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Bogus GOP campaign mailers that falsely claim Rep. Mike Lawler backs amnesty for illegal immigrants are being sent to voters in his swing district, the Republican said Tuesday — and now the feds are investigating it as a “voter suppression effort.”
“The Department of Justice has confirmed to my campaign that it has referred the matter to the FBI,” Lawler told reporters at a news conference in Rockland County as House Speaker Mike Johnson stood by his side.
“Somebody is spending real money in the last weeks of this election lying about my positions on criminal illegal aliens, and they won’t say who they are,” said Lawler, who is running for re-election in New York’s 17 District in the Nov. 3 midterms.
The mailers claimed to be paid for by the “American Forge Coalition,” and showed a grim-looking Lawler alongside a huddle of faceless and shadowy figures.
“Mike Lawler Put Us at Risk,” it read in a grim red banner. “Congressman Mike Lawler supported letting criminals escape justice after illegally entering our nation.”
But the Federal Election Commission doesn’t show any filings for the American Forge Coalition – and it would be a violation of campaign finance law if the supposed group were sending out election flyers without registering with the feds.
Lawler decidedly does not support laws protecting illegal immigrants — having made support for ICE and opposition to New York’s sanctuary policies a cornerstone of his time representing the lower Hudson Valley.
A number listed on the flyer led straight to one of Lawler’s field offices.
The congressman called on his Democratic opponent Cait Conley — who once served as the head of the cybersecurity infrastructure security agency in the Department of Homeland Security — to condemn the mailers.
A spokesperson for Conley’s campaign declined to comment.
Neither the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District nor the DOJ returned a request for comment from The Post.
Speaker Johnson give few words to the phony mailers but reaffirmed his support for Lawler as the pair spoke.
“He is the secret sauce in what has been one of the smallest margins in U.S. history,” Johnson said, referring to the GOP’s narrow majority in the House.
“Mike Lawler has been at the center of all of it,” he said, calling Lawler a “top negotiator” and praising him for advocating for raising the cap on state and local tax deductions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Republicans passed last year.
Lawler is seeking a third, two-year term in Congress represented New York’s suburban 17th congressional district — one of the few remaining competitive districts in the state.
Congress members are paid annual salaries of $174,000.