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Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — December 19, 2023

By December 19, 2023No Comments

Driving the Day

Must Read Stories

Rudy Giuliani to pay $148 million in defamation suit over false 2020 election claims

  • Washington Post: Rudy Giuliani ordered to pay $148 million for false 2020 election claims: “A federal jury ordered Rudy Giuliani on Friday to pay $148 million to two election workers who sued him for defamation, asserting that the former attorney for Donald Trump exposed them to a life-altering torrent of abuse and trauma by promoting false claims that they stole the 2020 election from the former president in Georgia. The panel of five women and three men in Washington deliberated for more than nine hours before entering a stunning penalty that was more than three times the $48 million sought by the workers, in the first large judgment against an individual in Trump’s orbit for propagating the myth that vote fraud tipped the election to President Biden.”
  • Wall Street Journal: The Tragedy of Rudy Giuliani: “The tragedy of Rudy Giuliani continues to escalate with last week’s jury award of $148 million in a defamation suit brought by two Georgia election workers. What a long, strange decline for the former mayor who rescued New York City from a previous era of progressive decline. The eight-member Washington, D.C., jury awarded the two election workers three times more than the $48 million they sought, and that is likely to be reduced by the trial judge or an appellate court. But Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ArShaye Moss, of Fulton County, Ga., persuaded the jury and judge that they were falsely accused of manipulating absentee ballot counts. There’s no doubt the two women endured considerable abuse and damage to their reputations after Trump campaign allies singled them out, though Mr. Giuliani says he wasn’t the only person who identified the workers and that other people did the abusing.”
  • New York Times: Giuliani Was Ordered to Pay $148 Million. What Happens Now?: “A federal jury in Washington ordered Rudolph W. Giuliani last week to pay $148 million in damages to two former Georgia election workers he defamed by spreading baseless claims that they tried to steal votes from Donald J. Trump on Nov. 3, 2020. Mr. Giuliani, who faces a litany of legal and financial troubles, has said he will appeal the verdict. Here’s what happens next.”
  • Washington Post: The high costs of election denial: “Former New York mayor and presidential attorney Rudy Giuliani does not have $148 million. We know this because Giuliani has for some time been scrambling to manage his escalating debts, debts that include the rapidly increasing costs of the attorneys that he’s had to retain to defend him in court. One of his former attorneys is suing him for more than $1 million, but, given the events of the past 24 hours, that’s a relatively minor item among Giuliani’s problems. On Friday afternoon — as you almost certainly already know — a jury determined that Giuliani should pay $148 million to two Georgia election workers who he’d repeatedly claimed had helped undermine the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden over President Donald Trump. That amount is 100 times what he owes his attorney, all because Giuliani, in service to Trump’s efforts to retain power despite losing that election, insisted on disparaging Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea ArShaye ‘Shaye’ Moss. Freeman and Moss sought $48 million. The jury thought they were owed far more than that.”

Trump defends indicted Nevada Republicans, praises autocrats, and echoes Putin in disturbing critique of U.S. democracy

  • New York Times: Trump Defends 6 Republicans Charged in Scheme to Overturn His 2020 Loss: “Former President Donald J. Trump on Sunday defended six Nevada Republicans who were recently indicted in connection with a scheme to overturn his 2020 election loss, claiming without evidence that they were victims of political persecution by the Biden administration. Mr. Trump has repeatedly rebuffed accusations this month that he has anti-democratic inclinations by pointing his finger at President Biden. He often claims without evidence that Mr. Biden is weaponizing the Justice Department to influence the 2024 election.”
  • ABC: Trump, again, praises dictators and rails against immigrants — again sparking backlash: Former President Donald Trump spent his latest rally in New Hampshire praising multiple authoritarian leaders and quoting Russian President Vladimir Putin to try and discredit the criminal indictments against him — while sparking new backlash from critics that his anti-immigrant sentiment echoes Adolf Hitler. ‘They’re poisoning the blood of our country. That’s what they’ve done,’ Trump said Saturday in Durham, New Hampshire. ‘They’re coming into our country, from Africa, from Asia, all over the world. They’re pouring into our country.’ The former president, again, praised authoritarian leaders including Hungary’s Viktor Orban, China’s Xi Jinping, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.”
  • Washington Post: Trump quotes Putin condemning American democracy, praises autocrat Orban: “Trump quoted Putin, the dictatorial Russian president who invaded neighboring Ukraine, criticizing the criminal charges against Trump, who is accused in four separate cases of falsifying business records in a hush-money scheme, mishandling classified documents, and trying to overturn the 2020 election results. In the quotation, Putin agreed with Trump’s own attempts to portray the prosecutions as politically motivated. ‘It shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy,’ Trump quoted Putin saying in the speech. Trump added: ‘They’re all laughing at us.’ Approaching the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Trump came to the defense of alleged violent offenders who have been detained awaiting trial on the order of judges. ‘I don’t call them prisoners, I call them hostages,’ he said. ‘They’re hostages.’”

