Dear American Citizen: In order to vote in this presidential election, you must post a
passing grade on this test. Feel free to use any resources you might need to
find the answers – since you don’t want to be numbskull, and make bad choices
when you vote. Circle your answers. In some cases you may need to mark more
than one letter on multiple choice questions. Good luck, future voters. The
fate of democracy rests in your hands.
Also: the fate of the U.S.
Constitution.
1. How many wives has Donald Trump cheated on? And really: You trust
this guy?
A) 0 B) 1
C) 2 D) 3.
Okay, moving on:
2. Mr. Trump first claimed
a presidential election in ___ was a disgrace, and the people should “march on
Washington.” And the whole world was laughing at us. Also, the winner wasn’t born
in this country, but in Wakanda.
A) 2008 B) 2012 C) 2016
D) 2020.
3. President Trump and several
of his shadiest lawyers claimed the 2020 election was rigged. Which statement/s
are true?
A) His lawyers won every lawsuit they filed, proving the election was
stolen, and Biden voters hated America.
B) Jenna Ellis, one Trump attorney, had to admit to ten specific lies regarding
the “Stolen Election,” and her law license was suspended in Colorado for three
years.
C) Ellis also admitted committing a felony, while trying to steal Georgia’s
electoral votes for Trump.
D) Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony of his own, related to
the Georgia plot.
E) Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors and was fined $8,700
and placed on probation for six years.
4. Rudy Giuliani and right-wing
news outlets accused two Georgia poll workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, of
stealing tens of thousands of votes. Which statement/s are correct?
A) Freeman and Moss are currently serving ten year sentences in the
Georgia penitentiary.
B) The women were inundated by death threats. One caller told Freeman he
fantasized about seeing her hang, and hearing her neck snap. He added a few “N-words,”
to make his point.
C) Donald Trump condemned such threats, as any decent American would. (Don’t
be a dolt. Of course he didn’t.)
D) The two women filed a defamation suit against Rudy; a jury heard the
evidence and awarded them $148.2 million.
Ruby Freeman.
5. During his first
run for president, Trump was defeated in the Iowa caucuses by Sen. Ted
Cruz.
A) Donald handled defeat maturely, and congratulated Sen. Cruz.
B) Donald said “Lyin’ Ted” didn’t win. He “stole” the election.
C) Donald complimented Sen. Cruz’s wife on her beauty and said he’d like
to grab her p***y.
D) Donald insisted that leprechauns disguised themselves as caucus
voters and on Fox News, Sean Hannity backed up his claim, and viewers bought
more guns and got ready to hunt leprechauns if Sean issued a call to action.
6. Evidence that
leprechauns voted in Iowa proved that illegal immigrants vote all the time in every
U.S. election.
A) TRUE B) FALSE.
7. It is already illegal
for illegal immigrants to vote in every state – so Congress must pass a law to
make it illegal-er. We must stop the leprechauns with their infernal Lucky Charms
and their irritating singing!
A) TRUE B) FALSE.
(Real patriots only eat
corn flakes.)
8. When Vice President
Joe Biden narrowly won the popular vote in Wisconsin, Team Trump demanded a
recount in the two most populous Democratic counties, Milwaukee and Dane. At a
cost of $3 million:
A) Forty thousand illegal votes – all by dead people – were uncovered.
B) Trump’s legal wizards proved the voting machines were rigged and
would never come up, three “7’s” in a row.
C) Biden gained votes.
D) Tucker Carlson admitted his incessant claims of voter fraud were
nonsense, and apologized to Fox News viewers for making them measurably dumber.
9. Fox News hosts
repeatedly claimed the election was stolen, and blamed Dominion Voting Systems.
What happened when Dominion filed a defamation suit?
A) Fox News prevailed, and Fox lawyers were allowed to give Dominion lawyers
wedgies. Fun was had by all.
B) Lawyers for Dominion were sanctioned for bringing a “frivolous” case
into court.
C) Trump celebrated the Fox News victory, and insisted he won the
popular vote in all 53 states, and also Narnia.
D) Fox News hosts were shown to have been lying, and Fox settled with
Dominion and paid $787.5 million.
10. Even after Mr. Biden took office, Mr. Trump continued to claim the
Arizona election was rigged. Cyber Ninjas, a data company run by Doug Logan, an
avid Trump supporter, was paid $6 million to uncover the massive fraud that all
the MAGA faithful believed occurred.
Which statement or
statements are true?
A) Cyber Ninjas proved that 50,000 illegal immigrants crossed the border
from Mexico, dressed as Trump supporters and voted for Biden.
B) President Biden blocked the effort to uncover fraud. Also, he hid Hunter’s
laptop.
C) Cyber Ninjas discovered that Trump lost 99 votes in the recount.
Biden gained 261.
D) Cyber Ninjas discovered that zombies voted in Arizona, and also ate
the brains of thousands of potential Trump voters.
11. President Trump screamed
about machines changing votes and cited Antrim County, Michigan as a perfect
example. He insisted 6,000 votes were switched in Antrim. How many votes did he
gain, out of 15,000, when a hand recount was completed?
A) 0 B) 12 C) 6,000 D) Ten gazillion.
12. President Trump repeatedly
pressed Attorney General Bill Barr to use the Department of Justice to uncover
voter fraud in the 2020 election.
A) Barr later testified under oath that Trump’s claims of significant
voter fraud were “bullshit.”
B) Barr resigned and suggested that his replacement should be Stormy
Daniels.
C) Barr admitted he only worked for Donald as long as he did, because
Melania was hot, and he harbored lustful thoughts about her. But not “grab her
p***y,” lustful thoughts, because Barr was not completely classless.
D) Barr ordered all leprechauns deported.
13. In December 2022, former
President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, insisting that since he had been
robbed in the 2020 election, “all rules, regulations, and articles, even those
found in the Constitution,” could be terminated and claimed he should be
reinstated.
A) TRUE B) FALSE.
14. Transgender athletes
competing in girls’ sports are a much bigger threat to the rule of law than a
former president suggesting that the Constitution can be terminated if he loses
an election.
A) TRUE B) FALSE.
15. A curious Republican
member of Congress decided to carry out a recount in his own district in three
precincts, to see how much voter fraud he could find in the 2020 election. In
the first count, Trump got 2,526 votes, Biden 1,502.
What was the result?
A) There was zero change in the totals.
B) Trump gained 496 votes.
C) The First Lady was so proud of her husband that she agreed to sleep
with him for the first time in six months.
D) One voting machine let loose in a creepy computer voice, like HAL 9000
in 2001: A Space Odyssey. “Computers will rule the world after November
5, because we shall elect one of the Transformers as president.”
16. With the MAGA
faithful still fuming in 2023, Republican officials in Lycoming County,
Pennsylvania decided to spend a pile of taxpayer cash on a hand recount of all 59,374
votes – from 2020.
A) The recount proved again that there had been massive fraud, as
illegal immigrants from Canada kayaked across Lake Erie, and voted by the millions.
B) There were a lot of kayaks!
C) The same creepy computer voice (as above) warned that a Transformer
was going to be elected on November 5, and Victoria’s Secret models would serve
as sex slaves for the robot overlords.
D) Donald netted a measly eight votes, or one for every 7,422 ballots.
He still didn’t win the election, though.
17. After Attorney
General Barr resigned, Mr. Trump agreed to meet with three top officials from
the Department of Justice. Which of these men or men refused to sign a letter
saying DOJ had uncovered significant fraud, and instead threatened to resign?
A) Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, Barr’s replacement.
B) Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard Donoghue.
C) Stephen
Engel, Assistant
Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel.
