Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

REVEALED: Trump allies secretly pushed DHS to help change the results of the 2020 election



A Donald Trump ally who's running to oversee Arizona's elections played a key role in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and he was joined in those efforts by a fringe figure who was in constant contact with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem asked the Department of Homeland Security to conduct “a full spectrum forensic examination” of voting machines" in the final weeks of the Trump presidency, and he got the attention of the department's acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, reported Politico.

“We need to do a call on this today,” wrote acting director Brandon Wales minutes after receiving the request from Finchem, early on the morning of Christmas Eve 2020.

Politico reviewed the emails obtained by the watchdog group American Oversight through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and showing attempts by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and outside allies like Finchem to reverse the former president's election loss, and some of those individuals remain active in government roles.

Trump met in the Oval Office on Dec. 18, 2020, with supporters, including Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Michael Flynn, to discuss extreme measures -- such as an executive order to have the Department of Defense seize voting machines -- to change the election outcome, and Finchem's outreach to CISA appears to have originated around that time.

The newly released emails show that top CISA officials reviewed Finchem's request, which was sent through a standard online form, six days after the Oval Office meeting, and the request made its way up the chain of command over the following days and an employee whose name was redacted noted the agency conducted fact-finding on the issue with Arizona's secretary of state Katie Hobbs and the state election director.

Finchem specifically asked for help probing voting machines from CISA's Hunt and Incidence Response Teams, a term that's not widely used outside the cybersecurity world, and he asked for a company known as CyTech, which he believed was connected to Raytheon Technologies, examine the voting equipment using their CyFIR technology.

CyTech, CyFIR and their former owner Ben Cotton eventually did play a role in the effort to overturn Trump's election loss when they were hired by Cyber Ninjas to examine voting machines in Maricopa County, Arizona, in an audit ordered by the Republican-led state Senate.

Cotton copied data from the county and drove with it to a lab in Montana, and he also gave a presentation when the final report was delivered to the state Senate.

He sold CyFIR last year to eSentire and works for that company, which was aware of its role in the Arizona audit, as a vice president for incident response.

Another email obtained by American Oversight appears to show another Trump ally, which the watchdog believes to be Flynn associate Phil Waldron, directly contacted Chad Mizelle, DHS’ acting general counsel, on Dec. 21, 2020, to request a collaboration.

Waldron reportedly originated the strategy to have the Defense Department seize voting machines, and he also distributed a PowerPoint presentation urging Trump to declare a state of emergency

“It’s concerning that someone like Phil Waldron had this degree of access to DHS officials even while he and other Trump allies were pursuing dangerous schemes to reverse the election,” said American Oversight spokesperson Dera Silvestre. “It’s even more concerning that we’re only now finding out about it, over a year later.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/12/trump-ally-arizona-voting-machine-audit-00024444

[Rick Plant]

Notorious 'coup memo' author John Eastman tried to get Wisconsin to 'decertify' Biden's win — last month

https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/john-eastman-january-6.png?id=28271984&width=3500&height=1968

On Monday, ABC News reported that infamous right-wing lawyer John Eastman tried to persuade Republicans in the Wisconsin General Assembly to "decertify" that state's 2020 election results showing President Joe Biden as the winner — last month.

"Eastman, a right-wing lawyer who drafted a plan for former President Donald Trump to cling to power by falsely claiming then-Vice President Mike Pence could reject legitimate electors during the 2020 presidential election, was part of a small group of Trump allies who secured a private meeting last month to try and convince the Republican leader of the Wisconsin state Assembly to decertify President Joe Biden’s win, multiple sources familiar with the meeting told ABC," reported Will Steakin, Katherine Faulders, and Laura Romero.

"Eastman in the meeting urged [Assembly Speaker Robin] Vos to decertify the election, sources familiar with the meeting said," the report continued. "According to Jefferson Davis, a Wisconsin activist pushing to reverse Biden’s victory who was also in the meeting, Trump’s former lawyer pushed Vos to start 'reclaiming the electors' and move forward with 'either a do over or having a new slate of electors seated that would declare someone else the winner.'"

Vos has pushed to investigate the results of the Wisconsin election, hiring a former state Supreme Court justice to try to drum up evidence for Trump's conspiracy theories about the race being stolen. There is no evidence the election was stolen, and no legal mechanism by which Wisconsin could decertify their results.

Eastman's infamous "coup memo" outlined an untested legal theory that if Republican state legislatures in states Biden won sent "alternate" lists of Trump electors, Pence could rule neither set of electors are counted and erase Biden's electoral majority, throwing control of the White House to the House of Representatives, where Republicans controlled enough state delegations to throw the election to Trump. Most experts believed this plan to be illegal, including Pence himself, who did not go through with it.

Eastman is currently under an ethics investigation by the California State Bar, under which he is licensed to practice law.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-lawyer-amid-clash-jan-committee-pushing-decertify/story?id=83965757

[Rick Plant]

'They think he's a child': GOP pollster claims Republicans are laughing behind Trump's back



In a column asserting that there is increasing evidence Republicans can put former president Donald Trump in their rearview mirrors and move on without him, longtime political observer Eleanor Clift reports one well-known conservative pollster admitted that the GOP lawmakers privately have a very low opinion of the former leader of the free world.

