This week, information continues to roll out regarding MAGA Republicans’ attempt to subvert the will of the people. The House Committee is wrapping up its interviews and a report is expected sometime this month. But the fight to protect our rights is not over yet. MAGA Republicans across the country continue to threaten our right to choose our own leaders.
Here’s what you need to know for the weekend:
Main Points for the Weekend:
1. The January 6 Committee has spent the past year investigating the events surrounding the attack on our Capitol, and now they are getting ready to share their report this month. The Committee has completed its interviews, is compiling its report, and is almost ready to share its interviews, evidence, and more.
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- Top point to make: MAGA Republicans across the country, from civilians to elected officials, engaged in a violent criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of an election in our country – it is time they are all held accountable.
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- If you read one thing: Politico, 11/30/22: Congress Minutes: The Jan. 6 select committee is done interviewing witnesses. Now it’s turning to unfinished business, including potential criminal referrals. “Thompson told POLITICO the select committee will meet Friday to discuss recommendations from a subcommittee, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, about those referrals and about how to handle the five Republican lawmakers — including GOP leader Kevin McCarthy — who declined to comply with the panel’s subpoenas… Thompson also said he expects the committee’s final report and transcripts will be a massive evidence dump that occurs during the holiday season, rather than a slow rollout. The timing of the report, he said, will depend on how long the Government Publishing Office says it will take to produce a physical copy of the report, though much of the material will be exclusively digital.”
2. According to a court ruling, MAGA Republicans can not avoid testifying before grand juries in Washington, DC and Georgia. Key Trump supporters, ex-administration lawyers, and more have avoided testifying. They are wanted for their knowledge or roles in the plan to try to stop Joe Biden from taking office.
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- Top point to make: No one is above the law – including former presidents, members of Congress, and other elected officials.
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- If you read one thing: The Guardian, 11/29/22: US courts ruling in favor of justice department turns legal tide on Trump. “Due to a number of court decisions, Meadows, Eastman, Senator Lindsey Graham and others must testify before a special Georgia grand jury working with the Fulton county district attorney focused on the intense drive by Trump and top loyalists to pressure the Georgia secretary of state and other officials to thwart Biden’s victory there. Similarly, court rulings have meant that top Trump lawyers such as former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who opposed Trump’s zealous drive to overturn the 2020 election, had to testify without invoking executive privilege before a DC grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to block Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory. On another legal front, some high level courts have ruled adversely for Trump regarding the hundreds of classified documents he took to his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago when he left office, thus helping an inquiry into whether he broke laws by holding onto papers that should have been sent to the National Archives.”
3. MAGA Republicans have been claiming voter fraud since 2020, but multiple investigations and audits have shown there was absolutely no evidence of voter fraud. Election integrity units have been created to “find” voter fraud across the country, but continue to find little to no evidence of such.
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- Top point to make: The effort led by MAGA Republicans to influence election results in the US didn’t end in 2020. The threat grows and continues, but they will not get away with their plot.
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- If you read one thing: Rolling Stone, 11/27/22: Search for Widespread Voter Fraud Finds Very Little Voter Fraud. “States including Virginia, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Texas all created election integrity units following Trump’s allegations of rampant voter fraud. The former president’s dangerous and false rhetoric that the 2020 election was stolen from him seems to have convinced a significant number of Republicans that voter fraud is a real issue. Ahead of this month’s midterms, 45 percent of Republican respondents said they had little to no confidence that votes would be accurately counted. But according to the AP’s investigation in Georgia and five other battleground states that Trump claimed were stolen from him in 2020, there is no evidence that widespread fraud is taking place. In fact, the AP reported, certification of the results in most states are going ‘smoothly’ and ‘with few complaints.’”
