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Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — February 23, 2023

By February 23, 2023No Comments

Driving the Day: 

Must Read Stories

Kevin McCarthy Fulfills His Promise To The Far Right And Releases January 6 Footage To Conspiracy Theorist Tucker Carlson 

  • New York Times (Analysis): In Sharing Video With Fox Host, McCarthy Hits Rewind on Jan. 6: Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to grant the Fox News host Tucker Carlson exclusive access to thousands of hours of security footage from inside the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack was his latest move to appease the right wing of his party, this time by effectively outsourcing a bid to reinvestigate the riot to its favorite cable news commentator, who has circulated conspiracy theories about the assault. The most conservative Republican members of Congress — many of whom have worked to downplay or deny the reality of the Jan. 6 attack — have been pushing Mr. McCarthy for weeks to release the video after he promised to do so during his campaign for speaker. Mr. McCarthy has shown little appetite for the kind of aggressive public re-litigation of what happened that day that some of his colleagues have called for, but he is sensitive to the dangers of angering his hard-core base by seeming to drop or disregard the matter. That is where Mr. Carlson comes in. “I promised,” Mr. McCarthy said on Wednesday in a brief phone interview in which he defended his decision to grant Mr. Carlson exclusive access to the more than 40,000 hours of security footage. “I was asked in the press about these tapes, and I said they do belong to the American public. I think sunshine lets everybody make their own judgment.”  Still, the sunshine Mr. McCarthy referred to will, for now, be filtered through a very specific prism — that of Mr. Carlson, a hero of the hard right who has insinuated without evidence that the Jan. 6 attack was a “false flag” operation carried out by the government.
  • Washington Post: Schumer: McCarthy Endangering Lawmakers By Giving Carlson Jan. 6 Footage: Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) of jeopardizing lawmakers’ security by handing Fox News host Tucker Carlson hours of footage from the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. In a “Dear Colleague” letter sent to lawmakers on Wednesday, Schumer said McCarthy is “needlessly exposing the Capitol complex to one of the worst security risks since 9/11” by sharing the footage with Carlson. “The footage Speaker McCarthy is making available to Fox News is a treasure trove of closely held information about how the Capitol complex is protected and its public release would compromise the safety of the Legislative Branch and allow those who want to commit another attack to learn how Congress is safeguarded,” Schumer said.

Ivanka Trump And Jared Kushner Subpoenaed In Federal January 6 Investigation 

  • New York Times: Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Subpoenaed in Jan. 6 Investigation: Former President Donald J. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have been subpoenaed by the special counsel to testify before a federal grand jury about Mr. Trump’s efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election and his role in a pro-Trump mob’s attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to two people briefed on the matter. The decision by the special counsel, Jack Smith, to subpoena Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner underscores how deeply into Mr. Trump’s inner circle Mr. Smith is reaching, and is the latest sign that no potential high-level witness is off limits. 

Wisconsin Supreme Court Race Set To Be A Referendum On Abortion And Democracy 

  • NBC: Trump Ally With Ties To ‘Fake Elector’ Scheme Advances In Wisconsin Supreme Court Race: A Donald Trump ally who advised Republicans on legal efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential race has advanced to the Wisconsin Supreme Court general election, putting him one step closer to a seat on the powerful bench. Daniel Kelly is a former state Supreme Court justice with connections to a plan hatched by the former president’s allies to reverse the 2020 election results in Wisconsin through the use of “fake electors.” He was one of two candidates to advance in Tuesday’s Supreme Court primary, according to projections by The Associated Press. The other to move forward was liberal candidate Janet Protasiewicz, a Milwaukee County circuit judge who was endorsed by the Democratic abortion rights group Emily’s List. Protasiewicz and Kelly will face off in an April 4 general election that will determine political control of the court — and, with it, the future of many pivotal issues the court is likely to decide in the coming years, including abortion rights, elections and gerrymandering. The winner is elected to a 10-year term.
  • Bolts: Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Race Takes Shape as Referendum on Abortion and Democracy: Should Protasiewicz prevail in April, it would flip control of the court to the left for the first time since 2008.  This would have huge ramifications for abortion, redistricting, ballot access, and a host of other issues that are often decided by courts, including, potentially, the fate of presidential elections in 2024 and beyond.  Heavy gerrymanders have enabled the GOP to lock down control of the Wisconsin legislature with majorities largely impervious to shifts in the popular vote, an advantage the party has used to dilute the authority of the state’s Democratic governor and deny him routine appointments. The state also has no popular initiative process, so progressives cannot put measures on the ballot to protect abortion or voting rights, as they have in neighboring Michigan. 

