rawstory--2020-09-23--RNC blew over $400,000 buying books from Trump, Jr. and Sean Hannity: report

The Republican National Committee spent hundreds of thousands of dollars last month on books by Donald Trump Jr. and Fox News personality Sean Hannity , federal records show .
The RNC ’ s August expenditure report filed with the Federal Election Commission shows that the committee spent $ 405,404 on “ donor mementos ” from book retailers Barnes & Noble , booksamillion.com and Porchlight Books .
The RNC promoted Hannity ‘ s book , titled “ Live Free or Die , ” in early August , offering signed “ priority access ” copies as an incentive for political donations of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same time , the committee launched a similar promotion for Trump Jr. ’ s new book , “ Liberal Privilege , ” which it awarded to donors at the same price point .
Emails sent from an RNC address in late July suggested that the committee would make bulk pre-orders of the books , and it appears to have reported the first three on Aug. 5 — to Barnes & Noble , Booksamillion.com and Porchlight Books .
A Porchlight representative confirmed that the campaign ’ s order in that amount came in before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hannity ’ s book .
Spokespeople for Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million did not reply to requests for comment .
The Porchlight representative said that an RNC bulk order of “ Live Free or Die ” later that month matched the RNC ’ s Aug. 19 report of $ 119,250 , but said that the RNC had not made any bulk orders for “ Liberal Privilege.
” Last November , the RNC shelled out nearly $ 100,000 for Trump Jr. ’ s first book , “ Triggered , ” boosting it to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after the first “ Triggered ” fundraising email was sent last fall , an RNC spokesperson told the New York Times that “ we haven ’ t made a large bulk purchase , but are ordering copies to keep up with demand .
Each book is sold to an individual who supports the Republican Party.
” Despite the spokesperson ’ s use of sales terminology , FEC records show that the RNC classified the purchases as “ donor mementos.
” The recent purchases share that classification .
There are slight differences this time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ book was awarded to supporters who contributed at least $ 50 .
This time , the RNC hiked the price to a $ 75 donation , as with Hannity ’ s book .
Another difference : Trump Jr. published his first book with Center Street , an imprint of Hachette Books .
His new book is self-published .
“ While I was offered a generous book deal by my previous publishers , I turned it down and decided to self-publish , ” Trump Jr. said last month , in a statement sent by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The RNC was able to raise almost a million dollars from their fundraising campaign with my first book , ‘ Triggered.
’ I look forward to helping them fundraise once again for the benefit of the Republican Party.
” By self-publishing , Trump Jr. eschews the distribution , marketing and publicity support afforded by a top publisher , but he could claim up to 70 % in royalties , top campaign finance authority Brett Kappel told Salon .
“ And he ’ s got the RNC taking care of some of that promotion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The RNC , of course , is also taking care of some of those purchases .
But without comment from the other vendors or the RNC — which did not reply to Salon ’ s questions for this article — it ’ s not clear how exactly the committee split its $ 405,000 in bulk orders between Hannity and Trump Jr. ( “ This is a political pamphlet , not a book , ” Peter Osnos , founder of the nonfiction imprint PublicAffairs , told the New York Times about Trump Jr. ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t been subjected to any measure of quality or accuracy.
” ) .
It ’ s possible that the entire $ 405,000 itemized to book retailers were for Hannity ’ s book — which is now a No .
1 bestseller .
As the New York Times reported last month , Trump Jr. ’ s distribution plan appeared to avoid traditional retailers almost entirely : Unlike Mr. Hannity ’ s book , “ Liberal Privilege ” will not be in bookstores .
A person with knowledge of the project said that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s website , where presales are being handled , and on Amazon , along with an e-book and an audiobook narrated by Kimberly Guilfoyle , a senior campaign adviser and Mr. Trump ’ s girlfriend .
It ’ s unclear if any major retailers will carry the book , though managers at some traditional distribution channels said last week that they hadn ’ t heard anything about it .
ReaderLink , a company that supplies books to more than 80,000 stores , including big-box chains like Walmart and Target , said it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In other words , it appears possible or likely that the RNC purchased books directly from Trump Jr. , or intends to do so .
“ Liberal Privilege ” did not go on sale until Aug. 30 , and if the committee waited until September to buy the book in bulk , those purchases would not show up until it files its September report sometime next month , shortly before the election .
It ’ s also possible the RNC fulfilled part of its preorder promise through Amazon , which is selling Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s August filings reveal an unusually large $ 126,423 expenditure to Amazon on Aug. 10 , for “ office supplies .
”

The Republican National Committee spent hundreds of thousands of dollars last month on books by Donald Trump Jr. and Fox News personality Sean Hannity, federal records show.
This article originally appeared at Salon.
The RNC's August expenditure report filed with the Federal Election Commission shows that the committee spent $405,404 on "donor mementos" from book retailers Barnes & Noble, booksamillion.com and Porchlight Books.
The RNC promoted Hannity's book, titled "Live Free or Die," in early August, offering signed "priority access" copies as an incentive for political donations of $75 or higher. Around the same time, the committee launched a similar promotion for Trump Jr.'s new book, "Liberal Privilege," which it awarded to donors at the same price point.
Emails sent from an RNC address in late July suggested that the committee would make bulk pre-orders of the books, and it appears to have reported the first three on Aug. 5 — to Barnes & Noble, Booksamillion.com and Porchlight Books. A Porchlight representative confirmed that the campaign's order in that amount came in before that, and was for copies of Hannity's book. Spokespeople for Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million did not reply to requests for comment.
The Porchlight representative said that an RNC bulk order of "Live Free or Die" later that month matched the RNC's Aug. 19 report of $119,250, but said that the RNC had not made any bulk orders for "Liberal Privilege."
Last November, the RNC shelled out nearly $100,000 for Trump Jr.'s first book, "Triggered," boosting it to the top of bestseller lists.
Two days after the first "Triggered" fundraising email was sent last fall, an RNC spokesperson told the New York Times that "we haven't made a large bulk purchase, but are ordering copies to keep up with demand. Each book is sold to an individual who supports the Republican Party."
Despite the spokesperson's use of sales terminology, FEC records show that the RNC classified the purchases as "donor mementos." The recent purchases share that classification.
There are slight differences this time around. Trump Jr.'s first book was awarded to supporters who contributed at least $50. This time, the RNC hiked the price to a $75 donation, as with Hannity's book.
Another difference: Trump Jr. published his first book with Center Street, an imprint of Hachette Books. His new book is self-published.
"While I was offered a generous book deal by my previous publishers, I turned it down and decided to self-publish," Trump Jr. said last month, in a statement sent by the RNC to The Hill. "The RNC was able to raise almost a million dollars from their fundraising campaign with my first book, 'Triggered.' I look forward to helping them fundraise once again for the benefit of the Republican Party."
By self-publishing, Trump Jr. eschews the distribution, marketing and publicity support afforded by a top publisher, but he could claim up to 70% in royalties, top campaign finance authority Brett Kappel told Salon.
"And he's got the RNC taking care of some of that promotion up front," Kappel said.
The RNC, of course, is also taking care of some of those purchases. But without comment from the other vendors or the RNC — which did not reply to Salon's questions for this article — it's not clear how exactly the committee split its $405,000 in bulk orders between Hannity and Trump Jr.
("This is a political pamphlet, not a book," Peter Osnos, founder of the nonfiction imprint PublicAffairs, told the New York Times about Trump Jr.'s new book. "It hasn't been subjected to any measure of quality or accuracy.").
It's possible that the entire $405,000 itemized to book retailers were for Hannity's book — which is now a No. 1 bestseller. As the New York Times reported last month, Trump Jr.'s distribution plan appeared to avoid traditional retailers almost entirely:
Unlike Mr. Hannity's book, "Liberal Privilege" will not be in bookstores. A person with knowledge of the project said that it will be $29.99 on Mr. Trump's website, where presales are being handled, and on Amazon, along with an e-book and an audiobook narrated by Kimberly Guilfoyle, a senior campaign adviser and Mr. Trump's girlfriend. It's unclear if any major retailers will carry the book, though managers at some traditional distribution channels said last week that they hadn't heard anything about it. ReaderLink, a company that supplies books to more than 80,000 stores, including big-box chains like Walmart and Target, said it had no plans to distribute it.
In other words, it appears possible or likely that the RNC purchased books directly from Trump Jr., or intends to do so. "Liberal Privilege" did not go on sale until Aug. 30, and if the committee waited until September to buy the book in bulk, those purchases would not show up until it files its September report sometime next month, shortly before the election.
It's also possible the RNC fulfilled part of its preorder promise through Amazon, which is selling Trump Jr.'s book. The committee's August filings reveal an unusually large $126,423 expenditure to Amazon on Aug. 10, for "office supplies."


rawstory--2020-09-23--MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch compares Trump to Hitler: ‘Let’s just say it once and for all’

