Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

Trump to address NRA convention in Texas — only days after school shooting massacre



Donald Trump is scheduled to address the National Rifle Association (NRA) national meeting in Houston only days after a school shooting massacre in Uvalde, Texas.

On Tuesday, a gunman killed 14 children and a teacher in Robb Elementary School. Police reportedly killed the suspect, an 18-year-old man.

The shooting occurred only ten days after the mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

On Friday, Trump is scheduled to address the NRA's annual meeting for the 6th time, posting a video of Trump discussing his "love" for the organization.

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1528900395279519744

[Rick Plant]

Wisconsin Republican quits election commission in disgust over Trump's election lies

On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Molly Beck reported that Dean Knudson, a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, is resigning his position.

Knudson, who was appointed by Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, was set to hold office until 2024. However, he has frequently clashed with fellow Republican officials, including Vos himself, for their efforts to legitimize former President Donald Trump's conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

"My core values are to practice service above self and to display personal integrity. And to me that integrity demands acknowledging the truth even when the truth is painful. In this case, the painful truth is that President Trump lost the election in 2020," said Knudson in a statement. "My message to Republicans today is simple: If you're a candidate, focus on the issues that affect Wisconsin families and their pocketbooks. It's time to pivot away from conspiracy theories to kitchen table issues."

According to Beck, Knudson's resignation could throw a monkey wrench into the state commission's scheduled vote to elect a new chairman today. Under commission selection rules, the new chair will have to be another Republican. The only other Republican member currently eligible to be chair is Bob Spindell, who signed on as a fake elector to the pro-Trump "alternate" slate falsely alleging that the former president won the state.

Knudson has urged the commission to instead wait until he is replaced to hold the vote.

Wisconsin lawmakers have furiously sought to lend credence to Trump's conspiracy theories, most notably hiring former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman to conduct an audit of the election. Gableman came back with a report arguing the state should "decertify" its results, a proposal that is legally impossible and has drawn scorn from even some GOP lawmakers.

https://www.rawstory.com/wisconsin-voting/

[Rick Plant]

DOJ probe of fake elector conspiracy focusing on Trump's inner circle: CNN



Donald Trump's inner circle is the focus of an investigation by the Department of Justice into the fraudulent electors that were submitted to Congress by Republicans in multiple states.

"Justice Department prosecutors have subpoenaed information about some of former President Donald Trump's lawyers and closest advisers as part of their criminal investigation into efforts to put forward fake slates of electors in the 2020 election, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN. The subpoena asks a witness connected to a slate of "alternate" electors for Trump in a state that Joe Biden won to provide to a federal grand jury any communications with government employees, with the Trump campaign and with some of the most prominent people around Trump in 2020, according to the source familiar with the probe," CNN reported Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, The New York Times reported the focus was on lawyers, including Giuliani, Eastman, Jenna Ellis and Kenneth Chesebro.

The CNN list also includes advisor Boris Epshteyn and Giuliani sidekick Bernard Kerik along with rump lawyers Joe diGenova, Victoria Toensin.

"The subpoena, the source said, specifically asks about the signing or mailing of certificates of elector votes for Trump in 2020," CNN reported. "Legal experts have said that the Republican electors who sent the fake certificates or anyone who facilitated the plot could be vulnerable to prosecution, including for providing false voting documents to the federal government."

Nobody has yet been charged for the alternate electors.

"In March, a federal judge in California ruled in a civil case that Mr. Eastman had most likely conspired with Mr. Trump to obstruct Congress and defraud the United States by helping to devise and promote the alternate elector scheme, and by presenting plans to Mr. Pence suggesting that he could exercise his discretion over which slates of electors to accept or reject at the Jan. 6 congressional certification of votes," The Times reported. "The scheme, which involved holding meetings and drafting emails and memos, was 'a coup in search of a legal theory,' wrote the judge, David O. Carter of the Central District of California."

Read more here: 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/25/politics/justice-department-fake-elector-plot-trump-lawyers-advisers/index.html

[Rick Plant]

DOJ's investigation into fake electors focuses on Trump lawyers: report



The Department of Justice is ramping up its investigation into the creation of alternate slates of pro-Trump electors seeking to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 election victory, The New York Times reports.

