Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

The troubling role of Clarence Thomas' wife in Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election



For decades, Ginni Thomas, a top brass conservative activist, has devoted her life to advocating for right-wing causes, aligning herself with donor networks and advocacy groups that have and continue to play a key role in maintaining Republican authority. But Ginni Thomas is no ordinary Republican operative; she is also the wife of Supreme Court Clarence Thomas. And as her political activities extreme, critics fear that, given the recent rash of partisan Supreme Court rulings, she may have concerning sway over her husband's jurisprudence.

On Tuesday, The New York Times Magazine reported that the couple has "defied" the ethical "norms" of the Supreme Court, particularly when it comes to Ginni Thomas' political projects, whose goals almost always align with her husband's professed ideological leanings.

"She's an operator; she stays behind the scenes," ex-Trump advisor Steve Bannon told the Times. "Unlike a lot of people who just talk, she gets shit done."

For one, Ginni Thomas reportedly serves in a prominent role in the Council for National Policy, a shadowy umbrella organization that brings together a number of leaders from groups like the Federalist Society, the National Rifle Association and the Family Research Council. According to the Times, Thomas specifically serves on the C.N.P. Action, the 501(c)(4) arm of the organization, which "allows for direct political advocacy."

Following Donald Trump's election loss in November 2020, C.N.P. Action reportedly circulated "action steps" aimed at pressuring state officials in Georgia, Arizona, and Pennsylvania to go along with the former president's campaign to reinstall himself as president.

"There is historical, legal precedent for Congress to count a slate of electors different from that certified by the Governor of the state," the group reportedly wrote in a December memo.

In the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riot, fomented by the very election fraud claims C.N.P. Action espoused, the group reportedly sought to "drive the narrative that it was mostly peaceful protests" and "amplify the concerns of the protestors and give them legitimacy," according to documents obtained by the Times.

By February, a coalition of Pennsylvania Republicans brought Trump's election fraud claims to the Supreme Court, arguing that the ballots had been systematically compromised. While their allegations were ultimately shut down by the court, Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, writing that his own colleagues' reasoning was "inexplicable."

Ginni Thomas has also advocated on several other issues that recently made their way to the Supreme Court. In particular, the Council for National Policy campaigned aggressively against abortion and lockdowns during COVID-19. Incidentally, in January, the Supreme Court in insulated a near-total ban on abortions. And the next month, it prohibited a ban on indoor church services despite the spread of the coronavirus.

Though much of her work is reserved to the world of advocacy, Ginni Thomas also reportedly meddled in the Trump administration's staffing, a habit that at times irked White House aides.

"In the White House, she was out of bounds many times," one of Trump's senior aides told the Times. "It was always: 'We need more MAGA people in government. We're trying to get these résumés through, and we're being blocked.' I appreciated her energy, but a lot of these people couldn't pass background checks."

Another aide, more tersely, called her a "wrecking ball."

According to the Times, Trump told Ginni Thomas that she was welcome to drop in for visits to the White House. Numerous aides said that "she was also reportedly known to pass "notes" to the president "on her priorities through intermediaries."

In one alleged meeting with the president, held back in 2019, Ginni Thomas brought in members of Groundswell, a conservative group that, according to Mother Jones, is planning "a 30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation."

"It was the craziest meeting I've ever been to," a Trump aide told the Times. "She started by leading the prayer." The aide also recalled talk of "the transsexual agenda" and of parents "chopping off their children's breasts."

The following year, the Times noted, Justice Thomas joined his conservative colleagues in a dissent arguing that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

https://www.rawstory.com/the-troubling-role-of-clarence-thomas-wife-in-trump-s-efforts-to-overturn-the-2020-election/

[Rick Plant]

Trump should face these two federal charges based solely on public information: former prosecutor



Donald Trump should be charged with two federal crimes based solely on publicly available information, according to former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade.

McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor, appeared on MSNBC on Tuesday night to discuss her 26-page "model prosecution memo" for Trump published by Just Security.

McQuade said that based on public reporting and Jan. 6 documents, "I think there's a strong case both as to what Donald Trump did, and what his intent was."

