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Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — December 21, 2023

By December 21, 2023No Comments

Driving the Day

Must Read Stories

Groups behind the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot concealed plans, misled authorities

  • Washington Post: New details emerge showing secrecy from White House on planned march on Jan. 6: “The riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, required multiple catalysts. One was the willingness of some of those present to engage in violence: small-scale violence like upending barriers or aggressive violence like attacking law enforcement with blunt objects. Another was the mass of people who were surrounding the building and its defenders, a mass that pressed forward against those barriers and which fed into the energy of the moment. This development was anticipated by some of those engaged in explicit violence. In private chats from the days before the riot, members of the right-wing group Proud Boys discussed whether ‘the normies’ — that is, other protesters — and other attendees were ‘going to push through police lines and storm the capitol buildings.’ On the day of the riot, members of the group engaged to ‘ril[e] up the normies.’ The thousands of people who walked from President Donald Trump’s speech south of the White House to the Capitol that day were a force multiplier.”
  • NBC: Group that planned Jan. 6 rally lied about Capitol march plans, government report says: “The pro-Trump organization that applied for a Jan. 6 demonstration permit purposely misled authorities about their intentions that day, according to a new report from a government watchdog. Representatives of Women For America First told the National Park Service that they did not intend to walk from their planned demonstration on the Ellipse, near the White House, to the Capitol on Jan. 6 despite evidence they expected then-President Donald Trump to call for a march, according to the 47-page report from the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General. The group ‘intentionally failed to disclose information to the NPS regarding its knowledge of a post-demonstration march,’ the report said.”
  • CNN: Group tied to January 6 Capitol attack lied to Interior Department, watchdog says: “Women for America First, a group formed to support former President Donald Trump, lied on a permit for the protest held at the Ellipse near the White House on January 6, 2021, a report from the inspector general with the Interior Department found. According to the report, WFAF ‘intentionally failed to disclose information’ regarding a march to the US Capitol when the group applied for a permit with the National Park Service to demonstrate on the Ellipse. ‘In preparation for WFAF’s demonstration at the Ellipse, the NPS coordinated with WFAF on logistics, required documentation, and security. Throughout the permitting process, the NPS asked WFAF if it planned to march after the demonstration, and WFAF repeatedly stated it did not,’ the IG report said.”

Judge grants DOJ access to over 1,600 records from Rep. Perry’s phone in Trump election probe

  • Washington Post: Judge again turns over Rep. Perry’s phone records to DOJ Jan. 6 probe: “A federal judge on Tuesday granted the Justice Department access to nearly 1,700 records recovered from the cellphone of Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) in a long-running legal battle in the criminal investigation of former president Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of D.C. gave investigators access to 1,659 records and withheld 396 others after a federal appeals court directed him to individually review 2,055 communications from Perry’s phone to decide which were protected by the Constitution’s ‘speech or debate’ clause, which grants members of Congress immunity from criminal investigation when acting in their official capacities.”
  • Politico: Judge orders Rep. Scott Perry to disclose 1,600 messages to federal prosecutors: “A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Rep. Scott Perry must disclose to federal prosecutors more than 1,600 emails, text messages and other communications related to the investigation into Donald Trump and his allies’ bid to subvert the 2020 election. Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg concluded that the vast majority of the messages Perry exchanged — some with other members of Congress, some with members of the Trump administration and some with allies outside of government — could not be shielded from prosecutors by Perry’s constitutional protections as a member of Congress. Rather, Boasberg concluded, the 1,659 exchanges had little to do with Perry’s job as a legislator and therefore were not subject to the Constitution’s ‘speech or debate’ clause, which prohibits prosecutors and courts from prying into the official business of Congress.”

Ex-Proud Boys leader sentenced to 40 months for role in Jan. 6 attack

  • Axios: Ex-Proud Boys leader gets over 3 years in prison for Jan. 6 attack: “A former leader of the Proud Boys who helped prosecutors in their Jan. 6 investigations was sentenced to 40 months in prison on Tuesday for his role in the insurrection, the Justice Department confirmed to Axios. Charles Donohoe, 35, of Kernersville, North Carolina, was described by prosecutors as a ‘trusted lieutenant on Enrique Tarrio’s leadership team,’ for the group’s Ministry of Self-Defense. The big picture: Former Proud Boys leader Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in the insurrection — the longest sentence to date in the Jan. 6 cases.”
  • New York Times: Proud Boys Member Who Helped Prosecution Sentenced in Jan. 6 Attack: “A former leader of the Proud Boys who helped the government investigate and prosecute others in the far-right group involved in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced on Tuesday to 40 months in prison for his own role in the assault. His sentence slightly exceeded the nearly 38 months he has been credited for since his arrest after the riot, meaning he is likely to be released in a little over two months. The former leader, Charles Donohoe, was the first member of the Proud Boys who cooperated with prosecutors to be sentenced for taking part in the Capitol attack.”

