Republican Reality 74 , CD3 DFL

RNC Illegally Paid & Tricked Blind, Disabled Veteran to Run for Congress Under a 3rd Party to Pull Votes from Democrats

Saint Paul, Minnesota — In a stunning report just released by Fox 9, it was revealed that a Republican National Committee (RNC) staffer, Kip Christianson, tricked a blind, disabled war veteran into running for Congress under a 3rd party in order to pull votes from the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate in Minnesota’s swing 7th congressional district.

The RNC staffer, Christianson, also broke Minnesota law by providing an inducement for the 3rd party candidate, Kevin “Ne Se” Shores, to run for office. This payment was not disclosed on campaign finance reports as an in-kind contribution.

Per Fox 9’s Tom Lyden:

Blind and permanently disabled, Kevin Ne Se Shores is accustomed to navigating life’s obstacles, but it has never stopped him from pursuing his third-party political ambitions.

Proud Boys member who allegedly shouted about taking the Capitol before breach arrested

U.S. authorities have arrested three more alleged associates of two right-wing groups in the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, including one who allegedly shouted, “Let’s take the f—ing Capitol!” an hour before the assault while marching with a large group of Proud Boys around the building.

Charging papers identified Daniel Lyons Scott, 28, of Bradenton, Fla., as the Proud Boys member nicknamed “Milkshake,” who after allegedly yelling about taking the Capitol was admonished, “Let’s not f—ing yell that, okay?” by a Proud Boys leader on a video live-streamed by the group that day. In the same moments, court documents allege, accused leader Ethan Nordean was recorded saying, “It was Milkshake, man, you know . . . idiot!”

Nordean and three other Proud Boys seen near him that day have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to obstruct police and the joint session of Congress to confirm the 2020 election results. Continue reading.

Maricopa County will need new voting machines after GOP’s audit, Arizona secretary of state says

The machines must be replaced because election officials don’t know what was done to them by the Republican auditors, she said.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said Thursday that the voting machines Republicans turned over to private companies as part of their audit of the 2020 election are no longer safe for use in future elections.

In a letter sent to Maricopa County officials and shared with NBC News, Hobbs, a Democrat, cited security concerns about losing the chain of custody over the equipment when it was handed over to the auditors and urged the county to get new machines. If it does not, her office would consider decertifying the equipment involved in the audit, she wrote. That would remove the machines from service.

State Senate Republicans subpoenaed nearly 400 of Maricopa County’s election machines, along with ballots cast by voters in November’s election, to facilitate an unusual audit of the election results. The GOP hired private firms, led by the Florida-based cybersecurity company Cyber Ninjas, to do the work. Continue reading.

GOP leader’s Jan. 6 call to Trump draws scrutiny in commission fight

For Kevin McCarthy, the race to move beyond Jan. 6 is personal.

The House Republican leader not only has his eyes set on the Speakership after next year’s midterms, he was also the only lawmaker to speak directly to President Trump in the midst of the violent attack on the Capitol.

Those seemingly unrelated facts are in fact related in the context of the debate over the Jan. 6 commission. The dynamics make McCarthy unique among Republicans — and leave him with an equally unique dilemma. Continue reading.

New report details the craven way the GOP became dependent on Trump

Former President Donald Trump has been gone from the White House for four months. But his influence on the Republican Party hasn’t disappeared, and most Republicans in Congress — apart from outspoken critics like Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois — are terrified of the possibility of offending him. Reporters Meridith McGraw and Sam Stein, this week in an article for Politico, offer a major reason why so many Republicans are still embracing Trump: GOP fundraising.

“In the days immediately following the January 6 riots,” McGraw and Stein explain, “the Republican National Committee went dark. Its fundraising e-mail account did not send a single message as the prospect sank in that the president it had long trumpeted — Donald Trump — was a pariah for inciting the rioters who ransacked the Capitol…. If the Committee’s intent was to leave the impression that it was moving on from Trump, it was short-lived…. Since resuming its e-mail fundraising, the RNC account has sent 97 e-mails mentioning Trump, according to a Politico review.”

