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- In July and August 2025, posts claimed an ex-CIA whistleblower alleged that the National Security Agency audited the 2024 presidential election and found that former Vice President Kamala Harris actually won.
- The claims stem from an article published by a Substack account called This Will Hold on July 31, 2025. However, Snopes did not find any documentation or other evidence proving that such an audit occurred. No credible news outlet had reported on it, and the Substack article did not offer proof that it took place.
- Snopes reached out to the NSA for comment on the veracity of the Substack article’s claims and did not receive a response. This Will Hold also did not respond to our questions about its report and the alleged audit.
- The Substack article identified a person by the name of Adam Zarnowski as the ex-CIA agent who was involved in the audit. However, Snopes could not independently verify Zarnowski’s employment with the CIA or his alleged involvement in such an NSA audit.
Following U.S. President Donald Trump‘s 2024 election victory, unsubstantiated claims that his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, was actually the rightful winner and that the election was “stolen” from her circulated widely on social media.
In July and August 2025, a new rumor related to election integrity gained traction online. Posts claimed (archived here and here) an ex-CIA whistleblower alleged that the National Security Agency (NSA) audited the 2024 presidential election and found that Harris actually won.
For example, a Facebook post (archived) on Aug. 13, 2025, read:
Here’s exactly what an ex-CIA whistleblower reportedly said about the compromised 2024 elections:
“In December 2024, I was personally involved in an NSA‑authorized forensic audit of the 2024 election. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz won—by a wide margin. Trump lost dramatically. There are multiple layers of complexity to this cover‑up, including transnational organized crime syndicates that extend far beyond the United States and our elections. To that point, I work in the human trafficking sector, which intersects with the stolen election(s) and has ties to Trump and Epstein—not to President Biden, Vice President Harris, or Governor Walz, but to the Democrats and other allied interests responsible for burying the audit.” —
Adam Zarnowski, ex-CIA agent,
and author of Jörmungandr
*Unfortunately the CIA won’t confirm he was an employee.
Scores of Snopes readers emailed us and searched our website for information about the alleged ex-CIA whistleblower’s purported account of the alleged NSA audit.
The claims stem from an article (archived) published by a Substack account called This Will Hold on July 31, 2025.
According to the article, a person named Adam Zarnowski, who was identified as an ex-CIA agent, alleged that he was “personally involved in an NSA-authorized forensic audit of the 2024 election.” That audit supposedly revealed that Harris won the 2024 presidential election “by a wide margin” while Trump “lost dramatically,” Zarnowski was quoted as saying.
However, Snopes did not find any documentation or other evidence proving that such an audit occurred. No credible news outlets had reported on it, and the Substack article did not offer proof that it took place at the time of publication.
Here’s what we know about the the Substack article’s claims and Zarnowski’s background:
NSA audit concluded Harris won, Substack report alleges
The online claims about an ex-CIA whistleblower alleging the NSA conducted an audit that found Harris won the 2024 presidential election stem from a Substack article (archived) published on July 31, 2025, titled, “Ex-CIA Whistleblower: ‘The NSA Audited The 2024 Election, Kamala Harris Won.’”
Zarnowski, who was named as the alleged whistleblower, was quoted as saying:
In December 2024, I was personally involved in an NSA‑authorized forensic audit of the 2024 election. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz won — by a wide margin. Trump lost dramatically. There are multiple layers of complexity to this cover‑up, including transnational organized crime syndicates that extend far beyond the United States and our elections. To that point, I work in the human trafficking sector, which intersects with the stolen election(s) and has ties to Trump and Epstein—not to President Biden, Vice President Harris, or Governor Walz, but to the Democrats and other allied interests responsible for burying the audit.
However, the article offered few details about the alleged audit’s findings and provided no verifiable proof that it actually took place.
According to the article, Zarnowski “laid out pieces of an intricate network of bad actors and covert operations behind transnational organized crime and the stolen 2024 election.”
“Some of his disclosures confirmed long-held suspicions; others were shocking, exposing connections between organized crime, political operatives, and global power brokers,” the article continued. The article didn’t offer any concrete evidence to back up these supposed connections or the alleged “network of bad actors and covert operations.”
The article claimed Zarnowski said “none of his revelations are classified,” and that he has “full authorization to speak and is prepared to testify under oath.”
However, the article did not say that Zarnowski had already testified. It’s also worth noting that if the information wasn’t classified, other media outlets likely would have reported on it.
The article also alleged that Zarnowski helped the NSA collect data for the supposed audit, though it didn’t offer any details on what kind of data was involved or how it was obtained.
The article then appeared to link electronic voting machines and changes to election software to claims of election fraud. It’s unclear how this information was connected to the supposed NSA audit. Additionally, there’s no credible evidence to support claims that faulty voting machines or election software rigged the election in Trump’s favor, as the article suggested.
Snopes reached out to the NSA for comment on the veracity of the Substack article’s claims and will update this article if we receive a response. We also sent our questions about the alleged audit to This Will Hold via Substack and did not receive a response by the time of publication.
What we know about Zarnowski’s background
At the time of publication, Snopes could not independently verify Zarnowski’s employment with the CIA or his alleged involvement in an NSA audit.
According to Zarnowski’s Substack bio and LinkedIn profile, he has worked on cases involving human trafficking, sexual assault, domestic violence and crimes against children for organizations that aren’t affiliated with the federal government.
Both his bio and the Substack article also listed him as the author of a book titled “Jӧrmungandr: A Study in Global Human Trafficking.” The Substack article suggested that Zarnowski’s book detailed allegations of election fraud. However, Snopes didn’t find any evidence to support that claim.
We searched an archived version of Zarnowski’s book for the term “NSA” and found a footnote mentioning a forensic audit of the 2024 presidential election. But the comment within the footnote appeared to be speculation rather than a factual report. It read, in part:
It would be very interesting, and unfortunate, if there had been an NSA-authorized forensic audit of the 2024 presidential election showing Kamala Harris, not Donald Trump, to be the winner — an audit which the Democratic Party itself scuttled.
In a message to Snopes sent via Substack, Zarnowski suggested this statement was meant to be sarcastic, writing, “I would suggest that even you yourself has mistaken sarcasm for mere ‘speculation,’ having missed key figures and references.” However, he did not expand upon those references and figures.
Zarnowski also did not provide Snopes with any definitive proof that he worked for the CIA or participated in an NSA audit. Instead, he said a woman with a group called the Common Coalition verified his service with the CIA “to a degree that I am admittedly a bit uncomfortable with.” Zarnowski went on to say:
I certainly welcome the public’s skepticism when it comes to extraordinary claims. In fact, having been met with such questions was a welcome and refreshing change from what I and many have witnessed in society over the years. Make no mistake, a lot of my claims are absolutely extraordinary. However, there is much more included in the book than has been acknowledged to date.
In sum …
There’s no evidence that an NSA audit concluded Harris actually won the 2024 presidential election.
The rumor originated from a Substack article that did not offer documentation or other proof to substantiate its claims. The article also quoted a self-identified former CIA agent, but his employment with the agency and any involvement in an alleged NSA audit remained unverified at the time of publication.
Additionally, there’s no credible evidence to support claims that faulty voting machines or election software rigged the election in Trump’s favor, as the article suggested.
For further reading, Snopes previously investigated claims that a lawsuit was challenging the results of the 2024 general election in Rockland County, New York.
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Megan Loe
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