Republican rebuke: How 18 GOP senators dealt another blow to Trump this week

Rachel Schilke

December 23, 02:59 PM December 23, 02:59 PM

Eighteen Senate Republicans voted in support of the Electoral Count Act in the omnibus spending bill that passed the upper chamber on Thursday, rebuking former President Donald Trump's actions back in 2021.

After Trump pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the presidential election during the events of Jan. 6, 2021, several senators ignored the former president's claims that the 1887 Electoral Count Act protected the election from "fraud."

Trump attempted to exploit the 1887 law, stating that Pence could halt the certification of Biden's win in the 2020 election.

“The Electoral Count Act, that statute needed to be fixed and clarified,” Senate GOP Whip John Thune (R-SD) said in an interview with the Hill. "A couple years ago, there were a lot of questions raised about it. There wasn’t any question in my mind about what it said, but since there are [questions], I think it’s important to nail that down."

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Thune added that he wishes Trump would stop trying to contest the results of the last presidential election, something that has driven down his favorability and pushed independent and moderate Republican voters toward the Democrats during the 2022 midterm elections.

“We’re one election past 2020, and he still seems to be obsessed with that election," Thune said. "Obviously, I don’t think that’s good for him. It’s certainly not good for anybody else, which is why most of us have decided to move on."

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said he believes Trump's argument of keeping the law the same would theoretically allow Democrats to block a Republican from becoming president.

“Let’s do something which [Trump's] not fond of doing, which is taking that to the next logical conclusion," Romney said. "On that basis, that means that Kamala Harris would be able to choose the next president. Does he really think that’s the right way to go?”

With the new Electoral Count Act in place, it will state explicitly that the vice president solely has a ministerial role in presiding over the certification process.

The legislation also raises the threshold to raise an objection to a state of electors to one-fifth in both the House and Senate, as well as providing for expedited judicial review over challenges made to electors.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) celebrated raising the threshold and the act's passage from the Senate.

"The idea that one senator or one House member can create a process and some confusion when it comes to counting the electoral votes doesn’t make much sense. Raising that threshold so that it just can’t be one-off in each makes sense to me, and it’s long overdue," he said.

He added that there was never any "real doubt" that Pence would not have the authority to overturn 2020's election results.

"We all knew that, and we still know that, but I think this maybe restores a little bit of confidence and stability to the process and eliminate some of the uncertainty we saw on Jan. 6,” the senator from Texas said.

Warren claims voters mentioned they'd have backed her for president if she 'had a penis': Book

Cami Mondeaux

August 13, 01:43 PM August 13, 01:43 PM

In a forthcoming book detailing the ordeals of female candidates on the presidential campaign trail in 2020, then-prospect Elizabeth Warren exposed that several voters crudely informed her they would vote for her — but only if she was a person.

Those people sentiments echoed among the many voters, with quite a few telling marketing campaign workers for the Massachusetts senator that the place would “never have a lady president.”

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"'I misplaced it,' this organizer told me," wrote NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitali in her guide Electable: Why The united states Has not Put a Woman in the White Residence … But. "But that was the vibe. Women of all ages and males alike, both equally as explicitly as that but also implicitly, would just say, 'Look, I feel it’s wonderful what you’re undertaking … but America — it’s just not gonna occur.'"

"Every person will come up to me and says, 'I would vote for you, if you had a penis,'" the e book estimates Warren as expressing.

The anecdotes emphasize a more substantial battle that Warren and other woman candidates experienced while vying for the Democratic nomination, according to the e book. And that battle was figuring out how to persuade the state to elect a girl.

“In the finish, she couldn’t,” Vitali wrote.

Warren’s ordeals mirrored identical arguments from Hillary Clinton when she ran as the Democratic presidential nominee towards previous President Donald Trump in 2016. Soon after getting rid of the election, Clinton pointed to sexism as a contributing component to her defeat.

