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Election Deniers And Conspiracy Theorists Won Primaries Across The Country 

• HuffPost: Prominent Election Denier Adam Laxalt Wins Nevada GOP Senate Primary: Adam Laxalt, a Donald Trump-endorsed “Big Lie” purveyor, cruised to victory in the Nevada GOP Senate primary on Tuesday. Laxalt, who easily beat Army veteran Sam Brown for the Republican nomination, is hoping to unseat incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats this cycle. A GOP pickup in Nevada would severely endanger Democratic control of the Senate next year. Since the 2020 election, Laxalt has emerged as a champion of Trump’s election fraud lies, especially among Republican senate hopefuls. A former Nevada attorney general who served as Trump’s campaign co-chair, Laxalt filed several lawsuits on behalf of Trump allies seeking to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. Laxalt has suggested he may challenge the results of his own race if he loses in November.
• NBC: Election Denier Jim Marchant Wins Nevada Republican Secretary Of State Primary: Jim Marchant, a prominent election denier and former Nevada state legislator, has won the Republican secretary of state primary, NBC News projects. With 33 percent of precincts reporting around 2 a.m. ET, Marchant had 38 percent of the vote. Jesse Haw, a businessman and former member of the state Senate, had 18 percent of the vote, while Richard Scotti, a former state judge, had 17 percent. With his win, Marchant, who continues to falsely claim that President Joe Biden did not win the state, gets one step closer to being elected the top elections official in Nevada, a crucial swing state where efforts by allies of former President Donald Trump to overturn the last presidential election have persisted in the years since the race. 
• Associated Press: Rice Loses House Seat After Impeaching Trump; Mace Holds On: U.S. Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina has been ousted from Congress in his Republican primary after voting to impeach Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 insurrection. He is the first of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump to lose a reelection bid. Rice, a five-term congressman, was defeated Tuesday by state Rep. Russell Fry, who was endorsed by Trump. Rice was a strong supporter of Trump’s policies in Washington but said he was left no choice but to impeach Trump over his failure to calm the mob that violently sought to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina also angered Trump, but she sought to make amends and won her GOP primary over her own Trump-backed challenger.
• Texas Tribune: Republicans Flip U.S. House Seat In South Texas, Historically A Democratic Stronghold: Republican Mayra Flores prevailed Tuesday in a special election for an open congressional seat in South Texas, marking a major breakthrough for Republicans eager to blaze new inroads in the historically blue region. She beat Dan Sanchez, the leading Democrat, outright in the closely watched race and will be the first Mexican-born congresswoman. She will get to serve only until January, but Republicans heralded her win as a shot of momentum in their new South Texas offensive.

Far Right Republicans Are Pressing Closer To Power Over Future Elections 

• New York Times (Analysis): Far-Right Republicans Press Closer to Power Over Future Elections: The potential for far-right Republicans to reshape the election systems of major battleground states is growing much closer to reality. As the halfway point nears of a midterm year that is vastly friendlier to Republicans, the party’s voters have nominated dozens of candidates for offices with power over the administration and certification of elections who have spread falsehoods about the 2020 presidential contest and sowed distrust in American democracy. The only way to restore trust, these candidates say, is by electing them. In Michigan, Pennsylvania and now Nevada, Republican voters have elevated candidates who owe their political rise to their amplification of doubts about Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory, and who are now vying in elections for governor, secretary of state and attorney general — offices that will hold significant sway over the administration of the 2024 presidential election in critical swing states.
• Talking Points Memo: A Far Right Law Enforcement Movement Is Fueling The Effort To Infiltrate Voting Machines: A far right, nationwide membership organization of county sheriffs has turned its focus to Donald Trump- and Dinesh D’Souza-inspired claims of “voter fraud,” and it’s creating big problems for state officials worried about actual election integrity. The so-called “constitutional sheriff” movement holds that a sheriff’s authority in their county trumps that of any other law enforcement agency, and that sheriffs can ignore any law they consider unconstitutional.  And at least one sheriff affiliated with the movement has already gotten his hands on election equipment: The top lawman in Barry County, Michigan, reportedly took possession of at least one ballot tabulator last year, with the county’s clerk later saying the machine had been taken to Detroit and disassembled. Now, the sheriff has filed suit against state officials and the Michigan State Police, saying they’ve illegally usurped his authority with their own investigation, and referring to the state police as “an unelected and unaccountable strong arm of the state.”
• Time: How the ‘MAGA Squad’ Is Building Power to Control the Next Congress: Gaetz and Greene are the ringleaders of the GOP’s most hard-core, pro-Trump congressional faction. The MAGA Squad, as you might call them, is not a formal caucus, but its numbers are growing—despite the impending departure of one prominent member, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who lost his North Carolina primary after scandals ranging from insider-trading allegations to lewd videos. The group includes freshmen members like Lauren Boebert, who accused a Muslim colleague of being a member of the “Jihad Squad,” as well as longer-serving representatives like Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who pushed Trump’s Department of Justice to throw out electoral votes after the 2020 election, and Paul Gosar of Arizona, who has extensive ties to white nationalists and once posted an animated video showing him murdering Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword. There’s Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona, who allegedly helped plan the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the Capitol riot, and Mo Brooks of Alabama, who spoke at the rally. Several members have been subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 Committee, which is also investigating Representative Barry Loudermilk for leading what some have called a “reconnaissance” tour of the closed Capitol on Jan. 5, 2021. There have long been rabble-rousing right-wingers in Congress, but this group makes the Freedom Caucus seem tame. […] Democrats and many Republicans deride the group as gadflies, irrelevant to the serious business of lawmaking. But in fact, the MAGA Squad has been cannily building leverage and clout in the halls of Congress. Now, with the primary season in full swing across the country, they’re looking to pad their numbers, recruiting like-minded firebrands in red districts, endorsing and campaigning for fellow insurgents in intra-party contests, and even, in some cases, campaigning against their own colleagues.