MSNBC ’ s Donny Deutsch compared President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler — and urged the president ’ s Jewish supporters to “ wake up.
” The president ’ s rally Tuesday night in Pennsylvania set off alarm bells on the “ Morning Joe ” set , and Deutsch came out and said what the other panelists were hinting at .
“ This , to me , looked like a rally from the early ’ 30s , ” Deutsch said .
“ You know , I was watching the first hour , and as Jason Johnson was talking about , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and you know , that ’ s something you cautiously do , because we can use the word fascist , but then when you go , Hitler , you can ’ t — oh , everybody starts to go — but what was going on in early ’ 30s Germany ?
Basically , you had a destruction of the belief in the free press .
You had a blurring between the executive branch and the Justice Department .
You have creating an other , whether it ’ s Muslims , whether it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ congressmen who weren ’ t born in this country , and then you have the destruction of free elections — and we ’ re here.
” “ What is the difference between Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump ?
” Deutsch added .
“ I ’ m not saying there ’ s a Holocaust , but when you look at the tactics , and that is where we are right now .
As we are heading 39 days from election , this is where we have , and we still have people chanting.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to reject Trump before it ’ s too late .
“ On a personal level , and I , for a second , want to talk to my Jewish friends who are voting for Donald Trump , ” Deutsch said .
“ How dare you ?
How dare you , with what our people have gone through in history , and you see a man who is a dictator , and once you give a man absolute power , he is [ capable ] of anything.
” “ If you are a Jew @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Donald Trump , you are not looking back at our history , ” he added , “ and you are blind and you are walking like a lemming off a cliff .
It is time to wake up .
I ’ m sorry , this is where we are .
There is no difference from what Donald Trump is preaching , from what Adolf Hitler preached in the early ’ 30s .
Let ’ s just say it once and for all .
”

MSNBC's Donny Deutsch compared President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler -- and urged the president's Jewish supporters to "wake up."
The president's rally Tuesday night in Pennsylvania set offalarm bells on the "Morning Joe" set, and Deutsch came out and said what the other panelists were hinting at.
"This, to me, looked like a rally from the early '30s," Deutsch said. "You know, I was watching the first hour, and as Jason Johnson was talking about, comparing [Trump] to Hitler, and you know, that's something you cautiously do, because we can use the word fascist, but then when you go, Hitler, you can't -- oh, everybody starts to go -- but what was going on in early '30s Germany? Basically, you had a destruction of the belief in the free press. You had a blurring between the executive branch and the Justice Department. You have creating an other, whether it's Muslims, whether it's Mexicans, whether it's congressmen who weren't born in this country, and then you have the destruction of free elections -- and we're here."
"What is the difference between Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump?" Deutsch added. "I'm not saying there's a Holocaust, but when you look at the tactics, and that is where we are right now. As we are heading 39 days from election, this is where we have, and we still have people chanting."
Deutsch then called on his fellow Jews to reject Trump before it's too late.
"On a personal level, and I, for a second, want to talk to my Jewish friends who are voting for Donald Trump," Deutsch said. "How dare you? How dare you, with what our people have gone through in history, and you see a man who is a dictator, and once you give a man absolute power, he is [capable] of anything."
"If you are a Jew in this country and you are supporting Donald Trump, you are not looking back at our history," he added, "and you are blind and you are walking like a lemming off a cliff. It is time to wake up. I'm sorry, this is where we are. There is no difference from what Donald Trump is preaching, from what Adolf Hitler preached in the early '30s. Let's just say it once and for all."


rawstory--2020-09-23--Team Trump turns to disinformation as the GOP keeps losing in court

Democrats and voting rights advocates keep winning swing state lawsuits extending the deadlines when absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day can arrive by mail and be counted .
But as Republicans appeal those extensions , President Trump and his family are ramping up disinformation about absentee ballots and counting votes after Election Day .
The President ’ s son , Donald Trump , Jr. , said in a Facebook campaign video on Tuesday that Democrats “ are planting stories that President Trump will have a landslide lead on election night but will lose when they finish counting the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ millions of fraudulent ballots that can cancel your vote and overturn the election.
” Trump ’ s assertion is a lie .
Ballots get counted in batches : early voting , first-arriving absentee ballots , Election Day precinct ballots , other ballots delivered by mail ( including soldiers and civilians overseas ) , provisional ballots .
There is no truth to the claim that millions of mail ballots are fraudulent .
But there is a larger context to these attacks .
The Trump re-election campaign , represented by the Republican National Committee ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republican-majority legislatures , keep losing voting rights lawsuits filed by Democrats and voting rights groups seeking to protect various constituencies .
On Tuesday , September 22 , North Carolina ’ s State Board of Elections announced a settlement in a suit brought by advocates of elderly voters that will make it easier to fix problems with how some voters mistakenly fill out and sign their absentee ballot envelopes .
The settlement also extended the post-Election Day deadline for the Post Office to deliver those ballots by three days .
( North Carolina Republicans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sue to block it . )
On September 21 , a U.S. District Court in Wisconsin ruled against the Wisconsin Republican Party , RNC and GOP-led legislature in a decision that gives the Post Office three more days to deliver ballot envelopes that had been postmarked by November 3 , Election Day .
These decisions followed a Michigan state court ruling that extended the ballot return deadline to November 17 .
( Michigan ’ s GOP-led legislature “ is working to appeal ” that ruling , the Detroit News said . )
That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Court issued a ruling that extended the deadline to November 6 and allowed the state ’ s counties to use drop boxes to collect ballots .
On Tuesday , September 22 , Pennsylvania ’ s Republican legislative leadership filed a motion with its Supreme Court to postpone the order until the U.S. Supreme Court can review the case .
On September 21 , the RNC and Georgia Republican Party filed a motion with a federal appeals court to overturn a three-day extension for absentee ballot delivery to November 6 .
The big picture @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been siding with protecting the rights of voters to cast mailed-out ballots in a pandemic .
The rulings are making allowances for Post Office return of the mailed-out ballots , where thousands of ballots will be postmarked on or before November 3 , Election Day , but may take several more days to get to election offices .
On the eve of Wisconsin ’ s April 7 primary , when the pandemic ’ s first wave was cresting , the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state ’ s absentee ballots could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after the primary .
That decision , only for that election , allowed an additional 79,054 ballots , 6.68 percent of the total vote , to be counted , according to Wisconsin Elections Commission report on May 15 .
Trump won the state in 2016 by 22,748 votes .
Both parties realize how high the stakes are for the presidential election , especially if the vote count margins are very close .
Of all of these voting rights battles , the one that is most closely watched by legal scholars is the state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the GOP is hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court will intervene and side with Pennsylvania ’ s Republican majority legislature that did not pass the ballot-return extension as a law .
At the heart of that case is whether the U.S. Supreme Court can tell a state supreme court how to interpret state election laws—even if those laws clash with that state ’ s constitution .
Pennsylvania ’ s Constitution has very strong voting rights protections .
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ’ s ruling rejected the legislature ’ s failure to act @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arguing that conclusion violated the U.S. Constitution ’ s Elections Clause by “ seizing control of the times , places and manner of federal elections.
” As these details play out in the constitutional law arena , the Trump campaign has decided to ramp up the much more easily understood conspiracies and disinformation .
“ The President ’ s Son Baselessly Suggests That Election Officials Will “ add millions of fraudulent ballots that can cancel your vote and overturn the election , ” tweeted Rick Hasen , University of California Irvine law professor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , so dangerous.
” “ This crap from Don Jr. makes me think even more Biden should declare victory as soon as the first results are reported on election night , which in many states will be the mail ballots and in-person early votes counted during the day , ” tweeted Michael McDonald , University of Florida political scientist , and curator of the most up-to-date national data on 2020 absentee voting .
The past few days have also been filled with more warnings about a flood of new and coming disinformation .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ public service announcement ” on Tuesday , September 22 , from the FBI and CISA—the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency , entitled , “ Foreign Actors and Cybercriminals Likely to Spread Disinformation Regarding 2020 Election Results.
” It said : Perhaps it is more than ironic that the Trump administration ’ s national security team is warning about foreign threats but could also be referring to propaganda from Trump ’ s campaign .
While it is easy to fall into the disinformation vortex , the 2020 election will still be run by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and procedures that control how votes are counted .
So far , the RNC has lost more than won in court .
But they hope that the U.S. Supreme Court will step on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court , Pennsylvania Constitution and nullify efforts to count absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive a few days later .
Whether the RNC gets the Supreme Court to intervene , act and do its bidding could be an October surprise .