Electable: Why The us Hasn't Place a Girl in the White House … But is established to be released on Aug. 23.

Wisconsin 2020 election investigator requested to pay out $163K in fees around documents snafu

Ryan King

August 01, 10:56 PM August 01, 10:56 PM

Wisconsin's Place of work of Specific Counsel overseeing the state's 2020 election inquiry was requested to foot the $163,000 invoice in attorney's costs and other costs for an open data scenario involving the investigation.

Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington ordered the office environment on Monday to pay back the service fees to watchdog team American Oversight, which experienced been battling the OSC for data for months, pushing the complete rate tag to taxpayers for the inquiry higher than $1.1 million, in accordance to Madison.com. Ultimately, taxpayers will be the ones masking the prices.

WISCONSIN 2020 ELECTION INVESTIGATOR ADMITS TO DESTROYING Data

"The place of work dependable for Wisconsin’s partisan election evaluate has deleted information that really don't go well with the untrue election-fraud narrative. Access to these data is important for accountability. We’re combating to halt any a lot more records from becoming destroyed," the watchdog team tweeted.

Remington's order follows a ruling by Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn very last week in which special counsel Michael Gableman's business office was purchased to pay back $98,000 to American Oversight for fees linked with a independent open-documents situation. There have been at the very least four open up information circumstances involving disputes involving American Oversight and Gableman.

American Oversight has sought documents about Gableman's election inquiry, but the previous point out Supreme Court docket justice mentioned his staff frequently deleted e-mails and other key documents that he deemed related to the inquiry. Several judges have slammed Gableman for this and ordered him to preserve documents.

In June, Remington slapped Gableman with a $2,000 day by day contempt good right up until he proved that he handed over all readily available documents that American Oversight sought from his inquiry. The get came immediately after Gableman created an really fiery courtroom look and refused to solution a quantity of inquiries from the judge. The contempt good was lifted later on that month after Gableman divulged supplemental information to the court docket about his document-retaining methods.

Struggling with strain from supporters of former President Donald Trump about the 2020 election in the Badger Point out, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) employed Gableman past summer months to investigate the election.

His investigation has faced prevalent scrutiny and criticism, specifically among Democrats but also in court docket. Past week, Bailey-Rihn stressed that his inquiry identified "definitely no proof of election fraud."

Gableman has introduced stories detailing allegations of maleficence in the 2020 election, but individuals studies have been refuted by the Wisconsin Elections Fee, which statements his stories are rife with mischaracterizations. In Could, Gableman's inquiry was paused whilst he battles litigation more than his inquiry in courtroom.

Trump brandishes endorsement versus Wisconsin Republican resisting decertify movement

Daniel Chaitin

July 31, 02:15 PM July 31, 02:16 PM

Former President Donald Trump put a top rated Wisconsin lawmaker on recognize, escalating his immense pressure campaign to get the point out to embrace his statements of a stolen election in 2020.

A slew of posts on Truth of the matter Social, Trump's nascent social media application, ended up punctuated with a recognize that the former president is brazenly thinking about an endorsement of a rival to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who has so much resisted Trump's overtures to decertifying President Joe Biden's victory in Wisconsin.

"Robin Vos is sooo lousy for the Fantastic Point out of Wisconsin that I am seriously thinking of Supporting and ENDORSING his Opponent," Trump said on Sunday. "Anybody would be better! Keep TUNED!!!"

Vos is experiencing a Republican principal in August, and his opponent, Adam Steen, knocked him for not having "election thievery" significantly plenty of.

WISCONSIN DOJ OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO FRAUDULENT BALLOT STUNT

Biden defeated Trump by approximately 21,000 votes in Wisconsin in 2020, a final result that has been upheld by recounts and courtroom rulings that have rejected assertions of popular fraud. Having said that, the state continues to be an energetic battleground for questioning the success and election tactics during that contest.

