Octopus Overlords

Having tried and failed to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump’s allies are now attempting to interfere with the ongoing grand jury investigation into that earlier misconduct. The Republican majority of the Georgia House approved a bill this week that would create a commission with the power to investigate, discipline, and even remove locally elected district attorneys for conducting investigations that are deemed “politically motivated.” The Georgia Senate passed a nearly identical bill last week.

If enacted into law, the Georgia legislation would empower the commission to interfere with active investigations like the one Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is conducting into Trump. Not surprisingly, the likes of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a leader of the Trump false elector effort in the 2020 election being investigated by Willis, enthusiastically supports the bill. Gov. Brian Kemp should refuse to sign it—but if the bill becomes law, the courts will still have ample reason to throw it out.

The Georgia House bill provides that prosecutors can be removed from office by the “Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission” for “willful misconduct” or “conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice which brings the office into disrepute.” (Whatever that means.) This vague language—that could encompass any controversial high-profile case—is just one problem with the bill. The commission can receive complaints from anyone (including complainants outside of a judicial circuit), creating a possible revolving door of complaints. The commission could even investigate district attorneys merely for making charging decisions where a complainant alleges “it is likely” the district attorney made a decision because of factors “unrelated to the duties of prosecution.” (Again, whatever that means.) The commission can also sanction a district attorney for a policy that “categorically refuses to prosecute any offense … of which he or she is required by law to prosecute”; that is making ordinary decisions to prioritize some prosecutions over others. The Senate version of the bill requires only a “plausible” allegation of the supposed transgressions.

Fulton County investigators have an audio recording of a phone call that former President Donald Trump made to the Georgia House speaker to push for a special session to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Fulton County special grand jury, which investigated Trump’s actions in the state after the 2020 election, heard the recording of Trump’s call to David Ralston, according to five of the jurors who spoke anonymously to the AJC. A source confirmed to CNN the existence of the recording, which hasn’t been made public.

The recording adds to what’s known about the pressure campaign by Trump and his allies on Georgia officials. It’s the third audio recording of the former president’s phone calls to Georgia officials that is known to exist.

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 5:33 pm Looks like Dominion is going to have a clear field to focus on actual malice and a ton of evidence to support them. I imagine Fox is looking for an offramp quick.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Tue Apr 18, 2023 4:37 pm Yeah, it's disappointing. But one downside of having this litigated by a private party is that the private party is unlikely to turn down a good settlement because of public policy reasons.

malchior wrote: ↑Tue Apr 18, 2023 4:24 pm Good for Dominion shareholders I guess.

malchior wrote: ↑Tue Apr 18, 2023 5:09 pm Yeah definitely private. I assume it is a Corporation underneath still.

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Tue Apr 18, 2023 5:16 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Tue Apr 18, 2023 5:09 pm Yeah definitely private. I assume it is a Corporation underneath still.

Probably just a handful of owners. I think it has some former Carlyle guys.

My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell has been ordered to shell out $5 million to an expert who debunked his data related to the 2020 election, according to a decision by the arbitration panel obtained by CNN.

Lindell, a purveyor of election conspiracies, vowed to award the multimillion-dollar sum to any cyber security expert who could disprove his data. An arbitration panel awarded Robert Zeidman, who has decades in software development experience, a $5 million payout on Wednesday after he sued Lindell over the sum.

“Based on the foregoing analysis, Mr. Zeidman performed under the contract,” the arbitration panel wrote in its decision. “He proved the data Lindell LLC provided, and represented reflected information from the November 2020 election, unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data. Failure to pay Mr. Zeidman the $5 million prized was a breach of the contract, entitling him to recover.”

In mid-January 2021, two men hired by former President Donald Trump’s legal team discussed over text message what to do with data obtained from a breached voting machine in a rural county in Georgia, including whether to use it as part of an attempt to decertify the state’s pending Senate runoff results.

The texts, sent two weeks after operatives breached a voting machine in Coffee County, Georgia, reveal for the first time that Trump allies considered using voting data not only to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, but also in an effort to keep a Republican hold on the US Senate.

“We only have until Saturday to decide if we are going to use this report to try to decertify the Senate run-off election or if we hold it for a bigger moment,” Penrose wrote, referring to a potential lawsuit.