As Clift points out, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) took some very pointed jabs at the former president over a week ago, telling attendees at the annual Gridiron dinner, "He's f***ing crazy! The press often will ask me if I think Donald Trump is crazy. And I'll say it this way: I don't think he's so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution. But I think if he were in one, he ain't getting out."

As the columnist notes, the notoriously thin-skinned Trump did not respond in kind to the popular Republican governor which should hearten conservatives and wants to leave the twice impeached former president and his 2020 election loss behind.

"Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said he hadn’t heard a Republican drop that many f-bombs since the Nixon administration. He also praised Sununu as the vanguard of a new GOP that dares to speak the truth, then assailed him for taking credit for federal spending in his state passed by Democrats while simultaneously denouncing Washington politicians for their free spending," the Daily Beast columnist wrote. "The crowd of media and political professionals, as evidenced by their enthusiastic response, seemed to sense that something significant had shifted with this fresh face grabbing the spotlight and saying the emperor has no clothes."

According to pollster Frank Luntz, who advised Republican for decades, Sununu was saying out loud what most GOP lawmakers are thinking.

“I don’t know a single Republican who was surprised by what Sununu said. He said what they were thinking," Luntz explained.

Elaborating on GOP attitudes about the former president, Luntz stated, "They won’t say it [in public], but behind his back, they think he’s a child. They’re laughing at him. That’s what made it [Sununu’s comments] significant.”

“Trump isn’t the same man he was a year ago,” the pollster continued. “Even many Republicans are tired of going back and rehashing the 2020 election. Everybody else has moved on and in Washington everyone believes he lost the election.”

Clift then cautioned that attitudes about Trump are subject to change depending on which way the political winds blow, writing, "Republicans may be laughing at Trump behind his back, as Luntz indicated, but making fun of the former president could backfire. When President Barack Obama ridiculed Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2011, the putdown was so stinging that some believe it prompted the real-estate tycoon’s 2016 bid for the presidency."

"This time around, we will learn when the votes are counted in the nearly 130 races where Trump has endorsed a candidate, testing his strength in the Republican Party to pick governors and senators and even state legislators—and testing the theories of those who say his best days are behind him, and the fortitude of those who mock him," she added.

You can read more here:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/heres-how-the-gop-can-move-beyond-trumpism-following-chris-sununu?ref=home

[Rick Plant]

Former Roger Stone aide urged Trump supporters to 'descend on the Capitol' -- and martial law would be declared



The New York Times is reporting that Jason Sullivan, a onetime aide to Trump ally Roger Stone, encouraged Trump supporters on a conference call to "descend on the Capitol" on January 6th, 2021 -- and he said that after they did, former President Donald Trump would declare martial law.

According to the report, Sullivan told Trump supporters that the purpose of going to the Capitol was to ensure members of Congress knew that "people are breathing down their necks" and demanding that they not certify President Joe Biden's victory.

He then said Trump would declare martial law to stop the certification of the election and said he would not leave office.

“Biden will never be in that White House,” Sullivan told the Trump supporters. “That’s my promise to each and every one of you.”

Sullivan also specifically said lawmakers should feel threatened.

“If we make the people inside that building sweat and they understand that they may not be able to walk in the streets any longer if they do the wrong thing, then maybe they’ll do the right thing,” he said. “We have to put that pressure there.”

The call took place on December 30, 2020, roughly a week before angry Trump fans violently rioted at the Capitol.

"Mr. Sullivan’s remarks during the call appeared to be an effort to motivate a group of people aggrieved by the election to take direct action against members of Congress on Jan. 6, presaging what Mr. Trump himself would say in a speech that day," notes the Times. "While it remains unclear whether anyone on Mr. Sullivan’s call went on to join the mob that breached the Capitol, he seemed to be exhorting his listeners to apply unusual pressure on lawmakers just as they were overseeing the final count of Electoral College votes."

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/12/us/politics/jan-6-capitol-riot-sullivan-trump.html

[Rick Plant]

Prosecutors 'may soon reach a charging decision' on Rudy Giuliani: CNN

Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani recently met with federal prosecutors and unlocked several of his own devices for them -- and now CNN reports that they could reach a decision on whether to charge him with crimes "soon."

CNN's sources say that Giuliani in recent weeks "met with prosecutors and during the meeting he assisted them in unlocking three devices that investigators had been unable to open."

Federal prosecutors seized 18 different devices during a raid on his office last year as part of an investigation into his lobbying activities in Ukraine.

The interest in Giuliani's lobbying activities relates to his efforts to push the Ukrainian government in 2019 to publicly announce investigations into Joe Biden, who at the time was seen as a top potential challenger to former President Donald Trump's reelection bid.

"Prosecutors are investigating whether Giuliani violated US foreign lobbying laws when he sought the ouster of the US ambassador to Ukraine and an investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter," CNN writes. "Prosecutors are exploring whether Giuliani was working on behalf of Ukrainian officials at the same time he was pursuing those efforts as then-President Donald Trump's personal attorney, people familiar with the investigation said."