In The States

NORTH CAROLINA: NAACP, voting rights advocates file the third lawsuit over racially gerrymandered congressional and legislative maps

  • CNN: NAACP and Common Cause sue over North Carolina’s electoral maps, alleging racial discrimination: “A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that Republicans who control the North Carolina legislature drew discriminatory maps for congressional and state legislative districts by diluting the power of the state’s Black voters. The lawsuit from the NAACP’s state chapter, Common Cause, and several individual Black voters is the latest to challenge new districts enacted in late October that cement Republican power in the swing state. However, the outcome of this litigation will not affect the partisan balance in the US House of Representatives after next year’s congressional contests because the lawsuit is not challenging the district lines that will be used in 2024. The candidate filing deadline for next year’s elections expired December 15.”

MISSISSIPPI: Federal court hears case over new law that creates unelected court system in Jackson

  • WJTV: Hearing held on NAACP’s lawsuit against House Bill 1020: “A federal court hearing was held on Tuesday over House Bill 1020, which was signed into law in April 2023. The law allows for the creation of a separate Capitol Complex Improvement District (CCID) court in Jackson with the appointment of judges and prosecutors to serve under it. Lawyers with the NAACP claimed that the law would disproportionately impact Black residents in Jackson, while the state argued the bill was an answer to Jackson’s crime problems. The CCID court is set to go into effect on January 1, 2024. In federal court, HB 1020 was under a temporary restraining order until September 2023 when Judge Henry Wingate ordered Chief Justice Michael Randolph to go along with the appointment of judges for the court.”
  • Mississippi Today: Bills would restore federal voting rights for Mississippians convicted of felonies: “Legislation has been introduced that would allow Mississippians who have been permanently disenfranchised because of a felony conviction to vote in federal elections. The federal Inclusive Democracy Act, filed by Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Massachusetts, would allow all Americans convicted of a felony, including those still incarcerated, to vote in federal elections such as for president and members of Congress. Passage of the legislation is seen as a longshot, though it represents one of many efforts centered around felony disenfranchisement laws. ‘The right of citizens to the United States to vote in an election for a federal officer shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of conviction of a criminal offense,’ the bill reads.”
  • Associated Press: Mississippi local officials say human error and poor training led to election-day chaos: “The county election officials under whose watch ballot shortages hampered voting in Mississippi’s largest county said technical mishaps and insufficient training were to blame for election day chaos in November. At a meeting with representatives from a coalition of statewide and national civil rights organizations, Hinds County election commissioners said Monday that their mishaps caused several polling locations in Hinds County to run out of ballots. They admitted to sharing the wrong voter data with the company they contracted to print ballots, which directly led to the ballot shortages. ‘Complete human error. I hate that the citizens of Hinds County had to experience that,’ said Commissioner RaToya Gilmer McGee.”

ARIZONA: Arizona’s strict voting laws limit participation by college students and the homeless

  • AZ Mirror: Arizona’s federal-only voters are concentrated on college campuses, data show: “Young adults living on or near college campuses in Arizona are disproportionately affected, and potentially disenfranchised, by the state’s unique voting laws requiring documented proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in state and local elections, a Votebeat analysis found. The laws have since 2013 been splitting the state’s voters into two buckets: Those who have provided documented proof of citizenship, and those who haven’t. Those who haven’t are placed on a ‘federal-only’ list and are only permitted to vote in federal elections. In pushing for stricter laws, Republican lawmakers have said the federal-only list potentially allows non-citizens to vote illegally. But an analysis of the roughly 32,000 voters on the federal-only list, and where they live, found that federal-only voters in the state are concentrated in areas where residents are simply unlikely to have easy access to documents proving their citizenship, such as college campuses and a Phoenix homeless shelter.”
  • Courthouse News Service: Arizona voting rights trial comes to a close: “The Arizona Attorney General’s office has maintained throughout a federal voting rights trial that two challenged laws were designed to reduce the number of non-U.S. citizens voting in Arizona elections. ‘Reducing the number from two to zero?’ U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton asked Tuesday, as state attorney Josh Whitaker delivered his closing argument. Despite widespread claims of mass voter fraud pushed by Kari Lake and other Arizona politicians, only two cases exist in Arizona in which a non-citizen is accused of voting, according to court records. Neither case has resulted in a conviction and both are under seal. The attorney general has made only 38 prosecutions involving election fraud since 2008, none of which involve non-citizens.”

