No Labels announced Thursday that it filed a complaint with the Department of Justice for alleged “unlawful conspiracy” to prevent the centrist organization from gaining ballot access across the country.
According to an eight-page letter submitted to the DOJ on Jan. 11 by No Labels, which is considering a third-party ticket in the 2024 presidential election, there is “a highly coordinated, conspiratorial, partisan, and often unlawful conspiracy — involving individuals both inside and outside government — to deny Americans their constitutional right to choose the leaders who represent them.”
During a press conference on Thursday in Washington, D.C., No Labels lawyer Dan Webb urged the Biden administration to intervene on the organization’s behalf. “We actually believe the Department of Justice has an obligation to open a formal investigation into these activities based on the evidence we cited,” he told reporters.
The group said the DOJ hasn’t responded and that communication has been one-way thus far. The DOJ confirmed receipt of No Labels’s letter to the Washington Examiner but declined further comment.
No Labels cited three sections under U.S. Code Title 18 that it believes these groups and people have violated. The statutes involve extortion, conspiracy to oppress or intimidate people freely exercising constitutional rights, and interference in voting.
The letter specifically pointed to a recent conference call between Third Way co-founder Matt Bennett, MoveOn Political Action, End Citizens United, the Lincoln Project, American Bridge, Public Citizen, Reproductive Freedom for All, political operatives Sarah Longwell and Bill Kristol, former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, and Dmitri Mehlhorn — a representative for Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman — in which the parties involved “laid out their plans to harass, extort, and intimidate No Labels supporters and potential candidates.”
The Lincoln Project quickly responded to the complaint. “Not only does No Labels support Trump, but like him they want to weaponize the DOJ by getting them to investigate their political opponents for protected political speech,” the group wrote on X.
“This is a desperate attempt to salvage their failing campaign and only shows their amateur abilities,” it continued.
Not only does No Labels support Trump, but like him they want to weaponize the DOJ by getting them to investigate their political opponents for protected political speech. This is a desperate attempt to salvage their failing campaign and only shows their amateur abilities. https://t.co/Pnwl2Htgll
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) January 18, 2024
No Labels has gained ballot access for its political party in 13 states and is “active” in 27 states as it continues to build a path to the White House for a possible presidential ticket. The group will make a determination about whether to nominate a ticket and who will be on that ticket after March 15.
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The group reiterated Thursday that it is in discussion with several people, but none of them have said “yes” yet. At the same time, “none of them have said no,” former Sen. Joe Lieberman, No Labels national founding chairman, revealed.
No Labels didn’t express any concern over waiting until March to unveil its possible ticket, pointing reporters to independent candidate Ross Perot, who garnered 20% of the vote in 1992. Perot did not begin campaigning until March of the election year.