Steven Rosenfeld, Independent Media Institute

Democrats and voting rights advocates keep winning swing state lawsuits extending the deadlines when absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day can arrive by mail and be counted. But as Republicans appeal those extensions, President Trump and his family are ramping up disinformation about absentee ballots and counting votes after Election Day.
The President’s son, Donald Trump, Jr., said in a Facebook campaign video on Tuesday that Democrats “are planting stories that President Trump will have a landslide lead on election night but will lose when they finish counting the mail-in ballots… Their plan is to add millions of fraudulent ballots that can cancel your vote and overturn the election.”
Trump’s assertion is a lie. Ballots get counted in batches: early voting, first-arriving absentee ballots, Election Day precinct ballots, other ballots delivered by mail (including soldiers and civilians overseas), provisional ballots. There is no truth to the claim that millions of mail ballots are fraudulent. But there is a larger context to these attacks.
The Trump re-election campaign, represented by the Republican National Committee (RNC), state Republican Parties and Republican-majority legislatures, keep losing voting rights lawsuits filed by Democrats and voting rights groups seeking to protect various constituencies.
On Tuesday, September 22, North Carolina’s State Board of Elections announced a settlement in a suit brought by advocates of elderly voters that will make it easier to fix problems with how some voters mistakenly fill out and sign their absentee ballot envelopes. The settlement also extended the post-Election Day deadline for the Post Office to deliver those ballots by three days. (North Carolina Republicans criticized the deal and said they might sue to block it.)
On September 21, a U.S. District Court in Wisconsin ruled against the Wisconsin Republican Party, RNC and GOP-led legislature in a decision that gives the Post Office three more days to deliver ballot envelopes that had been postmarked by November 3, Election Day.
These decisions followed a Michigan state court ruling that extended the ballot return deadline to November 17. (Michigan’s GOP-led legislature “is working to appeal” that ruling, the Detroit News said.) That same day in Pennsylvania, its Supreme Court issued a ruling that extended the deadline to November 6 and allowed the state’s counties to use drop boxes to collect ballots.
On Tuesday, September 22, Pennsylvania’s Republican legislative leadership filed a motion with its Supreme Court to postpone the order until the U.S. Supreme Court can review the case. On September 21, the RNC and Georgia Republican Party filed a motion with a federal appeals court to overturn a three-day extension for absentee ballot delivery to November 6.
The big picture here is that state and federal courts have been siding with protecting the rights of voters to cast mailed-out ballots in a pandemic. The rulings are making allowances for Post Office return of the mailed-out ballots, where thousands of ballots will be postmarked on or before November 3, Election Day, but may take several more days to get to election offices.
On the eve of Wisconsin’s April 7 primary, when the pandemic’s first wave was cresting, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state’s absentee ballots could take up to a week to arrive after the primary. That decision, only for that election, allowed an additional 79,054 ballots, 6.68 percent of the total vote, to be counted, according to Wisconsin Elections Commission report on May 15. Trump won the state in 2016 by 22,748 votes.
Both parties realize how high the stakes are for the presidential election, especially if the vote count margins are very close. Of all of these voting rights battles, the one that is most closely watched by legal scholars is the state Supreme Court case in Pennsylvania. There, the GOP is hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court will intervene and side with Pennsylvania’s Republican majority legislature that did not pass the ballot-return extension as a law.
At the heart of that case is whether the U.S. Supreme Court can tell a state supreme court how to interpret state election laws—even if those laws clash with that state’s constitution. Pennsylvania’s Constitution has very strong voting rights protections. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s ruling rejected the legislature’s failure to act on voters’ behalf. Republicans are arguing that conclusion violated the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause by “seizing control of the times, places and manner of federal elections.”
As these details play out in the constitutional law arena, the Trump campaign has decided to ramp up the much more easily understood conspiracies and disinformation.
“The President’s Son Baselessly Suggests That Election Officials Will “add millions of fraudulent ballots that can cancel your vote and overturn the election,” tweeted Rick Hasen, University of California Irvine law professor and curator of ElectionLawBlog.org. “So, so dangerous.”
“This crap from Don Jr. makes me think even more Biden should declare victory as soon as the first results are reported on election night, which in many states will be the mail ballots and in-person early votes counted during the day,” tweeted Michael McDonald, University of Florida political scientist, and curator of the most up-to-datenational data on 2020 absentee voting.
The past few days have also been filled with more warnings about a flood of new and coming disinformation. But none were more striking than a “public service announcement” on Tuesday, September 22, from the FBI and CISA—the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, entitled, “Foreign Actors and Cybercriminals Likely to Spread Disinformation Regarding 2020 Election Results.” It said:
Foreign actors and cybercriminals could create new websites, change existing websites, and create or share corresponding social media content to spread false information in an attempt to discredit the electoral process and undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions. State and local officials typically require several days to weeks to certify elections’ final results in order to ensure every legally cast vote is accurately counted. The increased use of mail-in ballots due to COVID-19 protocols could leave officials with incomplete results on election night. Foreign actors and cybercriminals could exploit the time required to certify and announce elections’ results by disseminating disinformation that includes reports of voter suppression, cyberattacks targeting election infrastructure, voter or ballot fraud, and other problems intended to convince the public of the elections’ illegitimacy.
Perhaps it is more than ironic that the Trump administration’s national security team is warning about foreign threats but could also be referring to propaganda from Trump’s campaign. While it is easy to fall into the disinformation vortex, the 2020 election will still be run by local officials who follow laws, rules and procedures that control how votes are counted.
So far, the RNC has lost more than won in court. But they hope that the U.S. Supreme Court will step on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Pennsylvania Constitution and nullify efforts to count absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive a few days later. Whether the RNC gets the Supreme Court to intervene, act and do its bidding could be an October surprise.


rawstory--2020-09-24--US Special Forces hired leader of violent neo-Nazis terrorist group as military contractor: report

VICE news broke a report that the United States Special Forces hired neo-Nazis as military contractors and paid them with taxpayer dollars .
The Base , one of the most violent neo-Nazi terror groups in decades , was paid by the Pentagon while working on “ counterterrorism ” in 2014 .
Hired under SOCOM , the Special Operations Command , 47-year-old New Jersey native Rinaldo Nazzaro had top-secret security clearance and was responsible for briefing special forces officers fighting in the Middle East .
According to a BBC report about militia groups grooming youth , Nazzaro was cited an “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contractor.
” “ [ I did ] multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan over five years , ” Nazzaro claimed in May 2019 .
He called himself “ a targeter ” and “ a contractor , ” at Victory Base Complex and other bases around Baghdad and northern Iraq .
“ An international terrorist leader who was once a specialist in combatting jihadist terrorism turning his expertise around and aiming it at the U.S. government speaks to the growing professionalization of the far right as it transforms into a dangerous national security threat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Base is one of the terror groups in the U.S. attempting to start a violent race war .
SOCOM said they were unable to find information on Nazzaro and Nazzaro refused to “ confirm or deny ” his work .

The video, which highlights the plot that is now at the center of a federal and state indictments, was taken by Danish documentarian, Melber said.
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
“Although state officials in all 50 states must ultimately certify the results of the voting in their state, the final decision as to who the state legislatures authorize be sent to the electoral college is a decision made solely by the legislature,” Stone said. “Any legislative body may decide on the basis of overwhelming evidence of fraud to send electors to the Electoral College who accurately reflect the President’s legitimate victory in their state, which was illegally denied him through fraud.“
He continued:
"We must be prepared to lobby our Republican legislatures by personal contact and by demonstrating the overwhelming will of the people … in each state that this may need to happen.”
“Let me make a clear point about this exclusive here on The Beat tonight,” Melber said. “That was before the presidential race had even been called for Biden. Now this is important, take a look, Stone pushing the elector plot as you just saw with your own eyes all the way back on November 5 2020. That’s a shot of the video on the left that we just took broken here as news tonight.”
Melber noted that Stone’s comments in the video undercut a key Trump defense argument.
“That timeline hurts the Trump defense that we’ve heard so much about, that these individuals pushing these plots were acting in a good faith belief they had won. Indeed, this particular piece of evidence, this video shows quite the opposite for Stone. He was pushing the plot, not because he believed Trump had won or was looking at numbers or looking at the results as they were called, which hadn’t happened yet,” Melber said.
“Regardless of the results that were not even in, he was already pushing this plot. Stone’s words on video were early, a month before now indicted Ken Cheseboro penned the memo outlining the plot, long before Rudy Giuliani, now indicted. was recruiting those people.”
Watch the video below or at the link.


rawstory--2020-09-25--‘Alexa, I’m getting pulled over’: Amazon dashcam to record traffic stops

Amazon ’ s new security camera for cars unveiled Thursday will allow motorists concerned about a police stop to record @ @ @ @ @ “ Alexa , I ’ m getting pulled over.
” The new $ 200 Ring @ @ @ @ @ recording on the voice command , store footage securely and notify a family member of @ @ @ @ @ device by Ring , Amazon ’ s home security unit , also includes sensors to @ @ @ @ @ break-ins and will call for help in the event of a crash .
Unveiled at @ @ @ @ @ the device comes as the US tech giant faces criticism for sharing surveillance footage from @ @ @ @ @ .
The release was made amid heightened tensions over police conduct in the wake of @ @ @ @ @ at the hands of police in Minneapolis earlier this year which sparked attention to other @ @ @ @ @ and racial bias .