January 6 Committee Puts Trump’s Post-Election Fundraising Under Scrutiny 

• New York Times: Jan. 6 Panel Puts Trump Fund-Raising Tactics Under Scrutiny: Since Election Day in 2020, Donald J. Trump and his close allies have raised more than $390 million through aggressive fund-raising solicitations promising bold political actions, including fighting to overturn his re-election campaign defeat, helping allied candidates win their own campaigns and fighting “to save America from Joe Biden and the radical left.” In reality, though, campaign finance filings show that much of the money spent by political committees affiliated with Mr. Trump went toward paying off his 2020 campaign expenses and bolstering his political operation in anticipation of an expected 2024 presidential run. As of a few months ago, $144 million remained in the bank. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is suggesting that there might be criminal exposure in one particular strain of Mr. Trump’s misleading fund-raising appeals — those urging his supporters to donate to efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.
• Insider: NY Attorney General Letitia James To Investigate Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ Fundraising: Source: New York Attorney General Letitia James will investigate possible fraud surrounding some $250 million in campaign donations Donald Trump raised in the months after the 2020 presidential election through his “Big Lie” claims, a source has told Insider. James, who is already probing the former president’s hotel and golf resort empire, can claim jurisdiction on behalf of defrauded New York donors, the source, who is familiar with the AG’s plans, said Tuesday night
• Washington Post: Publix Heiress Paid Kimberly Guilfoyle’s $60,000 Speaking Fee On Jan. 6: Kimberly Guilfoyle, a fundraiser for former president Donald Trump and the fiancee of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., spoke for less than three minutes at the rally on Jan. 6, 2021, that preceded the Capitol riot. For her appearance, she was compensated $60,000 by Turning Point Action, a conservative nonprofit led by Charlie Kirk, according to two people with knowledge of her compensation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. The two people said the sponsoring donor was Julie Fancelli, the 72-year-old daughter of the founder of the Publix grocery store chain. Eight days before the Jan. 6 rally, Fancelli wired $650,000 to several organizations that helped stage and promote the event. The Washington Post previously reported that these groups included Women for America First, a nonprofit that helped organize the rally, and $150,000 to the nonprofit arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, which paid for a robocall touting a march to “call on Congress to stop the steal.”

Trump Officials Change Their Tune Before The January 6 Committee 

• New York Times: A Striking Contrast: Trump Officials Then and Now: The letter was lavish. When William P. Barr stepped down as attorney general in December 2020, he showered President Donald J. Trump with praise for his “unprecedented achievements” and vowed that the Justice Department would continue to pursue the president’s claims of voter fraud “to ensure the integrity of elections.” A year and a half later, Mr. Barr sounds different. In videotaped testimony played at the first two public hearings held by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Americans have now learned what Mr. Barr avoided saying publicly about Mr. Trump at the time. “I was somewhat demoralized,” Mr. Barr said in testimony played on Monday, describing his reaction to a monologue from Mr. Trump in December 2020 that the voting machines were rigged. Mr. Barr’s thinking, he said, was that the president had “become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff. On the other hand, when I went into this and would tell him how crazy some of these allegations were, there was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were.” Mr. Barr’s testimony and that of several aides played at the hearing were a candid, more brutal version of what they were saying in public shortly after the election.
• HuffPost: Despite Testimony, Bill Stepien Is Still Making Lots Of Money Spreading Trump’s Election Lie: Bill Stepien, who told the Jan. 6 committee that he quit Donald Trump’s campaign after the 2020 election because he could not go along with his election lies, nevertheless continues to coordinate Trump’s political operation, which is built almost entirely on spreading those exact election lies. Stepien’s National Public Affairs firm is currently paid $10,000 a month from Trump’s Save America committee, receiving a total of $130,000 since last May, and taking in another $90,562 from Trump’s reconfigured presidential campaign, according to a HuffPost analysis of Federal Election Commission filings He has also collected an additional $1.2 million from an all-star cast of pro-Trump election liars, including $190,488 from Harriet Hageman, who is trying to unseat Wyoming congresswoman and Jan. 6 committee vice chair Liz Cheney in the August Republican primary.

