Mike Roman

Mike Roman
Special Assistant to the President and Director of Special Projects and Research
In office
January 20, 2017 – April 2018
President Donald Trump
Personal details
Political party Republican

Michael "Mike" Roman is an American political operative.

Roman was Director of Special Projects and Research for President Donald Trump, from January 20, 2017, until April 2018.[1][2]

In his personal blog, Election Journal, Roman self-describes as a “veteran political consultant and private investigator.”[1][2] Politico and The New York Times describe Roman as an opposition researcher.[1][3]

Career

He began his career as a Republican Party activist in Philadelphia, his hometown.[4][5] Early in his career Roman was a political consultant in his home state of Pennsylvania and in New Jersey.[1] He was director of Election Day operations at the Republican National Committee.[6][1] He has been employed by the George W. Bush, Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain presidential campaigns.[1]

Roman was a senior advisor on the Trump Campaign and headed up the election integrity program.[7][8][9]

Prior to joining the Trump presidential campaign, Roman headed up an intelligence gathering operation for Charles and David Koch, industrialists and high-profile GOP donors.[10] The office, now defunct, "conduct(ed) surveillance and intelligence gathering on... liberal opponents" of conservative policies.[10][3]

Roman describes his blog, Election Journal, as dedicated to "fraud, cheating, dirty tricks, absurdity and other election news."[11][6] According to Richard L. Hasen, Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, the blog appears to focus, "only on incidents favoring Republican's claims against Democrats.[6] During the 2008 presidential election, Election Monitoring, combined GoogleMaps, with Twitter, Flickr and YouTube to enable voters and poll watchers to post what they saw as instances of voter disenfranchise- ment and election fraud in a real time, online map.[12] One scholar, while recognizing the non-verifiable nature of this approach, asserted that it "opens up new potential for election monitoring that addresses some of the limitations that established and official (election monitoring organizations) face.[12]

White House role

Roman's role in the Trump White House as Director of Special Projects and Research, which Politico calls a "a vague title that reveals almost nothing," has drawn attention because in previous administrations it was usual for opposition researchers to work for the campaign or on the staff of the presidential transition team, rather than directly for the White House.[1] He left the White House in April 2018.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cook, Nancy (February 11, 2018). "The mysterious oppo researcher working in the White House lawyer's office". Politico.
  2. 1 2 3 Cook, Nancy (28 April 2018). "Oppo researcher leaves White House". Politico. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  3. 1 2 Haberman, Maggie (21 April 2016). "Koch-Backed Group Breaks Up Its Intelligence Unit". New York Times. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  4. ↑ Raghallaigh, Ciaran (6 June 2004). "O'Neill's Bhoys get Philly fillip". Sunday Mirror (London). Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  5. ↑ Lieberman, Brett (31 March 1995). "They came "to make a crowd for Specter"". The Patriot-News. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 Hasen, Richard (2012). The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300184211. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  7. ↑ Jacobs, Ben (October 18, 2016). "Controversial Republican Mike Roman to run Donald Trump's 'election protection'". The Guardian.
  8. ↑ Levitz, Eric (October 8, 2016). "Trump Names Guy Who Accused the New Black Panthers of Voter Intimidation As Head of 'Election Protection'". New York Magazine. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  9. ↑ Gauthier, Brendan (October 19, 2016). "Donald Trump taps shadowy GOP researcher Mike Roman as chief poll-watcher". Salon.com. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  10. 1 2 Vogel, Kenneth (18 November 2015). "The Koch intelligence agency". Politico. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  11. ↑ Brennan, Chris (24 October 2016). "2008 video weak support of 'rigged' idea: Trump building excuse if he loses". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  12. 1 2 de Jong, Jorrit (Spring 2008). "Trends and Challenges in Election Monitoring". Innovations: 162. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
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