By Joe Miller · August 24, 2022
This Week: MAGA Republicans Continue to Push Election Conspiracy Lies
Over the past week, MAGA Republicans continued their ongoing campaign to stonewall investigations into their plot to overturn free and fair elections. Last week, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson announced his refusal to work with the January 6 Committee, claiming that his involvement with Trump’s false elector scheme on Jan 6., “lasted seconds,” and has been “overblown” – a sizable difference from earlier claims that he played a “two-minute role.” Johnson recently made headlines for praising a man who illegally applied for several elected officials’ absentee ballots and contested Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ primary victory (though Vos’ defeated opponent has already mounted a write-in campaign for the general election).
Fellow Jan. 6 conspirator Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry (PA-10) filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice this morning, seeking to block federal law enforcement agents from searching his seized cell phone, given his frequent communications with Trump and his MAGA allies after the 2020 election.
In Georgia, a federal appeals court denied Senator Lindsey Graham’s motion to reject a subpoena from the Fulton County grand jury investigation, ruling that the Senator could only invoke his speech & debate clause protections for specific, predetermined questions and categories of information and delaying his testimony. Last week, the Georgia state bureau of investigation opened a criminal investigation into Trump’s legal team over revelations that they copied sensitive election data illegally gathered from voting machines in 2020.
During primary elections held last night, MAGA Republicans prevailed in a handful of key races across three states. Trump’s ticket in Florida, led by Governor Ron DeSantis, dominated the Republican primary there, while fellow election conspiracy theorist Rep. Elise Stefanik ran uncontested in New York and a sole MAGA Senate candidate prevailed in deeply-conservative Oklahoma’s runoff. Stay tuned for our full primary rundown as results are finalized.
Elsewhere, in ongoing Republican efforts to stonewall free and fair elections this week:
A Pennsylvania judge ordered defiant MAGA county clerks in three counties to finish counting all mail-in ballots and end a fourteen-week stalemate with state election officials.
The Michigan GOP formally embraced a group of disavowed, extremist delegates from the Hillsdale County GOP convention who met in the parking lot after being barred from the convention hall.
A Colorado state senator switched his party affiliation from Republican to Democratic, citing the GOP’s embrace of ‘stolen election’ lies and violent attempts to overturn the election in 2020.
And finally, the North Carolina State Board of Elections adopted new rules with heightened security precautions for 2022 election officials in light of harassment by partisan observers against poll workers during the 2020 election.