Georgia Special Grand Jury Foreman Unsettles Trump Investigation With Media Tour 

  • Washington Post: Georgia Juror Unsettles Trump Investigation With Revealing Interviews: The foreman of a special grand jury in Georgia may have complicated an investigation into efforts by President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election by speaking bluntly about its findings in interviews this week, several legal experts said. Emily Kohrs, the 30-year-old Atlanta-area resident who served for eight months as foreman of the special grand jury, said in media interviews this week that the panel recommended multiple indictments in its report, the details of which a Fulton County judge had ordered sealed. Kohrs said that the list of recommended indictments “is not short,” that there would be no “plot twist” when the public finally gets to see the contents of the report and that regarding “the big name that everyone keeps asking me about” — presumably Trump himself — “I don’t think you will be shocked.” Several legal experts said they were surprised and concerned by Kohrs’s unusually candid commentary, which included evaluation of witnesses, tidbits about jurors socializing with prosecutors and a stated hope that the investigation yields charges because of how much time she and others invested in the case.

White House Slams Marjorie Taylor Greene’s New Scheme To Dissolve The US, While New Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Once Defended The Right To Secession 

  • Daily Beast: White House Slams Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ‘Sick’ Call for ‘National Divorce’: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s call for a “national divorce” that separates “red states and blue states” has provoked fierce criticism from President Joe Biden’s White House. “Congresswoman Greene’s comments are sick, divisive, and alarming to hear from a member of the House Oversight and Homeland Security Committees,” said White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson, in a response to Greene exclusively shared with The Daily Beast. Once a pariah in the House Republican ranks who was removed from her committee posts, Greene was instrumental in the election of Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) last month. With McCarthy firmly in her corner, and with even better committee assignments, Greene is one of the most influential GOP lawmakers.
  • CNN: Nikki Haley Defended Right To Secession, Confederate History Month And The Confederate Flag In 2010 Talk:  Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley defended states’ rights to secede from the United States, South Carolina’s Confederate History Month and the Confederate flag in a 2010 interview with a local activist group that “fights attacks against Southern Culture.” Haley, who was running for South Carolina governor at the time, made the comments during an interview with the now defunct “The Palmetto Patriots,” a group which included a one-time board member of a White nationalist organization. The former UN ambassador also described the Civil War as two sides fighting for different values, one for “tradition” and one for “change.” Haley announced last week she was running for president, becoming the first official major challenger to former President Donald Trump.

In The States 

ARIZONA: Former Arizona AG Concealed Records Debunking 2020 Election Fraud Claims 

  • Washington Post: Arizona’s Top Prosecutor Concealed Records Debunking Election Fraud Claims: Nearly a year after the 2020 election, Arizona’s then-attorney general, Mark Brnovich, launched an investigation into voting in the state’s largest county that quickly consumed more than 10,000 hours of his staff’s time. Investigators prepared a report in March 2022 stating that virtually all claims of error and malfeasance were unfounded, according to internal documents reviewed by The Washington Post. Brnovich, a Republican, kept it private. In April, the attorney general — who was running in the GOP primary for a U.S. Senate seat — released an “Interim Report” claiming that his office had discovered “serious vulnerabilities.” He left out edits from his own investigators refuting his assertions. His office then compiled an “Election Review Summary” in September that systematically refuted accusations of widespread fraud and made clear that none of the complaining parties — from state lawmakers to self-styled “election integrity” groups — had presented any evidence to support their claims. Brnovich left office last month without releasing the summary.