D) All of the above.
18. Which of these individuals,
all of them Republicans or members of the Trump administration, told Trump
there was no significant voter fraud during the 2020 election, and that
he lost?
A) Jeffrey Rosen, Richard Donoghue and Stephen Engel – them again.
B) White House Chief Counsel Pat Cipollone.
C) White House lawyer Erich Herschmann.
D) Derek Lyons, another White House lawyer.
E) Bill Stepien, the Trump campaign chair for 2020.
F) The Ghost of Christmas Past.
G) Alex Cannon, 2020 Trump campaign lawyer.
H) Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia.
I) Georgia Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan.
J) Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
K) Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona.
L) Rusty Bowers, Arizona Speaker of the House.
M) Mike
Shirkey, Majority Leader of the Michigan Senate.
N) All
of the above, except “F.” And we could list many more. But we’d run out
of alphabet letters, and have to go from “Alpha” to “Omega,” and the question
would look like a list of fraternities and sororities.
19. Donald Trump never
complains if states like Texas, Florida and Ohio vote by mail, because he wins
those states. Isn’t that odd, don’t you think?
A) TRUE B) FALSE.
20. Texas Attorney
General Ted Paxton claimed he could prove that 58,000 undocumented voters cast
ballots in his state. All 254 counties were sent lists of these illegal voters.
McClennan County had 366 names. After cross checking records, they found zero
illegal voters. The whole effort to prove there were all those undocumented voters
was so embarrassing, Paxton dropped it.
A) TRUE B) FALSE.
21. Well, Paxton wasn’t
done. He later filed suit with the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming the 2020
election was totally rigged. As proof, he cited the fact that no candidate who
lost both Florida and Ohio had ever been elected president – proving that
Joseph Biden could not have prevailed in his race against Donald Trump.
This simple blogger, who
taught American history for decades, and now looks like a withered prune, realized
instantly that this was balderdash. Name the other president who lost
both states but was still victorious.
A) George Washington.
B) Abraham Lincoln.
C) John F. Kennedy.
D) Franklin Pierce (admit it you didn’t even know he was a president).
22. Paxton’s lawsuit was
crafted by Dr. John Eastman, a California lawyer and college professor. Dr.
Eastman has since been disbarred in California for all kinds of lying about the
2020 election.
A) TRUE B) FALSE.
23. A day before the January
6, 2021, attack, the ten living former secretaries of defense signed a
letter saying:
A) President Trump was a threat to the U.S. Constitution.
B) The U.S. military would love to seize voting machines in states Trump
lost, just as Trump allies were suggesting. For example, Mike Lindell.
C) The U.S. military would be thrilled if Trump ordered them to shoot American
citizens who would protest.
D) All ten men agreed serving in the Trump administration was (2), or would
have been (8) awesome, because Donald was twice as cool as Vladimir Putin.
24. Election denying is
now a GOP sport. Republicans who were defeated in the 2022 primaries began
claiming elections were rigged – by other Republicans. So far, no recount, not
for Kari Lake, not for Mark Finchem, not for Laura Loomer, and not for any
other candidate, has proven significant voter fraud occurred during midterms.
A) TRUE B) FALSE.
25. Kandiss Taylor is the second most delusional election denier.
After she lost the GOP primary to incumbent Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, she
claimed the vote was rigged. What percentage of the vote did she actually receive?
A) 3.4% B) 18% C) 44%
D) 48.1%.
BONUS QUESTION #1: The former president was twice sued for defamation by
E. Jean Carroll, who said he raped her in a department store dressing room – by
digitally penetrating her. Trump paid the best lawyers he could find (actually his
MAGA fans paid, by donating to his defense fund). The cases were civil, so
juries did not have to be unanimous. Each jury had nine members.
How many jurors (total), believed the defense Trump’s lawyers offered?
Write total here: ____.
(Face it: That is some really pitiful lawyering.)
BONUS QUESTION #2: Donald is not known for sticking to the truth, regardless
of topic. When his future second wife, Marla Maples, was pregnant with their
child, Tiffany, Donald pretended to be his own publicist. As “John Miller,” he phoned
several New York gossip columnists. “Miller” said “Donald” would never marry
Marla. What 90s supermodel did “Miller” claim “Donald” was dating, instead?
Place model name here: _______________________.
That supermodel has since made clear she would have rather dated an
armadillo than have been seen on Donald’s arm.
SCORING: Feel free to
score yourself – but no cheating. Seventeen correct answers is a passing grade, and you are ready
to vote.
Each bonus question makes
up for one other miss.
(ANSWERS FOLLOW THE SUPERMODEL’S PICTURE.)
Name this supermodel.
Answers: 1. B 2. D 3. B, C, D, E 4. B, D
5. B 6. A 7. B
8. C 9. D
10. C 11. B 12. A
13. A 14. B 15. A
16. D 17. D 18. N
19. A
20. A 21. C 22. A
23. A 24. B 25. A.
Bonus #1. 0, zero, none.
Bonus #2. Carla Bruni.
Vice President Kamala Harris.
FEEL FREE TO FACT CHECK THE BLOGGER’S ANSWERS. ALSO FEEL FREE TO POST
YOUR TEST SCORES IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. AND REMEMBER: THE FATE OF THE U.S.
CONSTITUTION IS IN YOUR HANDS.
“Just
say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican
congressmen.”
President Donald J. Trump
__________
AUGUST 1, 2023: Donald Trump’s legal problems
increased dramatically today, when the Department
of Justice unveiled its second criminal indictment against him, and the third,
overall. He now faces four additional felony charges, related to one
authoritarian goal. Trump and his co-conspirators (there are six) set out to
“defraud” the United States and steal the last presidential election.
Special Prosecutor Jack Smith.
NOTE ON METHODOLOGY: We
are still using orange highlights in honor of Donald’s favorite toner. That’s
just our little joke. As for all names of individuals and groups in bold,
these are people who know President Trump, or his pals, were lying about the
“Stolen Election.”
We do not use Democrats
as witnesses, except in the rarest cases. Who knows Trump has been lying? Start
with an entire grand jury, below. Throw in
Trump’s own attorney general, Bill
Barr. Add Vice President Pence, the Director of National
Intelligence, and many more.
As for our numbering system, we are
doing our best to lead the MAGA faithful, step by easy step, to a hard Truth
they would rather not face.
Trump lost in 2020. He’s been lying ever
since. And he’s going to keep lying as long as the dupes fall for his lies. Worst
of all, he has a substantial part of his political base all riled up and ready
to start shooting. A civil war!
Cause? Trump can’t admit he lost in
2020, and might lose again in November. He might also win, of course.
As soon as news broke of this latest
indictment, Trump allies began squealing that the “fix” was in. They demanded
to know why Special Prosecutor Jack Smith had filed in Washington D.C., a
jurisdiction where jurors might be less favorable to the Orange Dumpling from
Mar-a-Lago.
708. Sorry, MAGA folks. This is how courts
work. Both grand juries and regular juries are impaneled injurisdictions
where crimes are alleged to have occurred. Burglarize a home in Stanford,
Montana, and go to trial in Stanford. Get caught on a rolling stop in the
Village of Glendale, Ohio – how sadly does this blogger know – and pay your
stupid fine in the village Mayor’s Court.
Trump is charged in Washington D.C.
because he was living in the White House when his alleged crimes occurred.
(See how easy this is!)
“Dishonesty, fraud and deceit.”
709. We should also point out that
almost every potential witness cited in today’s indictment either worked
for President Trump during his time in office, works for him now,
or was/still is a Republican.
710. All have testified before the grand
jury under oath.
