This week, states have been preparing for further conspiracies to spread based on the lies the former president has continuously told since he lost the 2020 presidential election. The threat posed to our right to vote and the integrity of elections in our country continues and grows.
Here’s what you need to know for the weekend:
Main Points for the Weekend:
1. Investigations into former President Trump continue – this time in Manhattan. Prosecutors have begun presenting their case to a grand jury, setting him up for another possible criminal charge.
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- Top point to make: No one is above the law – including former presidents.
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- If you read one thing: New York Times, 1/30/23: Manhattan Prosecutors Begin Presenting Trump Case to Grand Jury. “The Manhattan district attorney’s office on Monday began presenting evidence to a grand jury about Donald J. Trump’s role in paying hush money to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign, laying the groundwork for potential criminal charges against the former president in the coming months, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The grand jury was recently impaneled, and the beginning of witness testimony represents a clear signal that the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, is nearing a decision about whether to charge Mr. Trump. On Monday, one of the witnesses was seen with his lawyer entering the building in Lower Manhattan where the grand jury is sitting. The witness, David Pecker, is the former publisher of The National Enquirer, the tabloid that helped broker the deal with the porn star, Stormy Daniels… Still, the developments compound Mr. Trump’s legal woes as he mounts a third presidential campaign. A district attorney in Georgia could seek to indict him for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state, and he faces a special counsel investigation into his removal of sensitive documents from the White House as well as his actions during the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”
2. MAGA Republicans are ramping up to run for elected positions across the country in 2024, still echoing Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud. A new election season will bring hundreds of new MAGA supporters who continue to threaten our election processes and our right to vote.
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- Top point to make: The threat to our country is ongoing. MAGA Republicans are creating a new playbook for 2024, and beyond.
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- If you read one thing: POLITICO, 2/1/23: Election officials ready themselves for the next wave of Trump followers. “Donald Trump acolytes galvanized by the former president’s false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen from him piled into last year’s campaigns for state election officer positions. And although Democrats and mainstream Republicans defeated all of those candidates in key battleground states like Michigan, Arizona and elsewhere, far more races for local election positions there and in other states will be up for grabs next year… Maricopa is just one county out of the hundreds if not thousands of jurisdictions that will elect election administrators over the next couple years and give the country a taste for how much more drama voters should expect over their ballots… The threats posed by having a local election clerk swept up in conspiracy theories are not far-fetched, because we’ve already seen them come to life.”
3. MAGA Republicans across the country continue to introduce bills based on conspiracy theories with the goal to suppress voters’ voices. MAGA Republicans are fueled today by the false claims of election fraud fabricated by the former president.
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- Top point to make: The threat to our right to vote continues to be under attack from MAGA Republicans in Congress and state legislatures today.
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- If you read one thing: Arizona Mirror, 1/26/23: Republican election bills based on conspiracy theories, political grudges, advance. “Fueled by election conspiracy theories and axes to grind against political opponents, Republican legislators gave initial approval to a slate of bills on Wednesday that served as veiled rebukes against the 2022 midterm elections and the officials who oversaw them… Their hesitance to do so, based on groundless conspiracy theories, threatened to place Hobbs in violation of her own responsibilities, leaving her no recourse but to ask a judge to order Cochise County supervisors to fulfill their job requirements. Hobbs’ office also sent letters to reticent county supervisors reminding them of their statutory responsibilities and the penalties for failing to carry them out.”
Expert voices
Norm Eisen, executive chair of the States United Democracy Center, Dennis Aftergut, former federal prosecutor, and Christine P. Sun, senior vice president of the States United Democracy Center: “Accountability is among the strongest tools we have to prevent another attack on our country. Swift action from the bar is critical to stopping [Donald Trump’s lawyer John] Eastman from continuing to undermine both the legal profession and our democracy — and to warn other lawyers never to take this dangerous path.” The Los Angeles Times
James Sasso, senior investigative counsel for the Select Committee on January 6: “Mr. Trump did not appear out of a vacuum to upend democracy. His presidency was the culmination of years of political degradation during which voters watched our political institutions rust to the point of breaking. Like any good liar, Mr. Trump succeeded by building his lies off a truth; people no longer trust the federal government because they see its corroded institutions as corrupted for the few against the many. Until we fix that problem, we will not free ourselves from the threat of future political violence and upheaval worse than Jan. 6.” The New York Times
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, historian at New York University: “‘The House Republican leader’ IS an extremist who paid homage to Trump when he became Speaker. They are all arsonists wedded to the values of Jan 6.” Tweet
Joyce Vance, former US attorney: “It’s still astonishing that so many Americans were taken in by a man whose possible crimes are so numerous that when we learn the Manhattan DA has a new grand jury investigation, we have to stop and figure out which of them is involved. In April, Trump faces a civil trial over allegations he defamed former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll when he denied raping her. This fall, Trump faces a trial over financial fraud charges brought by New York’s Attorney General. Trump is under criminal investigation in Georgia, and a special counsel is considering federal charges related to both his refusal to return classified material to the federal government and his role in the Big Lie/January 6. He is facing 2024 primary challenges from Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, and that list is certain to grow. Trump is increasingly going to be fighting for his company’s survival and his political future with his back against the wall. The last time he was in a similarly precarious position was on January 6, when, having exhausted all possible lawsuits and even an attempted effort to subvert DOJ, Trump was out of options for holding onto power after losing the election. We all know how that went.” Civil Discourse
Miles Taylor, chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security (MSNBC Video): “I think what’s on [Scott Perry’s] phone is probably digital smoking gun evidence of his close involvement to this plot… He’s clearly one of the key players fanning the flames of the conspiracy theory that led to the attack” Tweet
Kathleen Belew, associate professor of history at Northwestern University: “The reference to the tree of liberty is white power rhetoric that connects to the Oklahoma City bombing, among other domestic terrorist actions. This should not be treated as an isolated actor. The Pelosi suspect here is using ideological content from the white power movement.” Tweet
