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 legitimate result of the 2020 US Presidential election. 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 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]