This Week: Trump Was Charged with Dozens of Felonies While MAGA Supporters Continued Their Attacks on Political Norms and Systems to Ensure Free and Fair Elections
Yesterday, after decades of investigations by state and federal regulators and prosecutors, former President Donald Trump was charged in New York with 34 felonies for “falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments,” and more indictments seem likely, including indictments related to election fraud in Georgia, improperly taking and keeping classified documents, and attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election at the federal level.
In the classified document case, it was reported this week that Trump may have obstructed justice by rummaging through boxes with classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after he was issued a subpoena demanding he return the documents, “apparently out of a desire to keep certain things in his possession.” In the case related to overturning the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge ordered former Vice President Mike Pence to testify before a grand jury.
This week, MAGA supporters in Texas stepped up efforts to stop the state from participating in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which states use to share data to ensure accurate voter rolls and prevent voter fraud. MAGA-dominated states are abandoning the use of such tools in the wake of conspiracy theories about the systems to prevent election fraud. Meanwhile, a Texas Senate committee passed a bill to make voting more difficult by reducing flexibility on where people can vote.
In Nevada, Gov. Joe Lombardo legislatively introduced “sweeping changes to the state’s election laws,” including requiring ID to vote and making it more difficult to vote by mail.
In Georgia, a bill to reduce access to grants that fund election administration in urban counties was passed by the Senate and sent to the governor, while in North Carolina the state budget introduced in the House includes funding to implement a voter ID requirement and a provision to eliminate donations that help fund the smooth administration of elections.
Arizona State Rep. Liz Harris, an election denier, invited conspiracy theorist Jacqueline Breger, “an insurance agent with no apparent expertise in elections or voting,” to testify before the state legislature. Breger used her time to smear politicians, including Gov. Katie Hobbs, for “taking bribes from a Mexican drug cartel without evidence.” Harris knew details of Breger’s testimony in advance. This week the House Ethics Committee is holding a hearing on the matter.
In Wisconsin this week, state Sen. Dan Knodl, who tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state, said he would consider impeaching Janet Protasiewicz, who defeated an election denier vying for a key seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The court is likely to hear “voting rights cases ahead of the 2024 election where the state is a critical battleground in the presidential race.”
