Clay Parikh does not want to talk about who he is working with inside the White House. However, in an extraordinary and extensive conversation with TPM, he had a lot to say about many other things, including his concerns that the “deep state” and a shadowy “cabal” is influencing our elections.
“When they say ‘deep state,’ it’s deep and it’s everywhere,” Parikh said in a phone call late Tuesday evening.
Parikh, who, according to court documents unsealed this week, is currently a special government employee in the executive branch, is also worried about myriad other issues including poisons in the food supply, the COVID vaccine, “gay pride” displays in churches, and various problems that he describes as “the devil’s work.”
Parikh was identified as a special government employee, a temporary officer or staffer in the executive branch who is appointed for up to 130 days, in an affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Hugh Evans as part of an application for a search warrant that was used to raid the election hub in Fulton County, Georgia late last month. The raid, which is part of an “election integrity” inquiry being led by top Trump administration officials, resulted in the seizure of hundreds of boxes of voting records and prompted widespread alarm from Democrats amid indications President Donald Trump wants to intervene in upcoming elections.
Evans’ affidavit was unsealed by a federal judge on Tuesday as Fulton County officials push for the return of the materials seized in the raid. The officials have argued the investigation could undermine confidence in the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential vote. Trump’s loss in that race has been a persistent fixation for many of his allies despite the fact it has been affirmed in multiple recounts, audits, and court cases. The affidavit revealed that the raid stemmed from a “referral” made by another special government employee, Kurt Olsen, an attorney and prominent election denier who was involved in Trump’s “Stop The Steal” push to overturn the 2020 election.
According to Evans, Parikh was one of several people who spoke to investigators and aired concerns that prompted the raid. Specifically, the affidavit said Parikh analyzed “tabulator tape images and related documents” and concluded data from the devices was “manipulated.” While various investigations have identified some issues with the 2020 election in Fulton County, experts and officials have repeatedly concluded they did not affect the overall outcome. Along with citing concerns about alleged issues with the vote count from some witnesses, the affidavit includes multiple other unnamed witnesses who offer innocuous explanations for these things — including Parikh’s concerns about the tabulators — and note how they did not affect the result.
After learning from the affidavit about Parikh’s status as a special government employee and the fact that his analysis was used to justify the FBI raid, TPM reached out to him to discuss his work. Parikh repeatedly declined to discuss when he became a special government employee or what his duties entail.
“I have no comment for any of that,” he said at the outset of the call.
However, after initially declining to comment, Parikh proceeded to hold forth for nearly two hours. During the conversation, he confirmed his status as a special government employee, indicated he is working with Olsen, and aired his thoughts on a variety of issues including his overarching concern that there is a “cabal” that is placing our society in grave danger.
“It’s just pure evil,” Parikh said.
The extraordinary discussion was a window into the deep-seated fears and unconventional ideas animating the allies that Trump has apparently brought into his administration. It also showed the blend of religious fervor and paranoia that is driving some of the activists aligned with the president’s push to challenge election infrastructure. White House spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment from TPM about Parikh’s work as a special government employee in the executive branch.
In the FBI affidavit, Evans indicated Parikh analyzed the images at the behest of another witness whose name was redacted. That person was only identified as “a member of the Election Oversight Group, LLC” who “drafted a report regarding the 2020 Election in Fulton County.” Trump has previously noted the work of EOG, which has filed unsuccessful complaints in Georgia based on thoroughly debunked allegations. Last week, TPM reported that Kevin Moncla, who has been associated with EOG in corporate records, had written a report about the 2020 election in Fulton County that seems to have reached Trump’s team. Moncla, who has said he communicated with investigators ahead of the raid, did not respond to a request for comment about EOG’s communications with Parikh.
Parikh initially would also not say anything about who encouraged him to examine the tabulators or whether he was working with Olsen.
“I have no comment for that,” he said, adding, “None whatsoever.”
While Parikh is reluctant to reveal his current associations as a special government employee in the executive branch, his past links to prominent election deniers and conspiracy theorists are public. Parikh has worked with the group “Focus On America.” According to his biography on the organization’s site, he is a cybersecurity expert with decades of experience. Parikh told TPM he is also a veteran of the U.S. Marines and a former employee of the aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman. Parikh has participated in “Focus On America” events with “My Pillow” entrepreneur Mike Lindell and activist David Clements, both of whom have promoted thoroughly debunked conspiracy theories about elections.
TPM asked Parikh if he was concerned his past links to these figures might undermine his credibility. He rejected the notion entirely.
“My opinions are my opinions,” Parikh said. “You’re going to try to tie my names to specific people for a narrative, not true journalism, right?”
Parikh, who said he is “very skeptical of any media,” went on to outline his view, which is that there are “315,000 ballots that were fabricated” in Georgia in 2020. Additionally, Parikh has questions about the elections in 2022 and 2024.
“Oh, buddy,” he said. “Listen: we haven’t had an honest election in decades.”