Vos told a nearby news outlet this month that Trump keeps contacting about decertifying Biden's victory in spite of his insistence that these kinds of a transfer is not constitutional. "It’s quite regular," Vos informed UPFRONT. "He will make his case, which I respect. He would like us to do one thing distinct in Wisconsin. I spelled out it is really not permitted under the Constitution. He has a various belief, and then he put out the tweet. So that is it."

Inspite of Trump's venting, Vos has authorized some inquiry into promises of election malfeasance. He hired former Wisconsin Supreme Court docket Justice Michael Gableman to examine the 2020 election, and Gableman has urged Wisconsin to decertify the 2020 election.

Nevertheless, Gableman's investigation has extensive faced skepticism from Democrats, such as Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, who dismissed the inquiry as a political circus. That inquiry is ongoing and facing authorized battles linked to transparency. The Legislative Audit Bureau also performed a critique of the contest and in October built dozens of suggestions for strengthening the voting approach but claimed it did not find evidence of common fraud.

Even now, there is some momentum amongst Vos's colleagues to just take even more motion far more than 20 months after the 2020 election. Election committee chief Janel Brandtjen, a Republican endorsed by Trump, lately introduced a assertion saying she would sign up for fellow point out Rep. Tim Ramthun, a Republican applicant for governor, in pushing to overturn the very last presidential election, and she dismissed the naysayers. "We have been explained to for months now that decertification is unattainable, meaning there is no draw back to dishonest in Wisconsin elections," Brandtjen stated. "How many a lot more moments do we want to endure this election injustice? Robin, don’t permit the voters of Wisconsin down!"

Choose disqualifies Fulton County DA from part of Trump 2020 election inquiry

Ryan King

July 25, 01:42 PM July 25, 01:42 PM

A Ga choose disqualified Fulton County District Legal professional Fani Willis Monday from overseeing a important aspect of her inquiry into regardless of whether crimes transpired through the 2020 election.

Willis is disqualified from subpoenaing or criminally investigating point out Sen. Burt Jones, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, since of a fundraiser she attended previous month for a prospective rival of Jones. The point out senator experienced been a concentration of her inquiry.

Decide REBUKES Ga PROSECUTOR INVESTIGATING TRUMP

"An investigation of this importance, garnering the general public consideration it always does and touching so quite a few political nerves in our culture, are not able to be burdened by genuine doubts about the District Attorney’s motives," Fulton County Excellent Court Choose Robert McBurney wrote, siding with Jones's movement to disqualify her.

Willis experienced participated in a fundraiser for Democratic lieutenant governor hopeful Charlie Bailey, who was mired in a runoff for the Democratic nod for lieutenant governor, a race he eventually won. Approximately $32,000 experienced been raised for Bailey's campaign at the fundraiser, in accordance to Jones's attorneys.

"The District Legal professional does not have to be apolitical, but her investigations do. The Bailey fundraiser she sponsored — in her formal capacity — would make that unattainable when it arrives to investigating Bailey’s immediate political opponent,” McBurney additional. "Any final decision the District Lawyer will make about Senator Jones in connection with the grand jury investigation is necessarily contaminated by it."

As a final result of the disqualification, Willis and her office are barred from subpoenaing Jones or declaring him a legal target of the inquiry. Nevertheless, Willis and her staff of investigators are permitted to assemble evidence about Jones and question witnesses about his perform. Although the Fulton County District Attorney's Workplace are unable to make a scenario from him, yet another prosecutor's office environment could do so.

Jones experienced recently been educated he is a legal concentrate on of Willis's investigation and argued the district attorney's assist of Bailey presented a conflict of fascination. Willis's lawyers argued that she had backed Bailey in a runoff at a time when it was unclear who would clinch the Democratic nod. They also underscored that she experienced not treated Jones otherwise than other subjects of the inquiry.

In December 2020, Jones partook in a assembly where 16 Georgia Republicans ended up picked as substitute electors who could be called on to supersede the official electors if challenges to the 2020 election prevailed. Jones experienced won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in May.