Newly obtained surveillance video shows a Republican county official and a team of operatives working for Trump 2020 attorney Sidney Powell inside a restricted area of the elections office in Coffee County Georgia. Portions of this image were obscured to protect the identity of people unnamed in the report.

The plot to breach voting systems in Coffee County, coordinated by members of Trump’s legal team including Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, is part of a broader criminal investigation into 2020 election interference led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Three Rensselaer County government officials including Richard W. Crist, the county’s director of operations, have been indicted on federal criminal charges alleging they used fraud and intimidation to obtain absentee ballots in the names of voters for primary and general elections in 2021.

Crist and James R. Gordon, director of the county’s Bureau of Central Services, as well as Leslie A. Wallace, a longtime political consultant who is listed in public records as an “assistant for constituent relations” in the office of county Executive Steve McLaughlin, turned themselves in to the FBI at its Albany headquarters on Thursday morning.

...

U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew T. Baxter, after entering not guilty pleas into the record, released them with conditions that include restricting their travel to the United States. He also gave the three defendants a stern warning against trying to influence or intimidate any witnesses, many of whom are county employees that they may supervise. If that happens, “you’re going to have serious problems with me going forward,” the judge told them.

...

Crist is a former news reporter and longtime GOP political operative in Rensselaer County who has wielded enormous influence in local politics and for many years has been McLaughlin’s political confidant. Wallace is a former Republican legislative aide in the state Assembly and Senate who also has a private political consulting business. Gordon is a former Troy mayoral candidate and a member of the North Greenbush Town Board.

The charges include allegations that the trio conspired to use their official positions to violate the constitutional rights of subordinate county employees to intimidate them into requesting and filing absentee ballots, according to federal prosecutors.

The FBI’s investigation had recently focused on campaign work and voting by county employees who work under the direction of Gordon and Crist, who has served as a political consultant for local and state officials, including several judges.

...

The ongoing investigation has focused on the actions of multiple Republican officials and has been led by the U.S. Justice Department and special agents with an FBI white-collar crime and public corruption unit in Albany. It had already led to the guilty pleas of former Troy Councilwoman Kimberly Ashe-McPherson and Jason T. Schofield, the county’s former Republican elections commissioner.

Schofield pleaded guilty in January to 12 counts of unlawfully using the names and dates of birth of voters to fraudulently apply for absentee ballots for elections held in 2021. He resigned before pleading guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in September. He testified before the grand jury that indicted Crist, Gordon and Wallace.

The North Carolina Supreme Court has overturned its own past ruling that said partisan gerrymandering is illegal, clearing the way for Republicans there to redraw the state’s congressional lines in a way that heavily favors the GOP.

Alefroth wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 2:57 pm Swell...

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/2 ... g-00094433

Up to four blue seats could be at risk.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 4:03 pm

Alefroth wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 2:57 pm Swell...

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/2 ... g-00094433

Up to four blue seats could be at risk.

Wow. I thought that was on its way to being cleared in 2022 when we more or less won against gerrymandering in my state.

Kraken wrote: ↑Sun Apr 30, 2023 11:58 pm

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 4:03 pm

Alefroth wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 2:57 pm Swell...

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/2 ... g-00094433

Up to four blue seats could be at risk.

Wow. I thought that was on its way to being cleared in 2022 when we more or less won against gerrymandering in my state.

MI's return to democracy is a welcome advance, and it looks like WI might soon follow. Losing NC will be bad, but there are pickup opportunities elsewhere.

Grifman wrote: ↑Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:25 pm Lin Wood is about the most stupid lawyer I’ve seen. He just posted a video on Twitter of the hearing after the judge explicitly ordered no videos be taken. He’s toast - can’t wait for the judge to hear about this.

Attorney Lin Wood, one of the most visible conspiracy theorists behind efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, has been found in contempt for violating an order keeping him from disparaging his former law partners.

“I can’t overlook the protracted and flagrant nature of the violation,” Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said.

The judge imposed $5,000 in criminal contempt fines and hanged the prospect of $15,000 in civil contempt charges for future disparagement.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Tue Jun 06, 2023 1:43 am So what do you think would have happened if on January 6 Pence had rejected the legitimate electors and "certified" TFG's phony ones? Do you think Florida Man would have won the election? If it goes to the courts he would be the sitting President in the meantime.