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
Still, Ron DeSantis refuses to expand Medicaid, even though 93 percent of the cost is covered with money from Washington, DC. It’s the principle of the thing, apparently: he’s one of 11 red state governors who believes that working poor people simply shouldn’t get health coverage. After all, they didn’t have the good sense to be born into a wealthy family!
Michael, 30, lives in Orlando and has asthma, but running his little business buying and selling used furniture hasn’t earned him enough to cover his medical bills and to pay rent. He recently got an eviction notice, telling the Florida Health Justice Project:
“I was given a list of homeless shelters to choose from but I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Ron DeSantis is just fine with this. Cruelty is his trademark.
Violence, hate, bigotry, and cruelty are the four cardinal points of fascism. Compassion and concern for the greater good, for the poor and weak, for the victims of fate and accident have no place in the fascist world.
Historians and political observers have been predicting that America would get our very own Mussolini ever since the days of Barry Goldwater. And there’s been no shortage of candidates: bribe-taking Nixon; Central American fascist-loving Reagan; Gitmo torturing and war-lying Bush; and, of course, Trump.
But with Ron DeSantis, we may finally be facing an all-American politician who has Mussolini’s guile, ruthlessness, and willingness to see people die to advance his political career, all while being smart and educated enough to avoid the easily satirized buffoonishness of Trump.
Mussolini was a famously short man who strutted with his muscular chest pushed out and his chin jutted forward, just like DeSantis, who Trump says is musclebound, likes to do.
Both men were socially awkward, craved power, lacked empathy, displayed casual cruelty, sucked up to the wealthiest men in the nation, and demonized opposition politicians — literally calling or implying their fellow citizens are “the enemy” (a favorite trick of Hitler and Orbán, as well) — to encourage their followers to support them or entertain the rhetoric of violence and threats of violence to achieve political ends.
Miriam, a single parent of two young children, discovered a lump in her breast but postponed visiting the doctor for months because she had no health insurance with her job as a housekeeper.
Finally, she realized the potential gravity of her situation.
“I needed to live to be there for my children,” she said.
She got treatment through the charity ward of a hospital, but even that treatment came with a cost of $2,183. She slipped behind in the $200 monthly payments when her job vanished with the pandemic and now she’s struggling to pay the $1783 she still owes in co-payments from her treatments. She’s been sent to collection and is living in fear of what’s next when the court finally comes after her.
Ron DeSantis is just fine with this. Cruelty is his trademark.
George Washington, in his Farewell Address, warned us of the possible rise of politicians like DeSantis who would suggest other Americans are enemies of the nation’s values, who would exaggerate policy differences in war-like terms, and who would ascribe the most evil of motives and intentions to simple political opponents.
“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”
But it wasn’t just that calling other politicians enemies or attributing evil motivations to them produced dissension and could tear a society apart, although those concerns were at the top of Washington’s mind.
He also knew that such rhetoric was the platform from which a literal strongman could arise in America, destroying the democracy he’d fought the Revolutionary War to create:
“But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism,” he told the nation. “The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.”
Such a warlike approach to politics, Washington said, could only lead in one direction:
“It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.”
Such rhetoric, Washington argued, produces:
“A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.”
It’s been 225 years since George Washington uttered those words. And now we’re here.
Hipolito, the father of four, is worried about his life’s partner, the mother of their children.
“My wife has been in pain for weeks now but we can’t afford to find out why,” Hipolito told the Florida Health Justice Project. “I swear, I’m very afraid. She is pale and suffering every day.”
He notes that his wife hasn’t visited the doctor because their family can’t afford the expense when they must also house, feed, and clothe their kids on his job as a cook.
Ron DeSantis is just fine with this. Cruelty is his trademark.
Arresting black men for voting, terrifying them and ruining their lives while making sure they all get paraded in chains before the cameras.
Threatening public school teachers with prison for simply teaching history.
Lying about medical science regarding vaccines to suck up to the Trump base, resulting in fewer Floridians being protected from a disease that is killing literally hundreds of Americans every day.
Using rhetoric that feeds bigotry and hate against gay, lesbian, and trans people.
Intimidating the college board so they strip the Black Lives Matter movement out of their advanced placement African-American Studies curriculum.
Lying to asylum-seekers to get them on a plane to Martha’s Vineyard as a stunt to elevate his own political fortunes.
Ron DeSantis is just fine with all of this. Cruelty is his trademark.
Ignoring the health and safety of his state’s citizens, DeSantis led Florida into a veritable Covid Armageddon, letting (as of January 16th) 84,176 of his citizens die from the disease. As former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CBS’ Face The Nation:
“They let the virus spread largely unchecked in terms of personal mitigation. People weren't wearing masks. They weren't encouraged to wear masks. Vaccination was encouraged for the elderly population, but not widely… So they made policy choices, and the consequence was an infection that largely engulfed most parts of the state.”
After this orgy of death and disease, at the end of 2021 about 12 percent of Florida’s population — almost 2.6 million — still lacked any form of medical insurance because of DeSantis’ refusal to expand Medicaid for low-income people.
And now as many as 2 million more Floridians will join the ranks of the uninsured in the coming months.
Ron DeSantis is just fine with this. Cruelty is his trademark.


rawstory--2020-09-25--Why is the Trump campaign sending rent checks to a mysterious Long Island PO box?

The Trump campaign has rented office space at Trump Tower , off and on , since Donald Trump first announced his candidacy in June 2015 .
Exactly how much space the campaign actually uses in the landmark Fifth Avenue building is unclear .
FEC filings show that the rent started around $ 35,000 a month , then jumped over the $ 100,000 mark after Trump won the 2016 Republican nomination , before settling at its current rate of $ 37,541.67 a month , or about $ 450,500 a year .
Sometimes the rent spikes , for reasons that are difficult @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s payments go to Trump Tower Commercial LLC , the business operation behind Trump Tower — and ultimately to Trump himself — they don ’ t always go to Trump Tower .
Federal Election Commission records show that most of those checks have been sent to P.O .
Box 1926 in Hicksville , which is a suburban town in central Nassau County , just south of Oyster Bay on the affluent North Shore of Long Island .
The Hicksville post office box has been described by Trump money watchers as the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ financial dealings .
It is , in a word , bizarre — even by Trump standards .
( The campaign did not reply to multiple specific requests for comment . )
It ’ s unclear whether other Trump Tower commercial tenants , such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China , for instance , send their rent checks to Hicksville , or if they pay at the building itself — as the campaign itself did , for a while .
In the early days of the campaign , however , it wasn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Trump campaign ’ s payroll also went through Trump Tower Commercial LLC , but apparently to a certain type of employee .
But even given that confusing history , FEC filings show that 2020 is turning out to be an exceptional year in terms of the destination of the Trump campaign ’ s rent checks to Trump Tower Commercial LLC .
In 2015 , 2016 and 2017 , all rent checks all went to the Hicksville address .
The rent payments stopped after September 2017 , but resumed in 2018 , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and the same year that the campaign also took up offices in Rosslyn , Virginia .
All rent checks in that year , 2018 , went upstairs to the accountants in Trump Tower .
But in the first half of 2019 , the checks went back to Hicksville .
Then , in the second half of that year , they once again went to Trump Tower .
The pattern grew even more erratic in 2020 .
This year , public filings show , the campaign has so far sent six of its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two outliers being April and May , when the coronavirus ravaged the city and the checks went to Trump Tower , in Manhattan .
Interviews with state income tax and commercial property tax experts familiar with the workings of New York city and state yielded bafflement : Comments included , “ Totally bizarre , ” “ No idea , ” “ I ’ ve never seen something like that ” and “ Holy shit , that ’ s absolutely weird.
” Vance ’ s announcement this week that his office is investigating Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ records might throw the Hicksville mystery in a new light .
Vance is the district attorney of New York County , which is the same thing as the borough of Manhattan .
He has no jurisdiction anywhere else .
So if Vance is investigating Trump for tax fraud , he must believe that Trump defrauded Manhattan authorities in a unique way — through either school , income or property taxes .
While New York state Attorney General Letitia James is also interested in Trump ’ s taxes , she has not announced a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there is , as far as public records show , no federal investigation into Trump ’ s taxes .
Hicksville is in Nassau County , about 30 miles east of Manhattan .
If Trump attached the Nassau County address to Trump Tower payments that should otherwise have qualified for income , payroll or occupancy taxes in Manhattan , and did not make that clear — or actively concealed it , possibly with a second bank account — that , experts say , could amount to fraud .
Another possibility is that Trump is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of rent income , which could give him a property tax advantage in the city , where appraisers tie income to property value and tax .
“ Given the jurisdiction of the Manhattan D.A.
, a tax fraud charge makes total sense if manipulated rental income results in a lower real property tax assessment , ” a New York City tax attorney told Salon .
A corporate accountant told Salon that if Trump has expenses “ that should be allocated to the Trump Organization , but are paid outside to another entity , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ means more income — so he could inflate the value to make himself look much wealthier than he is.
” It turns out that the campaign didn ’ t only expense its rent there .
It also spent payroll .
In the 2016 election cycle , federal filings show , the Trump campaign paid then-candidate Trump ’ s personal bodyguard Keith Schiller $ 2,574 a week , occasionally a little more .
Trump would make those payments himself , routed through payroll at Trump Tower Commercial LLC in Hicksville , and the campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , was unique .
Trump had a number of Trump Organization employees on the campaign payroll at one time or another .
Hope Hicks , for instance , or the Trump Organization ’ s chief legal officer , Allen Garten .
None of those people , however , were ever on the Trump Tower Commercial LLC payroll .
Trump routed their campaign salary through Trump Payroll Corp. , which he also owned .
When Schiller went to work at the White House , he told the U.S. government in his financial disclosures that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year by the Trump Organization .
He also said the campaign had paid him $ 70,000 , when campaign filings indicate he made much more than that .
What ’ s more , those filings also indicate that Schiller was not on the Trump Organization payroll , but specifically on the payroll at Trump Tower Commercial LLC .
This makes a difference .
At the time , Trump Tower Commercial was owned by Donald Trump personally , according to his 2015 and 2016 financial disclosures .
This is a unique thing in TrumpWorld @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) was all his .
Schiller wasn ’ t the only person the Trump campaign paid through Trump Tower Commercial payroll .
FEC records show that Trump ’ s longtime personal driver Noel Cintron — who sued Trump for years of unpaid overtime shortly after he took office in 2017 — also at one point took campaign money routed through Hicksville .
So did Trump Tower security chief Bert Mentor .
Notably , both Cintron and former Trump Tower porter Rakhim Urazov sued Trump Tower Commercial — not the Trump Organization — for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of court .
“ It appears that Trump had only certain employees on the Trump Tower Commercial payroll , rather than the Trump Organization ’ s , ” campaign finance and government ethics law expert Brett Kappel told Salon .
“ Employees like Keith Schiller , his personal driver , the night security guard at Trump Tower — employees in a position to know embarrassing and possibly incriminating information about Trump.
” It could also be that the story of the wandering rent checks is no big deal .
One corporate accountant told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did not raise any flags for him , and that outside of misrepresenting income , the arrangement appears benign .
Trump could be actively trying to keep this one entity — his flagship building — clear of any dirt .
If so , that would seem to require a lot of legwork .
New York City tax assessors consider income when they calculate the taxable value of commercial properties , making New York property tax filings resemble those of income taxes more than property tax filings typically do in other parts of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by ProPublica showed small discrepancies in terms of income .
“ The whole thing is a lie perpetrated by Trump and [ Trump Organization CFO ] Allen Weisselberg , who concocted a method to defray the salary costs of the Trump Organization and shift them to the campaign , on the backs of donations from unsuspecting supporters , ” said a source with knowledge of the payment arrangements .
It may be worth noting that Trump ’ s infamous checks to former personal attorney and “ fixer ” Michael Cohen — reimbursing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to adult film star Stormy Daniels — weren ’ t signed by Trump himself , but by Weisselberg and Donald Trump Jr .
The president began writing those checks from his personal account only a few months into his term .
Before doing that , however , he quietly gained access to the trust into which he had put all his assets , as a symbolic promise to the American people that he could be trusted .

