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Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — May 12, 2022

By May 12, 2022No Comments

Driving the Day: 

Must Read Stories

January 6 Committee Finalizes Witness Lists And Agendas For Hearing As Biden Releases More Trump Administration Documents For Review 

  • CNN: January 6 Committee Finalizing Witness List And Topics Ahead Of High-Stakes Hearings In June:  A month before it kicks off a series of high-profile public hearings, the House select committee investigating January 6 is still finalizing its witness list and preparing to reach out to people it wants to testify publicly. The first hearing, set for June 9, will be a broad overview of the panel’s 10-month investigation and set the stage for subsequent hearings, which are expected to cover certain topics or themes including what President Donald Trump was doing as the riot unfolded, the pushing of baseless election fraud claims that motivated rioters, how law enforcement responded to the attack, and the organizing and financing behind the January 6 rallies, sources tell CNN. While the setup of the hearings is still a work in progress and evolving, sources note, the presentations will likely feature video clips from January 6, as well as some of the nearly 1,000 interviews the committee has conducted behind closed doors. That could help the committee share more testimony, as well as deal with potentially recalcitrant witnesses. The committee may begin reaching out to potential witnesses as soon as next week, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Among the witnesses whose testimony was videotaped were members of Trump’s family, including recent interviews with Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
  • Washington Post: Biden Waives Executive Privilege For New Set Of Trump Records: President Biden has authorized the National Archives and Records Administration to hand over an eighth tranche of presidential records from the Trump White House to the House committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. In a letter released Wednesday by the National Archives, Biden again declined to assert executive privilege over the records — the latest batch sought by the committee after the Supreme Court rejected former president Donald Trump’s bid to block such releases. The new letter is in line with the Biden administration’s decision to err on the side of disclosure, given the gravity of the events in the Jan. 6 attack by a pro-Trump mob. The National Archives has already turned over hundreds of pages of documents to the committee, and the latest set contains approximately 23,000 emails and attachments.

Far Right Candidates Gain In Pennsylvania Primaries 

  • New York Times: Hard-Liners Gain in Pennsylvania G.O.P. Races, Worrying Both Parties: Republican voters in Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s most hotly contested political battlegrounds, appear to be rallying behind two hard-right candidates for governor and the Senate who are capturing grass-roots anger, railing against the party’s old guard and amplifying Donald Trump’s stolen-election myth. With less than a week until the state’s primary election on Tuesday, polls show that State Senator Doug Mastriano — one of the state’s central figures in the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election — has emerged as the clear front-runner in the G.O.P. race for governor. The candidate for Senate, Kathy Barnette, an underfunded conservative commentator who has never held public office, has made a surprise late surge in the contest that had been dominated by two big-spending rivals, Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick. Mr. Mastriano has made claims of election fraud a central plank of his bid to lead a state that could be decisive in the 2024 presidential race. Ms. Barnette has a history of incendiary remarks, including repeatedly calling former President Barack Obama an adherent of Islam, which she said should be banned, and derisively writing about “the homosexual agenda.” Both candidates have endorsed each other, forging an important alliance.

Leaked Eastman Emails Show Blueprint For A 2024 Coup

  • Washington Post (Greg Sargent): Leaked Emails From Trump’s Lawyer Show Blueprint For A 2024 Coup:  The House committee examining the insurrection attempt has obtained new emails from the lawyer who helped concoct Donald Trump’s plot to overturn the 2020 election. They reveal a whole new level of scheming behind that effort, which was even more nefarious than previously thought. But the emails also raise forward-looking questions: What do these new revelations tell us about how the subsequent efforts to steal a presidential election might unfold? And could conditions be different next time in a way that might facilitate such a scheme? The answers to these questions are unsettling. But they also point toward a way we can protect ourselves from the worst. Will Congress act?

In The States 

Indicted Conspiracy Theorist Colorado County Clerk And Secretary Of State Candidate Barred From Administering Elections 

  • Washington Post: Judge Bars Indicted Official, Tina Peters, From Overseeing 2022 Elections: A Colorado judge on Tuesday ruled that Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters (R), a supporter of former president Donald Trump who has embraced election-fraud conspiracy theories, is barred from overseeing elections in her home county because of her indictment for allegedly tampering with voting equipment. Peters, who is running for the GOP nomination for secretary of state in Colorado, had already been prohibited by a judge from overseeing last year’s local elections. Mesa County District Judge Valerie Robison ruled on a lawsuit brought this year by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) that called for Peters and deputy Belinda Knisley to be barred from overseeing this year’s midterm elections and the upcoming Mesa County primary. The embattled clerk is facing multiple investigations, and 10 felony and misdemeanor counts from a grand jury indictment, stemming from allegations of election equipment security breach and campaign finance violations. Knisley was also indicted by the grand jury and suspended from her county position last year.

What Experts Are Saying

Barbara McQuade, former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and University of Michigan Law School Professor: “The fate of our democracy doesn’t hinge on the battle for the House or the fight for control of the Senate, but on state elections for a once sleepy office: secretaries of state.” The New York Times 

ICYMI: What Unions Are Doing to Protect American Democracy: “Political scientists say unions can play a big role in preventing Trump and other Republicans from subverting America’s democracy.” The New Republic 

Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, a political science professor at Columbia University who is overseeing some research for the Labor Department:  “Unions serve as a school for democracy for citizens by introducing individuals, particularly those who might not be involved in other civic organizations, to the rhythms of democracy.” The New Republic 

Headlines

The Ongoing Threat To Elections 

Kansas City Star: As abortion protests spread, Josh Hawley equates them with the January 6 insurrection

NBC: Doug Mastriano’s far-right path to front-runner status upends Pa.’s GOP primary for governor

Washington Post (Analysis): ‘2000 Mules’ offers the least convincing election-fraud theory yet

January 6 Trials

Buzzfeed: The Far-Right Troll Known As “Baked Alaska” Just Blew Up His Own Jan. 6 Plea Hearing

In The States 

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Michael Gableman to receive $5,500 a month even as work on Wisconsin’s Republican-led election review is paused