 

In The States 

GOP County Commission Refuses To Certify Vote In New Mexico Primary 

• Associated Press: GOP Commission Refuses To Certify New Mexico Primary Vote: New Mexico’s secretary of state on Tuesday asked the state Supreme Court to order the Republican-led commission of rural Otero County to certify primary election results after it refused to do so over distrust of Dominion vote-tallying machines. Democratic Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Olive’s request came a day after the three-member Otero County commission, in its role as a county canvassing board, voted unanimously against certifying the results of the June 7 primary without raising specific concerns about discrepancies. The commission’s members include Cowboys for Trump co-founder Couy Griffin, who ascribes to unsubstantiated claims that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election. Griffin was convicted of illegally entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds — though not the building — amid the riots on Jan. 6, 2021, and is scheduled for sentencing later this month. He acknowledged that the standoff over this primary could delay the outcome of local election races.

Doug Mastriano Compared January 6 Riot To Hitler’s Rise To Power 

• NBC: Trump’s Pick For Pa. Governor Says He Sees ‘parallels’ To Hitler’s Power Grab In Capitol Riot: The Donald Trump-endorsed nominee for governor in Pennsylvania compared the Jan. 6 attack to historical events staged by the Nazis, saying that he saw “parallels” between the criticism of the Jan. 6 attack and the 1933 Reichstag fire, which Hitler used to seize more power. Doug Mastriano was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Mastriano, a Pennsylvania state senator, has been subpoenaed by the House Jan. 6 committee. He organized buses to D.C. that day, according to receipts his campaign’s lawyer previously acknowledged turning over to the Jan. 6 committee. Video shows he was just feet away as rioters ripped down police barricades, but he has said he followed police lines “as they existed” and says he left the Capitol when it was “apparent that this was no longer a peaceful protest.”

 

What Experts Are Saying

UPDATED: Just Security: The January 6th Hearings: Criminal Evidence Tracker: Second Edition LINK 

Joyce Vance, former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama: “‘You only need a pardon if you think you’ve committed a crime.’ -@JoyceWhiteVance on Republicans in Congress asking Trump for a Jan 6 pardon. @PreetBharara @cafedotcom. Listen: bit.ly/3MRtUBV” The CAFE Insider Podcast 

Barbara McQuade, former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan: Q: “What does that mean, ‘conspiracy to defraud the United States’? A: “The statutory citation is Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 371. It is sometimes referred to as the Klein Conspiracy, after a case named United States v. Klein. It is frequently used in cases of tax violations, but what it means is that someone with a fraudulent intent did something to obstruct or impede the official functioning of government. And so, in this instance, it would be something like, Trump and others conspired to defraud the American people and interfere with the proper transfer of Presidential power. And it could be as simple as getting Mike Pence to refuse to certify the vote when he had a duty to do so. Sometimes people think about the big picture, that you have to tie Trump to the physical attack on the Capitol. And that could do it, because that was one way that the certification was obstructed. But it could also simply be his efforts to pressure Mike Pence to refuse to certify the vote. And that would be an obstruction of an official proceeding.” New Yorker 

Nathan Kalmoe, political scientist at LSU (Photos): “Slides from my presentation today highlighting some of my work w/ @LilyMasonPhD, including lots of new data plus older stuff we haven’t had a chance to get out. First, why we think mass views of violence matter. And that there is no single level of support for pol violence…Including specific questions about a 2024-25 presidential coup, & violence in response to substantial (but unlikely) democratization. Anti-violence msgs from top leaders help.” Tweet | Tweet 

Neal K. Katyal, former acting solicitor general: “But the only way we as Americans have control over the decisions of elected bodies and the president in each of these areas is through our votes. If an incumbent president can use the machinery of government to orchestrate a way to throw our votes out, the foundations of our democracy will have crumbled.” New York Times  

 

Headlines

The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections 

Casper Star Tribune: National PAC endorses Hageman, will run TV ad featuring Trump’s Casper rally

Politico: Next stop on Trump’s primary warpath: Michigan

January 6 And The 2020 Election

Associated Press: NY high court nixes Trump appeal, clearing way for testimony

CNN (Analysis): William Barr’s stunning evolution from Trump loyalist to nemesis

CNN: Pro-Trump Turning Point group paid Guilfoyle’s $60,000 January 6 speaking fee, sources tell CNN

NBC: White House attorney told Trump-allied lawyer seeking to fight Ga. results to get a criminal defense attorney

New York Times: Jan. 6 Panel Delays Wednesday Hearing to Give Staff Time to Prepare

Politico: Select committee points to evidence Trump lawyer’s election-related efforts resumed after Jan. 6

Washington Post: Inside the explosive Oval Office confrontation three days before Jan. 6

 

Republican Response To The January 6 Hearings 

Mediaite: ‘We’re Coming for You, Bro!’ Steve Bannon Loses It on Bill Barr After Jan. 6 Hearings

 

Opinion 

CNN (Ron Brownstein): January 6 committee is testing whether Americans can still agree on a shared reality

Daily Beast (Danielle Moodie): Democrats Need to Tell Americans How Dangerous the GOP Really Is

New York Times (Neal Katyal): The Future Criminal Case Against Donald Trump

 

In The States 

Arizona Republic: Cyber Ninjas’ emails touch on irony, deceit, challenge coins

CNN: Georgia investigators seek testimony from former Kanye West publicist who approached election worker