But while the campaign's payments go to Trump Tower Commercial LLC, the business operation behind Trump Tower — and ultimately to Trump himself — they don't always go to Trump Tower. Federal Election Commission records show that most of those checks have been sent to P.O. Box 1926 in Hicksville, which is a suburban town in central Nassau County, just south of Oyster Bay on the affluent North Shore of Long Island.
The Hicksville post office box has been described by Trump money watchers as the "white whale" of Trump's financial dealings. It is, in a word, bizarre — even by Trump standards. (The campaign did not reply to multiple specific requests for comment.) It's unclear whether other Trump Tower commercial tenants, such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, for instance, send their rent checks to Hicksville, or if they pay at the building itself — as the campaign itself did, for a while.
In the early days of the campaign, however, it wasn't just rent — some of the Trump campaign's payroll also went through Trump Tower Commercial LLC, but apparently to a certain type of employee.
But even given that confusing history, FEC filings show that 2020 is turning out to be an exceptional year in terms of the destination of the Trump campaign's rent checks to Trump Tower Commercial LLC.
In 2015, 2016 and 2017, all rent checks all went to the Hicksville address. The rent payments stopped after September 2017, but resumed in 2018, the year after the Trump tax bill passed, and the same year that the campaign also took up offices in Rosslyn, Virginia. All rent checks in that year, 2018, went upstairs to the accountants in Trump Tower. But in the first half of 2019, the checks went back to Hicksville. Then, in the second half of that year, they once again went to Trump Tower.
The pattern grew even more erratic in 2020. This year, public filings show, the campaign has so far sent six of its eight rent checks to Hicksville — the two outliers being April and May, when the coronavirus ravaged the city and the checks went to Trump Tower, in Manhattan.
Interviews with state income tax and commercial property tax experts familiar with the workings of New York city and state yielded bafflement: Comments included, "Totally bizarre," "No idea," "I've never seen something like that" and "Holy shit, that's absolutely weird."
Vance's announcement this week that his office is investigating Trump for criminal tax fraud and misrepresenting business records might throw the Hicksville mystery in a new light.
Vance is the district attorney of New York County, which is the same thing as the borough of Manhattan. He has no jurisdiction anywhere else. So if Vance is investigating Trump for tax fraud, he must believe that Trump defrauded Manhattan authorities in a unique way — through either school, income or property taxes. While New York state Attorney General Letitia James is also interested in Trump's taxes, she has not announced a similar criminal tax fraud investigation. And there is, as far as public records show, no federal investigation into Trump's taxes.
Hicksville is in Nassau County, about 30 miles east of Manhattan. If Trump attached the Nassau County address to Trump Tower payments that should otherwise have qualified for income, payroll or occupancy taxes in Manhattan, and did not make that clear — or actively concealed it, possibly with a second bank account — that, experts say, could amount to fraud.
Another possibility is that Trump is using the Hicksville address to hide portions of rent income, which could give him a property tax advantage in the city, where appraisers tie income to property value and tax.
"Given the jurisdiction of the Manhattan D.A., a tax fraud charge makes total sense if manipulated rental income results in a lower real property tax assessment," a New York City tax attorney told Salon.
A corporate accountant told Salon that if Trump has expenses "that should be allocated to the Trump Organization, but are paid outside to another entity, like Trump Tower Commercial, less expenses means more income — so he could inflate the value to make himself look much wealthier than he is."
It turns out that the campaign didn't only expense its rent there. It also spent payroll.
In the 2016 election cycle, federal filings show, the Trump campaign paid then-candidate Trump's personal bodyguard Keith Schiller $2,574 a week, occasionally a little more. Trump would make those payments himself, routed through payroll at Trump Tower Commercial LLC in Hicksville, and the campaign would reimburse him.
Schiller, however, was unique. Trump had a number of Trump Organization employees on the campaign payroll at one time or another. Hope Hicks, for instance, or the Trump Organization's chief legal officer, Allen Garten. None of those people, however, were ever on the Trump Tower Commercial LLC payroll. Trump routed their campaign salary through Trump Payroll Corp., which he also owned.
When Schiller went to work at the White House, he told the U.S. government in his financial disclosures that he had been paid $160,000 a year by the Trump Organization. He also said the campaign had paid him $70,000, when campaign filings indicate he made much more than that. What's more, those filings also indicate that Schiller was not on the Trump Organization payroll, but specifically on the payroll at Trump Tower Commercial LLC.
This makes a difference. At the time, Trump Tower Commercial was owned by Donald Trump personally, according to his 2015 and 2016 financial disclosures. This is a unique thing in TrumpWorld: Trump Tower Manhattan (or Hicksville) was all his.
(Well, along with any "silent partners" in the four Trump-owned entities between which Trump Tower was split. One of those was an obscure entity called Tipperary Realty Corp., which is owned by Donald Trump but lists his son, Eric, as CEO. Nothing in TrumpWorld is ever simple, an insider told Salon, but if anything is strange, it's intentional.)
Schiller wasn't the only person the Trump campaign paid through Trump Tower Commercial payroll. FEC records show that Trump's longtime personal driver Noel Cintron — who sued Trump for years of unpaid overtime shortly after he took office in 2017 — also at one point took campaign money routed through Hicksville. So did Trump Tower security chief Bert Mentor. Notably, both Cintron and former Trump Tower porter Rakhim Urazov sued Trump Tower Commercial — not the Trump Organization — for their lost overtime, eventually settling out of court.
"It appears that Trump had only certain employees on the Trump Tower Commercial payroll, rather than the Trump Organization's," campaign finance and government ethics law expert Brett Kappel told Salon. "Employees like Keith Schiller, his personal driver, the night security guard at Trump Tower — employees in a position to know embarrassing and possibly incriminating information about Trump."
It could also be that the story of the wandering rent checks is no big deal. One corporate accountant told Salon that the location of the payments did not raise any flags for him, and that outside of misrepresenting income, the arrangement appears benign.
Trump could be actively trying to keep this one entity — his flagship building — clear of any dirt. If so, that would seem to require a lot of legwork.
New York City tax assessors consider income when they calculate the taxable value of commercial properties, making New York property tax filings resemble those of income taxes more than property tax filings typically do in other parts of the country. Trump Tower tax filings reviewed by ProPublica showed small discrepancies in terms of income.
"The whole thing is a lie perpetrated by Trump and [Trump Organization CFO] Allen Weisselberg, who concocted a method to defray the salary costs of the Trump Organization and shift them to the campaign, on the backs of donations from unsuspecting supporters," said a source with knowledge of the payment arrangements.
It may be worth noting that Trump's infamous checks to former personal attorney and "fixer" Michael Cohen — reimbursing the $131,000 in hush money paid out to adult film star Stormy Daniels — weren't signed by Trump himself, but by Weisselberg and Donald Trump Jr. The president began writing those checks from his personal account only a few months into his term. Before doing that, however, he quietly gained access to the trust into which he had put all his assets, as a symbolic promise to the American people that he could be trusted.