A particular grand jury impaneled in May to problem subpoenas and aid with the inquiry subpoenaed all those alternate electors. Eleven of the 16 alternate electors sought to disqualify Willis from investigating them on the basis of their Fifth Amendment privileges in opposition to self-incrimination. McBurney shot down that ask for Monday.

"It is not unreasonable to seek their testimony and it is not oppressive to have to have an visual appeal by way of subpoena. Very little about that method deprives the electors of their Fifth Amendment privilege," he ruled. "Their subpoenas will not be quashed."

Willis has been examining whether crimes were being committed in the 2020 election — an inquiry that began final yr soon after a call former President Donald Trump created to Ga Secretary of Condition Brad Raffensperger asking him to "locate" the votes necessary to suggestion the Georgia election to him. Trump has defended the contact as "excellent" and denied wrongdoing.

Investigators for Willis have scored testimony from a number of substantial-profile witnesses this kind of as Raffensperger and are predicted to acquire some variety of testimony from Gov. Brian Kemp, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and other people.

Warren could have crushed Sanders in 2020 Iowa Democratic race, says previous prime campaign aide

Kate Scanlon

June 18, 06:00 AM June 18, 06:00 AM

A best aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) mentioned a vital approach alter could possibly have enabled Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) to knock the Vermont senator out of contention in the Iowa caucuses in 2020.

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In a retrospective job interview on the 2020 marketing campaign with Zac McCrary on the Pro Politics podcast, Ari Rabin-Havt, Sanders's 2020 deputy campaign manager and the creator of The Combating Soul, mentioned the Warren marketing campaign chose to shell out its war upper body on subject methods above television adverts. But heading on tv previously could possibly have worked to the gain of the Massachusetts senator's Democratic presidential principal bid in a contest President Joe Biden in the end won.

Rabin-Havt stated Warren surged early, and the Sanders campaign was anticipating that she would launch adverts to boost that early momentum, “but she does not go on air in Iowa.”

“Once a 7 days, we'd have form of like a review of what we have been undertaking,” he stated. “And each week, we thought, we're like, 'So, she was actually not on there. Nope.’ And then, she purchased like a person advertisement through one football sport, and we're like, ‘Oh, this has to be like, the intro to her likely on air.’ And she just was not."

Rabin-Havt identified as the delay in going on air “a big strategic slip-up on her campaign’s portion.”

“And I feel if she had long gone on air in a major way, they could have just retained us down, stored herself on leading, retained us down and knocked us out,” he claimed.

Sanders experienced overlapping voter bases, on the remaining stop of the main political spectrum. The fellow New Englanders both equally had massive followings amongst professional-class voters. But the two struggled at instances to broaden their bases of aid, which authorized Biden, the former vice president and 36-year Delaware senator, to reignite his campaign with a win in the South Carolina most important. Immediately after dropping several early contests, which includes inadequate showings in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire major, black voters in South Carolina voted in robust quantities for Biden.

Incorporating to the Warren campaign's strategic slip-up, Rabin-Havt explained, was that she was putting industry personnel on the ground in states later in the primary cycle.

“The other thing we saw, so then we are striving to figure out where they are paying out their income, suitable?” he said. “Because they're not heading on air. They received to be making use of their money for a thing. And what we see is they're employing organizers in Washington state and Florida. And now, we just consider it really is nuts.”

Advert purchases and other paying can be canceled when assets are scarce, he explained, but staff on the ground is a substantial and steady cost that is difficult to pull if vital.

“That gets to be a big media cycle story,” he mentioned, drawing negative headlines about a campaign’s prospective customers.

Rabin-Havt claimed he thinks Biden will seek the presidency once more. But if Biden, who turns 80 in November, would not look for a 2nd phrase for some rationale, Sanders could make a third White Dwelling bid.

Sanders, now 80, sought the 2016 Democratic nomination, proving to be a astonishingly solid and durable challenger to the eventual nominee, Hillary Clinton.

