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Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — October 26, 2022

By October 26, 2022No Comments

Driving the Day: 

Must Read Stories

Extremists Target Local Elections For Disruption This Year  And For 2024

  • Axios: Extremist Groups Are Going Local To Disrupt The Midterms: As Election Day draws near, mayors and police chiefs across the country are getting a new warning: Extremists have jettisoned their nationwide election intimidation strategy in favor of local efforts focused on neighborhood ballot boxes. Why it matters: Groups such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers are looking to sway the upcoming midterms in favor of their preferred candidates by signing up as poll workers and drop-box watchers. Driving the news: The U.S. Conference of Mayors held an event this week warning of decentralized election interference efforts targeting local voters, candidates and election workers. “We’ve seen them dismantle some of their nationwide organizations,” said Mary McCord, executive director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection and a former Justice Department prosecutor. “So the Proud Boys dismantle nationally in favor of state chapters — the Three Percenters did the same,” she told the mayors. The change began after the 2020 election and grew more pronounced after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack.
  • Associated Press: Conspiracy Pushers Target Races For Local Election Posts: Election conspiracy theorists are running for Congress, governor and secretary of state positions that oversee elections in state after state around the country. But an unknown number also are running for one of the 10,000 positions nationwide that administer local elections and oversee the people who actually hand out ballots, tally votes and report results. There are as many as 1,700 elections this year for those offices, or for positions which then appoint election administrators, according to Democratic strategist Amanda Litman, whose organization is targeting those races. That creates a dizzying patchwork of places where election conspiracy theorists can penetrate the country’s voting system. “You’re not going to know where the vulnerability will be,” said Litman, whose group Run for Something has announced an $80 million effort over three years to recruit and support Democratic local election officials. “They can come from any direction, in any state.” Conspiracy theorists who parrot former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election already have made inroads in local election administration. In Macomb County, Michigan, the office hired someone to recruit poll workers who had protested against Democrat Joe Biden being declared the state’s presidential winner. In Nye County, Nevada, the county commission pushed for the election office to hand-count ballots rather than use more reliable machines, leading one clerk to quit — only to be replaced by someone who falsely contended that Trump won the election two years ago.

Department Of Justice Seeks to Force Trump White House Lawyers to Testify In January 6 Inquiry 

  • CNN: DOJ Asks Judge To Force Trump White House Lawyers To Testify In Jan. 6 Probe: The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to force the top two lawyers from Donald Trump’s White House counsel’s office to testify about their conversations with the former President, as it tries to break through the privilege firewall Trump has used to avoid scrutiny of his actions on January 6, 2021, according to three people familiar with the investigation. The move to compel additional testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin just last week is part of a set of secret court proceedings. Trump has been fighting to keep former advisers from testifying before a criminal grand jury about certain conversations, citing executive and attorney-client privileges to keep information confidential or slow down criminal investigators. But the Justice Department successfully secured answers from top vice presidential advisers Greg Jacob and Marc Short over the past three weeks in significant court victories that could make it more likely the criminal investigation reaches further into Trump’s inner circle.

January 6 Committee Provides Evidence To Fulton County For Trump Investigation While Mark Meadows Continues To Evade A Subpoena 

  • Atlanta Journal Constitution: Jan. 6 Committee Aids Fulton Prosecutors In Their Investigation Of Trump: The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is winding down, but the panel is handing Fulton County prosecutors something valuable before it disbands: key evidence about what former President Donald Trump and his top advisers knew as they pressed Georgia officials to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. The information is crucial for establishing mens rea, the Latin term that refers to criminal intent, which is a prerequisite for securing criminal charges in court. Legal experts interviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution believe that during its nine public hearings, the Select Committee has presented evidence that could aid Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis should she decide to press charges.
  • Politico: Meadows Resisting Atlanta-Area Subpoena In Trump Election Probe: Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is resisting a subpoena from Atlanta-area prosecutors investigating efforts by Donald Trump to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia, according to newly filed court records. Meadows is urging a judge in Pickens County, S.C., where he now resides, to reject an effort by Fulton County, Georgia, to subpoena him for testimony in November.  Meadows is a crucial witness for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is probing Trump’s effort to pressure state officials to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state. Willis’ probe includes an expansive inquiry into Trump’s wide-ranging effort to subvert the election, as well as issues specific to Georgia. The latter includes a January 2021 phone call in which Trump pressed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes for him to prevail in the state. Meadows was on the line for that phone call, and he also traveled to Georgia in December 2020 to monitor an audit of the state’s election results — a trip that has also drawn scrutiny from the Jan. 6 select committee.

