Government Accountability Project’s Democracy Protection Initiative is a coordinated effort, involving partners from 22 nonpartisan advocacy organizations, to support employees through Know Your Rights trainings and pro bono representation who choose to blow the whistle on illegality and abuses of power aimed at undermining the election or sabotaging the peaceful transition of power. For more information, please visit us at: democracy.whistleblower.org.



Intake Volunteers will allow us to respond quickly and thoroughly to an anticipated increase in employee truth-tellers wanting to come forward to prevent abuses that threaten election integrity.



A whistleblower who reveals serious evidence of abuse of authority, wrongdoing or threats to public health or safety, or who refuses to obey an illegal order, can be a catalyst for accountability and activism. Over the past three and half years, whistleblowers have already exposed some of the most flagrant abuses of power that directly relate to the election process, such as:



• Russian attempts to interfere with state voter registration rolls in the 2016 Presidential election through an email phishing operation, a weakness that may continue to exist;

• Cambridge Analytica’s attempt to create manipulative political advertising to advance a presidential campaign by data harvesting tens of millions of Facebook profiles;

• the administration’s decision to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden in exchange for congressionally mandated aid;

• attempts by the politized DOJ to advance the personal and political interests of the administration by treating favorably aides (Roger Stone and Michael Flynn) and unfavorably foes (e.g., California industries, Russian interference investigators, and campaign finance whistleblower Michael Cohen);

• a concerted effort on the part of certain administration officials to suppress vital information related to the coronavirus which, in addition to increasing the death and economic toll, has created conditions for voter suppression; and

• inappropriately using law enforcement to clear racial justice protesters near the White House ahead of President Trump's photo shoot at St. John's Church.



The Democracy Protection Initiative, a coordinated campaign to empower, protect and leverage the information of whistleblowers who expose abuses relevant to the erosion of election integrity and orderly transitions of executive power, will offer a uniquely valuable contribution that can fuel existing democracy protection efforts.

We anticipate a surge in requests for legal advice, support and representation from employees with disclosures on a wide range of issues. To be able to effectively leverage the power of whistleblowers’ information while also ensuring the source is protected, being able to respond quickly to intakes is essential, particularly between now and through the presidential transition process.

Intake volunteers will conduct phone interviews with people who seek legal advice and assistance from Government Accountability Project through our online intake system or from lateral referrals. Intake volunteers will help identify key issues and prepare case summaries and recommendations for supervising attorneys. A Government Accountability Project coordinating attorney will review intake summaries and recommendations to identify whether additional factual information or legal research is needed to finalize the summary for internal review and disposition.



A coordinating attorney will communicate with the volunteer regarding substantive questions related to the intake, and a DPI staff member will help coordinate the project to completion. The volunteer will be supported by the coordinating attorney. The DPI director, Senior Counsel Dana Gold, may provide additional guidance and support as needed.