Kurt Olsen, key Trump 2020 election denier, departs Justice Department

Mark Henle/The Republic/USA Today Network/Imagn Images/File

Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who aided President Donald Trump’s 2020 election reversal schemes before joining his second administration, left the Justice Department Monday, a person familiar with the departure told CNN.

Olsen – a key election denier – spent the last several months working for the department’s Miami-based US attorney’s office, which is spearheading a sprawling investigation into “grand conspiracy” Trump’s enemies, but his level of involvement in that probe is unknown.

Olsen had made more of a public splash in his first role in the administration, working in a temporary capacity in the White House as Trump’s director of election security and integrity. There, he was involved in reviews looking at the president’s 2020 loss in key states and at election machinery.

Olsen – who spent much of his career in securities litigation – had no experience with election law before jumping into the efforts to challenge Trump’s 2020 defeat. According to congressional testimony from a top DOJ official during the first Trump administration, Olsen pressed the Justice Department to file a lawsuit in the Supreme Court challenging the election results in battleground states. Olsen went on to assist Trump allies in their bids to challenge elections on dubious grounds, including in a 2022 Arizona lawsuit that led to sanctions against him from the state’s Supreme Court.

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When he was at the White House, Olsen made the referral that led to the FBI’s seizure of 2020 ballots from Fulton County, Georgia, and he also played a role in the Justice Department’s move to subpoena records related to the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Arizona. Additionally, he was involved in a review of voting equipment in Puerto Rico. When the cybersecurity firm hired by the Trump administration to conduct the assessment failed to find evidence that the machines had been tampered with in a way that changed votes, Olsen allegedly spread false claims that the firm was tied to Trump’s liberal opponents, according to a declaration written by the firm’s head that was obtained by CNN.

CNN’s attempts to reach Olsen on Monday were unsuccessful.

Olsen moved this year from White House to the Justice Department, where his full remit was not publicly known. He was, however, referenced in court filings this month submitted by attorneys for former CIA Director John Brennan, a Trump foe. Brennan’s attorneys said that they had communications with Olsen in which he indicated Brennan was a target in a false statements probe.

CNN’s Jeremy Herb and Josh Campbell contributed to this report.

Mark Henle/《共和报》/今日美国网络/Imagn Images/档案

据一位知情人士向 CNN 透露，曾协助唐纳德·特朗普总统在 2020 年推翻选举结果的律师库尔特·奥尔森于周一离开了司法部。

奥尔森是选举结果否认者中的一位重要人物，在过去的几个月里，他一直在司法部位于迈阿密的美国检察官办公室工作，该办公室正在牵头对特朗普的敌人进行一项广泛的“巨大阴谋”调查，但他参与这项调查的程度尚不清楚。

奥尔森在加入特朗普政府后的第一个职位上就引起了公众的广泛关注。当时他以临时身份在白宫担任特朗普的选举安全与诚信主任，参与了对总统在2020年大选中在关键州失利以及选举机制的审查工作。

奥尔森职业生涯的大部分时间都从事证券诉讼，在投身挑战特朗普2020年败选的努力之前，他对选举法一无所知。据特朗普第一任期内一位司法部高级官员在国会作证时透露，奥尔森曾敦促司法部向最高法院提起诉讼，挑战几个关键州的选举结果。奥尔森随后又协助特朗普的盟友以站不住脚的理由挑战选举结果，其中包括2022年亚利桑那州的一起诉讼，该诉讼最终导致他受到该州最高法院的制裁。

独家报道：紧张的电话通话和辞职事件颠覆了司法部对特朗普主要反对者的调查

奥尔森在白宫任职期间，曾向联邦调查局举报，导致其查获了佐治亚州富尔顿县2020年的选票。他还参与了司法部向亚利桑那州马里科帕县发出传票，调取与2020年大选相关的记录的行动。此外，他还参与了对波多黎各投票设备的审查。据CNN获得的一份该公司负责人撰写的声明显示，当特朗普政府聘请的网络安全公司未能发现机器被篡改导致选票改变的证据时，奥尔森却散布虚假信息，声称该公司与特朗普的自由派反对者有关联。

CNN周一试图联系奥尔森，但未能成功。

奥尔森今年从白宫调任司法部，其具体职责尚不为人知。然而，本月前中央情报局局长约翰·布伦南（特朗普的政敌）的律师提交的法庭文件中提到了他。布伦南的律师称，他们曾与奥尔森有过沟通，奥尔森在沟通中暗示布伦南是虚假陈述调查的目标。

CNN的杰里米·赫布和乔什·坎贝尔对本报道亦有贡献。