Given the fact Parikh is now working with the Trump White House, TPM asked if he believes the president’s victory in the 2024 election was a legitimate one. Parikh said he believes some of the numbers were “screwed” with in that race. He went on to suggest “the freaking media” was eager to generate the false impression that former Vice President Kamala Harris was performing better than she actually was.
“You spread a narrative and you ran these crazy posts making it look like Harris was close. So guess what? You’ve got to try to pull it off and make it look like the narrative’s close,” Parikh said. “But you couldn’t do it, because then it would be totally bogus.”
Of course, Trump outperformed polls as he defeated Harris in that race. Parikh did not explain how that result supposedly indicated manipulation to support a false narrative of Harris’ strength. He just moved on to suggest there was “cheating” in local elections without citing any specific examples.
In general, talking with Parikh means hearing a rapid-fire litany of unsupported claims and allegations. He speaks in paragraphs and jumped from topic to topic without allowing much chance for questioning.
“I’m on my soapbox,” Parikh declared at one point in our conversation. “You want to talk to me, I’m going to talk.”
Parikh also presented himself as above and beyond partisan politics even though he is currently working for the Trump administration and has participated in local Republican Party events.
“For me, I voted libertarian. I vote for a libertarian. I vote for a Democrat. I vote for whoever,” Parikh said, later adding, “I’ve viewed it this way: it’s the cabal, the oligarchs, whatever you want to call them — the deep state — against we, the people. … The R and the D is just a manufactured thing to cause division. Right? Those are my views on it.”
The ideas of dark forces and corrupt institutions were ones Parikh continually returned to even though, in his present capacity, he is inside the government at its highest levels.
When I pointed out there is a broad consensus that the various claims about the 2020 election in Georgia have been thoroughly debunked, Parikh suggested that was another falsehood perpetuated by the media.
“You’re pushing the narrative and you’re about to make me say, whatever your freaking media is, then I’m gonna lump you like I do Fox, and CNN, and NBC, and CBS, and ABC, and the rest of them. Right? And MSNBC,” Parikh said, adding, “All those different letters, I just say ‘CIA.’”
Of course, it’s not just the media that has shot down efforts to cast doubt on Georgia’s 2020 election. A slew of efforts to challenge the result in court have failed. For Parikh, that is just evidence of another area where officials cannot be trusted.
“I can’t comment on whether things were properly litigated,” Parikh said. “What I could tell you is, if you asked me if I have faith in our judicial system, I’m going to tell you, on a personal level, no.”
Parikh went on to say that, as a former Marine, he had taken “an oath” and commanded soldiers. He believes, “my country’s failed on their behalf.”
“In the 22 years I spent going and going all over this freaking world and giving people half the freedoms that we have, and I — we don’t have freedom. It’s just an illusion,” Parikh said. “I’ve come to that conclusion. I have total distrust in it.”
Of course, this brings up the question of whether that lack of confidence extends to the Trump administration, which Parikh is currently working for. Parikh didn’t directly answer a question about whether he has faith in Trump.
“If you put your faith in people, you’re going to be hurt,” Parikh said. “The only person I put my faith in is my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, right? So I’m not going to comment about anybody else. All I can tell you is, I’m in this fight.”
At that point, Parikh took a long pause. For a moment, it sounded as if he was crying.
“I’m starting to get a little bit emotional,” Parikh said before explaining that a military colleague of his had recently passed away.
“I have to tell you, we were experimented on like all get out,” Parikh said of his fellow Marines. “The only thing that’s worse than what’s been done to the U.S. military personnel and the Blacks in this country is the freaking COVID, freaking scam.”
Parikh went on to suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine, which he referred to as “the jab,” had radicalized him.
“I know nuclear, biological, chemical warfare. So you want to talk about ‘follow, the science?’” he said. “We were peddled bullshit.”
Parikh said his concerns about the pandemic were what ultimately got him involved with “grassroots” groups and election issues.
“That’s when everything kicked off and then I found myself in federal court out in Arizona,” Parikh said. “I just feel God put it on me, and I can’t rest. I can’t be normal because, if I do, I’m shirking my duties because our country’s failing. There’s so much stuff that’s wrong in it and the people in D.C. don’t care.”
Parikh appeared as an expert cybersecurity witness for Republican Kari Lake’s as she sought to challenge her loss in Arizona’s2022 gubernatorial race. Olsen, who was reportedly hired by the Trump administration as a special government employee in October, was Lake’s attorney. The effort to challenge Lake’s defeat was ultimately rejected by the Arizona Supreme Court.
Despite his initial reluctance to divulge any details about his role as a special government employee, Parikh indicated he is currently working with Olsen on what he referred to as “a war.”
“I’ve been with Kurt through several trials,” Parikh said. “And we get each other, I mean, because, you know, he’s a former SEAL and everything like that. … We have a pretty good relationship.”
Along with their shared military backgrounds, Parikh said he and Olsen have “the same view on elections.” Olsen did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
Parikh would not say whether he and Olsen have presented any of their findings to Trump.
