Ivan Raiklin is an American political operative and former Army reservist. He is the progenitor of the Pence card,[1][2][3] which he tweeted to President Trump on December 16, 2020 (who in turn retweeted it), which outlined a novel legal theory to overturn the result of the 2020 US Presidential election due to widespread election fraud. This tweet was the precursor of the Eastman memos. The Pence card was one of a series of attempts to overturn the election.
In the event of Trump winning a second term in addition of his 2nd assassination attempt the self-proclaimed "Secretary of Retribution" claims that he would use constitutional sheriffs from conservative, rural counties to conduct raids (preferably live-streamed) of Trump's enemies, of which he has a "Deep State Target List" of 350 people. Said list has been in circulation in right-wing circles since January 2024.[4] The sheriffs would purportedly deputize some 75,000 military veterans whom he claims were forced out of service because they refused to comply with COVID-19 vaccine mandates.[5][6]
A long-time associate of Michael Flynn,[7] Raiklin is a former Lt.-Col. Army reservist,[7] having served as a Green Beret, and a former employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency.[8] A registered Republican, he failed to gather enough signatures to qualify for the Republican primary of June 12, 2018 for the U.S. Senate to represent Virginia.[9] He later sued both the party and the commonwealth over the ballot access denial;[10] federal district judge John A. Gibney, Jr. denied the request inasmuch as the suit was brought too late.[11]
An EIN Presswire press release, dated June 27, 2024, announced that Raiklin will serve on the board of directors for America’s Future, a nonprofit established by Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (Ret.).[12]