Ivan Raiklin is a former Green Beret, constitutional lawyer and far-right political operative. He gave himself the title “Secretary of Retribution” and has been close to Donald Trump’s movement since 2020. He first became widely known for pushing a plan to overturn the 2020 election. Since then he has kept appearing in the news through a “Deep State” target list, a heated clash with former officer Michael Fanone, and a surprising public break with Trump in 2026. This guide covers his background, his controversies, and what is actually known about his family and personal life.
Ivan Raiklin Biography
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Ivan Eric Raiklin |
| Date of Birth | February 29, 1976 |
| Place of Birth | United States |
| Age | 50 years (as of 2026) |
| Nationality | American |
| Zodiac Sign | Pisces |
| Ethnicity | Russian-American (parents emigrated from the USSR) |
| Profession/Occupation | Political operative, constitutional lawyer, former Army Reserve officer |
| Education | B.A. in Russian and Spanish (1997) and B.A. in Russia and East European Studies (1999), University of Northern Iowa; J.D., Touro Law Center (2004) |
| Genre/Field | Politics, activism, military intelligence |
| Parents | Ernest G. Raiklin (father, 1937–2018), Augusta Tutunikova (mother) |
| Notable Works | Author of the “Pence Card” plan; creator of the “Deep State Target List” |
| Military Rank | Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army Reserve (retired) |
| Political Party | Republican |
| Social Media | X (@IvanRaiklin) |
Who Is Ivan Raiklin?
Ivan Raiklin is an American political activist best known for his role in the election denier movement after 2020. He is a U.S. Army veteran who served as a Green Beret and retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve. Today he is mostly known for his “Secretary of Retribution” persona, not for his military record.
He has long been a close associate of Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser. In 2024 he joined the board of America’s Future, a nonprofit that Flynn founded. Reporters often describe him as one of the architects of the Stop The Steal movement’s legal arguments.
Critics, including civil rights groups and many news outlets, call him a conspiracy theorist with links to QAnon and anti-vaxxer circles. His supporters see him as a veteran fighting a “woke” establishment and a politicized justice system. In my experience researching figures like him, you need both descriptions to understand why he gets so much attention on TV and social media.
Here are the key moments of his public career:
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2018 | Failed to qualify for Virginia’s Republican U.S. Senate primary |
| December 2020 | Tweeted the “Pence Card” memo, which Trump retweeted |
| January 2024 | His “Deep State Target List” began circulating |
| February 2024 | Took part in the Take Our Border Back Convoy |
| February 2025 | Joined pardoned Jan 6 leaders at a Capitol press conference |
| January 2026 | Clashed with Michael Fanone at the Jack Smith hearing |
| May 2026 | Publicly broke with Trump over Thomas Massie |
Early Life, Family Roots and Education
Raiklin was born in the United States in 1976 to Soviet immigrant parents. His father, Ernest G. Raiklin, was born in Leningrad. His mother is Augusta Tutunikova. The couple married in Moscow in 1968 and moved to the U.S. in 1974, two years before Ivan was born.
His Russian-speaking home shaped his education. At the University of Northern Iowa, he earned a degree in Russian and Spanish in 1997 and a second degree in Russia and East European studies in 1999. He then started graduate work in Spanish.
He went on to earn a law degree focused on business, technology and law from Touro Law Center in 2004. In 2007 he began graduate coursework in strategic intelligence at the National Intelligence University in Washington, D.C. This mix of languages, law and intelligence explains much of his later career.
Military Career as a Green Beret
Raiklin spent about 25 years in and around the U.S. military. He served as a Green Beret in Army Special Forces and later rose to lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve. He has said his work focused on counterintelligence and human intelligence.
He also worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency. In podcast interviews he describes his work against gangs in Central America and his service in the Middle East. He also says he speaks five languages, which fits with his university training.
His military background is still central to his public image. He often calls himself a “retired Green Beret” in posts and speeches, and he uses that record to show his patriotism when he attacks officials he sees as enemies.
From Senate Hopeful to Flynn Ally
Raiklin first tried electoral politics in 2018. He ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Virginia but did not collect enough valid voter signatures to get on the ballot. He sued the party and the state, but a federal judge ruled that the case was filed too late.
After that loss he moved closer to Michael Flynn’s circle. That relationship pulled him into the national spotlight after the 2020 election, when Flynn allies worked to challenge Joe Biden’s win.