Several co-conspirators (currently
unindicted) have also provided “testimony,” if you want to call it that, by
pleading the Fifth – that is invoking the right not to incriminate themselves –
hundreds of times.
711. We also know that in an interview
on CBS today, former Attorney General Bill Barr said he would be
delighted to testify against Donald
J. Trump when the former president comes to
trial. (We might also be wise to remember that Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff
Sessions, had to announce that he would not break the law to help Trump during the Mueller
investigation.)
712. Mr. Barr has already testified
before a congressional panel. Today, he said again that “on three occasions at least, in no uncertain
terms,” he told Trump, “there was no evidence of fraud that would have changed
the outcome” of the last presidential election. Trump fans should ponder that.
Attorney General Bill Barr, left, with the president. Three times in December 2020, he told his boss there was no real voter fraud.
NOT-SO-MUCH-FUN FACT: To be fair, in April
2024, Barr said he would vote for Trump over Biden, come November, describing
both candidates as “unfit.” (I don’t know if his stance holds with Kamala
Harris having replaced Biden.)
As for Barr, Trump had previously described him
as, “weak, slow moving, lethargic, gutless and lazy.”
(A match made in MAGA heaven.)
To subvert election results.
Mr. Trump stands accused of spending
more than two months (November 4, 2020-January 6, 2021) spreading lies and
claiming there had been “outcome-determinative” fraud in the voting. “These
claims were false,” according to the indictment, “and the Defendant knew that
they were false.”
According to the indictment, even
before all the votes were counted and recorded, “the Defendant” began to pursue
“unlawful means” to discount legal votes and subvert the results. Three unique
conspiracies were hatched in an effort to alter the outcome. All “targeted a
bedrock function” of the U.S. government – determining the true winners in all
federal elections. Trump and “co-conspirators, known and unknown to the grand
jury ” turned to the use of “dishonesty, fraud, and deceit.”
713. We know, for example, that film
of Trump ally Roger Stone has been uncovered. In this case, we can watch as Mr.
Stone outlines a plan for contesting the results of the 2020 election. He can
be seen and heard laying out the plot on November 5, two days before
Biden was declared victor.
We also
know that the worst members of Team Trump rose to power during Donald’s four
years in office, because only the worst of the worst would cater to his
criminal inclinations. Stone, a seven-time felon, and Steve Bannon, who snagged
a Golden Pardon from Trump and avoided a felony conviction of his own, were
plotting to trick the MAGA folks into believing the election was stolen. Their
“winning” strategy was always going to involve pushing the “Big Lie.” (See: Steps 79-80, Part I.)
In this new case, six unindicted
co-conspirators are listed, but not named. All could be charged at a later
date.
Co-Conspirator 2: Professor John Eastman,
constitutional scholar.
Co-Conspirator 3: Sidney
Powell, Team Trump lawyer.
Co-Conspirator 4. Jeffrey Clark,
former Deputy Assistant Attorney General with the Department of Justice.
Co-Conspirator 5:
Kenneth Chesebro, Team Trump lawyer.
Co-Conspirator 6: Possibly Boris Epshteyn (according to The New York Times), another lawyer.
(Co-conspirators #1-5
were next indicted in a separate Georgia investigation.)
UPDATE (October 14, 2024): If you are
following these cases, you know that Team Trump lawyers have used every
delaying tactic possible to push trials past Election Day 2024, and, if
possible, into the Twenty-Second Century.
A trial was first scheduled for March
4, 2024, but the case was fought all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Eleven months passed between the time of indictment to the court’s decision on
July 1, 2024, when the justices ruled 6-3, that a president has immunity from
prosecution for all “official
duties.”
That much is fine; but the problem
lies in the murky middle, where the question becomes, “Was it an ‘official
duty,’ when Donald asked the heads of the Department of Justice to lie and say
the 2020 election was stolen – tantamount to providing him with cover to steal
it for himself?”
To be determined:
Will this case ever reach trial? If
Donald is re-elected, it likely will not. We can note, however, that
Co-conspirators #3 and #5, above, have already taken plea deals in the Georgia
election fraud case – also lodged against Trump and multiple members of the
Team Trump felons’ brigade.
Chesebro is now a felon.
Powell got by, pleading to six
misdemeanors in the Georgia case, and was placed on probation for six years.
Her legal career is on hiatus, at best – and likely terminated.
(We are not numbering
the above steps, because they have been counted in other posts.)
714. Co-Conspirator #1 has so many
legal problems, related to his work for Team Trump that we’ll just say he’s
bankrupt. Having defamed two Georgia poll workers – who did not steal any votes
– even though Rudy and President Trump screamed that they did – Giuliani was
hit for $148.2 million in a defamation suit. Now the two plaintiffs are asking
the courts to seize some of his prized assets.
Including:
1 Manhattan condo (estimated value: $6
million)
1 Palm Beach condo ($3.5 million)
1 Mercedes Benz automobile
3 Yankees World Series rings (one
estimated to be worth $30,000)
“These claims were
false, and the Defendant knew they were false.”
Anyway, back to the indictment against
Mr. Trump. We should further note that the Electoral Count Act of 1887 lays out
rules for certifying and counting electoral votes. For more than 130 years the
ECA allowed for a peaceful and orderly process to determine the winner of
presidential elections. Trump and his allies stand accused of trying to sabotage
that law.
717. According to prosecutors, “the
Defendant” and his co-conspirators “used knowingly false claims of election
fraud” to pressure state legislators and elected officials to “subvert” the
true voting results.
(You can find plenty of
examples in previous posts in this series.)
In pursuit of this end, “fraudulent
slates of electors” were organized in seven states, making this a widespread
conspiracy. (Those states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico,
Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.)
Pursuant to that plan, Trump and
others tried to force the Justice Department “to conduct sham election crime
investigations and to send a letter to the [seven] targeted states that falsely
claimed” that DOJ had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted
the election outcome.”
The Defendant and his co-conspirators
tried to enlist Vice President Mike Pence in their plot to “fraudulently alter
the election results.”
The Defendant, Donald John Trump, made
“dozens of specific claims” about supposed fraud in key states. “These claims
were false, and the Defendant knew they were false.”
718. The Defendant’s Vice President
– who personally stood to gain by remaining in office as part of the
Defendant’s ticket and whom the Defendant asked to study fraudulent allegations
– told the Defendant that he had conducted the studies and found no evidence of
“outcome-determinative fraud.”
(Pence refused to have a
part in the plot.)
Senior leaders at the Department of Justice told
Trump that his claims of widespread voter fraud were false.
So did the Director of National
Intelligence.
The Department of Homeland Security’s
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency assured the Defendant there
was no evidence of significant fraud. When the head of that agency – a
Trump appointee – refused to say the election had been rigged, Trump fired him
for his honesty.
“Senior White House attorneys,”
chosen by the “Defendant,” told Trump that he had lost the election, and not
because of fraud. They informed him that his presidency would end on January
20, 2021.
(Any American can read
this indictment, if they wish to be
informed.)
The indictment further charges that,
“The Defendant’s knowingly false statements were integral to his criminal
plans to defeat the federal government function, obstruct the
certification, and interfere with others’ right to vote and have their votes
counted.”
719. For example, Trump claimed 10,000
dead people had voted in Georgia. That was false.
720. The Defendant said that “there
had been 205,000 more votes than voters in Pennsylvania.” That was false.
721. The Defendant insisted there had
been “a suspicious vote dump in Detroit, Michigan.” His attorney general had
explained to him why “this was false.” Trump’s allies in the Michigan
legislature also told him such claims were untrue.
