As Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley enlists legal support from Democracy Defenders Action amid an FBI investigation into 2020 election procedures in Wisconsin, records show that groups tied to co-founder Norm Eisen have provided pro bono assistance to Democrat attorneys general pursuing cases against Trump supporters in multiple other states.
The Milwaukee County Board recently authorized outside counsel through pro bono agreements with groups including Democracy Defenders Action to assist county workers facing potential targeting related to the FBI probe. The investigation has included interviews with Milwaukee police officers and a visit to the home of the county’s elections director concerning aspects of the 2020 vote, including late-night ballot handling. County Clerk George Christenson has defended the election results, which withstood prior court challenges.
Democracy Defenders Action, co-founded by Norm Eisen, a former Obama White House ethics official and prominent Trump critic, describes itself as a bipartisan effort to protect democratic institutions. Language coded to mean leftist and anti-Trump. Eisen has also founded and led the States United Democracy Center (SUDC), which has provided free legal services, strategy memos, and coordination for Democrat-led state prosecutions targeting individuals involved in alternate-elector efforts and challenges to the 2020 election results.
According to documents and reporting, SUDC assisted Democrat attorneys general in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, and Nevada. In Arizona, a detailed SUDC memo on the elector scheme was attached to search warrants in cases that were later dismissed by courts. In Minnesota, SUDC Senior Vice President Christine P. Sun was appointed as a Special Attorney by AG Keith Ellison. Similar pro bono arrangements and common interest agreements facilitated multi-state collaboration on these prosecutions, some of which have faced judicial setbacks.
In Wisconsin, SUDC participated in common-interest agreements signed by Democrat officials as part of broader multi-state coordination on election-related matters. However, available records do not detail direct SUDC assistance in active prosecutions within the state comparable to the support provided in Arizona or Michigan.
SUDC has paid over $100,000 to the law group of Democratic superlawyer Marc Elias and maintains ties to the Democratic Attorneys General Association through funding flows and personnel. Critics, including legal experts, have raised concerns about the propriety of nonprofit organizations inserting themselves into partisan prosecutions and local election defenses while maintaining claims of nonpartisanship.
The involvement of Eisen-linked groups in both shielding Wisconsin election officials from federal scrutiny and supporting prosecutions of Trump allies in other states illustrates a consistent pattern of selective legal intervention in post-2020 election disputes. While the Milwaukee FBI probe continues, the national role of these organizations in election litigation remains a point of contention among those questioning the impartiality of the efforts.
Documents from the multi-state efforts, including engagement letters and memos, have surfaced in court proceedings in Arizona and elsewhere, revealing the extent of coordination between the nonprofit and state prosecutors.