Expert voices
Helen Purcell, a Republican and former Maricopa County recorder, and Tammy Patrick, a Democrat, and former federal compliance officer for Maricopa County: “As former Arizona election officials, we know well that Arizona law is clear: once the voters have spoken, it is the duty of the board of supervisors in each county to canvass the election results within 20 days of the election (this year, Nov. 28) and to send the certified results to the secretary of state so that the statewide canvass can be completed by the fourth Monday following the election (this year, Dec. 5). This duty is not optional — it is mandatory.” The Arizona Republic Op-Ed | Tweet
Michael McDonald, professor of political science at the University of Florida: “Voting experts were pleasantly surprised there weren’t more problems with poll watchers, marking the second general election in a row when a feared threat of aggressive Republican observers did not materialize. ‘This seems to be an increase over 2020. Is it a small increase? Yes,’ said Michael McDonald, a political scientist at the University of Florida. ‘It’s still a dry run for 2024, and we can’t quite let down our guard.’” Associated Press
Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University: “[Sarah] Palin unleashed some extraordinarily toxic elements into the body politic, and they never disappeared. The Tea Party carried them forward on Capitol Hill and Donald Trump brought them to the world stage with his presidency. Only time can tell how long the staying power of the toxic changes wrought by Palin will be. But there is no putting the genie back in the bottle.” CNN Op-Ed: Sarah Palin lost the battle, but won the war
Joyce Vance, former US attorney, re: 11th Circuit’s expected ruling in the Mar-A-Lago documents case: “It seems to me that it’s all over but the shouting, or in this case, the legal writing, which I’d thought the Court might finish with ahead of Thanksgiving. In the earlier motion involving the classified documents, the Court ruled within 24 hours of DOJ filing its final brief. Even though they didn’t do it in advance of the holiday, I wouldn’t expect them to delay too long. Judge Raymond Dearie, the special master Judge Cannon appointed, is looking to close out his review of seized materials in December, but it doesn’t end there. His decisions will be subject to objections by the parties, a briefing to the judge, and an appeal, so it could be months down the road before final decisions are made and the government can proceed unhindered with its investigation. That’s something the 11th Circuit is unlikely to tolerate. As DOJ argued, Trump’s position is “fatal to the vindication of criminal law” — former presidents, like anyone else, must be able to be held accountable in a timely fashion when they break the law. Whatever Trump’s attorneys may have claimed, they’re looking for special treatment for him here. The 11th Circuit didn’t seem interested in letting him have it. Let’s hope the tea leaves here turn into the reality.” Civil Discourse
Barbara McQuade, former US attorney, re: Oath Keepers verdicts: “Great work by DOJ to charge seditious conspiracy and make the case that attacking Congress to stop the transfer of presidential power is a serious crime. Accountability is essential to deterrence.” Tweet
Joyce Vance, former US attorney (MSNBC video): “The result today gives DOJ a little bit of momentum… because it is clear that Stewart Rhodes is not the most culpable participant in the events 1/6. There were people who were more accountable, people who had greater intent” MSNBC’s Deadline White House Tweet
Kathleen Belew, professor of history at Northwestern University:
“Q: ‘You write that white power groups were heavily present in the Jan. 6 mob. Is it fair to say parts of the movement see Trump and Jan. 6 as carrying forward their own war to overturn the U.S. government, in service of a vision of a global Aryan nation?’
A: ‘The movement saw that as a stunning act of propaganda. We saw upticks in recruitment drives. And the lack of condemnation of those events by the mainstream Republican Party really showed these activists that there is plenty more space for them in our political process.’” WaPo’s Greg Sargent Column/Interview: How Trump is handing white supremacists huge propaganda victories
More Than 1,000 Department Of Justice Alumni: “We are alumni of the Department of Justice and together have served under Republican and Democratic administrations at different levels of the federal system, some as career attorneys and law enforcement personnel, some as political appointees, and some as both. In those roles, we furthered the Department’s mission to ensure the fair and impartial administration of justice. Those of us who were prosecutors or who otherwise worked on criminal matters applied the standards for investigating and charging criminal conduct set forth in the Justice Manual and the Principles of Federal Prosecution. Each of us believes that, under those standards, Donald Trump’s announcement of his candidacy for president in the 2024 election should not deter the Department’s ongoing criminal investigations of his actions related to the attempt to overturn the 2020 election or his possession, as a private citizen, of classified and other government documents, including highly sensitive materials that impact our national security. The fact that the Attorney General has chosen to appoint a special counsel does not change the analysis — as the Attorney General noted, ‘[the special counsel] must comply with the regulations, procedures, and policies of the Department.’ Based on the facts in the public record, Mr. Trump’s actions are properly a subject of those investigations, which were underway long before he declared his candidacy.” DOJ Alumni Statement on Trump Candidacy and DOJ’s Ongoing Investigations | Protect Democracy Tweet