722. The Defendant claimed 30,000
non-citizens had voted in Arizona. His campaign manager “explained to
him that such claims were false.
723. Trump insisted that the voting
machines in key states had been rigged. He was told by top officials that such
claims were false.
724. The Defendant is apparently a
moron. (Okay, the blogger made that one up for fun. But it fits. We won’t
really count that as a number.)
724. For real: On November 13, 2020,
Trump’s top campaign advisors told him he had lost Arizona, and his
hopes for a second term were kaput.
“A strategy to use
knowing deceit.”
The next day, Co-Conspirator 1
announced he would “spearhead” efforts to challenge results. This would be Rudy Giuliani. “From that point on, the Defendant
and his co-conspirators executed a strategy to use knowing deceit in the
targeted states to impair, obstruct, and defeat the federal government
function,” the accurate counting of the popular vote, followed by the electoral
votes.
725. Trump also claimed the two poll
workers rigged the vote. A whole bunch of people told him the Georgia vote was
not rigged. That would include Attorney General Bill Barr, his replacement, Acting
Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, and
others.
UPDATE (March 31, 2024): We should
also point out how weak Team Trump’s “evidence” of voter fraud was from the
start.
726. Jenna Ellis, who helped push the
“Big Lie,” was forced to give a deposition in Rudy’s defamation case. She
decided that the best course of action was to tell the whole truth and nothing
but… WTF! … She plead the Fifth 308 times.
727. She was a slacker compared to a
second Trump lawyer, Ray Stallings Smith III, who worked hard to overturn
voting results in Georgia. He hit the 400-mark while invoking the right not to
incriminate his lawyer self.
Jenna Ellis, Trump lawyer: Now a convicted felon.
Special Prosecutor Smith also notes
that on November 22, 2020, Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani called Rusty Bowers,
the Arizona Speaker of the House, and made multiple false claims of voter fraud
in that state. The Speaker asked for evidence of such claims, which Giuliani
“did not have, but claimed he would provide.”
He never did.
728. On December 1, 2020, Giuliani met
with Bowers. When asked again to provide evidence of fraud, Giuliani “responded
with words to the effect, ‘We don’t have the evidence, but we have lots of
theories.”
(You can’t alter
election results on the basis of “theories.”)
729. On the morning of January 4,
2021, Co-Conspirator 2, Professor John Eastman, called Mr. Bowers and urged him to
call the Arizona House into special session and convince lawmakers to
“decertify the state’s legitimate electors.” The Speaker told Dr. Eastman that
state investigations had uncovered no proof of significant voter fraud.
Eastman “conceded that he ‘[didn’t] know enough about the facts on the
ground.’” Regardless, he wanted the Arizona House of Representatives to vote to
throw out results and then “let the courts sort it out.”
730. On January 6, 2021, during his
speech to a large crowd in Washington D.C., preceding the attack on Congress, Trump
insisted that 36,000 non-citizens had voted in Arizona – not even using
the same number he had used before.
731. On November 16, 2020, Trump
involved Co-Conspirator 3, Sidney Powell, in the plot, suggesting “bullet
points” critical of a “certain voting machine company,” which we now know to be
Dominion Voting Systems. Powell responded nine minutes later, explaining that
these points should be included in every future claim of voter fraud, so
significant that “THE ENTIRE ELECTION … BE SET ASIDE” in Pennsylvania and
Georgia.
On November 25, Powell filed a lawsuit
in Georgia claiming that “massive election fraud” had occurred in that state,
“accomplished through the voting machine company’s election software and
hardware.”
732. The Defendant, Donald J. Trump,
had already admitted to others that Powell’s claims sounded “crazy.”
UPDATE: The voting machine company,
Dominion, has since the 2020 election won multiple defamation suits against
some of the big names in right-wing news, after those networks peddled the same
lies of rigging. The biggest of all: Fox News getting slammed for $787.5
million.
$787.5 million!!!!!!!!!
(Dear MAGA fans – that’s
even worse than Rudy!)
(In case you missed it.)
733. On December 3, 2020, Giuliani met
with the Judiciary Subcommittee of the Georgia State Senate, “with the
intention of misleading state senators” into blocking the certification of the
Georgia electors pledged to vote for Joseph R. Biden. Rudy claimed again that
10,000 dead people had voted in the state.
A senior advisor to the Defendant
notified the Defendant’s White House Chief of Staff that the “actual number
was 12.”
(Slightly less than
10,000.)
734. We now know that that advisor was Blake Meadows, White House
Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ son.
735. During the presentation to the
Georgia Senate subcommittee, Co-Conspirator 1 played a “misleading excerpt of a
video recording of ballot-counting at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta and
insinuated that it showed election workers counting ‘suitcases’ of illegal
ballots.”
736. Also on December 3,
then-President Trump claimed that ballot stuffing had been proven in Georgia.
“Plenty more coming,” the president tweeted, “but this alone leads to an easy
win of the State!”
737. The Georgia Secretary of State
shot down this claim on December 4, and again on December 7, just to be sure.
(Trump didn’t care.)
738. On December 8, 2020, Trump called
the Georgia Attorney General, and asked him to help overturn state
returns. That is: he was suborning election fraud. “The Georgia Attorney
General told the Defendant that officials had investigated various claims of
election fraud in the state and were not seeing evidence to support them.”
739. All these Georgians were
Republicans, and had worked to help Trump win the 2020 vote in their
state.
“Conspiracy shit.”
740. That same day, “a Senior
Campaign Advisor – who spoke with the Defendant on a daily basis and had
informed him on multiple occasions that various fraud claims were untrue,” told
Trump that Giuliani’s claims were garbage.
In an email, that advisor wrote,
When our research and campaign legal team can’t back up any of the claims
made by our Elite Strike Force Legal Team, you can see why we’re 0-32 on our
cases. I’ll obviously hustle to help on all fronts, but it’s tough to own any
of this when it’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.
On December 10, 2020, we know that
Giuliani tried again to change the Georgia election results – this time meeting
with the Georgia House of Representatives’ Government Affairs Committee. He
played the same doctored video tape, featuring the “suitcase” full of votes,
insisted it showed “voter fraud right in front of people’s eyes,” and that this
fraud was “the tip of the iceberg.”
Giuliani cited the two poll workers by
name. He accused them of “quite obviously surreptitiously passing around USB
ports as if they are vials of heroin or cocaine.”
Thereafter, the indictment notes, “the
two election workers received numerous death threats.”
In court, as part of the defamation
case she and her daughter filed, Ruby Freeman explained that she received so many death threats the F.B.I. suggested she move. There
were racist threats, of course, and calls for her to be lynched. One caller
said they fantasized about hearing Ruby’s neck snap.
(Any American who fails to see the danger here should be ashamed.)
741. In a meeting on December 15, the
Defendant summoned top officials at DOJ to an Oval Office meeting. Those
officials told the president that Rudy was full of beans.
742. Attorney General Bill Barr had
already resigned, after refusing a request by the Defendant to break the law.
743. That same day, a verification of
voter signatures in Cobb County, Georgia was being conducted. White House Chief
of Staff Meadows, who was observing the process, notified the Defendant that
Georgia officials were “conducting themselves in an exemplary fashion.” If
fraud existed, they would find it. Trump tweeted instead, “that the Georgia
officials administering the signature verification process were trying to hide
evidence of election fraud and were ‘[t]errible people!’”
744. On December 27, Trump pressed the
Acting U.S. Attorney General and the Acting U.S. Deputy Assistant
Attorney General to support his unfounded claims of voter fraud in Georgia.
They told him he was full of beans.