"If you look at this, it seems to me that there's very strong evidence that Donald Trump sought to pressure Mike Pence to overturn the election, and that he knew, because of all the information he had, that it was based on a false premise that the election was stolen," McQuade said.

"So what the prosecution memo does is it amasses all that evidence, it puts it in one document, and then it analyzes it," McQuade added. "What are the elements of the offenses, and does the set of facts satisfy the elements of those offenses? And I submit that these two charges that I've laid out here — conspiracy to defraud the United States, and obstruction of an official proceeding — are met by the evidence of Donald Trump pressuring Mike Pence to overturn the election as he did in private meetings, as he did in pubic remarks, as he did on Twitter."

"And, importantly — and I'm not sure it's been gathered in one place — all of the information that Donald Trump had that should have led him to believe that he knew that the election was not stolen," she said. "You know, he has said repeatedly it was stolen, but at some point, when enough people tell you it wasn't, at what point is it a reasonable inference to believe that he never believed it at all? He made it up out of full cloth. A person can say all day, 'The sky is green, the sky is green, the sky is green.' But after dozens of people tell you the sky is blue, and there's not a wit of evidence that the sky is green, I don't think a reasonable juror in America would think that he believe the sky is green."

Watch below.

[Rick Plant]

A Coup in Plain Sight

This is a coup in plain sight. History will judge where we stand in this moment. Which side are you on?

Watch:

[Richard Smith]

Trump tried to warn NATO and Germany back in 2018 about the risks of buying oil from Russia.  The United States pays for their defense from Russia, but they decided to send Russia billions for oil.  And Biden lit the fuse with his disastrous energy policy that made even the US dependent on Russian oil (buying over 250 million barrels).  Thankfully 2024 is a day closer.  After the stock market collapses when the oil prices reach all-time highs and gas prices are over $6 per gallon, Old Joe will go down as perhaps the worst president in US history.  And that is assuming the Russians don't go even further in the face of his weakness and invade other East European countries.  As Obama famously said, "don't underestimate the ability of Joe to F things up."

[Rick Plant]

Truck convoy backers tied to Capitol riot — including MAGA lawyer who called for hangings on Jan. 5: report

A new report claims that groups who are backing the so-called "Freedom Convoy" that was scheduled to leave from California on Wednesday include a political action committee that has focused on defending Florida GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz, as well as a group led by former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn.

"Though it was billed as a grass-roots, nonpartisan event intended to oppose government Covid-19 mandates, a trucker demonstration that left California for Washington, D.C., on Wednesday appeared to be tightly aligned with far-right organizations and activists," the New York Times reports. "Many of those behind the demonstration, which was planned as an American version of last month’s chaotic Canadian protest, have connections to the violent attack on the Capitol in January 2021, or supported the lie that fraud in the 2020 presidential election was to blame for Donald J. Trump’s loss."

About 40 truckers reportedly gathered for the kickoff of the convoy Adelanto, Calif., on Wednesday.

A flag-strewn send-off rally that resembled a Make America Great Again event drew about a hundred more vehicles," the NYT reports. "Unlike in Ottawa, where a recent weekslong protest shut down parts of Canada’s capital, the activity near Barstow, Calif., on Wednesday seemed highly staged, with memorabilia stands and food trucks."

Last month, the Great American Patriot Project PAC, which focused on defending Gaetz amid allegations that he sex-trafficked a minor, issued a call for people to support the convoy.

"Darrel Courtney, the chief executive of the Adelanto Stadium and Event Center, said he received a call last Tuesday from Leigh Dundas, an Orange County lawyer and Republican activist, who wanted to rent the parking lot," the NYT reports. "Ms. Dundas, a lawyer for an anti-vaccine group whose leader was charged with entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Ms. Dundas was videotaped the day before the riot rallying pro-Trump crowds with calls to kill any “alleged Americans” who might have helped undermine the 2020 elections."

Dundas told a crowd in DC on Jan. 5, “We would be well within our rights to take any alleged American who acted in a turncoat fashion and sold us out and committed treason — we would be well within our right to take them out back and shoot them or hang them."

Other organizations supporting the convoy include those led by anti-vaxx leader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Flynn.