McGraw and Stein add that “GOP institutions” have “become increasingly reliant on Trump to help generate enthusiasm at the grassroots level.” Continue reading.

Betsy DeVos must testify in student loan forgiveness lawsuit, judge rules

The class action was brought by 160,000 student loan borrowers over the administration’s handling of their loan forgiveness claims.

WASHINGTON — Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos must testify in a class-action lawsuit about her handling of student loan forgiveness claims, which involved delays in the administration’s decision-making and ultimate denial of a significant number of the applications, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

In a 12-page ruling, Judge William Alsup denied a motion to quash a subpoena for the Cabinet secretary’s deposition, writing that “exceptional circumstances” warrant her to sit for one.

The ruling, first reported by Politico, says those circumstances “warrant the deposition of Secretary DeVos for three hours, excluding breaks,” though he acknowledged that it’s “rare” for courts to authorize depositions of Cabinet secretaries. Continue reading.

Melania Trump cost taxpayers at least $64,000 for a spa weekend as whole Trump family racked up $600 million in security

Former first lady Melania Trump refused to go to public events with her husband as news became public that he had an affair with Stormy Daniels in the weeks that followed her giving birth to his son. Mrs. Trump sought to go to Mar-a-Lago for a spa weekend instead of being with her husband on international visits.

The facts are part of Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig’s new book on the lack of funding to sustain the Secret Service.

“Melania Trump reportedly was ‘blindsided’ and ‘furious’ by reports about Trump’s alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, so she took an impromptu, two-day trip to Mar-a-Lago,” The Mercury Newsreported. “That quick trip possibly cost American taxpayers at least $64,000 in costs, from traveling on a military C-32A plane, the New York Times reported at the time.” Continue reading.

This Week in Republican Insurrection Erasure

It will shock you how much it never happened.

In the week following Liz Cheney’s purge for the crime of speaking honestly about the former president’s unprecedented, if buffoonish, attempt to overthrow the election and stay in power against the will of the people, Republicans have taken out their neuralyzer and moved deliberately and unapologetically down the path of January 6 erasure.

A witness to the president’s support for a domestic terror assault on the Capitol refuses to testify.
A congressman tries to retcon his support for overturning the election on national TV.
A Republican campaign committee rewards the members who tried to “Stop The Steal.”
A senator who spearheaded the legislative coup is given massive platforms to promote his book about being silenced.

For the GOP, memory-holing the insurrection is the point.

It will shock you how much it never happened. Continue reading.

U.S. House OKs commission to probe Capitol attack, but McConnell objections may doom it

WASHINGTON—The U.S. House voted Wednesday 252-175 to give the go-ahead to the formation of an independent, bipartisan commission that would investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, despite objections from Republican leaders that the scope of the commission was not wide enough and other investigations are ongoing.

Thirty-five Republicans joined with Democrats in backing the measure, which would set up a 10-member commission styled on the panel that investigated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, with appointed members split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.

All four of Minnesota’s Republican members voted against the measure: U.S. Reps. Tom Emmer, Michelle Fischbach, Jim Hagedorn and Pete Stauber. The four Democrats voted in favor: U.S. Reps. Angie Craig, Betty McCollum, Ilhan Omar and Dean Phillips. Continue reading.

Sen. Republicans Admit They Don’t Want Jan 6. Commission Because It Could Color Midterms

Senate Republicans are candidly admitting their political calculus in opposing a January 6 commission: they don’t want it to encroach on the 2022 midterms, during which they worry it would be “weaponized politically.”

In other words, they don’t want voters reminded of the attack their leader and party provoked as they mull over their ballots.

Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the Senate minority whip, told reporters that he didn’t want the probe “weaponized politically and drug into next year.” Continue reading.

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