745. On December 31, the Defendant put
a fitting end to the year. He signed a “verification affirming false election
fraud allegations made on his behalf in a lawsuit filed in his name against the
Georgia Governor.” Meanwhile, Eastman was admitting in an email that he
and Trump had “been made aware that some of the
allegations (and evidence proffered by the experts) has been inaccurate,” and
that signing a new affirmation claiming voter fraud “with that knowledge…would
not be accurate.” Eastman and Trump “caused the Defendant’s signed verification
to be filed nonetheless.”
In a 62-minute phone call on January
2, 2021, the Defendant pressured the Georgia Secretary of State to “find”
11,780 votes, just one more than needed to give him the “win” of the popular
vote in that state. When Secretary Brad Raffensberger destroyed the
claim that the two poll workers had counted tens of thousands of votes
illegally, he offered the president a link to prove his case.
“I don’t care about a link, I don’t
need it. I have a much … I have a much better link,” Trump responded.
We’ve already covered this call; but
for over an hour, Trump continued to make the same ludicrous claims that
investigators had already disproven. For example, he said that 5,000 dead
people had voted in Georgia. Secretary Raffensperger said they had found
evidence of…
Two.
746. The following day, after the free
press broke the story about the call, the Defendant claimed in a tweet that
Raffensperger had been “unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the
‘ballots under table’ scam, ballot destruction, out of state ‘voters,’ dead
voters, and more. He has no clue!”
747. On January 6, in a speech delivered
in Washington D.C., just before a mob was unleashed to attack the Capitol,
Trump claimed that 10,300 dead people had voted in Georgia – changing the
number again.
“As legislative leaders,
we will follow the law.”
The indictment turned next to similar
efforts to overturn a fair vote in Michigan. A few highlights should suffice:
748. Trump said “batches” of votes
were brought in, in Detroit, late on Election Night, “and nobody knew where
they came from.” On November 20, the Majority Leader of the Michigan Senate
informed the Defendant “that he had lost Michigan not because of fraud, but
because the Defendant had underperformed with certain voter populations in the
state.”
749. The Majority Leader and Michigan
Speaker of the House issued a statement following that meeting, noting, “We
have not yet been made aware of any information [emphasis added] that
would change the outcome of the election in Michigan and as legislative
leaders, we will follow the law and follow the normal process regarding
Michigan’s electors, just as we have said throughout this election.”
750. On December 1, 2020, Trump raised
the matter of the “vote dump” in Michigan with then-Attorney General Barr. Barr
informed the Defendant “there was no indication of fraud in Detroit.”
751. The next day, Trump made a
knowingly false statement that in Michigan, in the morning hours of November 4,
“a vote dump of 149,772 votes came in unexpectedly. We were winning by a lot.
That batch was received in horror. Nobody knows anything about it. … It’s
corrupt. Detroit is corrupt. I have a lot of friends in Detroit. They know it.
But Detroit is totally corrupt.”
(Having “friends in
Detroit” is not evidence in court.)
752. On December 4, Co-Conspirator 1
called the Michigan House Speaker. Giuliani said that Georgia officials were
likely to change the certification of their state’s electoral votes, insisted
that “they don’t just have the right to do it but the obligation,” and added,
“Help me get this done in Michigan.”
Rudy was lying.
Again.
753. On December 7, Giuliani texted
the Michigan Senate Majority Leader. “So I need you to pass a joint resolution
from the Michigan legislature that states that, “the election is in dispute,”
and the slate of electors already submitted should be withdrawn.
(Rudy was pressing
Republican leaders to break the law.)
“But I love our
republic, too.”
754. On December 14, Michigan
certified its electoral votes for Mr. Biden. The Michigan Speaker of the
House made it plain. No evidence had been uncovered to justify the
plotters’ claims.
I fought hard for President Trump [the Speaker explained]. Nobody wanted
him to win more than me. I think he’s done an incredible job. But I love our
republic, too. I can’t fathom risking our norms, traditions and institutions to
pass a resolution retroactively changing the electors for Trump, simply because
some think there may have been enough widespread fraud to give him the win.
That’s unprecedented … [and] I fear we’d lose our country forever. This truly
would bring mutual assured destruction for every future election in regards to
the Electoral College, and I can’t stand for that. I won’t.
755. On January 6, 2021, Trump would
once again assert that tens of thousands of illegal votes had been counted in
Detroit. That made the crowd listening to his speech mad – and off to storm
Capitol Hill they went.
“No way to defend it.”
756. In Pennsylvania, we had more of
the same. According to the federal indictment, Trump pushed multiple false
claims about voter fraud in Philadelphia, maligning a Republican City
Commissioner. That commissioner and members of his family were subjected to
a torrent of death threats.
757. Giuliani claimed that
Pennsylvania had issued 1.8 million absentee ballots, but 2.5 million were
returned! Privately a Trump campaign staffer admitted that this claim
was “just wrong,” and there was “no way to defend it.”
759. The Deputy Campaign Manager
responded, “We have been saying this for a while. It’s very frustrating.”
760. On December 31, 2020, and again
on January 3, 2021, Trump raised a claim with top DOJ officials, insisting
there had been 205,000 more votes in Pennsylvania than there were voters.
They told him he was full of beans.
On January 6, Trump would stir up the
mob that attacked the Capitol, again repeating the false “205,000 more votes”
claim.
Team Trump was taking another series
of lumps in Wisconsin. On November 29, 2020, the results of a recount of
two heavily Democratic counties in that state, paid for by the Trump campaign,
showed Biden gaining votes.
(Team Trump spent $3
million on the recount – which is comical.)
761. On December 21, the Defendant
called on the Wisconsin legislature to overturn election results and keep
President-elect Biden from taking office.
762. On December 27, top officials at
DOJ told Trump he was still full of beans, regarding his claims of voter fraud
in Wisconsin.
Trump wasn’t fazed. On January 6,
2021, in his fiery speech to supporters in D.C., he insisted again that the
election in Wisconsin had been stolen.
763. Unable to convince state
officials to overturn the fair vote, the Defendant and his misfit allies,
developed a new plan: to marshal individuals who would have served as the
Defendant’s electors, had he won the popular vote[emphasis
added, unless otherwise noted], in seven targeted states … and cause those
individuals to make and send to the Vice President and Congress false
certifications that they were legitimate electors.
764. The indictment alleges that the
submission of these “fraudulent slates would create a fake controversy” and
“position the Vice President – presiding on January 6 [2021] as President of
the Senate – to supplant legitimate electors with the Defendant’s fake electors
and certify the Defendant as president.”
765. Today, we know that Wisconsin’s
ten fake electors have admitted that Mr. Biden won the popular vote in their
state. Andrew Hitt, former head of the state Republican Party, and one
of those “fakes” sat for an interview with 60 Minutes. He admitted
he and the others were “tricked” into signing false documents. He said he was
deeply involved in the state’s election and did not believe there had been
fraud. Finally, he admitted that he signed the documents – declaring he and the
others were legitimate electors – out of “sheer terror” if he didn’t.
766. “Can you imagine the repercussions on
myself, my family,” he said.
When Anderson Cooper, the host, asked if he
feared for his safety, Hitt had no doubt. “If my lawyer is right,” he
explained, “and the whole reason Trump loses Wisconsin is because of me, I
would be scared to death.”
(See: List of people threatened with death
at end of this post.)
767. Even more importantly, the fake electors admittedtheir
actions were “part of an attempt to improperly overturn the 2020 presidential
election results.”
(So,
MAGA folks, who was behind that attempt?)
(If you
are true patriots, you need to figure this out.)