“Look, I got no comment on that,” he said.
Parikh also declined to comment on whether we should expect further action from the election inquiry following the Fulton County raid.
Given his position in government and his deep distrust in the system, we also asked Parikh if he believes things will improve. He suggested there are others who share his views working on the inside.
“Here’s what I’ll tell you, I think there’s a group of people, a small group of people in each one of the areas of the federal government, that are fighting hard to get it back,” Parikh said. “But … when they say deep state, it’s deep and it’s everywhere, and that’s why it’s just extremely hard.”
Despite those long odds, Parikh believes his cause can win.
“You can’t give up,” Parikh said.
He then launched into a laundry list of concerns, including “digital IDs” as a dire threat to freedom, “AI models that you see on the web searches,” and “chemicals” in foods.
“If you didn’t learn nothing off of this COVID stuff, they — if you go in the grocery stores they are literally trying to kill us,” Parikh said.
Parikh also said he was concerned they are no longer selling “real chicken” at Cracker Barrel, a restaurant that has become a fixation for conservatives following a recent rebrand.
“The food was going downhill before all their woke stuff,” Parikh said.
Along with food, Parikh said he is concerned about soda and claimed he always mixes it with alcohol “to sanitize it.”
“People, just — they’ve got to wake up,” Parikh said.
After hearing Parikh’s long list of grievances, we pressed him once again on who exactly is in the “cabal” and “deep state.” He cited the longrunning NBC television thriller “The Blacklist,” which starred James Spader.
“I discovered ‘The Blacklist’ right? I’ve been watching that and I’m telling you what, I’m like that was the documentary done in the future,” Parikh explained. “They’re showing the corrupt CIA stuff and all this stuff. It’s both at the government level, and at the corporate level, and the banks.”
Parikh then returned to the 2020 presidential election, which he referred to as the “fedsurrection.” He apparently felt the results were questionable the moment they began coming in.
“I knew that night when the numbers froze up and I’d seen flickers in the numbers,” Parikh said.
As those results were certified on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. All of those rioters who faced criminal penalties were ultimately pardoned or had their sentences commuted by Trump when he returned to the White House last year. Parikh said the treatment of “the January 6 people” was something that “infuriates” him. And he hopes his current work will help “redeem” the Capitol rioters and their Stop The Steal movement.
“So, fixing elections, I want to fix our country. Will that help redeem them? I think it should,” Parikh said. “I think exposing the truth is important, because the truth is, that election was stolen.”
Parikh indicated his confidence and conviction comes from a higher power.
“I have to have faith. Look, I’ve read the last chapter a couple of times now in my life, right? I know how it ends and I win … along with everybody else that’s accepted Him,” Parikh said. “I know it’s going to get a whole lot worse, but my thing is, if we can keep this country up and get it back to what it used to be for a little bit longer, maybe we can bring more people into that family, right? But we’ve gotta expose the corruption.”
Given his framing of the situation in Biblical terms, I again tried to get Parikh to define the “cabal” and asked if he thinks it is “demonic in nature.”
“It has to be,” Parikh said. “It’s got to be, you know, and if you’re asking me this to try to turn it around and make me out to be a wack job, that’s whatever.”
Parikh then offered his most detailed description of the “deep state.”
“There are a group of people now that, they’ve gone off and they believe this stuff,” Parikh said, adding, “Controlling things and more power, that’s evil. That’s the devil’s work right there. And so, whether they’re actually bowing down, and drinking blood, and doing whatever Satanists will do, that’s irrelevant. When you do pure evil things that violate what God’s instructed us to do, you are evil, you are demonic.”
Parikh, who described himself as a “Baptist,” said there are “evil” elements inside churches.
“Some of the churches are wrong that have gay pride stuff in it,” he said. “That’s not a church. That’s obviously the devil trying to brainwash people. That’s my personal beliefs.”
Overall, Parikh said the country is “failing.” He suggested we could be headed in the same direction as Europe where there are issues that he attributed to “antifa” and “all these immigrants and migrants that are raping girls and stuff.”
Throughout the extended discussion, it seemed extraordinary to hear an executive branch employee express so much paranoia and disdain about the government.
I made one last attempt to understand how Parikh feels about working inside the system. He turned back to television.
“Did you ever watch ‘Parks and Recreation’?” Parikh asked.
“Ron Swanson was my hero, not because he just loved steak, and bacon, and everything else, but because I was a government contractor,” Parikh explained. “Now, I am temporarily with the government. Right? Working for the government, but hating them every bit. Right? That guy’s my hero.”
Before finally hanging up, Parikh expressed hope others in the country adopt his perspective. He framed it as an existential struggle and, while he was never clear on exactly what he wants to do with election infrastructure, Parikh indicated it is a central part of this greater battle.
“If people aren’t awake and aren’t observing, they’re missing it all,” Parikh said. “There are more good people here, but we’ve got a lot of them being brainwashed, and that’s why we gotta stop it. … We’ve got to take the elections back.”