Operation “Pence Card” and the 2020 Election
Raiklin is considered the originator of the “Pence Card.” On December 16, 2020, he posted a two-page memo on Twitter arguing that Vice President Mike Pence could reject electoral votes from key battleground states. Trump retweeted it, which gave the idea a huge audience within days.
The memo claimed Pence could refuse to count certified elector slates while states investigated fraud claims. Constitutional scholars quickly called the theory baseless. They pointed out that the Vice President’s role in counting electoral votes is ceremonial, and that Pence lacked any authority to change the results.
The idea still had influence. It set the stage for the better-known memos from lawyer John Eastman, which made similar arguments in more detail. Those memos became a key part of the pressure campaign on Pence before January 6, 2021.
Pence refused to go along with the plan and certified Biden’s victory. Later congressional and criminal investigations into the effort to overturn the 2020 election covered this same legal theory. For readers trying to understand Raiklin, this episode is the starting point. It made him known as a strategist for the Stop The Steal movement, not just a commentator.
The “Secretary of Retribution” and His Deep State Target List
Raiklin gave himself the title “Secretary of Retribution” in the run-up to the 2024 election. It is not a real government job. He used it to promise that Trump’s opponents would be investigated, arrested and prosecuted if Trump returned to power.
The main tool of this campaign was his “Deep State Target List,” which began circulating in January 2024. It started with roughly 350 names, and later versions reportedly grew larger. It included:
- Former officials such as James Comey and James Clapper
- Democratic leaders including Nancy Pelosi
- Republicans such as Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan
- Lawmakers involved in the Jan 6 proceedings and impeachment
- Journalists, media members, FBI personnel and Capitol Police officers who testified
The list worried people across the political spectrum because it named people, not policies. Several of those listed were ordinary law enforcement officers who had defended the Capitol, not public figures. Some reports said families of people on the list felt unsafe after it circulated.
Raiklin has said that holding officials accountable is a matter of political will. His critics say the list amounts to a revenge blueprint aimed at people whose only “offense” was doing their jobs.
The Constitutional Sheriffs Plan
Raiklin’s plan for carrying out the list depended on so-called constitutional sheriffs. This movement argues that county sheriffs hold the highest law enforcement authority, even above federal agencies.
He said sheriffs from conservative, rural counties could raid and arrest people on his list, ideally on livestream. He also said the sheriffs could deputize tens of thousands of veterans who he claims were pushed out of the military over COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
In April 2024 he spoke at a Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association convention in Las Vegas. That group was founded by Richard Mack and includes figures such as Michigan sheriff Dar Leaf. Reports from the event said he suggested listed people could face treason and sedition charges, which can carry the death penalty, and that parts of the audience applauded. Legal experts note that sheriffs have no authority to bring federal charges like these.
Ivan Raiklin and Michael Fanone: The Jack Smith Hearing Clash
The best-known recent incident involving Ivan Raiklin and Michael Fanone took place on January 22, 2026. Former special counsel Jack Smith was testifying publicly before the House Judiciary Committee for the first time. During a short break, the two men faced off in the hearing room.
Fanone is a former D.C. Metropolitan Police officer who was badly injured defending the Capitol on January 6. He sat behind Smith with other former officers. Video shows Raiklin approaching and greeting him. Fanone cursed at him and called him a traitor. Raiklin replied that Fanone should look at how many people were restraining him while he stayed calm.
Fanone publicly accused Raiklin of threatening his family and his children, including threats of sexual violence against them. Raiklin denied wrongdoing, claimed he had always acted professionally, and suggested on X that he might sue Fanone for defamation.
Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and uniformed officers stepped between the two men. Raiklin left the hearing room shortly after. It was unclear whether he was told to leave. Rep. Jamie Raskin asked the committee chair to control Raiklin to prevent further problems. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was also in the room.
The Michael Fanone and Ivan Raiklin clash was not a one-off. A week earlier, at a new Jan 6 subcommittee hearing, Raiklin held up a sign naming a Capitol Police officer who had been falsely accused online of planting pipe bombs. Later in the Smith hearing, Rep. Troy Nehls blamed Capitol Police leadership, not Trump, for Jan 6, which angered Fanone further.