“Deprive Biden of electoral votes.”
The newest plan was the brainchild of
Co-Conspirator 5, Kenneth Chesebro, and evolved slowly from a legal attempt to
preserve Trump’s right to challenge results in state and federal courts, into a
“corrupt plan.”
On December 6, 2020, the “Fraudulent
Elector Memorandum,” as prosecutors label it, laid out a new strategy. Fake
electors would “meet and mimic as best as possible the actions of the
legitimate Biden electors,” and on January 6, Mike Pence would “open and count
the fraudulent votes, setting up a fake controversy that would derail the
proper certification of Biden as president-elect.”
(If you don’t see the
danger, MAGA folks, go back to the start and read again.)
(Maybe twice.)
768. Co-Conspirator 5 admitted that in
some states it would be “virtually impossible” to successfully “take the same
steps as the legitimate electors because state law required formal
participation in the process by state officials, or access to official
resources.”
769. Mr. Chesebro understood that the
U.S. Supreme Court would almost certainly reject the idea that Pence could just
pick and choose which electoral votes to count. He was not concerned.
Submitting fake electoral votes would focus attention on claims that the election had been “stolen.”
It would confuse the American people. Even better, it would “buy the Trump campaign more time to win
litigation that would deprive Biden of electoral votes and/or add to Trump’s
column.”
770. Chesebro wasn’t interested in whether or
not the popular vote had been verified in the contested states. His focus was
“messaging.” If Team Trump could create enough confusion, he suggested,
I believe that what can be achieved on Jan. 6 is not simply
to keep Biden below 270 electoral votes [the number required to be elected]. It
seems feasible that the vote count can be conducted so that at no point will
Trump be behind in the electoral vote count unless and until Biden can obtain a
favorable decision from the Supreme Court upholding the Electoral Count Act as
constitutional, or otherwise recognizing the power of Congress (and not the
president of the Senate) to count the votes.
In a word, the plan was about creating
“confusion.” Trickery would win the day, not the voice of the people.
The plan was expanded to include New
Mexico, “which the Defendant had lost by more than ten percent of the popular
vote.”
Kenneth Chesebro, Trump lawyer: Now a convicted felon.
771. December 6, 2020: Dr. Eastman
called the Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee “to ensure that the
plan was in motion. He wanted the RNC to help gather electors in targeted
states but “falsely represented to her that such electors’ votes would be used
only if ongoing litigation in one of the states changed the resultsin
the Defendant’s favor.”
“After the RNC Chairwoman consulted
the Campaign and heard that work on gathering electors was underway, she called
and reported this information to the Defendant [Trump], who responded
approvingly.”
On December 7, 2020, Giuliani spoke
with Co-Conspirator 6, an as yet unnamed political consultant, and details were
worked out to line up lawyers to assist “in the fraudulent elector effort in
the targeted states.”
“It could appear
treasonous for the AZ electors to vote.”
772. The next day Co-Conspirator 5 put
in a call to the Arizona attorney who had been suggested in Co-Conspirator 6’s
email, as willing to help. That attorney admitted that the plan was for
Arizona’s fake electors to send in their votes “even though the votes aren’t
legal under federal law – because
they’re not signed by the Governor.”
Nevertheless, the slate of fakes would
give members of Congress cover to “fight about whether they should be counted
on January 6th.”
773. Even the Arizona lawyer seemed
nervous. “Kind of wild/creative,” he called the plan, but he didn’t see any
harm, “legally at least.” The idea would be to raise a smokescreen behind which
the plotters could further their plot. The plan was to file a petition with the
Supreme Court [the indictment doesn’t say whether it was the Arizona or U.S.
Supreme Court, but seems to mean the former], “as a pretext to claim that
litigation was pending in the state.” At least one of the “provisional
electors” in Arizona contacted Giuliani. He or she warned that “it could
appear treasonous for the AZ electors to vote Monday if there is no pending
court proceeding…”
774. On December 12, a new problem
arose. The “fake electors” in Pennsylvania had “expressed concern about signing
certificates representing themselves as legitimate electors.” Giuliani told
them not to worry. Their “certificates would be used only if the
Defendant succeeded in litigation.”
775. That never happened.
776. Discussion followed about
including language to that effect in the alternate certifications – but a
“Campaign official” warned against it, saying that “if it gets out we changed
the language for PA it could snowball.” Several of the Defendant’s electors
now refused to participate in the plan.
(Scratch your noggins,
Trump fans – figure out what they figured out.)
“The way this has
morphed it’s a crazy plan.”
On December 13, in another email,
Chesebro admitted that successful litigation wouldn’t be required. In the
indictment, prosecutors assert, “the plan [now] was to falsely present the
fraudulent slates as an alternative to the legitimate slates” before Congress
on January 6.
777. At this point, all kinds of Team
Trump members began to sweat. A “Senior Advisor” expressed concern about
the plan. The “Deputy Campaign Manager responded, “Here’s the thing the way
this has morphed it’s a crazy plan so I don’t know who wants to put their name
on it.”
778. The Senior Advisor replied: “Certifying
illegal votes.”
779. Prosecutors further note: “In turn, the participants in the
group text message refused to have a statement regarding electors
attributed to their names because none of them could ‘stand by it.’”
On December 14, “the Defendant’s
Campaign filed an election challenge suit in New Mexico at 11:54 a.m., six
minutes before the noon deadline, “as a pretext so that there was pending
litigation there at the time the fraudulent electors voted.”
At noon that day the real electors met
in their respective states and cast their votes, as required by law. Trump had
232.
Biden had 306.
(Biden’s margins of victory in the
popular vote in the contested states were as follows: 10,457 in Arizona, 11,799
in Georgia, 154,188 in Michigan, 33,596 in Nevada, 99,720 in New Mexico, 80,555
in Pennsylvania, and 20,682 in Wisconsin.)
(She would have needed
to overturn the votes of only three states to claim victory.)
(No one suggested having
VP Biden overturn the vote count on January 6, 2017.)
780. As we now know, on December 14,
2020, the “fake electors” met and cast “fake votes,” and gave each other “fake
high fives,” even though (and here, I’m being serious), as predicted, in most
cases they “were unable to satisfy the legal requirements.”
The fake certificates were then
“mailed to the President of the Senate, the Archivist of the United States, and
others.”
The “fake electors” had been lied to
about how their votes would be used.
Trump enlists Jeffrey
Clark, at DOJ, to join the plot.
781. With the “fake electors” plan
looking to be constructed on quicksand, in late December, President Trump
“attempted to use the Justice Department to make knowingly false claims of
election fraud to officials in the targeted states through a formal letter
under the Acting Attorney General’s signature, thus giving the Defendant’s lies
the backing of the federal government.”
(Barr had refused to
involve DOJ in such a plot; his replacement also recoiled.)
782. On December 22, 2020, Trump met
secretly with Co-Conspirator 4, Jeffrey Clark. Four days later, Clark lied to
Acting AG Jeffrey Rosen, his superior, and claimed the meeting at the White
House had been “unplanned.” Clark was told not to have further unauthorized
contacts with the White House.
783. Clark said he would not.
784. The next morning, Clark
called the president, and they talked for three minutes. That afternoon, Trump
called the Acting AG and Acting Deputy AG and said he had been told, Clark “is
great. I should put him in.” That is: replace Rosen with Clark.
Mr. Clark has since been indicted.
On December 27, 2020, the Acting
Deputy Attorney General, Richard Donoghue, “told the Defendant that the
Justice Department could not and would not change the outcome of the election.”