In the States 

KANSAS: Kansas Supreme Court rules that the case over two state voter suppression laws must be heard

  • Associated Press: Kansas’ top court says a GOP election law is vague and revives a lawsuit against it: “A Kansas law that makes it a felony to impersonate an elections official is vague enough that voting rights advocates can pursue a legal challenge, the state’s highest court ruled Friday, reviving a lawsuit that a lower court dismissed. The Kansas Supreme Court’s decision came in a challenge to a 2021 law that critics say hinders voter registration drives. Four groups argued in the lawsuit that their members could be prosecuted even if they were clear that they were not election officials but others still mistakenly believed they were. Backers of the law have scoffed at that argument. The groups are pursuing another lawsuit against other election restrictions that the Republican-led Legislature passed in 2021 over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto amid false claims by some in the GOP that the 2020 presidential election wasn’t valid. One of the groups, Loud Light, said the law at issue in Friday’s ruling led it to stop registering voters even though it registered 10,000 in 2020.”
  • Kansas City Star: Kansas Supreme Court revives challenge to election crime law brought by civic groups: “The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday revived a lawsuit by civic groups challenging a state law criminalizing ‘false representation’ of an election official, but didn’t rule on the law itself. The League of Women Voters of Kansas, Loud Light, and other groups that register voters are fighting to overturn the 2021 law, which the Republican-controlled Legislature passed in the wake of false conspiracy theories and doubts about the 2020 presidential election. The state Supreme Court on Friday morning reversed a decision by the Kansas Court of Appeals dismissing the challenge and in its opinion sent the case back to the appeals court. But two hours later, the Supreme Court released an order signed by Chief Justice Marla Luckert pausing the directive in the opinion and sending the case back. Luckert wrote that the court instead intends to transfer the case back to itself — a signal it may rule on the law without allowing the Court of Appeals to rule first. She cited a state law that allows the Supreme Court to take control of cases in the Court of Appeals.”

KENTUCKY: Kentucky Supreme Court upholds Republican-drawn state and congressional voting districts contested by Democrats

  • Kentucky Lantern: Kentucky Supreme Court affirms voting districts in gerrymandering challenge: “Kentucky’s recently redrawn congressional and legislative districts will stand for future elections. In an opinion published Thursday morning, the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate’s previous decision that the maps were a result of ‘partisan gerrymanders’ but did not find them unconstitutional. ‘Regardless of how unusual or eye-raising it may be, we must not erase it unless it plainly leaves the four corners of our constitutional frame,’ the opinion, written by Justice Angela McCormick Bisig, says. “In applying the substantially deferential standard we afford to purely political acts by a coordinate branch of government, we perceive no such constitutional infirmity and thus affirm the trial court’s conclusion that the redistricting statutes pass constitutional muster.” Kentucky Democrats filed the lawsuit after the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly adopted the maps last year. The Supreme Court decided to hear the case earlier this year, bypassing the Court of Appeals.”

MINNESOTA: Judge dismisses conservative challenge to Minnesota’s new law restoring felons’ voting rights

  • Star Tribune: Anoka judge rejects challenge to Minnesota’s new law restoring voting rights to felons: “An Anoka County judge rejected a conservative group’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Minnesota’s new law restoring voting rights to felons upon their release from prison. District Judge Thomas Lehmann ruled Wednesday that the Minnesota Voters Alliance did not meet the legal threshold to sue because their arguments amounted to a ‘disagreement with policy,’ and that they failed to prove that the Legislature overstepped its authority when it voted last session to extend voting rights to the formerly incarcerated. Until then, those released from jail or prison were required to wait until they had completed probation — which could take decades —and paid all outstanding fines to regain their right to vote. Attorneys representing the Alliance argued that a clause in the state’s Constitution suggests that felons cannot vote ‘unless restored to civil rights.’ They interpreted that phrase to mean that the individual must fulfill their entire felony sentence, including probation, before becoming eligible to vote.”

NORTH DAKOTA: Federal court says that North Dakota must redraw its legislative map to comply with the Voting Rights Act

  • Associated Press: Court ruling backs tribes’ effort to force lawmakers to redraw North Dakota legislative boundaries: “A federal appeals court denied a request on Friday to delay a judge’s decision that North Dakota’s legislative map violates the Voting Rights Act in diluting the voting strength of two Native American tribes. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision comes a week before the deadline set by the judge for the state to adopt a new map of legislative districts. Last month, U.S. District Chief Judge Peter Welte ruled that the map violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in that it ‘prevents Native American voters from having an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.’ He gave North Dakota Republican Secretary of State Michael Howe and the GOP-controlled Legislature until Dec. 22 ‘to adopt a plan to remedy the violation.’”