rawstory--2020-09-26--Bill Barr stunt was an ‘in-kind contribution to the Trump campaign’ by DOJ: election law expert

The scandal over the Department of Justice hyping 9 ballots in Pennsylvania as proof of Donald Trump ’ s conspiracy theories about voting by mail was an Bill Barr stunt was an “ in-kind contribution ” an election law expert explained in the Los Angeles Times on Friday .
UC Irvine law and political science professor Rick Hasen explained the scandal in Pennsylvania in a new op-ed .
“ The controversy that bubbled up on Thursday over nine mishandled ballots in Luzerne County , Pa. , illustrates the danger ahead .
Even before the Department of Justice issued its announcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ complaining that mail-in ballots from military voters cast for him were being thrown into the trash , a claim fitting into his narrative — unsupported by the facts — that massive voter fraud will be used to take a November victory away from him .
ABC News reported that Atty .
Gen. William Barr briefed Trump on the case before it was publicly announced , ” Hasen explained .
“ The Justice Department bungled the facts with premature announcements .
Nine Trump votes were not tossed .
That news release was rescinded and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been marked for Trump ; two were unopened .
Then came yet more information : A memo from Luzerne County that suggested there was no criminal activity related to the ballots , just administrative error .
A temporary contract election worker on the job for only three days may have believed the envelopes contained applications for absentee ballots , not votes .
The worker was fired when the error was discovered , ” he continued .
The facts did not matter once conservative media began to fan the flames of their conspiracy theories @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flood of conservative media stories blowing up the situation as some kind of evidence of a massive conspiracy to throw the election .
The Luzerne County story is troubling , but not because it showed deliberate tampering .
Instead it showed how political operatives — this time acting through the Justice Department — could try to give mistakes the aura of a stolen election for political gain .
Whatever one thinks about the department announcing an ongoing political investigation in the midst of the election season ( which goes against the DOJ ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there is no non-political reason for releasing information about how the ballots were marked .
This was an in-kind contribution to the Trump campaign by the Justice Department , ” Hasen charged .

The scandal over the Department of Justice hyping 9 ballots in Pennsylvania as proof of Donald Trump's conspiracy theories about voting by mail was an Bill Barr stunt was an "in-kind contribution" an election law expert explained in the Los Angeles Times on Friday.
UC Irvine law and political science professor Rick Hasen explained the scandal in Pennsylvania in a new op-ed.
"The controversy that bubbled up on Thursday over nine mishandled ballots in Luzerne County, Pa., illustrates the danger ahead. Even before the Department of Justice issued its announcement, President Trump and his team were complaining that mail-in ballots from military voters cast for him were being thrown into the trash, a claim fitting into his narrative — unsupported by the facts — that massive voter fraud will be used to take a November victory away from him. ABC News reported that Atty. Gen. William Barr briefed Trump on the case before it was publicly announced," Hasen explained.
"The Justice Department bungled the facts with premature announcements. Nine Trump votes were not tossed. That news release was rescinded and replaced: Seven of the ballots had been marked for Trump; two were unopened. Then came yet more information: A memo from Luzerne County that suggested there was no criminal activity related to the ballots, just administrative error. A temporary contract election worker on the job for only three days may have believed the envelopes contained applications for absentee ballots, not votes. The worker was fired when the error was discovered," he continued.
The facts did not matter once conservative media began to fan the flames of their conspiracy theories.
The clarifications did not stop a flood of conservative media stories blowing up the situation as some kind of evidence of a massive conspiracy to throw the election. The Luzerne County story is troubling, but not because it showed deliberate tampering. Instead it showed how political operatives — this time acting through the Justice Department — could try to give mistakes the aura of a stolen election for political gain. Whatever one thinks about the department announcing an ongoing political investigation in the midst of the election season (which goes against the DOJ’s own standards and practices), there is no non-political reason for releasing information about how the ballots were marked. This was an in-kind contribution to the Trump campaign by the Justice Department," Hasen charged.


rawstory--2020-09-25--Trump official removed after illegally serving 424 days as head of the Bureau of Land Management: re

Trump official removed after illegally serving 424 days as head of the Bureau of Land Management: report

Yet another Donald Trump official has found himself in trouble with the law for running a federal agency without Senate confirmation .
“ federal judge ruled Friday that the Trump administration ’ s leading steward of public lands has been serving unlawfully and has blocked him from continuing in the position .
U.S. District Judge Brian Morris said U.S. Bureau of Land Management acting director William Perry Pendley served unlawfully for 424 days without being confirmed to the post by the U.S. Senate , ” the Associated Press reported Friday .
BLM was sued by Gov .
Steve Bullock ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Steve Daines ( R-MT ) in the 2020 election .
“ Pendley ’ s position as acting director was one of several major leadership roles that the Trump administration has sought to fill through temporary appointments and without going through the normal confirmation process .
Trump said he was nominating Pendley in June .
But the nomination was withdrawn earlier this month after the confirmation process threatened to become contentious , potentially disrupting key U.S. Senate races in Colorado and Montana , where Bullock is seeking to unseat incumbent Republican Steve Daines , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But Pendley continued to hang on to the post , under an arrangement that Pendley himself set up months ago .
In a May 22 order , Pendley made his own position , deputy director , the bureau ’ s top post while the director ’ s office is vacant .
”

Now the CA Bar is using the Fulton County indictment as further evidence why he shouldn't be allowed to practice law. It filed an addition to the case, further arguing that abatement was inappropriate and that Eastman knew the criminal charges were coming.
"The State Bar maintains its opposition to abatement of these proceedings, as most of the grounds set forth in the State Bar's Aug. 10, 2023, Opposition still apply. While it is no longer uncertain whether respondents will be indicted on criminal charges, and many of the allegations in the Fulton County indictment are related to the issues in the State Bar case, the prejudice to the State Bar and the public interest in resolving the State Bar case weigh in favor of completing the trial.
"The Fulton County criminal case against respondent could take years to resolve," the filing continues, "particularly given the number of co-defendants. As the State Bar noted in the Opposition, respondent knew that he faced possible criminal charges related to the conduct alleged in the NDC, including in Fulton County, but he chose to proceed with his State Bar trial without moving for abatement. Now, halfway through the trial, the State Bar would be highly prejudiced by delaying the completion of trial and a decision in this case for what could be several years. Delaying the further presentation of evidence also risks loss of evidence."
Eastman joins Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jeff Clark and Ken Chesebro in facing various disciplinary panels to address their respective involvement in the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election.
Eastman joins 18 others accused of co-conspiring with Trump in Georgia. He is specifically accused of sending an email to co-defendant Robert David Cheeley, "unindicted co-conspirator Individual 8, whose identity is known to the grand jury, and (Georgia state Sen. Brandon Beach) that stated that the Trump presidential elector nominees in Georgia needed to meet on Dec. 14, 2020, sign six sets of certificates of vote, and mail them 'to the President of the Senate and to other officials.' This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.," said the indictment.
The California Bar Association filing explained that, “The burden on the State Bar of postponing the remainder of the trial for an indefinite period of time, possibly several years, outweighs the burden on respondent in completing the trial."


rawstory--2020-09-25--Dennis Quaid to star in Trump’s $300 million ad campaign against COVID ‘despair’: report

Americans should expect to see more of actor Dennis Quaid during television commercial breaks , according to a new report by Politico .
“ The health department is moving quickly on a highly unusual advertising campaign to ‘ defeat despair ’ about the coronavirus , a $ 300 million-plus effort that was shaped by a political appointee close to President Donald Trump and executed in part by close allies of the official , using taxpayer funds , ” Politico ’ s Dan Diamond reported Friday .
“ The ad blitz , described in some budget documents as the “ Covid-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” is expected to lean heavily on video interviews between administration officials and celebrities , who will discuss aspects of the coronavirus outbreak and address the Trump administration ’ s response to the crisis , ” Politico explained , citing “ six individuals with knowledge of the campaign.
” “ Senior administration officials have already recorded interviews with celebrities like actor Dennis Quaid and singer CeCe Winans , and the Health and Human Services Department also has pursued television host Dr. Mehmet Oz and musician Garth Brooks for roles in the campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public awareness campaign , which HHS is seeking to start airing before Election Day on Nov. 3 , was largely conceived and organized by Michael Caputo , the health department ’ s top spokesperson who took medical leave last week and announced on Thursday that he had been diagnosed with cancer.
” Caputo said on Facebook before going on leave that the ad blitz was “ demanded of me by the president of the United States .
Personally .
”

