The founders of the group True the Vote are now behind bars after being found in contempt of court for refusing to name people who gave it information concerning a company that provides software used in elections.
Founders Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips were locked up in Houston, according to The Washington Post.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt ordered that the pair be held for at least a day or “until they fully comply with the Court’s Order,” Hoyt wrote, according to KXAS-TV.
Engelbrecht and Phillips have refused to tell the court information the judge has ordered them to produce concerning elections software company Konnech, according to the Texas Tribune.
BREAKING: True the Vote leaders Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips arrested after refusing to reveal confidential informanthttps://t.co/4uST1gBFPo
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) October 31, 2022
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True the Vote had claimed information on poll workers was being stored on servers in China and made other allegations against the company and Konnech chief executive Eugene Yu. Konnech has sued them, saying the claims are false and that the company was defamed, according to The Washington Post.
As part of that lawsuit, Hoyt ordered Engelbrecht and Phillips to provide the names of several people who gave them information about Konnech. They have refused to do so.
On Thursday, in a court session described by the Texas Tribune as “chaotic,” Engelbrecht explained her refusal to divulge names.
“Every name I give you gets doxxed and harassed. I know what happened to Mike after his name was released and he’s in hiding,” she said referring to a man named Mike Hasson whose name was divulged, but no other information about him was given.
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She and Phillips said a second person at a key meeting at which information was shared was a “confidential informant” for the FBI. Neither would give that individual’s name.
“Trust, honesty and respect will always be our highest values, regarding both our work and our lives,” Englebrecht said in a statement, according to Law and Crime.
“As a result, we will be held in jail until we agree to give up the name of a person we believe was not covered under the terms of the judge’s TRO,” the statement said, referring to a temporary restraining order issued in the lawsuit.
“We ask that you keep us in your prayers. Thank you to those who continue supporting and believing in us and our mission to make elections safe for all parties and for all people,” the statement said.
Michael Wynne, a lawyer for Engelbrecht and Phillips, said that “we’re looking at alternate remedies,” according to the Post.
Katie Breen, a representative of True the Vote, said in a statement the group wants the “immediate release” of Engelbrecht and Phillips and that it is appealing the ruling.
True the Vote worked with conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza on the documentary “2,000 Mules.” The central premise of “2,000 Mules” is that an illegal ballot harvesting scheme allegedly took place during the 2020 general election in the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
These are all states that former President Donald Trump won in 2016 but flipped to Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020. A “mule” is a term used in the movie for those who were allegedly paid to repeatedly pick up batches of ballots and place them in drop boxes.
True the Vote said it used cellphone geotracking data to identify people who went to 10 or more drop boxes and made five or more visits to non-governmental organizations working on voter turnout during the 2020 election. Politifact and The Associated Press have contended that geotracking is not a reliable way to determine if these were actually mules delivering ballots illegally.
