2020 Election: Predictions, Results and Reactions

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yet another investigation into the 2020 election, this time in Arizona.



Arizona escalates probe into alleged efforts to swing election for Trump

[N.E. Brigand]

There's a very cantankerous Arizona-based attorney who moderates on Marcy Wheeler's website who thinks that Alvin Bragg's case against Trump is garbage and that Fani Willis is a showboater in Georgia who should have left the matter up to Jack Smith, and a week or two ago, just as news about Trump's 2020 pressure on Arizona began to emerge, he was commending Arizona prosecutors for not following their lead. But apparently they were already investigating!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Ah, my old "friend" bmaz.

[RoseMorninStar]

It seems the Arizona GOP is having a hard time raising funds. Probably because those who have deep pockets want conservatives, not those who will waste money going down very expensive conspiracy rabbit holes.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

BREAKING: Trump asks Georgia’s top court to quash grand jury report, disqualify Fulton DA

Trump’s attorneys filed similar petitions in both the Georgia Supreme Court and Fulton County Superior Court. The filing in Georgia’s highest court said such a motion is typically disfavored but “extraordinary circumstances” justify it.

“Even in an extraordinarily novel case of national significance, one would expect matters to take their normal procedural course within a reasonable time,” the motion said. “But nothing about these processes have been normal or reasonable. And the all-but-unavoidable conclusion is that the anomalies below are because petitioner is President Donald J. Trump.”

With Willis having notified local court officials and law enforcement she is likely to seek an indictment at some point between July 31st and Aug. 18th, judicial action is needed now, the motion said.

“Stranded between the supervising judge’s protracted passivity and the district attorney’s looming indictment, (Trump) has no meaningful option other than to seek this court’s intervention,” the motion said.

I don't know much about the composition of the Georgia Supreme Court in terms of how conservative it is, but I would be extraordinarily shocked if they gave this the time of day.

[N.E. Brigand]

CNN reports that Jack Smith's probe has interviewed the Secretaries of State from New Mexico and Pennsylvania. Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in New Mexico by more than 10%, so I'm not sure what the Trump team thought they would accomplish in that state. Trump did briefly sue New Mexico about a month after the election for having used drop boxes.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Pure unadulterated insanity here. A January 6 defendant named Audrey Southard-Rumsey just stood up at her own sentencing and railed against the prosecutors





I'll be very interested to see what Judge Mehta does.

ETA:

[Voronwë the Faithful]

So she got what the feds originally requested. Probably would have gotten half of that if she had self-destructed at the sentencing hearing.

@kyledcheney
Judge Mehta just tore into Jan. 6 defendant Audrey Southard-Rumsey, who repeatedly assaulted and resisted police — and screamed vulgarities at them outside the House chamber even as members were still hiding inside

[Sunsilver]

Probably would have gotten half of that if she had self-destructed at the sentencing hearing.

You mean if she HADN'T...

Much deserved!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

QAnon Shaman, who pleaded guilty and made a heartfelt apology in Jan. 6 case, has changed his mind and wants his plea reversed

I'm sure that the DoJ doesn't want to devote the resources to doing so, particularly since they likely have bigger fish to fry (so to speak), but part of me thinks that they should not oppose allowing him to withdraw his guilty plea and send him away for the 20 years that he deserves.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

BREAKING: Trump asks Georgia’s top court to quash grand jury report, disqualify Fulton DA

Trump’s attorneys filed similar petitions in both the Georgia Supreme Court and Fulton County Superior Court. The filing in Georgia’s highest court said such a motion is typically disfavored but “extraordinary circumstances” justify it.

“Even in an extraordinarily novel case of national significance, one would expect matters to take their normal procedural course within a reasonable time,” the motion said. “But nothing about these processes have been normal or reasonable. And the all-but-unavoidable conclusion is that the anomalies below are because petitioner is President Donald J. Trump.”

With Willis having notified local court officials and law enforcement she is likely to seek an indictment at some point between July 31st and Aug. 18th, judicial action is needed now, the motion said.

