Mike Roman, charged alongside 18 others for attempting to overturn the 2020 election, is employed as an Assistant Chairman of the International Democratic Union. Pictures posted to his social media show him on the ground supporting the 2022 blockade protests in Ottawa.
Peter Smith
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
Source: Twitter
A Republican aide previously listed as an Assistant Chairman of Stephen Harper’s International Democratic Union has been charged in the latest indictment related to Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn his election defeat.
Mike Roman, a Philadelphia native, is among the 19 accused, including the former president, named on Trump’s fourth indictment.
“Defendant Donald John Trump lost the United States presidential election held on November 3, 2020,” the indictment reads. “One of the states he lost was Georgia. Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favour of Trump. That conspiracy contained a common plan and purpose to commit two or more acts of racketeering activity in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the State of Georgia, and in other states.”
Facing seven charges in total, the case against Roman uses Georgia’s RICO (Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations) Act — laws implemented to target organized crime and large-scale criminal conspiracies. His charges include violation of the state RICO Act and a number of conspiracy charges including conspiracy to impersonate an officer, forgery in the first degree, filing false documents, and more.
A picture with the hashtag #FreedomConvoy2022 posted to Roman’s social media in February of last year shows him posing and giving a thumbs-up hand gesture next to a semi-truck with Quebec plates.
Source: Twitter
Roman, a longtime GOP operative, was listed as an Assistant Chairman on the IDU website as of August 1, according to the Internet Archive.
Other assistant chairmen include Peter Mac Manu of Ghana’s New Patriotic Party, UK Conservative Party member Alec Shelbrooke, Marco Solares from the Partido Unionista in Guatemala, and Erna Solberg of Norway’s Conservative Party.
Roman’s name and picture have since been removed.
The IDU did not respond to questions about Roman’s status within the organization by time of publication. If a response is received, we will update accordingly.
The IDU is an international think tank founded in 1983 by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, then US Vice-President George Bush Sr, and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, among other world leaders. Designed to be a place for right-wing political parties to network and share knowledge, the current chair is former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
“Through the IDU, member Parties can exchange policy ideas, assist each other to win the political argument, and to win elections,” the organization’s website reads.
Before his role as assistant chairman, Roman was listed as treasurer.
Source: International Democratic Union
Two days after the start of the November 3, 2020 election, he also appeared on a panel offering “detailed insights about the campaign” for IDU members, according to social media posts from the organization.
By the end of November, the indictment alleges that Roman was committing acts in “furtherance of the conspiracy.” The document states that around November 30, Roman was instructing individuals associated with the Trump campaign to contact state legislators in Georgia and elsewhere on behalf of the ousted president, encouraging them to “unlawfully appoint electors from their respective states.”
The indictment reveals the specifics of the case against members of Trump’s team in the aftermath of the election loss.
Roman, Trump, Rudolph Giuliani, and several others are alleged to have conspired to create a document titled Certificate Of The Votes Of The 2020 Electors From Georgia. Purporting to be written by “elected and qualified” Georgia presidential electors, attempts were made to deliver this document to the National Archives and Records Administration, an essential step in the US electoral college system.
The document reportedly contains “materially false statements,” a fact that Roman and his co-accused are accused of being fully aware.
RICO charges apply to a person who has committed at least two acts of racketeering activity within a ten-year period. Originally passed to target the Italian-American mafia in the 1970s, the laws have been adapted to bring charges against everything from organized crime to cults. Georgia’s RICO statutes are considered some of the broadest in the country.
The charges relate to activity alleged to have taken place in Georgia, Michigan, and Arizona. Georgia’s state RICO legislation includes a minimum sentence of five years.
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