"He's saying that he wants to fight this case in Georgia," said Polantz. "But Rudy Giuliani actually has a lot of other things on his plate right now: namely, he appears to be out of cash. He hasn't been able to share details in court. He's trying to not do that because it would embarrass him and draw attention to his misfortunes, but we were able to pick through some court filings that do outline in lawsuits that he's facing related to his work for Donald Trump after the 2020 election, just how much his bills have piled up right now."
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
"Right now, he has $181,000 in current bills," said Polantz. "That includes a judgment from a court last week saying he had to pay a phone bill for his company from 2020, that he has to pay legal fees for two Georgia election workers who are suing him. That's what the sanction would be, an $89,000 sanction. That's not even what happens if he were to lose that case."
As if that weren't enough, Polantz made clear she was just getting started in listing the former New York mayor's financial woes.
"On top of that, he has a lot of bills for just keeping ahold of the records that he had in his various cell phones and other electronic equipment," she said. "He has that all in a company. It costs money to do searches for those records every time he's getting sued, and it costs money just to hold them with that company. So he has access to his electronic records. It's a lot of legal bills, but on top of that, he has debts. One of the debts that has become public in the court proceedings is he had a $320,000 debt to this company hosting his electronic records. Donald Trump's PAC has paid that off ... but this is not even capturing the scope of the money Rudy Giuliani is just being bogged down with in order to fend off just lawsuits related to the 2020 election and other court proceedings."
"If he's actually out of cash, does he just have two options, pro bono representation or public defender?" asked Harlow.
"Those would be some options. The other options would be to get some cash based on the assets he has. One of the things he has done recently is put a three-bedroom Manhattan apartment up for sale for $6.5 million. It's only been listed for a couple days. As far as I can tell, it doesn't have a bid or a sale on it yet, but he's listing that property of his in Manhattan. We're talking about bills he has right now for lawsuits going on that are not even at the end. If he gets judgments against him for things where he is already conceding he was making false statements about the 2020 election, those bills could skyrocket. That doesn't even factor into how much it costs to defend yourself in criminal court."
Watch the video below or at the link here.


rawstory--2020-09-25--Lincoln Project likens Lindsey Graham to an abused dog for being ‘violently out-fundraised’ in South

Lincoln Project likens Lindsey Graham to an abused dog for being ‘violently out-fundraised’ in South Carolina re-election campaign

Sen. Lindsey Graham ( R-SC ) is facing a huge fundraising shortage — despite being an incumbent Republican senator running in South Carolina .
As he ’ s been trailing Democrat Jaime Harrison in fundraising , Graham has repeatedly gone on Fox News to beg for donations .
“ My opponent will raise almost $ 100 million in the state of South Carolina , ” https : //www.rawstory.com/2020/09/lindsey-graham-keeps-begging-fox-views-viewers-for-donations-theyre-me-moneywise/ ” rel= ” noopener ” target= ” _blank ” > Graham complained to Fox and Friends on Thursday .
“ The most money ever spent in the state on a Senate race @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spent $ 13 million .
He raised $ 6 million from the time Justice Ginsburg passed away , within 72 hours and God bless Justice Ginsburg .
We ’ re celebrating her life .
I appreciate waiting ’ til Saturday to announce her replacement .
But I am being killed financially , ” he revealed .
“ This money is because they hate my guts.
” Later that same day , he repeated his appeals on Sean Hannity .
“ I ’ m getting overwhelmed , ” Graham noted .
“ Help me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Graham ’ s fundraising woes were the focus of a new video by the Lincoln Project , the group of disgruntled former GOP strategists seeking to oust Trump and his defenders in the 2020 election .
They ad spoofs ads by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — complete with the song “ Angel ” by Sarah McLachlan .
The ad jocking asks for donations to save Graham from “ being violently out-fundraised .
”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is facing a huge fundraising shortage -- despite being an incumbent Republican senator running in South Carolina.
As he's been trailing Democrat Jaime Harrison in fundraising, Graham has repeatedly gone on Fox News to beg for donations.
“My opponent will raise almost $100 million in the state of South Carolina,” Graham complained to Fox and Friends on Thursday.
“The most money ever spent in the state on a Senate race was by me in 2014 when I spent $13 million. He raised $6 million from the time Justice Ginsburg passed away, within 72 hours and God bless Justice Ginsburg. We’re celebrating her life. I appreciate waiting ’til Saturday to announce her replacement. But I am being killed financially,” he revealed. “This money is because they hate my guts.”
Later that same day, he repeated his appeals on Sean Hannity.
"I’m getting overwhelmed,” Graham noted. “Help me, they’re killing me money-wise."
Graham's fundraising woes were the focus of a new video by the Lincoln Project, the group of disgruntled former GOP strategists seeking to oust Trump and his defenders in the 2020 election.
They ad spoofs ads by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals -- complete with the song "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan.
The ad jokingly asks for donations to save Graham from "being violently out-fundraised."
Original ad:


rawstory--2020-09-25--The 9 discarded ballots were tossed because Republicans won their lawsuit requiring them to not be c

The 9 discarded ballots were tossed because Republicans won their lawsuit requiring them to not be counted: report

Major news is coming in over the “ case ” of the nine “ discarded ” ballots from Luzerne County , Pennsylvania that President Donald Trump revealed to Fox News Radio on Thursday .
Here ’ s what appears to have happened , and we ’ re going to bullet point this so it ’ s easy to follow .
• The ballots were discarded by a temporary , or “ contract ” worker assigned to sort the mail who appears to have been following direction .
• They ballots were military ballots , not absentee or other by-mail ballots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ happened to federal officials , who appear to have immediately politicized the issue .
• “ Because these ballots were returned in envelopes similar to absentee ballot requests , elections officials opened them , ” The Washington Post reports .
“ If the ballots weren ’ t then enclosed in another envelope which shielded the actual vote being cast , they may have been considered ‘ naked ballots , ’ a term used to describe mail ballots returned without the voter ’ s intent being protected .
• The Trump campaign and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ naked ballots ” should not be counted .
They won that lawsuit .
These nine ballots appear to be “ naked ballots , ” and that appears to be the reason they were thrown out .
Here ’ s how MSNBC ’ s Chris Hayes sums it up : It ’ s the GOP ’ s fault .
• The contract worker has been told to not return .
• Buzzfeed adds it appears the DOJ violated its own policy by issuing a press release about the “ discarded ” ballots , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a case of election fraud , and even worse than that , suggesting one candidate over another was favored .
• MSNBC adds that county officials were not aware of who the ballots were for until the DOJ ’ s press release was issued .
• Attorney General Bill Barr personally briefed President Trump about the discarded ballots .
Trump and his White House press secretary then politicized the event .
• The county elections supervisor was exceedingly thorough .
“ Garbage from the Elections Bureau from September 14 through September 16 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ County property , was put in a dumpster and secured by County staff , ” a local Pennsylvania news report states .
“ The trash was then searched by the FBI , the Luzerne County District Attorney ’ s Office , the Pennsylvania State Police and county staff .
All contents relating to the matter were taken by the FBI .
”