The investigation is particularly focusing on a team of lawyers who worked for former President Donald Trump.

"A federal grand jury in Washington has started issuing subpoenas in recent weeks to people linked to the alternate elector plan, requesting information about several lawyers including Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and one of his chief legal advisers, John Eastman, one of the people said," the Times reports.

Also sought by the subpoenas are pro-Trump lawyers like Jenna Ellis and Kenneth Chesebro.

As the Times points out, election officials in seven key swing states offered formal lists of pro-Trump electors to the Electoral College claiming that the states would lean in favor of Trump when their claims of mass voter fraud were accepted.

Submitting false statements to a federal agency or agent is a federal crime.

Trump's unceasing and unfounded claims that the November 2020 presidential vote was "stolen" by Democrat Joe Biden have seeped into the political bloodstream.

Seventy-eight percent of the Republicans surveyed by CNN-SSRS said they do not believe Biden legitimately won the presidency, a figure in line with the findings of other opinion polls.

"It's a new phenomenon in American elections," said Edward Foley, a constitutional law professor at The Ohio State University.

"There have been fights over hanging chads -- like Bush vs Gore in 2000 -- and there have been recounts for as long as there have been elections in America," Foley said.

"But the 'Big Lie' is a new thing. It's disconnected from reality and it's kind of a social pathology."

AFP

[Rick Plant]

NYT’s Maggie Haberman reacts to 'stunning' testimony that Trump approved of ‘Hang Mike Pence’ chants



The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots has heard testimony the former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows told aides that former President Donald Trump approved of his supporters calling for the hanging of then-Vice President Mike Pence.

Appearing on CNN Thursday, Haberman said that the testimony lines up well with what Trump was saying publicly about Pence even as rioters stormed the Capitol and chanted for him to be hung.

"We know at the time that Trump was venting to aides that Pence was not doing what he wanted, which was, you know, exerting a power that Pence had told Trump he didn't have to interfere in the certification of the Electoral College vote in Congress that day," she said. "And Trump tweeted at 2:24 p.m. that day that he was angry at Pence... he was denouncing pence for not doing this. It's not hugely surprising... that Trump said that and yet it is still pretty stunning."

As the rioters were storming the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, Trump initially resisted calls to tell the rioters to stand down, and he sent out a tweet criticizing Pence for not rejecting certified election results just minutes after the then-vice president was shown on live television being rushed off the floor of the United States Senate.

"Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify," Trump wrote at 2:24 p.m. on January 6th, 2021. "USA demands the truth!"

Watch the video of Haberman below:

[Rick Plant]

Another rough day for Donnie as he loses his court appeal. He will now have to testify under oath. Can you imagine this pathological liar testifying under oath? He's a talking perjury case. Have fun Donnie! 

Trump loses appeal in NY civil probe -- now he'll have to testify under oath



A four-judge panel has ruled against former President Donald Trump in his attempt to get out of testifying under oath in a civil lawsuit filed by the New York State Attorney General.

Per The Associated Press, the panel upheld Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron's ruling from earlier this year that enforced the New York AG's subpoena against the twice-impeached former president.

In their ruling, the judges shot down arguments made by Trump lawyers that he should not be forced to testify in a civil probe while a parallel criminal probe into the same instance was also ongoing.

"The existence of a criminal investigation does not preclude civil discovery of related facts, at which a party may exercise the privilege against self-incrimination," they wrote.

The investigation centers on whether the Trump Organization fraudulently misled investors and government officials about a wide range of its property values in an effort to minimize taxes.

Trump must answer questions under oath in the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into his business practices, a state appeals court ruled Thursday, rejecting his argument that he be excused from testifying because his answers could be used in a parallel criminal probe.

A four-judge panel in the appellate division of the state’s trial court upheld Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 17 ruling, which enforced subpoenas requiring that Trump and his two eldest children — Ivanka and Donald Jr. — give deposition testimony in Attorney General Letitia James’ probe.