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/12/politics/rudy-giuliani-phone-unlock/index.html

[Rick Plant]

‘Stop the Steal’ organizer Amy Kremer hit with another big campaign finance fine



Prominent Donald Trump supporter Amy Kremer was slapped with another fine by the Federal Elections Commission, Forbes reported Tuesday.

"Women Vote Smart PAC and its treasurer Any Kremer now owe the Federal Election Commission at least $49,000 in past-due fines for failing to submit financial reports. The FEC disclosed the latest fine, $11,800 for not filing the 2021 mid-year report, on Friday," Zach Everson reported. "Women Vote Smart violated FEC rules from its launch. Founded in May 2016 as Women Vote Trump, it changed names the following month after the FEC pointed out that using a candidate’s name violated campaign-finance rules."

Kremer, along with her daughter Kylie Kremer, was subpoenaed by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol. In that case, the subpoena focused on the women's work for a different organization, Women for America First.

In a September subpoena, select committee chairman Benny Thompson (D-MS) wrote, "according to press reports, you, and others working for you and WFAF to organize the January 6th rally, collectively communicated with President Trump, White House officials including chief of staff Mark Meadows, and others about the rally and other events planned to coincide with the certification of the 2020 Electoral College results."

The FEC has repeatedly sent letters to Kremer that include the identical phrase, "it is important that you file this report immediately."



https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacheverson/2022/04/12/checks--imbalances-stop-the-steal-organizer-amy-kremer-now-owes-almost-50000-in-past-due-fines-to-fec/?sh=6f41965342d7

[Rick Plant]

Alexander Vindman explains how Donald Trump's coup attempt encouraged Putin's Ukraine invasion



Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was one of a few officials who heard former President Donald Trump alleged attempt to bribe the president of Ukraine. He's been trying to warn Americans ever since of the dangers posed by Trump, particularly when it comes to Vladimir Putin and his overarching goal of seizing and reestablishing the Soviet Union.

He was among those who spoke to the New York Times for a deep dive on Russian and European specialist Fiona Hill, who worked on the U.S. National Security Council. Vindman warned that the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was the kind of incident that would signal Putin to start preparing for his invasion.

Vindman told the Times that he recalled his wife Rachel calling him to say that the Capitol was under siege.

"My first impulse was to counterprotest,” Vindman recalled. “I was thinking, What can I do to defend the Capitol? Then I realized that would be a recipe for disaster. It might give the president cause to invoke martial law.”

There was a concern that if Trump invoked martial law, he would use it as a way to stay in the White House and refuse to give up the presidency. In an interview with Salon in February, Vindman noted that such a tactic was never a concern of his, because the military wouldn't go for it, commander-in-chief or not.

"I did not fear the military coming down on the side of Donald Trump," he said. "I trusted that the military was going to be principled and do the right thing, and not be immersed or dragged into domestic politics. But I did have some fears about the president successfully rallying a fringe, extremely right-wing radicalized portion of the public to cause real harm to the peaceful transition of power. And to a certain extent, that did happen. It lasted hours and failed. I have seen such things in other countries. These events leave me deeply worried about the health of our political system. Ultimately, I've tried to raise the alarm about the vulnerabilities in America's democracy and governing institutions without being an alarmist."

Looking back at that and seeing Putin's actions in Ukraine, Vindman said that he can't help but see the link.

“I came to see these seemingly individual events — the Ukraine scandal, the attempt to steal the 2020 election — as part of a broader tapestry. And the domestic effects of all this are bad enough. But there’s also a geopolitical impact. We missed an opportunity to harden Ukraine against Russian aggression," Vindman told the Times.

“Ukraine became radioactive for the duration of the Trump administration," he continued. "There wasn’t serious engagement. Putin had been wanting to reclaim Ukraine for eight years, but he was trying to gauge when was the right time to do it. Starting just months after Jan. 6, Putin began building up forces on the border. He saw the discord here. He saw the huge opportunity presented by Donald Trump and his Republican lackeys. I’m not pulling any punches here. I’m not using diplomatic niceties. These folks sent the signal Putin was waiting for.”

Writing at the Washington Post earlier this year, Colbert King wondered if Putin's actions in 2016 will help Republicans to wake up.

Maybe now that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is well underway, the implications of President Vladimir Putin's actions against the United States in 2016 will finally sink in, especially for Republicans in Congress. After all, he is the same Vladimir Putin "who planned, staged and launched a large-scale war on Ukraine is the same Vladimir Putin who ordered an aggressive, multifaceted, clandestine campaign to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election," wrote King.

His goal, the columnist explained was to pull another country out of the West, while his 2016 goal was to undermine the U.S. democratic process in 2016. Such efforts proved to be successful as he raked in the benefits to having Trump as his White House ally. Now, Putin "perceives that a subjugated Ukraine benefits Russia and is now working to achieve that end," wrote King.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/11/magazine/trump-putin-ukraine-fiona-hill.html