“He’s bought boundless electricity to do it,” Rabin-Havt stated.

New CNN main discourages workers from contacting Trump 2020 statements 'the major lie': Report

Misty Severi

June 15, 07:54 PM June 15, 07:54 PM

CNN's new president discouraged staffers from calling former President Donald Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen "the big lie," in accordance to a new report.

Chris Licht, who is a very little a lot more than a month into his tenure as chief of CNN, manufactured his preference known in the course of a conference contact on Tuesday, Mediaite claimed Wednesday.

The report stressed it was not a mandate. As an different, Licht inspired producers to use "Trump's election lie" or "election lies" in graphics and banners.

BIDEN TURNS ON NEWS MEDIA AS MIDTERM ELECTIONS LOOM

A source told the news outlet that Licht reasoned that use of "the large lie" embraces language favored by the Democratic Social gathering and hurts the cable news network's air of objectivity.

The Washington Examiner attained out to CNN for comment.

Trump and his allies have argued there was popular fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election, however all those statements have been roundly rejected by election officials and the courts.

Licht, who was previously the showrunner and executive producer of the Late Present with Stephen Colbert, was picked to replace former CNN President Jeff Zucker in February.

This was soon after Zucker resigned amid an investigation that located evidence of an affair he experienced with CNN govt Allison Gollust. Zucker's resignation arrived fewer than two months right after CNN anchor Chris Cuomo was fired for encouraging his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, answer to sexual assault allegations.

Licht entered the photograph at CNN with stories saying he was eager to dial down partisanship at the community. He has now sought to make some variations, like a person a couple months in the past when he instructed team to ease up on the use of the "breaking news" banner.

Georgia investigators look for former Kanye West publicist above 2020 election meddling

Christopher Hutton

June 14, 08:21 AM June 14, 08:21 AM

Georgia officials are trying to get out the previous publicist of Ye, previously recognized as Kanye West, to get her to testify about her attempts to intimidate election workers around the 2020 election outcomes.

Fulton County's District Legal professional Fani Willis is trying to get the testimony of Trevian Kutti, a previous publicist for Ye and R. Kelly, concerning an alleged attempt to intimidate an election employee in excess of allegations of voter fraud, in accordance to CNN.

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Kutti traveled to the household of election worker Ruby Freeman in December 2021, according to Reuters. Kutti gave her title and mentioned she was despatched by a "large profile particular person" to give Freeman with a message: Confess to getting involved with voter fraud inside the upcoming 48 hrs or folks would get her to jail. Freeman refused the risk and identified as the law enforcement, who asked equally people today to occur to a area law enforcement precinct. Kutti did not instantly title Ye or any other recognised employers during her exchange with Freeman.

"Ms. Kutti stated that Ms. Freeman was in threat and experienced 48 hours to communicate with her so that she could get ahead of the situation," the law enforcement report reported. The publicist also arranged for Freeman to converse to many get-togethers in an attempt to get her to deliver a "untrue confession," Main Senior Assistant District Attorney F. McDonald Wakeford wrote in a court docket filing.

"The id of these 3rd get-togethers, as effectively as the nature and extent of their relationships to the Witness [Kutti] or other folks publicizing disproven allegations of election fraud, are recognized only by the Witness [Kutti]," the submitting mentioned.

Kutti is one particular of many witnesses who has been questioned to look prior to a distinctive grand jury. Other asked for witnesses incorporate former investigator Frances Watson, and Trump-skeptic Gabriel Sterling, an election official.

Georgia has been a stage of aim about the previous president's makes an attempt to affect the final results of the 2020 election. Fulton County's district lawyer introduced on June 6 that she was happy with the preferred grand jury that will deal with the county's demo pertaining to former President Donald Trump's attempts to affect the point out election's effects. Some authorities consider that the odds of Trump experiencing prosecution for his actions in the point out are "fairly very likely."