Tag: Trump election fraud lie

Officer Michael Fanone received threatening, expletive-laced voicemail as he testified about Jan. 6

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The caller repeated former President Donald Trump’s false claim that the presidential election was stolen.

WASHINGTON — Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who suffered a heart attack and traumatic brain injury after being violently assaulted Jan. 6, received a threatening, expletive-laced voicemail on his cellphone as he testified Tuesday about his experience during the Capitol riot.

“I could slap you up the side of your head with a backhand and knock you out, you little f—–,” the caller said in his message, which Fanone shared on CNN.

“I wish they would have killed all you scumbags, ’cause you people are scum,” the man, who used homophobic and racist slurs in his message, continued after repeating former President Donald Trump’s false claim that the presidential election was stolen. Continue reading.

Capitol insurrectionist may be jailed after hostility in court

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Accused Capitol rioter Dan Goodwyn apparently had a hard time being respectful while in court this week and now he might end up in jail as a result. 

According to NBC News’ Scott MacFarlane, who is following the indictments closely, Goodwyn is accused of refusing to meet with any pretrial services. He also refused to wear a mask during meetings and would play “word games” with court employees. 

“During the execution of the search warrant, FBI learned that at least one individual in the residence believed they had COVID-19. When FBI asked the defendant if he was positive for COVID-19, the defendant refused to answer the question. The defendant additionally refused to take a COVID-19 test and refused to wear any personal protective equipment,” said the court documents.  Continue reading.

Trump urged DOJ officials to call election corrupt ‘and leave the rest to me’

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Former President Trump pressured top Justice Department officials to call the 2020 presidential election results corrupt, according to documents released by the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

The documents are notes from former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen’s deputy Richard Donoghue that were allegedly taken during a call between Trump, Rosen and Donoghue on December 27.

Donoghue wrote that he told Trump during the call that the DOJ could not change the outcome of the election, with Trump allegedly replying he understood that. Continue reading.

McCarthy claims he called Trump on Jan. 6 ‘because none of you would know unless you were in the Capitol’

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) claimed Thursday that he called then-President Donald Trump on Jan. 6 because he would not have known about the riot otherwise.

McCarthy made the remarks to CNN correspondent Melanie Zanona.

“When I called the president, I was telling him about what was happening in the Capitol, because none of you would know unless you were in the Capitol,” McCarthy said. Continue reading.

Legal expert ‘totally convinced’ investigators will uncover if Republicans worked with militias on Jan. 6

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Speaking to MSNBC’s Ari Melber, Ackerman explained that he is “totally convinced” that if House members coordinated with the Three Percenters or Proud Boys online or on their phones that it will be found out and they will be prosecuted. 

Indeed, those alleged terrorists who have not been convinced and haven’t made a deal with prosecutors would have an opportunity to give up the Republican officials to save themselves. The only person that Republicans could “give up” for a deal would likely be Donald Trump. 

Both Melber and Ackerman supported the Justice Department’s decision not to defend Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) for his involvement in the January 6th rally that led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Tuesday, the House of Representatives counsel also said that they wouldn’t defend Brooks with taxpayer dollars. Continue reading.

Arizona’s GOP-backed ballot review has raised nearly $5.7 million in private donations, organizers say

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A private contractor conducting a Republican-commissioned review of 2020 presidential ballots in Arizona’s largest county announced late Wednesday that it has collected nearly $5.7 million in private donations to fund the process.

The controversial ballot review, which included a hand recount of Maricopa County’s nearly 2.1 million ballots and a review of ballot tabulating machines, has been underway since April. It was ordered by the state’s Republican-led Senate, which agreed to spend $150,000 in taxpayer money to fund the audit. But the Senate allowed Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based firm hired to lead the process, to collect donations as well.

It has been clear for months that the lengthy ballot review, which was conducted by dozens of workers, some working nearly round-the-clock, was being largely financed by allies of former president Donald Trump. The newly released figures put that fact in sharp relief: More than 97 percent of the audit’s costs have so far been shouldered by donations from five organizations led by people who have promoted the false claim that the election was stolen. Continue reading.

Justice Dept. Warns States on Voting Laws and Election Audits

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The department said that auditors could face criminal or civil penalties if they flouted elections laws.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Wednesday sent another warning shot to Republican state legislatures that have initiated private audits of voting tabulations broadly viewed as efforts to cast doubt on the results of the presidential election.

The department warned that auditors could face criminal and civil penalties if they destroy any records related to the election or intimidate voters in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and federal laws prohibiting voter intimidation.

The admonishment came in election-related guidance documentsissued as part of the department’s larger plan to protect access to the polls, announced by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in June. Another document released on Wednesday outlined federal laws on how ballots are cast and said that the department could scrutinize states that revert to prepandemic voting procedures, which may not have allowed as many people to vote early or by mail. Continue reading.

As Trump pushed for probes of 2020 election, he called acting AG Rosen almost daily

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President Donald Trump called his acting attorney general nearly every day at the end of last year to alert him to claims of voter fraud or alleged improper vote counts in the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the conversations.

The personal pressure campaign, which has not been previously reported, involved repeated phone calls to acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen in which Trump raised various allegations he had heard about and asked what the Justice Department was doing about the issue. The people familiar with the conversations spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive legal and political issues that are not yet public.

Rosen told few people about the phone calls, even in his inner circle. But there are notes of some of the calls that were written by a top aide to Rosen, Richard Donoghue, who was present for some of the conversations, these people said. Continue reading.

GOP liaison to Arizona reverses course after vowing to resign

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Twitter recently suspended a number of pro-election-audit accounts — including one that’s been cited as the partisan ballot review’s official page.

The Republican serving as liaison between the Arizona state Senate and the private company conducting a partisan ballot review said Wednesday that he intended to resign, then walked it back.

Ken Bennett, a former Arizona secretary of state, said he’d decided to resign when it became clear he would not regain access to the Phoenix fairgrounds where the private company, Cyber Ninjas, continues its examination of millions of ballots cast last November in Maricopa County.

“Right now I’m the liaison in name only,” he told conservative radio host James Harris on Wednesday morning. “I don’t know if that makes me a LINO or what.” Continue reading.

Turns Out Mo Brooks Was Wearing Body Armor to Trump’s Very Peaceful Jan. 6 Rally

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Rep. Mo Brooks may be done with Jan. 6, but Jan. 6 isn’t done with him.

The Alabama representative, notorious for his speaking role at the Jan. 6 rally leading up to the invasion of the Capitol, did not watch Tuesday’s first hearing of the House select committee investigating said invasion.

“I was in the House Armed Services Committee, Science, Space, Technology Committee, and had at least one Zoom meeting, and all sorts of other things,” he told me Wednesday when I encountered him outside the House chamber. “Busy day.” Not that a clear schedule would have made a difference. Continue reading.