GEORGIA: Cities Attempt To Seize Control Of Local Elections With Help From A Fake Elector 

  • Atlanta Journal Constitution: Cities Might Run Their Elections, With Help From A Fake Georgia Elector: A multicity movement in Atlanta’s northern suburbs is trying to take over local elections from Fulton County, an effort led in part by one of Georgia’s phony presidential electors and the president of a Republican Party group. While supporters say the plan would save money in upcoming municipal elections, skeptics fear it could result in fewer voting locations, paper ballots counted by hand and inexperienced management. The cities of Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Milton and Roswell are planning for the possibility of running their own elections this fall. The city of Milton already voted to approve the change. The idea sprung from a Milton committee that included city officials and two residents: Mark Amick, one of 16 Republicans who tried to award Georgia’s votes to Donald Trump in 2020, and Lisa Cauley, the president of Fulton County Republican Women. Neither returned messages seeking comment.

MINNESOTA: Minnesota Set To Restore Voting Rights For Tens Of Thousands 

  • Bolts: Minnesota Is Poised to Restore the Voting Rights of Tens of Thousands: Elizer Darris has thought many times about how it must feel to hold one of the red “I VOTED” stickers Minnesota gives out at polling places. He was sentenced to prison as a child, too young to have ever voted. He was released in 2016, but he has remained on probation ever since, in a state with exceptionally long probation terms. Minnesota strips people of their voting rights when they are convicted of a felony and only restores them upon completion of all parts of a sentence, which means that Darris still can’t vote. That’s poised to change now. Minnesota’s legislature on Tuesday adopted House File 28, a bill termed Restore The Vote. It would grant ballot access to Minnesotans on parole or on probation, currently estimated to be roughly 50,000 people—though not to the more than 8,000 people in state prisons over a felony.

What Experts Are Saying

Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: “And what of foreign policy? MAGA Republicans have been cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Would they allow Russian intelligence operations and drone launches from their side of the border? Or let Russia stage “defensive” weaponry, much as the United States has done in NATO countries bordering Russia?   

Whatever America was left would have a rump military. As the most populous state, California supplies the largest number of U.S. service members, but Texas and other Southern states provide the bulk of the military force. The South hosts a disproportionate number of bases. Who would get what? However things were split, the winners would be China and Russia, which would face a hobbled United States.” The Hill Op-Ed: US secession is a great idea — for Russia

Joyce Vance, former US attorney: “The easiest way for the Fulton County district attorney’s office to dispose of any removal motions would be to convince the federal court that the conduct here fell far outside the scope of official duties. That’s one of the reasons the investigative grand jury’s unanimous finding that fraud did not taint the outcome of the Georgia election may end up being so important. If Trump makes a motion to remove, state prosecutors are likely to argue Trump was not pursuing any legitimate work on behalf of the federal government when he called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and asked him to “find” the precise number of votes he needed to win the state or when he green-lit the fake elector scheme and asked the judge to summarily return the case to state court.” Civil Discourse 

Andy Wright, senior fellow and founding editor at Just Security – served as Associate Counsel to President Barack Obama in the White House Counsel’s Office, Ryan Goodman, founding co-editor-in-chief of Just Security and the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Professor of Law at New York University: “Summary of our findings: Vice President Mike Pence may have a reasonable basis to claim that the Speech or Debate Clause includes a Vice President when acting as President of the Senate. However, that is largely to no avail here. First, the Clause, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, does not provide sufficient legal basis to resist wholesale a subpoena to testify before the grand jury in the January 6th investigation. Second, there are several lines of questions – which we describe below with specific examples – that would not be precluded by the Speech or Debate Clause.” Just Security: The Limited Scope of Vice President Pence’s Speech or Debate Clause Immunity

Headlines

The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections

The New Republic: Marjorie Taylor Greene Says She Wants to Manipulate People’s Votes

The 2024 Presidential Campaign 

New York Times: A Wealthy ‘Anti-Woke’ Activist Joins the 2024 Presidential Field

New York Times: Trump Spent $10 Million From His PAC on His Legal Bills Last Year

January 6 And The 2020 Election

New York Times: Democrats Protest After McCarthy Grants Tucker Carlson Access to Jan. 6 Video

New York Times: Jury in Georgia Trump Inquiry Recommended Multiple Indictments, Forewoman Says

Politico: ‘All-out revolution’: Proud Boy describes group’s desperation as Jan. 6 approached

Washington Post: Rep. Scott Perry fights to keep phone from team probing Jan. 6 attack

Political Violence

Associated Press: US mass killings linked to extremism spiked over last decade

In The States

Politico: What It Looks Like When the Far Right Takes Control of Local Government