Show Notes
Dan Tully left the U.S. Department of Commerce in protest of the administration's destructive foreign policy approach. Dan's background as a Judge Advocate in the Army Reserve gave him experience advising on counter-Chinese influence efforts in the Indo-Pacific. While Dan was building an anti-corruption program for Ukraine's Ministry of Reconstruction, the administration abandoned critical partnerships, echoed Kremlin talking points, and berated Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House. Dan is now running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Chicago, Illinois, where he hopes to implement his Trump Accountability Plan and restore the rule of law by wielding Congress's power of inherent contempt and puncturing sovereign immunity for federal agents acting outside the scope of the law. As we approach the midterm elections, the election conspiracies of 2020 and 2024 are making a comeback alongside threats of voter suppression and intimidation from the White House and MAGA-sphere. In this episode, we cut through the noise of election conspiracies. We discuss how same-day voter registration led to false claims of "more votes than voters" during the 2024 elections. We also explain how a voter fraud prevention tool led to false claims of one state having "more registered voters than voting-age population." We round out our examination of election fraud conspiracies by explaining why the Election Truth Alliance's conspiracy theories masked as statistical analysis did not prove voter fraud in the 2024 presidential race. We discuss how misinterpreting academic research and ignoring important methodological distinctions to justify demands for hand counts doesn't begin to address the actual threats voters could face at the polls in 2026, such as the weaponization of federal law enforcement as recently seen in Fulton County, Georgia. As the executive branch tramples constitutional boundaries in an effort to centralize power, we discuss the constitutional remedies available to Congress, the States, and the People, as well as legislative proposals that would further strengthen checks on executive power, including the Bivens Act, the Universal Constitutional Remedies Act, and inherent contempt. Finally, we discuss historical precedents that allowed the States to regulate federal law enforcement activity within their borders. We highlight how first principles such as federalism and separation of powers create a system of governance designed to protect the rights of the people. We recently saw this system in action when the Supreme Court ruled on Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump in a 6-3 decision to reject the President's unilateral imposition of tariffs, which are reserved for the contemplative processes of the legislature. Read about Dan's platform on his website or connect with him on LinkedIn.
Learn more about this episode on our website. If you enjoy Forking Off with us, consider supporting us on Ko-fi, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, LinkedIn, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. ---------- The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the individuals providing them and do not necessarily represent the views of the FBI, the DOJ, the Department of Commerce, the Army Reserve, the United States, or any past or current employers.
More from Forking Off
Jeremy Boss found his way to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) almost by accident. After getting a master's degree in international relations, Jeremy sought out positions in the intelligence community with a desire to serve his country. After hearing about an NGA hiring event, Jeremy quickly researched the agency and submitted an application the day before event registration closed—and he got hired. Jeremy spent nearly fourteen years as a geospatial intelligence analyst fusing imagery with all-source intelligence to provide policymakers with ground truth.
Stacey Young spent over 18 years at the Justice Department as an attorney; first in the Civil Division for 13 years, then in the Civil Rights Division for 5 more. Having founded the Gender Equality Network to make DOJ a better place for its employees in 2016, Stacey knew going into 2025 that DOJ employees would need support from outside. Shortly after inauguration, she resigned from her role at the Department to build Justice Connection—the direct support group DOJ employees needed. Stacey didn't need a crystal ball to know that DOJ employees would be targeted by the new administration: they said it out loud. Within the federal government, only DOJ had investigated the President for his previous unlawful actions, which made the need for Justice Connection obvious. Stacey issued her call to action as a guest essay in The New York Times, where she encouraged the public to support DOJ employees in their effort to keep the department on track. Later that month, Stacey answered the call.
Growing up in a small town in rural Northern California, Danielle Carnes longed to travel the world and make it a better place. She remembers visiting her grandma's house and seeing an old 1970s world map on the wall with pins showing all the places her grandfather had visited for work. She imagined traveling to new places and wondered about the different people she might meet.
Jeffrey Sizemore spent over two decades serving the United States, first as a U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officer and later as a civil servant at the State Department. As the Senior Advisor on Atrocity Prevention and Deputy Director in the Office of Security and Human Rights, Jeff helped operationalize the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. He built comprehensive curriculums and traveled globally to train foreign service officers on how to mitigate the risks of mass violence, identify warning signs, and understand what post-conflict justice looks like.
Michael Duffin served as a senior policy advisor at the State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism for 12 years. When he received an invite for a 15-minute meeting titled "Update on the Reorganization," he never suspected it would mark an early end to his career. Michael helped stand up the Office of Countering Violent Extremism (CT/CVE), which led the Department's international engagement and assistance efforts to prevent violent extremists and their supporters from radicalizing, recruiting, or inspiring acts of violence. His layoff was part of a wider 'Reduction-in-Force' that impacted 1,107 State Department employees.