"That latter group, the America Project, has combined its attempts to challenge Covid-19 policies with the relentless promotion of pro-Trump election conspiracy theories," the NYT reports. "The group is run by Patrick Byrne, the former chief executive of Overstock.com who, with General Flynn, was central in a bizarre plot to persuade the former president to use the military to seize voting machines in a bid to stay in power."

https://www.rawstory.com/convoy/

[Rick Plant]

Trump ally pressed Arizona Republican to pass bill to erase 2020 election results: report



One of Donald Trump's key advisors pushed Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers to advance a bill to erase the 2020 election results, The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday.

"In a Feb. 11 call, Boris Epshteyn, a lawyer and former special assistant to Trump, pointed again to baseless claims of widespread election fraud as he tried without success to rally support for a vote on a bill by state Republican Rep. Mark Finchem to set aside the results in three Arizona counties, Bowers told The Arizona Republic’s political podcast The Gaggle during a wide-ranging interview this week," the newspaper reported.

Finchem, who praised the Jan. 6 insurrection, is running for Secretary of State in Arizona on a platform of Trump's "big lie" of election fraud. In 2018, Finchem spread conspiracy theories about so-called "MAGA bomber" Cesar Sayoc, who pleaded guilty to 65 felony counts after mail pipe bombs to Trump critics.

Speaker Bowers revealed what he said to Epshteyn when asked why he would not advance Finchem's legislation.

"I said, ‘Because I think it’s a slap in the face of the people of Arizona. It’s a slap in the face of the House of Representatives that we’re going to decertify and take away the sovereign vote of 3.5 million people based on no proof that I’ve ever seen,'” Bowers explained.

He also said he is still waiting for Rudy Giuliani to substantiate his allegations of fraud.

“I said, ‘Right. Send me their names. Send me their names,’” Bowers said. “Rudy didn’t send them. Finchem’s never produced them. Where are they? Where is this proof? It’s been only 15 months. How long do I got to wait?”

In a statement to the newspaper, Epshteyn did not substantiate his debunked allegations of fraud, but instead claimed the resolution takes action regarding "what is widely known as fact, that the 2020 election in Arizona was rigged and stolen from President Trump."

Epshteyn has been subpoenaed by the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"The outreach from Epshteyn is a reminder of Finchem’s close connections to Trump’s political network, and of the continued efforts by Trump’s supporters to recast the 2020 election resultsThe outreach from Epshteyn is a reminder of Finchem’s close connections to Trump’s political network, and of the continued efforts by Trump’s supporters to recast the 2020 election results," the newspaper reported. "Epshteyn, a strategic adviser on Trump’s 2020 campaign, has acknowledged he was part of the pro-Trump effort to set up 'alternate electors' in key states, which involved transmitting certificates to the federal government that indicated a Trump victory where Biden was the certified winner."

Read the full report:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/02/23/ex-trump-aide-pressed-arizona-house-speaker-erase-2020-election-results/6888315001/

[Rick Plant]

Three white supremacists plead guilty in plot to attack US power grid -- and spark a 'race war'



The United States Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that three avowed white supremacists have pleaded guilty to plotting to attack the United States power grid.

According to the DOJ, Christopher Brenner Cook, 20, of Columbus, Ohio; Jonathan Allen Frost, 24, of West Lafayette, Indiana, and of Katy, Texas; and Jackson Matthew Sawall, 22, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, all pleaded guilty this week to one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

The DOJ alleges that the plot was first hatched in 2019, when Cook and Frost began discussing it after meeting in an online chat forum. Sawall was recruited to join them shortly afterward, the DOJ alleges.

As part of the conspiracy, each defendant was assigned a substation in a different region of the United States," DOJ claims. "The plan was to attack the substations, or power grids, with powerful rifles. The defendants believed their plan would cost the government millions of dollars and cause unrest for Americans in the region. They had conversations about how the possibility of the power being out for many months could cause war, even a race war, and induce the next Great Depression."

Assistant Director Timothy Langan of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division said in a prepared statement that the three men "wanted to carry out such a plot because of their adherence to racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist views."

https://www.rawstory.com/white-supremacist-terror-plot/