“Stranded between the supervising judge’s protracted passivity and the district attorney’s looming indictment, (Trump) has no meaningful option other than to seek this court’s intervention,” the motion said.

I don't know much about the composition of the Georgia Supreme Court in terms of how conservative it is, but I would be extraordinarily shocked if they gave this the time of day.

No shocks for me.

Anna Bower
@AnnaBower
·
13m
In a unanimous decision, the Georgia Supreme Court has DISMISSED Donald Trump’s petition that asked the high court to scrap Fani Willis’s investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Who will go next, Fanni WIllis or Jack Smith (again)?

@AnnaBower
On Truth Social, Trump says he received a target letter in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s January 6 probe.

[Dave_LF]

Several people have drawn attention to the fact that in a weekend post, Trump complained about being indicted under the insurrection act in the documents case. In fact he was indicted under the *espionage* act, and he edited the post to say so shortly thereafter. But that little slipup most likely means he knows insurrection charges are on the way too.

[River]

What was the time lag between the target letter and the indictment the last time Trump was up on federal charges?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The target letter in that case was reported around June 7 (see, e.g. this story at Politico), though it is not clear exactly when it was sent. He was indicted on June 8 and the indictment was unsealed on June 9. So we could be very close, though it might not follow the same pattern.

ETA: Assuming that Trump's post can be trusted, the earliest that there could be an indictment would be Friday since he says that was "given a very short 4 days to report to the grand jury" which likely means that he was offered an opportunity to testify before the grand jury if he (and his attorneys) chose to do so (they won't). I would guess that it won't be until some time next week, at least.

ETAA: It is possible that more information might be revealed at the hearing today in the other case since Judge Cannon has expanded the scope of the hearing to include discussing the setting of the trial date.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Meanwhile,

Michigan attorney general charges 'false electors' over efforts to overturn the 2020 election

[Dave_LF]

Meanwhile,

Michigan attorney general charges 'false electors' over efforts to overturn the 2020 election

My reaction is a combination of "Oh thank God they're finally getting serious" and "too little too late." Mostly the former.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This shit takes time.

[Dave_LF]

Understood, but at the same time, that's a pretty major handicap when your opponents are chaos agents who don't care about rules or norms.

One of my frustrations has been that the Michigan triumvirate (Gov. Whitmer, Sec. State Benson, and Atty General Nessel) have frequently stated that "democracy is on the ballot." Democracy *cannot* be on the ballot, ever. The ballot is the place to decide among different *ways* of doing democracy. Whether to do it at all is not open for discussion, and no one who opposes it should be allowed into the forum in the first place, period.

[N.E. Brigand]

Meanwhile,

Michigan attorney general charges 'false electors' over efforts to overturn the 2020 election

Quoting below from CNN's reporting of the same story:

The charged individuals are Kathy Berden, a Republican National Committeewoman from Michigan; William (Hank) Choate; Amy Facchinello; Clifford Frost; Stanley Grot; John Haggard; Mary-Ann Henry; Timothy King; Michele Lundgren, Meshawn Maddock, the former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party; James Renner; Mayra Rodriguez; Rose Rook; Marian Sheridan; Ken Thompson; and Kent Vanderwood.

All 16 individuals were charged with multiple felonies “for their role in the alleged false electors scheme following the 2020 U.S. presidential election,” Nessel’s office announced. The counts include one count of conspiracy to commit forgery, two counts of forgery, one count of conspiracy to commit uttering and publishing and one count of uttering and publishing – all of which carry a maximum of 14 years in prison – as well as one count of conspiracy to commit election law forgery and two counts of election law forgery, which carry a maximum of five years in prison.

The group of 16 fake electors from Michigan includes current and former state GOP officials, the Republican National Committee member, a sitting mayor, a school board member and Trump supporters who were the plaintiffs in a frivolous lawsuit that tried to overturn the 2020 results.

“This plan, to reject the will of the voters and undermine democracy, was fraudulent and legally baseless,” Nessel said in a video released Tuesday.