, 2026; W.Va. Citizens Action Group intervenor motion, April 2026, in the DOJ voter-records action.

Source: WV MetroNews, “West Virginia gets DOJ letter saying state officials could face criminal charges if noncitizens vote,” July 8, 2026; WV MetroNews follow-up July 9, 2026; The Center Square; West Virginia Public Broadcasting; The Intelligencer, “W.Va. Citizens Action Group Files Motion Against DOJ Effort To Obtain Voter Records,” April 2026.

Pattern: DOJ criminal-liability threats to state election officials over voter-roll administration, coordinated by an official whose family member is the direct target.

Pattern Analysis

Cross-References

Warner is the DOJ Civil Rights Division’s ideological center of gravity on election-denial-adjacent enforcement. His work sits alongside Kurt Olsen’s Fulton County referral as a paired documented-actions record of federal executive-branch pressure against state 2020 election infrastructure.

Related profiles:

• kurt-olsen-profile (parallel election-denial track from White House / SDFL)
• harmeet-dhillon-profile (Warner’s current principal at Civil Rights Division)
• pam-bondi-profile (Attorney General)
• todd-blanche-profile (Deputy AG, then Acting AG)