Believing Trump’s Lies About 2020 Is The Least Popular Candidate Position, But Trump Still Presses His Candidates To Embrace It 

  • NBC: Believing Trump Won In 2020 Is The Least Popular Candidate Position In New NBC News Poll: The latest national NBC News poll tested eight different positions that midterm candidates have taken during the general election.   The most popular position? Lowering health care costs and prescription drug prices, with the poll showing 84% of all voters saying they’re more likely to support a candidate that backs that position, versus 5% who are less likely to vote for such a candidate. […] The least popular position in the poll? A candidate who says Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, with only 21% of voters saying they’re more likely to support such a candidate, versus 57% who are less likely. 
  • CNN: Trump Told Arizona GOP Senate Nominee ‘You’ll Lose If You Go Soft’ On Election Fraud Claims: Former President Donald Trump took Blake Masters to task after the Arizona Republican Senate nominee said in a debate this month that he hadn’t seen evidence of election fraud in Arizona. During a phone call between Trump and Masters captured in a Fox documentary at some point after the debate, the former President can be heard encouraging Masters to lean into his unfounded election fraud claims. “If you want to get across the line, you’ve got to go stronger on that one thing. That was the one thing, a lot of complaints about it,” Trump told Masters before pointing to Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake as an example. “Look at Kari. Kari’s winning with very little money. And if they say, ‘How is your family?’ she says the election was rigged and stolen. You’ll lose if you go soft. You’re going to lose that base,” Trump said. “I’m not going soft,” Masters replied. The call underscored how central election denial is to the GOP’s midterm efforts. Dozens of Republicans trying to be elected in 2022 as governor, state secretary of state or US senator have joined Trump in baselessly rejecting or questioning the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020, with some having attempted to overturn the 2020 results.

In The States 

ARIZONA:  Cochise County Vote To Hand Count Tens Of Thousands Of Ballots Despite Warnings Of Legal Consequences 

  • Arizona Republic: Despite Warnings Of Legal Consequences, Cochise County Supervisors Vote For Hand Count Of Ballots: The Cochise County Board of Supervisors voted Monday to require a full hand recount of ballots for the Nov. 8 election, despite dire warnings from attorneys and others that the move was unlawful and would result in a lawsuit and a potential loss of state funding. During a four-hour meeting and public testimony, Republican supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd voted for the measure put forth by Crosby. Supervisor Ann English, a Democrat, voted against it. “It’s about the people, its about our right to vote and how our votes are counted and feel confident in the election process,” Judd said during the meeting. State Elections Services Director Kori Lorick called into the meeting on behalf of the Secretary of State’s Office and said the board would face a lawsuit if the hand-count proposal passed. A state lawmaker also warned the board that he would request that the attorney general investigate the board’s move, which could result in the withholding of state funds to Cochise County.

MICHIGAN:  Election Conspiracy Theorists Train Michigan Poll Watchers To Surreptitiously Record Voters’ License Plates And Carry Weapons 

  • Detroit Free Press: Election Conspiracists Have Checklist For Michigan Poll Challengers: What’s On It: Set up hidden cameras to capture license plate numbers. If you go at night, show up armed. These aren’t battlefield directions. They’re instructions laid out as part of a strategic operation spearheaded by prominent election conspiracists seeking to keep close tabs on Michigan’s upcoming midterm election. Michigan is one of several states targeted by the America Project, an organization led by allies of former President Donald Trump to recruit citizen election monitors in ways election experts worry blurs the lines between lawful oversight and vigilantism. In a promotional video touting the America Project’s launch, Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn calls the 2020 presidential election “an assault on our sacred election process.” The America Project’s website lists former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne as part of the “fearless, battle-tested team.” Byrne and Flynn participated in failed efforts to overturn the 2020 election that included an attempt to persuade Trump to order the military to seize voting machines. Two leaders from the Michigan GOP — ethnic vice chair Bernadette Smith and grassroots vice chair Marian Sheridan — appeared on panels supported by the America Project. Michigan for America First, an affiliate of the America Project, has called for drop box observers and poll challengers to fan out across Michigan during the Nov. 8 election.

MINNESOTA:  Conspiracy Theorists Sue To Force Hand Counting Of Ballots

  • Minnesota Reformer: Right-Wingers Continue Quest To Change Minnesota Elections; Progressives Form Group To Protect Them: Right-wing activists are continuing an election-year campaign to change how Minnesota elections are administered — filing lawsuits, questioning the integrity of election equipment, pushing for hand counting of ballots and blanketing counties with records requests.  A progressive coalition of two dozen groups is fighting back, countering election conspiracy claims because, they say, democracy hangs in the balance. To wit: A lawsuit filed by a Republican attorney has roiled a southeastern Minnesota county and prompted Secretary of State Steve Simon to intervene, warning that if the lawsuit is successful, it could upend elections across the state. Albert Lea attorney Matt Benda — who unsuccessfully ran for former U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s 1st Congressional District seat after he died — sued Rice County in late August. He alleged the county refused requests for public information about election procedures, equipment and security. And, he claimed the county’s electronic voting system “has hardware, software or features that are not properly approved, certified or secure.” He wants the judge to forbid the county from using modems embedded in the voting equipment in the November election.  The Office of the Secretary of State intervened in the lawsuit to defend the state’s election systems, saying every piece of electronic hardware and computer software the county will use on Nov. 8 has been properly tested and certified. Benda said the state certifications “do not cover any modeming functions.” Benda’s motion is scheduled for a hearing on Wednesday.