Ties to Pardoned Jan 6 Leaders
After Trump took office again in January 2025 and issued pardons and commutations to nearly 1,600 people charged over the Jan 6 Capitol siege, Raiklin became a visible ally of the movement’s most prominent figures. They included Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes.
Tarrio had been serving 22 years and Rhodes 18 years for seditious conspiracy. Tarrio was pardoned, and Rhodes’s sentence was commuted. Raiklin was filmed at the D.C. jail vigils around the releases on January 21, and he celebrated the outcome on X.
He also worked with Rhodes to lobby at least one House member for the release of Jeremy Brown, a pardoned Jan 6 defendant who was still in prison on a separate weapons conviction. Brown was released weeks later.
During the same period, Raiklin appeared at confirmation hearings for Trump nominees such as Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr., often filming and posting clips. It showed how he moved between protest activism and the new administration’s orbit.
The CPAC-Week Capitol Press Conference
In February 2025, during CPAC week, Tarrio organized a press conference outside the Capitol with Rhodes and other former defendants. Raiklin stood with them. Tarrio announced plans for a lawsuit against the DOJ of roughly $150 million.
At that event, Raiklin insulted the credentialed media in crude language, attacking the press for its Jan 6 coverage. The event made headlines for a different reason too: Tarrio was arrested shortly afterward on a simple assault charge involving a counter-protester.
Why Ivan Raiklin Broke With Trump Over Thomas Massie
In May 2026, Raiklin turned on the president he had long promised to serve. The cause was Trump’s campaign to defeat Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s 4th District (KY-04) Republican primary.
Massie had become a leading Trump critic within the GOP. He led the push to release the Epstein files and voted against Trump’s signature spending bill. Trump endorsed former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein against him, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth campaigned for Gallrein.
Raiklin campaigned for Massie in person. On May 18 he mocked Trump as the “Israeli President,” pointing to the administration’s Israel policy. On May 19, the day Massie lost his primary, Raiklin wrote on X that Trump had betrayed Massie and KY-04.
He also argued that the coalition that elected Trump in 2024 was breaking ranks. For observers, the episode showed a real split in the MAGA base over foreign policy and loyalty. It also showed that Raiklin’s “retribution” politics can be turned against Trump himself when he feels the movement has been betrayed.
Ivan Raiklin Personal Life: Wife, Family, Religion and Height
Raiklin shares his political views constantly but says very little about his private life. Search interest in his wife, family and religion is high, but most of these details have not been confirmed on the record.
On whether Ivan Raiklin is married: some online profiles describe him as a husband and father living in Northern Virginia. However, he has not publicly named a wife, and no reliable report identifies his spouse or children. It is best to treat his marital status as private.
His family background is better documented. His parents emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1974. His father, Ernest, died in 2018. His mother, Augusta Tutunikova, is still mentioned in his biography. There is no public information about siblings.
Ivan Raiklin’s religion has not been publicly stated. He often uses patriotic and constitutional language, but he has not described his faith in any verifiable interview. Any site claiming a specific religion is guessing.
Ivan Raiklin’s height is another popular search. A few celebrity profile sites list him at about 5 feet 7 inches, but no official source confirms this. Treat it as an estimate.
FAQs
What is Ivan Raiklin known for?
Ivan Raiklin is known for writing the “Pence Card” memo in December 2020 and for calling himself Trump’s “Secretary of Retribution.” He also created a target list of officials, journalists and lawmakers he wanted prosecuted.
What happened between Michael Fanone and Ivan Raiklin?
At the January 22, 2026 Jack Smith hearing, Michael Fanone and Ivan Raiklin argued during a recess. Fanone accused Raiklin of threatening his family and had to be held back by other officers. Raiklin denied the claims.
Is Ivan Raiklin a real Green Beret?
Yes. He served in U.S. Army Special Forces and retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve. He also worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Is Ivan Raiklin married?
He has never publicly confirmed a wife’s name, and no reliable source identifies his spouse. Some online profiles describe him as a married father in Virginia, but this has not been verified.
How old is Ivan Raiklin?
Ivan Raiklin was born on February 29, 1976, a leap day. That makes him 50 years old in 2026.
Does Ivan Raiklin still support Trump?
His support broke down publicly in May 2026. He accused Trump of betraying Thomas Massie and criticized the administration’s Israel policy, though he still backs many MAGA causes.
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