Trump responded, “Just say that the
election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”
785. On December 28, Co-Conspirator 4
(Clark) sent a draft letter to top DOJ officials, proposing that they sign, and
send the letter to state officials in Georgia. Among several false claims, the
letter would say that “two valid slates of electors” had gathered at the proper
locations on December 14 and cast votes. This, prosecutors explained, would be
“using the authority of the Justice Department to falsely present the
fraudulent electors as a valid alternative to the legitimate electors.”
786. On December 31, the Defendant
again summoned top DOJ officers to the White House, and again raised the same
claims of election fraud which they had discredited, and which no courts had
been able to find.
787. On January 2, 2021,
Co-Conspirator Clark tried to coerce top DOJ officials into signing the Georgia
letter – which they deemed chock full of lies.
“Well, that’s why
there’s an Insurrection Act.”
788. On January 3, Clark sent out an
edited version. No longer would the DOJ say it had “concerns.” Now the letter
would state that there was “evidence of significant irregularities that may
have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States….”
(No such evidence has
ever been proven in any U.S. court.)
789. That same morning, Clark met in
secret with Trump and accepted an officer to become Acting Attorney General.
790. Later that day, Clark met with a Deputy
White House Counsel. In December that counsel had informed the president
that “there is no world, there is no option in which you do not leave the White
House” on January 20. The Counsel informed Clark that there was no evidence of
“outcome-determinative fraud” in the recent election. If Trump tried to remain
in office, there would be “riots in every major city in the United States.”
791. Clark replied, “Well, that’s why
there’s an Insurrection Act.”
(If Americans got killed
or injured, Clark didn’t care.)
Soon after, Clark met with Acting
Attorney General Rosen and informed him that he would be replacing him. Rosen
said he would not accept being fired by a subordinate and scheduled a meeting
with Trump that evening.
Thirteen honest men and
women.
792-803. At the meeting on the evening
of January 3, Rosen, Donoghue, another top DOJ official, and three
top White House counsels met with Trump. The DOJ officials told the
president they would resign, as would six other top officers at DOJ
rather than agree to sign the letter or serve under Clark. The White House
legal team agreed there was no basis for firing Rosen and replacing him with
Clark. Here, at least, we have twelve honest men and women – all Trump
appointees or Trump lawyers. The president relented, only because he had a
backup plan.
From that point on, the plot morphed
again. Now the Defendant would ramp up pressure on the Vice President, in an
effort to get him to agree to count the electoral votes in such a way as to
deliver the Defendant the win.
804. The thirteenth honest individual
was Mike Pence.
Pence could have gifted himself a second term - if he was a crook.
On December 19, 2020, the Defendant
had already called upon supporters to descend on Washington D.C. on January 6,
predicting, “Be there, will be wild!”
On December 23, Trump had re-tweeted a
memo titled “Operation ‘Pence’ Card,” which falsely asserted that the VP could
unilaterally disqualify the votes of legitimate electors from six states.
806. That same day, Dr. Eastman
circulated a memorandum claiming that seven states had submitted two valid
slates of electors. Pence should declare that there was no way to decide
which slates were acceptable, and so all of those states’ votes would have to
be ignored. With that, Eastman wrote, “Pence then gavels President Trump as
re-elected.” To say the least, it was a bold plan.
(To put it plainly: it
was flagrantly illegal.)
In December and early January, the
Defendant repeatedly spoke to VP Pence in private phone calls and kept
repeating the same false claims. On Christmas Day, Pence called the Defendant
to wish him a “Merry Christmas.” Trump again pressed him to toss out enough
electoral votes to gift him the win.
807. On January 1, the Defendant
called Pence and berated him for opposing a lawsuit seeking to uphold the idea
that the VP could reject certain electoral votes. “You’re too honest,” Trump
complained.
(No one ever said that
about Donald, not even his mom.)
On January 3, Trump again told his VP
that he had “the absolute right to reject electoral votes and the ability to
overturn the election.”
808. Pence pointed out that “a federal
appeals court had rejected the lawsuit making that claim the previous day.”
809. On January 4, President Trump
called Pence into a meeting, with Co-Conspirator 2 [Eastman], as well as two
members of the Vice President’s team. During that meeting Trump again repeated
false claims of election fraud. (Pence has contemporaneous notes.) Trump said
he had “won every state.” He brought up the 205,000 votes, more than voters, in
Pennsylvania again. At one point, Pence asked Eastman if his theory was even
legally defensible.
“Well, nobody’s tested it before,”
Eastman replied.
The VP then told the Defendant, “Did
you hear that? Even your own counsel is not saying that I have that authority.”
810. “That’s okay, I prefer the other
suggestion,” Trump replied – meaning the idea that Pence could unilaterally
reject electoral votes.
(Using the same theory,
Kamala Harris could f**k with the votes on January 6, 2025.)
(That is: Kamala could
make Kamala president, if she lost the popular vote!)
(Who is so clueless as
to think this would be fair?)
811. In yet another meeting on January
5, Eastman admitted that if the U.S. Supreme Court were to review the
argument (that the VP could throw out electoral votes) “it would be unanimously
rejected.”
Nevertheless, at 11:06 a.m., that day,
Trump tweeted, “The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen
electors.”
“We hear you (and love
you) from the Oval Office.”
At 5:05 p.m. he tweeted again:
“Washington is being inundated with people who don’t want to see an election
victory stolen. … Our Country has had enough, they won’t take it anymore! We
hear you (and love you) from the Oval Office.”
Pence and Trump had a private meeting
that evening. Pence said he wouldn’t do the president’s bidding. “Defendant
grew frustrated and told the Vice President that the Defendant would have to
publicly criticize him.”
812. The VP’s chief of staff
alerted Pence’s Secret Service detail, warning that the VP could be in danger
the following day.
813. Trump told aides that evening
that the crowd on January 6 was going to be “angry.” Soon after, he issued a
false statement. “The Vice President and I are in total agreement that
the Vice President has the power to act.”
(That was a particularly
brazen lie – even for Donald J. Trump.)
“You’re allowed to go by
very different rules.”
On January 6, at 11:15 a.m., Trump
called Pence once again, and pressured him to throw out what prosecutors
describe as “Biden’s legitimate electoral votes.” Pence again refused. From
that point on, the Defendant would repeatedly claim that the VP had failed to
perform his constitutional duty.
814. During speeches at the “Save
America Rally,” Rudy Giuliani falsely told the crowd, we “have letters from
five legislatures begging us” to send elector slates back to them for review.
815. Trump, himself, during his
speech, claimed falsely that the Pennsylvania legislature wanted “to recertify
their votes. They want to recertify. But the only way that can happen is if
Mike Pence agrees to send it back.”
816. Trump further stated that regular
rules no longer applied. “And fraud,” he said, “breaks up everything, doesn’t
it? When you catch somebody in a fraud, you’re allowed to go by very different
rules.”
Soon after, the violent attack on
Congress began.
Accused rioter Gregory Yetman allegedly seen spraying police with chemical irritants.
Trump apologists will later insist the rioters were "let in" by police. Scene on January 6.
(To that point no
significant voter fraud had ever been proven in court.)
To this very day, October
14, 2024,
1,441days
since the 2020 election,
no serious fraud ever has.
817. At 2:13 p.m. on January 6, the
mob of Trump supporters broke through police lines and came close to seizing
control of the Capitol. The Defendant’s advisors informed him that a riot was
in progress, and the building had been breached. When the Defendant was urged
to issue a calming message, he refused. He remarked repeatedly, that “the
people at the Capitol were angry because the election had been stolen.”