What Experts Are Saying

Katy Shanahan, on progress on pushing back against voter suppression in Ohio, for Democracy Docket: “Two massive coalitions made up of labor unions, civil and voting rights organizations, faith leaders, issue- and community-based groups, reproductive justice, rights and health leaders, grassroots organizations and more proved just how much we can accomplish when we come together to defend our power, our democracy, and our rights.”

Heather Digby Parton, on the Supreme Court potentially deciding if Trump has presidential immunity, for Salon: “If the court decides that Trump has immunity because he was acting in his official duties when he incited a riot that day, it’s game over anyway and the January 6 case is pretty much dead. It’s hard to believe they’d do that. Then again most of us didn’t think the court would take up Bush v. Gore and order the counting of votes to stop either. Still, it is important to note that this court has shown some restraint with Trump’s cases so far, including a case in which he tried to claim ‘absolute immunity’ but they ruled unanimously against him. So they may decide that he shouldn’t have immunity in this case either, which of course he should not.”

Joyce Vance, on imposed voter restrictions, on X (Twitter): “In many places, Republicans have made it difficult to vote, limiting early voting days or requiring ID that not everyone has. And worse of all, led by Trump, they’re undercutting confidence in our elections, claiming there’s fraud (there isn’t) or that your vote doesn’t count.”

Amanda Marcotte, on Giuliani’s abuse of power in the 90s, for Salon: “Looking back, it’s not just the seeds of MAGA we see in Giuliani’s assault on the cultural vibrancy of New York City. The end of his tenure as mayor also had an alarming portend. Using 9/11 as an excuse, Giuliani reportedly reached out to then-Gov. George Pataki and asked for the 2001 mayoral election to be canceled, so that Giuliani could stay in power indefinitely. Giuliani denies the claim, but as he lies about everything, his denials are meaningless. It’s no wonder that Giuliani became a leader in Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and through a similar strategy of demanding that someone — the Vice President, the courts, Congress — swoop in and simply nullify the entire vote. Giuliani told everyone who he was decades ago. If only more people had believed him.”

Andrew Weissmann, on Trump’s lawyers, refused to accept the discovery and exhibit list in the DC election subversion case, on X (Twitter): “Ex A to why an automatic stay, in this case, makes no sense since there is an almost 0% chance that there won’t be a trial of at least some factual issues IMHO.”

Headlines

Extremism

Washington Post: Trump says he’s ‘never read Mein Kampf,’ denies Hitler comparisons

Newsweek: Rob Smith Says He Could Have Been Killed by MAGA Hecklers

Trump investigations and cases

New York Times: Prosecutors Try to Nudge Trump Election Case Ahead Despite Freeze on the Case

MSNBC: Meadows’ removal rejection bodes ill for others on Georgia indictment

Daily Beast: How the Mom and Daughter Who Doomed Rudy Will Haunt Trump

Salon: The Supreme Court is now perfectly set up to save Donald Trump

New York Times: Trump Asks Supreme Court to Put Off Hearing Case on Immunity Claim

January 6 and the 2020 Elections

NBC Miami 6: Miami Lakes woman charged in Jan. 6 Capitol riot

NBC Connecticut: Former Derby alderman reaches plea deal on charges from Jan. 6 riot at US Capitol

CBS: A month after House GOP’s highly touted announcement of the release of Jan. 6 videos, about 0.4% of the videos have been posted online

MPR News: Charges: Lakeville man illegally entered Capitol on Jan. 6

Opinion

New York Times: Thomas Edsall: How Much Can Trump 2.0 Get Away With?

The Hill: Nick Akerman: Trump has been a financial fraud for decades

New York Times: Kate Shaw: Trump Has Always Wanted to Be King. The Supreme Court Should Rid Him of That Delusion.

In the States

Courthouse News Service: New Texas voters need ‘wet’ signatures

NPR: Georgia redistricting tests if the Voting Rights Act protects ‘coalition districts’

Louisiana Illuminator: Louisiana lawmakers settle on dates for redistricting, crime special sessions