What Experts Are Saying

Norm Eisen and Joshua Kolb, on Trump’s presidential immunity appeal to the Supreme Court, for Slate: “The problem for Trump is that this is at best a temporary victory. We think he will ultimately lose his presidential immunity appeal because, as we have argued before, such presidential protection would be antithetical to the Constitution, our laws, and the nation’s foundational democratic principles. Moreover, Jack Smith has cleverly pushed the issue to the Supreme Court—which is likely to speed up the winding appellate process Trump was counting on to delay the trial past the November 2024 election. The high court seems inclined to take the case and to do so on an expedited basis. That is suggested by the fact that the court has already ordered briefing by next Wednesday, Dec. 20, on whether they will take up the immunity question.”

Marc Elias for Democracy Docket: “Perhaps the biggest redistricting victory of the year came earlier this week when New York’s highest court ordered the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to redraw the state’s congressional map in time for 2024. This has the potential for Democrats to gain four to six new seats next year. Democracy did not only win in redistricting cases, the courts protected voting rights as well. In Pennsylvania, the courts rejected two Republican lawsuits aimed at restricting mail-in voting. In a third Pennsylvania victory, a federal court struck down the state’s rejection of otherwise valid mail-in ballots that have an incorrect or missing date on the outer envelope.”

Dennis Aftergut and Austin Sarat, on Rudy Giuliani’s guilty verdict, for Salon: “After a weeklong trial, the jury ruled that Rudy Giuliani has to pay up. The former mayor of New York now owes $148 million for the damage his lies caused two Georgia women, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss. In the weeks after the 2020 election, he had widely broadcast false accusations that the two election workers had stolen ballots under the table in Atlanta’s election center and changed them from Trump votes to Biden votes. No, Rudy Giuliani can’t pay anything close to a $148 million judgment. That isn’t the point. Juries have long been thought of as the conscience of the community, and the jury in the Giuliani case sent a powerful message to two courageous women, to America, and to Trump. The Giuliani jury did its civic duty just like Freeman and Moss had done theirs.”

David Axelrod, on Trump’s extremist rhetoric, on X (Twitter): “In a democracy, the people have the final word. If America chooses a president who approvingly quotes the murderous Putin, recycles  Hitler’s  hateful  libel against the Jews to slime immigrants, and hails the likes of Kim Jung-Un, sad to say, America will get the president it deserves.”

Carol Anderson, on voter intimidation in the state of Georgia and across the country, for Democracy Docket: “The use of voter challenges to intimidate voters is a historic Georgia tradition going back to Reconstruction and carrying through to Jim Crow. Yet, since the passage of S.B. 202, those challenges are carried forward with a vengeance. Election after election, tens of thousands of voters have had their eligibility challenged by a handful of private vigilantes. These vigilantes, replicants of True the Vote, say their work is about ensuring accurate voter rolls, but in private strategy and training calls, they admit that the aim is to ‘largely target voters in Democratic, urban areas.’ The targeting of Democrats in urban areas means that county boards of elections in major urban hubs, like Atlanta, are taking the brunt of the hits. As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently reported, under S.B. 202, ‘conservative activists have filed over 100,000 more voter challenges, primarily in Atlanta-area counties with large numbers of Democratic voters.’”

Headlines

Extremism

Salon: Trump echoes Hitler — and MAGA hears it loud and clear

Newsweek: QAnon Shaman Rejects Conspiracy Theory That Helped Make Him Famous

Trump investigations and cases

Newsweek: Jack Smith Lands Two-Star Witnesses Against Donald Trump

Washington Post: Tracking the Trump investigations and where they stand

The Messenger: Trump’s Georgia Attorneys, Citing First Amendment, Ask for Dismissal of Indictment

Newsweek: Ex-FBI Agent Says Missing Russia Binder Could ‘Expose US Intel Sources’

January 6 and the 2020 Elections

The Gander: Michigan man gets prison for attacking cops in Jan. 6 riot

Salon: Jan. 6 officer: Republicans would “keep us from protecting the Capitol” if Trump tries another coup

The Times and Democrat: SC men arrested for actions during Jan. 6 Capitol breach

Opinion

Washington Post: Karen Tumulty: The young are losing faith in democracy. Here’s what to do about it

New York Times: David French: Behold, MAGA Man

Newsweek: Dan Perry: The Mediocrity of Donald Trump Is Part of the Danger 

In the States

Wisconsin Public Radio: New Michigan law means people leaving prison will automatically be registered to vote

Governing: Red States Struggle to Clean Voter Rolls Without ERIC

Louisiana Illuminator: 5th Circuit denies Louisiana’s appeal in congressional redistricting case

WSB-TV: Judge orders Cobb Board of Elections to create “interim remedial map” after gerrymander accusations