818-822. Trump rejected calls from his
White House Chief Counsel, a Deputy White House Counsel, his Chief
of Staff, a Deputy Chief of Staff, and a Senior Advisor to
call for the rioters to leave the Capitol.
As late as 4:17 p.m., Trump was still
repeating “the knowingly false claim” that “we had an election stolen from us.”
The Defendant later remarked, “See, this is what happens when they try to steal
an election. These people are angry. These people are really angry about it.
This is what happens.”
At 6:01 p.m. he tweeted, “These are
the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is
so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have
been badly & unfairly treated for so long.” He did add, anticlimactically,
“Go home with love & in peace.”
Then, “Remember this day forever!”
(In infamy, surely.)
That evening Trump tried to exploit
the violence, placing calls to two U.S. senators (one of which went awry). He
was still hoping they could thwart the final vote.
823. Co-Conspirator 1 placed six
additional calls to assorted lawmakers. He wanted them to stall the vote, at
least “until the end of tomorrow.” In one of those calls, Giuliani repeated
several false claims – even saying that illegal immigrants had “voted in substantial
numbers in Arizona.”
824. He insisted that in Georgia,
65,000 underaged people had voted.
(Georgia election
officials had already told Trump that was untrue.)
(Seventeen-year-olds
were allowed to register if they would turn 18 by Election Day.)
“One more relatively
minor violation.”
825. As late as 11:44 p.m., in the
wake of the attack on Capitol Hill, Co-Conspirator 2 was still emailing the VP
– and asking Pence to break the law. “I implore you,” Dr. Eastman wrote, “to
consider one more relatively minor violation [of the Electoral Count
Act] and adjourn for 10 days to allow the legislatures to finish their
investigations, as well as to allow a full forensic audit of the massive amount
of illegal activity that has occurred here.”
Not so much as a fragment of this
imaginary “massive amount of illegal activity” has ever been proven in court.
As a result, the former President of
the United States, Donald John Trump, stands indicted on four more felony counts.
Dr. Eastman, left, Rudy Giuliani, right. Both men have been indicted in Georgia.
“Shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office.”
826. August 3, 2023: To know Trump is
to fear him and what he might do if he returns to office. In an interview on
CNN, as summarized in Vanity Fair, his former
Attorney General, Bill Barr, rips the former president. Speaking to
Kaitlan Collins, Barr says his old boss “knew well he
lost the election” in 2020. Barr also says he believes Special
Counsel Jack Smith has probably piled up plenty of evidence,
regarding a conspiracy to overturn the results of that election. “We’re only
seeing the tip of the iceberg on this,” Barr tells Collins. “I think there is a
lot more to come, and I think they have a lot more evidence as to President
Trump’s state of mind.”
He calls Trump’s conduct, as described in the indictment,
“nauseating” and “despicable,” adding that “someone who engaged in that kind of
bullying [of other elected officials] about a process that is fundamental to
our system and to our self-government shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval
Office.”
827. Former Vice President Mike Pence is no more charitable in
describing the nature of the plot that was to have culminated on January 6.
During an interview later, with Fox News, he was blunt. The real plan was to
overturn the results of the election. “Let’s be clear
on this point,” he told Martha MacCallum. “It wasn’t that they asked for a
pause. The president specifically asked me, and his gaggle of crackpot
lawyers [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted] asked me, to literally
reject votes which would have resulted in the issue being turned over to the
House of Representatives and chaos would have ensued.”
828. Mr. Pence admits he is not sure it can be proved “beyond
a reasonable doubt” that Mr. Trump broke the law – that he was part of an
active conspiracy. He does say the goal was clear. He was asked by his
boss to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He was being asked to steal
the vote.
829. In a similar vein, Sen. Lisa Murkowski reacted to news
that Donald has been indicted for a third time. First, she defended her vote to
impeach him in January 2021. “Additional
evidence presented since then,” she explained, “including by the January 6
Commission, has only reinforced that the former President played a key role in
instigating the riots, resulting in physical violence and desecration of the
U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Of course, she added, Trump is “innocent until
proven guilty.” But she urged all thoughtful Americans to read the indictment
“to understand the very serious allegations being made in this case.”
830. August 4, 2023: The former
president handles the situation with his usual maturity, issuing a warning to
all who dare oppose him. Such as judges, juries, and potential witnesses. On
Truth Social, Trump “truths” this gem:
“IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M
COMING AFTER YOU!”
(A reasonable person,
understanding the rule of law, would be appalled.)
831. Then he goes with this zany,
authoritarian idea:
832. August 5, 2023: On
Truth Social, Trump decides to trash another member of his administration,
former Vice President Pence. As anyone might have predicted, Trump let rip with another juvenile
insult:
WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who was
about to be ousted as Governor Indiana until I came along and made him V.P.,
has gone to the Dark Side. I never told a newly emboldened (not based on his 2%
poll numbers!) Pence to put me above the Constitution, or that Mike was “too
honest.” He’s delusional, and now he wants to show he’s a tough guy.
Dear MAGA ladies and
gentlemen:
At this point, you would
have to decide. Was Mr. Trump telling the truth, and was Mr. Pence telling the
lies? Multiple members of the Trump administration had told the president he
lost the 2020 election.
And he’s still lying about
winning today.
Sad addendum.
As
mentioned above, we will end this post with a list of just some of the people
who have been threatened with death, simply for doing their jobs – but crossing
Donald J. Trump, as he describes it, in some way.
1. Richard Barron,
Fulton County, Georgia election official (singled out by Trump).
2. Jocelyn Benson,
Michigan Secretary of State.
3. Seth Bluestein,
deputy to Al Schmidt (below), who got anti-Semitic threats.
4 . Kathy Boockvar,
Pennsylvania Secretary of State; like many on this list, she had to go into
hiding.
5. Arizona Attorney
General Mark Brnovich (as described above).
6. Dr. Eric Coomer,
security director for Dominion Voting Systems.
7. Judge Tanya Chutkan
(as described).
8. Judge Arhtur
Engoron, who presided in the New York fraud trial against Mr. Trump
9. Ruby Freeman,
low-level Georgia poll worker.
10. Jordan Fuchs, deputy to Georgia Secretary of State
Brad Raffensperger.
11. Jena Griswold,
Colorado Secretary of State.
12. Allison Greenfield,
Judge Engoron’s law clerk
13. Clint Hickman,
Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (as above).
14. Katie Hobbs,
then-Arizona Secretary of State.
15. Ralph Jones, Fulton County registration chief.
16. Four Colorado
judges who ruled that Trump was ineligible to run for office after inciting the
January 6 attack on Congress
17. Governor Brian Kemp
of Georgia.
18. Kemp’s wife (not previously mentioned in any of my
posts).
19. Kemp’s daughter
20. His other daughter
21. And…his other
daughter
22. Christopher Krebs,
head of the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity unit (a Trump
appointee).
23. Sheriff Pat Labat
(as above).
24. Antonio Luna,
employee of the Maricopa County, Arizona Elections Department.
25. Staci McElyea and other workers in the Nevada Secretary of State’s
office.
26. Rep. Pete Meijer,
who voted to impeach Trump.
27. Gen. Mark Milley,
former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
28. Shaye Moss,
low-level Georgia poll worker, who got racist threats, as did her son.
29. Ms. Moss’s
14-year-old son.
30. Vice President Mike
Pence.
31. Georgia Secretary
of State Brad Raffensperger.
32. Secretary
Raffensperger’s wife, who also got sexualized threats.
33. Secretary
Raffensperger’s daughter.
34. Stephen Richer
35. Richer’s family
36. Al Schmidt,
Philadelphia city commissioner, a Republican singled out by Trump.
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