NEVADA:  Security Increased To Protect Nevada Election Workers From Threats 

  • Las Vegas Review Journal: ‘Prepare For The Worst’: Election Officials Increase Security To Protect Workers From Threats: Outside the Clark County Election Department building in North Las Vegas, security cameras scope out the parking lot. Staff swipe their badges to get to certain areas of the cavernous warehouse. Observers wanting to see the election process in action will be escorted by staff as the officials count mail-in ballots. Counties have increased security amid a reported rise in intimidation and threats against election workers across the country. In Clark County, Nevada’s most populous, Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria said he has not heard concerns from election workers about safety, but the county is prepared just in case. “We’ve got several resources available that are ready to respond if we have any issues out at the polls, whether it’s observers, anybody who’s lingering outside that may be trying to intimidate, open-carry people who may think that they can sit out there and intimidate. But we won’t allow that to happen,” Gloria said.

PENNSYLVANIA:  Clergy Organize To Protect Democracy As Election Workers Report Increase In Poll Watchers, Threats Of Violence 

  • Harrisburg Patriot-News: Election Officials See Spike In Number Of Poll Watchers Amid Increased Threats And Intimidation: The Rev. Alyn Waller has detected an unusual brand of traffic in his uptown Philadelphia community.  Waller, the senior pastor at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, the largest African-American Baptist church in Philadelphia, said that, for weeks now, he has seen pickup trucks decked with MAGA style flags driving through his predominantly Black and poor Philadelphia community. Waller said it’s all about voter intimidation; and he is determined to do something about it. Waller is the state lead for Faiths United to Save Democracy, a non-partisan initiative that is training faith leaders to become election monitors, particularly across battleground states like Pennsylvania. On Election Day he and scores of clergy from across a slew of denominations will be out in polling places monitoring things to ensure the process remains hassle and harassment free for voters. In this election cycle, partisan and non-partisan groups have had no trouble mobilizing people to serve as poll watchers on Nov. 8 in Pennsylvania and beyond, even as elections officials and poll workers face rising threats in a bitterly divisive election season.

What Experts Are Saying

REPORT: Protect Democracy, Over Zero, and New America’s New Models for Policy Change Initiative: “[M]ore than 60% of Americans hold stances on accountability or responsibility – including Donald Trump’s perceived lack of responsibility – for January 6 as sacred values. Sacred values are strong, absolutist views or moral imperatives that are acted on as a duty or obligation rather than a choice. Engaging Americans on issues they have sacralized risks provoking a backlash.” Overview | Report 

Barbara McQuade, former US attorney: “Litigating privilege issues is some serious effort by DOJ to get to Trump’s conversations with his inner circle. You don’t do this unless you’re determined to turn over every stone.” Tweet 

Harry Litman, former US attorney, re: DOJ’s reported efforts to compel Trump WH counsel testimony: “Really important development, and even more important augury for the testimony of [Pat Cipollone] and [Patrick] Philbin. And on deck the biggest prize who has dodged testimony to date based on executive privilege argument :Mark Meadows.” Tweet 

Gregory Eady, University of Copenhagen professor; Frederik Hjorth, University of Copenhagen professor; Peter Thisted Dinesen, professor at  University College London and University of Copenhagen: “Using day-level panel data from a large sample of US social media users to track changes in the identities expressed in their Twitter biographies, we show that the Capitol insurrection caused a large-scale decrease in outward expressions of identification with the Republican Party and Donald Trump, with no indication of reidentification in the weeks that followed. This finding suggests that there are limits to party loyalty: a violent attack on democratic institutions sets boundaries on partisanship, even among avowed partisans. Furthermore, the finding that political violence can deflect copartisans carries the potential positive democratic implication that those who encourage or associate themselves with such violence pay a political cost.” American Political Science Review – Abstract | Paper 

Headlines

The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections

Bloomberg: ‘Raccoon Army’ Swamps Election Officials in Dubious Campaign to Disprove Results

NPR: Clerks battle false claims as they prepare to administer elections

NPR: Here’s what changed in Dinesh D’Souza’s ‘2,000 Mules’ book after it was recalled

ProPublica: That Cardboard Box in Your Home Is Fueling Election Denial

January 6 And The 2020 Election

The Hill: Jan. 6 panel looks for legacy beyond the midterms

NBC: Hope Hicks, a longtime Trump aide, interviewing with Jan. 6 committee

Rolling Stone: ‘Absolutely F—ing Not.’ Trump’s Team Scrambled to Talk Him Out of Jan. 6 Testimony

Other Trump Investigations 

Politico: National Archives denies Trump referral to DOJ was connected to Dems

In The States 

Associated Press: Arizona sheriff steps up security around ballot drop boxes

Bolts: A New Mexico County Went To War With Voting Machines. It May Gain a Powerful Ally in November: 

HuffPost: Florida GOP Paid Thousands To Far-Right Charlottesville Attendee

Semafor: It’s still January 6th in Utah’s Senate race