CNP September 2020 Membership Directory Leaked - Current Network Exposed

A September 2020 Council for National Policy membership directory was obtained and shared by a member, later obtained by Documented in January 2022, exposing the current coordination network two months before the presidential election and three months before January 6, 2021.

The leaked directory provided a comprehensive snapshot of CNP’s coordination network at a critical moment: Trump had spoken at CNP’s August 21, 2020 meeting, CNP was coordinating COVID-19 anti-lockdown protests through weekly calls, and the organization was preparing for the November election.

The timing of this directory’s creation (September 2020) meant it captured CNP’s membership composition immediately before the organization would hold its November 12-14 post-election strategy meeting where members planned the Electoral College challenge and election denial campaign.

The directory documented CNP’s membership-by-invitation-only model, where members paid thousands of dollars for the privilege of coordinating with the conservative movement’s institutional leaders while being instructed never to acknowledge the organization’s existence publicly.

Documented’s later release of the directory in January 2022 came after January 6, 2021, allowing the public to see which CNP members had played roles in the insurrection: Charlie Kirk (organizing buses), Jenny Beth Martin (permit applications), Cleta Mitchell (legal strategy), Ali Alexander (Stop the Steal), and Ginni Thomas (promoting attendance).

The September 2020 directory showed CNP’s network at full operational capacity: Heritage Foundation leaders, ALEC CEO Lisa Nelson, Federalist Society members, Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins, Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Ralph Reed, Tea Party Patriots’ Jenny Beth Martin, Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk, DeVos and Mercer family representatives, and CNP Action board member Ginni Thomas.

The leak revealed that membership included leaders of organizations that would be central to Project 2025 coordination just two years later, showing the continuity of CNP’s coordination network from Trump’s first term through January 6 and into planning for his potential return.

This directory documented the coordination infrastructure in its mature form: 40 years after CNP’s founding, the organization had integrated think tanks (Heritage), legal networks (Federalist Society), state legislation mills (ALEC), religious right organizations (FRC, Faith and Freedom Coalition), grassroots mobilization (Tea Party Patriots, Turning Point USA), billionaire donors (DeVos, Mercer), media platforms, and direct connections to the Supreme Court (through Ginni Thomas).

The September 2020 membership list served as a snapshot of the coordination network that would attempt to overturn the presidential election three months later, providing documentation of the infrastructure Anne Nelson had described in “Shadow Network” as “the secret hub of the radical right.”