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement

Trained in political science and the law, he has no formal education in disaster preparedness or response. And prior to his current role, he never held a full-time job dedicated to emergency management.
Instead, his main qualification was being chief of staff to then-mayor Alan Arakawa. But in that role, he told Civil Beat Tuesday, he assisted during emergency operations. And he said he participated in online FEMA trainings and workshops throughout the years.
In 2017, Andaya beat out 40 other applicants for the job, Maui Now reported at the time.
As the mayor’s administration was coming to a close, a panel of government officials – which said it was independent of the mayor – chose Andaya for the civil service role.
Civil Beat reviewed Andaya’s experience after historic Lahaina was swallowed by an inferno last week, killing scores of residents and visitors who never saw it coming.
The Maui Emergency Management Agency had the authority to issue siren warnings that might have alerted people. After Andaya’s agency decided not to sound them, many survivors reported they only became aware of the fire when they saw and smelled smoke.
Andaya said sounding the sirens wasn’t an option officials considered because they’re “mainly used for tsunamis.” That’s why they’re mostly located on the coast, he said.
But the state’s own website says the sirens are useful for many kinds of emergencies.
“The all-hazard siren system can be used for a variety of both natural and human-caused events; including tsunamis, hurricanes, dam breaches, flooding, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, terrorist threats, hazardous material incidents, and more,” the site states.
Andaya wasn’t on the island when the fires started, and he hasn’t made any appearances at press conferences since the disaster occurred.
Asked about Andaya’s resume, David Hafner, a retired telecommunications planner for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, questioned whether his relative inexperience affected his agency’s performance in a crisis.
“It’s a good ol’ boy network,” Hafner said. “This time it cost lives.”
Hafner said it’s “absolutely essential” for emergency management leaders to have experience in the field so they make the right decisions both before and after disasters strike.
Not having it, he said, “can lead to grave mistakes in judgment.”
Andaya’s hiring came at a time when Hawaii’s counties had just taken on increased responsibility for disaster response, according to Hafner. State emergency management officials used to be the designated authority to respond to emergencies, he said, but an update to the law in 2014 put the counties in the driver’s seat.
Asked about Andaya’s LinkedIn resume, Colin Moore, a political scientist at the University of Hawaii, said he was shocked by the emergency administrator’s lack of relevant experience. He said the public is owed an explanation.
“It’s a legitimate question to ask why the person leading the county emergency services agency has no clear background in fire, police, public health, the usual emergency services backgrounds,” he said.
“Having that on-the-ground experience, you develop the instincts and the connections to be able to perform a job like this. And if you just have general government experience, there is just no opportunity to have that kind of on-the-ground knowledge that often is really useful in a crisis.”
Andaya said as a former member of the mayor’s cabinet, he was qualified for the job.
“Whenever there was an activation in the emergency operations center, we were involved,” he said. “To say that I have no experience or no background in emergency management is not correct.”
‘Political Influence’ A Concern
Andaya, 52, is from Maui and graduated from HP Baldwin High School.
He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from the University of Hawaii Manoa. He also has a law degree from the UH Richardson School of Law, although he never became a licensed attorney, according to the Hawaii State Bar Association’s online database.
He began his career clerking for Maui Judge Artemio Baxa. He then worked for the law office of Lynn Araki-Regan, an attorney who is the wife of Arakawa’s managing director, Keith Regan.
When Andaya vacated his position as chief of staff, it was filled by Araki-Regan, who was by then the county budget director. Regan said he had no involvement in Andaya’s hiring.
From the early 2000s onward, Andaya has held leadership positions in Maui’s Department of Housing and Human Concerns and worked as the assistant to the chancellor of UH’s Maui College, according to his LinkedIn resume. He is married to Rowena Dagdag-Andaya, a former elementary school teacher who served as Maui’s public works director and now works in Maui’s Office on Aging.
Andaya was Arakawa’s chief of staff from 2011 through 2017. That year, the mayor appointed him acting administrator of MEMA, and he became permanent by the end of that year.
In contrast, Honolulu’s emergency management director, Hiro Toiya, has technical training in emergency response, worked for years as a preparedness planner for the Hawaii health department and rose up the ranks of Honolulu’s Department of Emergency Management. He worked there for more than seven years before becoming the director.
Asked how he stood out among a pool of 40 job candidates, Andaya said Maui doesn’t have a lot of emergency management professionals to begin with. He noted that he had to take an exam and based on his score was determined to be a finalist.
“You would have to question the civil service process if you can believe that politics was involved,” he said. “This is something that my predecessors have to go through as well.”
Before Andaya was hired, there were concerns in Maui’s political scene that the county was considering someone who wasn’t qualified.
“In the past, this position has sometimes been filled by individuals without the proper emergency response background.”
Former Maui County Council Chairman Mike White
In July 2017, the chair of the Maui County Council at the time, Mike White, took the unusual step of writing a Maui News column warning that the job of emergency management was too important to be “subject to political influence.”
“In the past, this position has sometimes been filled by individuals without the proper emergency response background,” White wrote.
“The administration must search for well-qualified candidates who can make a seamless transition in leading our Emergency Management Agency. The stakes are too high and our community has grown to a point where emergency coordination has become quite sophisticated in its implementation.”
In his column, White praised the outgoing emergency management chief, Anna Foust, who had previously worked for years leading the Maui branch of the Red Cross. White emphasized her expertise.
“During her tenure, she used her emergency response experience and training to help guide the county to keep citizens safe during hurricane warnings and watches, flooding events and tsunami warnings,” White wrote.
Civil Beat wasn’t able to reach White for comment.
Panel Of Specialists Chose Andaya
On Tuesday, Arakawa’s former managing director, Keith Regan, said that politics was not a factor in Andaya’s hiring. Asked why Andaya was the best candidate, Regan said he didn’t know because he wasn’t on the hiring committee. But he was adamant there was “zero” political influence in the process.
“This was a straightforward civil service process,” said Regan, who is now the state comptroller.
When Regan ran for Maui County Council in 2015, Andaya was his campaign manager. This year, Andaya wrote a letter of support of Regan’s nomination to state comptroller.
Regan noted that the hiring panel included numerous experts in the field. Maui Now identified them at the time as then-Maui Police Chief Tivoli Faaumu; then-Maui Fire Chief Jeff Murray; Elton Ushio, administrator of the Kauai Emergency Management Agency; and Vern Miyagi, then-administrator of the Hawaii State Emergency Management Agency.
At the time, Ushio was quoted by Maui Now as saying Andaya’s “proven leadership abilities, executive level experience, and impressive knowledge of emergency management” made him a great fit for the job. Murray cited Andaya’s familiarity with government processes, his “institutional knowledge of the various emergency incidents” in recent years, and his then-recent work as acting leader of the department.
“These are not people that, you know, are just political people,” Regan said. “They’re people who understand emergency management and are going to make the right choice for the community.”
In a statement, former HI-EMA director Miyagi said the public’s focus should be on working together on response and recovery.
“Herman Andaya and his staff at MEMA are really good people,” he said. “They carried Maui successfully through numerous hurricanes, floods, and other disasters.”
He said the public should wait for the attorney general’s investigation before drawing conclusions.
Civil Beat left messages with the other hiring committee members on Tuesday, but they were not returned. Former mayor Arakawa also did not respond to a request for comment.
“Herman is a very skilled, experienced, knowledgeable, professional individual,” Regan said. “I trust that is making the right decisions … There is no question in my mind that he cares about that community, and he’s going to do everything he can to keep that community safe.”


rawstory--2020-09-25--Trump argues BLM protests are ‘destroying many Black lives’: ‘It’s really hurting the black communit

Trump argues BLM protests are ‘destroying many Black lives’: ‘It’s really hurting the black community’

Speaking before a “ Black Voices for Trump Coalition ” rally in Atlanta , President Donald Trump lashed out at @ @ @ @ @ violence against Black Americans .
“ Many of those who are spreading violence in our @ @ @ @ @ organization called Black Lives Matter or BLM , ” Trump said , despite the fact @ @ @ @ @ an organization , just the ideology that police shouldn ’ t murder Black people .
@ @ @ @ @ Black Voices for Trump Coalition ” booed at the mention of BLM .
“ It @ @ @ @ @ Black community , ” Trump said of protests against police killing Black citizens .
He @ @ @ @ @ protesting police injustice is “ destroying many Black lives .
”

And the alleged perpetrators in both counties are facing felony charges.
The similarity of events in Mesa County and Coffee County were of particular interest to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who has been vocal about the need for vigilance against “insider threats” to election systems. In response to the Georgia indictment, Griswold said such threats, as the nation heads into a new election year in which Trump is the leading GOP candidate for president, remain active.
“I strongly believe Coloradans and Americans deserve and need to know ongoing attempts to steal elections,” Griswold told Colorado Newsline.
The Georgia indictment, which came from a Fulton County grand jury, charged Trump and 18 members of his inner circle on 41 counts. Two defendants with Colorado ties are named in the indictment — Trump attorneys John Eastman, who at the time of the alleged criminal activity was a visiting scholar at the University of Colorado Boulder and currently represents the Colorado Republican Party in a lawsuit against Griswold, and Jenna Ellis, who until recently lived in Colorado and, though she was censured this year over election falsehoods, remains licensed to practice law in the state.
The indictment, which charges each of the defendants with racketeering, among other counts, says that after Trump lost the election the defendants “refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.”
Part of that alleged conspiracy involved Misty Hampton, who in 2020 was the Coffee County elections supervisor. Starting on Jan. 7, 2021 — the day after the Jan. 6 insurrection — Hampton, Trump lawyer Sidney Powell and other co-conspirators broke into the county’s Dominion machines and improperly accessed voter data, according to the indictment. Hampton “allowed” co-conspirators into private areas of the elections office.
About four months later, then-Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters committed an almost identical criminal act, according to prosecutors. The Republican clerk allegedly allowed digital copies of the Mesa County election system server’s software and other sensitive information to be made and disseminated. The case against Peters began with an investigation by Griswold’s office.
Though different people are thought to have been involved in the Colorado and Georgia security breaches, the sweeping indictment out of Fulton County speaks of a wide-ranging conspiracy that involved alleged criminal acts “in other states” and 30 unindicted unnamed co-conspirators. Griswold noted that the breaches occurred as part of national election-denial efforts by figures such as MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, both of whom have ties to Peters. Byrne in a video appeared to acknowledge his own involvement in the Mesa County case.
“Make no mistake, there was a national conspiracy to breach Mesa County’s voting equipment. That has always been very clear. Patrick Byrne admitted his complicity on a video and posted it to Twitter,” Griswold said.
Asked if the Fulton County indictment had any bearing on the Peters case, which does not involve the kind of far-ranging racketeering charges brought in Georgia, Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, whose office is prosecuting the case against Peters, wrote in a text, “We will not be amending our charges, as we want to avoid any further delays and are eager to get our case before a jury.”
Peters did not respond to a text seeking comment.
The parties are due in early September to establish a trial date.
Elbert County was also the site of an election system security breach facilitated by the county’s own top election official. In that case, Colorado election denier Shawn Smith, who was part of the Trump mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and works on “election integrity” efforts for the Lindell-funded Cause of America, helped then-Clerk Dalls Schroeder, a Republican, copy sensitive voter information.
Similar security breaches also occurred in three Michigan counties.
Griswold, a Democrat, said such breaches don’t alter election outcomes. But they serve other purposes, such as spreading disinformation.
“I’m absolutely concerned,” Griswold said. “The purpose of the ‘big lie’ is to create chaos, and chaos is definitely part of local election administrators trying to undermine the election process from within. I am increasingly concerned all across the nation about insider threats.”
Colorado has taken steps, such as passage of Griswold-backed protections against “insider threats,” that put the state in a better position to maintain election security, she said.