A message seeking comment was left with lawyers for the Trumps.

James lauded the ruling, which came just two weeks after the appellate panel heard oral arguments in the case. She tweeted that her investigation “will continue undeterred because no one is above the law.”

“Once again, the courts have ruled that Donald Trump must comply with our lawful investigation into his financial dealings,” James said in a written statement. “We will continue to follow the facts of this case and ensure that no one can evade the law.”

James has said her investigation has uncovered evidence Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, used “fraudulent or misleading” valuations of assets like golf courses and skyscrapers to get loans and tax benefits. Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. have both been executives in the Trump Organization and are among their father’s most trusted allies.

The appellate panel, in its ruling, described the investigation as focusing on whether the Trumps “committed persistent fraud in their financial practices and disclosures.”

Appellate Court Judge Rolando T. Acosta appeared to agree with that position, foreshadowing Thursday’s ruling as he questioned Futerfas from the bench.

Anything Trump says in a civil deposition in James’ investigation could be used against him in the criminal probe being overseen by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Last summer, spurred by evidence uncovered by James’ office, the DA’s office charged the Trump Organization and its longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, with tax fraud, alleging he collected more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation. Weisselberg and the company have pleaded not guilty.

Thursday’s appellate court ruling was the latest in a flurry of legal activity involving Trump and the attorney general’s investigation in the last few weeks.

Last week, Trump paid $110,000 in fines and met several other conditions as he seeks to end a contempt of court order Engoron issued on April 25 after he was slow to respond to another subpoena from James seeking documents and other evidence.

On Monday, James’ office said it had subpoenaed Trump’s longtime executive assistant, Rhona Graff, and planned to question her under oath next week in the probe.

Since James’ investigation is civil in nature, she could end up bringing a lawsuit and seeking financial penalties against Trump or his company, or even a ban on them being involved in certain types of businesses

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Rick Plant]

Feds asking Georgia Republicans about contacts with Trump in investigation of fake electors: report

On Thursday, CNN reported that Justice Department investigators have interviewed Republicans in Georgia about whether they had any contacts with former President Donald Trump's campaign, as part of the growing probe into whether a crime was committed in the plot to submit slates of fake "electors" declaring Trump won states he did not win.

"In one case, FBI agents asked a prominent Georgia Republican whether he had direct conversations with Trump," reported Katelyn Polantz. "'They just asked who talked to me. If anyone from the Trump campaign had been in touch with me. Did Giuliani talk to me? Did Trump talk to me?' said Patrick Gartland, who was set to serve as an elector but dropped out. He recounted how two FBI agents visited his home in Marietta, Georgia, a few weeks ago."

"Investigators have sought answers this month from Gartland and others connected to the GOP in Georgia — both in FBI interviews and in grand jury subpoenas for documents and testimony," said the report. "Investigators are looking at whether the Trump campaign played a role in the submission of false election certificates, according to people approached by the Justice Department."

The fake electors plot was spearheaded by pro-Trump attorney John Eastman, who laid out a plan whereby then-Vice President Mike Pence would declare all the Biden-won states with "alternate" Trump electors to be disputed, not count their votes during the gaveling of the electoral college, and declare Trump the winner. Legal experts broadly considered this scheme to be illegal, as did Pence himself.

"The subpoenas issued to Gartland and others are seeking communications with 'any member, employee or agent of Donald J. Trump or any organization advocating in favor of the 2020 re-election of Donald J. Trump,' including his official campaign," said the report. "The subpoenas also seek any communications with more than two dozen named Trump campaign officials, attorneys and Georgia electors. CNN reported Wednesday that a recent subpoena related to the alternate electors sought communications with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Trump campaign lawyer Justin Clark, right-wing attorney John Eastman and others."

According to the report, the case hinges on whether the fake electors truly believed Trump won and the election was in dispute, or if they knew they had lost and their scheme was an act of fraud — which could mean more obvious criminal liability for the actors involved.

Read more here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/09/23/eastman-memo-jan-6-trump/