This Week: Trump Repeats Election Lies Ahead of Fox News Lawsuit Settlement as State Legislators Attempt to Manipulate Election Law for Political Purposes
This week, former President Donald Trump “called on Rupert Murdoch to back false information about the 2020 presidential election” ahead of the expected defamation lawsuit trial brought by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News, which broadcast false claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential race. The right-wing media corporation settled the lawsuit for $787.5 million shortly before scheduled opening statements.
In other legal developments, Trump was deposed for the second time in the fraud lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James and “answered questions for nearly seven hours.” The former president also sued his ex-lawyer and former “fixer” Michael Cohen for $500 million; Cohen is cooperating with the criminal case against Trump in New York and “is expected to serve as a star witness.”
Meanwhile, MAGA Republicans in state legislatures continue their efforts to suppress the vote in upcoming elections while echoing conspiracy theories on election fraud. In Texas, the state Senate passed “a bill that would empower the secretary of state to seize election authority from county officials,” which targets “local election administrators who aim to expand voting access.”
In Florida, Senate Republicans introduced a bill to make voting more difficult, including by requiring first-time voters to cast ballots in person and restricting voter registration organizations. Voting rights advocates say the bill “could lead to the increased potential purging of eligible voters.”
In North Carolina, House Republicans advanced a bill that “would remove the state’s three-day grace period after an election for an absentee by-mail ballot to arrive.” This could “disenfranchise lawful voters of all parties and play into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to sow distrust in elections.”
Legislators in the Arizona House of Representatives voted to expel Rep. Liz Harris “after an ethics probe that found Harris engaged in ‘disorderly behavior’ for bringing a guest to a public hearing who falsely accused lawmakers of taking bribes from a drug cartel.” Election denier Kari Lake went on former Trump advisor Steve Bannon’s podcast and defended Harris, claiming that she “‘cares deeply about election integrity’” despite spreading “baseless claims of election fraud in the 2020 and 2022 votes.”
In Wisconsin, after Janet Protasiewicz was elected to the state Supreme Court in a victory for voting rights, legislative Republicans have “one last chance” to influence state election policy as Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe’s term is set to expire at the end of June. U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, who opposed the creation of a national commission to investigate the January 6 violence, complained that the new majority could “reverse some of the most biased congressional maps in the nation that were drawn to favor Republicans.”
After installing an election denier as its chair, the Michigan GOP is considering replacing its 2024 presidential primary with a closed caucus or convention that could “benefit Trump because of his popularity among” MAGA Republicans who “have dominated recent Michigan GOP meetings.”
