Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certification

Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certification

Postby admin » Wed Dec 02, 2020 3:29 am

Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certification of Arizona election results
by Maria Polletta
Arizona Republic
11/30/20

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AN OPEN LETTER TO AMERICA’S STUDENTS
by Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of Columbia University
From The Reader’s Digest Assoc., Inc. (October 1948 issue)

I receive many letters from young people. Mostly they ask a question that could be put like this:

Shall I keep on with school? Or shall I plunge right off into “life”?

I try to answer these letters according to the circumstances of each case. But I sometimes feel that I would like to try to write a general answer to the whole general problem of “school” versus “life” in the minds of my correspondents. I think I would say:


DEAR Jack – or Margaret: You say you wonder if it is worth while for you to go on with high school. You particularly wonder if it is worth while to enter and finish college. The tedium of study, nose buried in books, seems a waste of time compared with a job and the stimulus of productive work. You say you hate to bother me with this “trifling” problem of yours.

It is not a trifling problem at all. Your decision will affect your whole life; similar decisions by millions of other young Americans will affect the total life of our country. And I know how deeply it must worry you. It worried me and a lot of my schoolmates when I was your age.

In a small Kansas town 40 years ago, a reasonably strong case could be put up in favor of leaving school early. Outside those few who could afford to pick a profession, most of us knew our lives would be spent on the farm, or in one of the local stores, or at the creamery or elevator.

We could be good farmers, good storekeepers, good mill hands, without much book learning. The quickest road to practical knowledge was to do. That was the way we might have argued; and we would have been right if there were no more to successful living than plowing a straight furrow, wrapping a neat package, keeping a machine well oiled.

Fortunately, we came of stock that set the school on the same plane as the home and church. The value of education, above and beyond the immediate return in dollars and cents, had been bred into us. Our families stinted themselves to keep us in school a while longer; and most of us worked, and worked hard, to prolong that while.

Today the business of living is far more complex than it was in my boyhood. No one of us can hope to comprehend all its complexity in a lifetime of study. But each day profitably spent in school will help you understand better your personal relationship to country and world. If your generation fails to understand that the human individual is still the center of the universe and is still the sole reason for the existence of all man-made institutions, then complexity will become chaos.

Consequently, I feel firmly that you should continue your schooling – if you can – right to the end of high school and right to the end of college. You say you are “not too good at books.” But from books – under the guidance of your teachers – you can get a grasp on the thing that you most ought to understand before you go to work.

It is expressed in a moving letter I got the other day from a young girl halfway through high school. She said that in her studies she seemed to be a failure all along the line, always trailing everyone else. But then she ended by saying: “I still think I could learn to be a good American.”

That’s the vital point. School, of course, should train you in the two great basic tools of the mind: the use of words and the use of numbers. And school can properly give you a start toward the special skills you may need in the trade or business or profession you may plan to enter. But remember:

As soon as you enter it, you will be strongly tempted to fall into the rut and routine of it. You will be strongly tempted to become just a part of an occupation which is just one part of America. In school – from books – from teachers – from fellow students – you can get a view of the whole of America, how it started, how it grew, what it is, what it means. Each day will add breadth to your view and a sharper comprehension of your own role as an American.

I feel sure I am right when I tell you:

To develop fully your own character you must know your country’s character.

A plant partakes of the character of the soil in which it grows. You are a plant that is conscious, that thinks. You must study your soil – which is your country – in order that you may be able to draw its strength up into your own strength.

It will pay you to do so. You will understand your own problems better and solve them more easily, if you have studied America’s problems and done something toward their solution.

Never forget that self-interest and patriotism go together.You have to look out for yourself, and you have to look out for your country. Self-interest and patriotism, rightly considered, are not contradictory ideas. They are partners.

The very earth of our country is gradually getting lost to us. One third of the fertile top layer of our soil has already been washed away into rivers and the sea. This must be stopped, or some day our country will be too barren to yield us a living. That is one national problem crying for solution; it affects you directly and decisively.

In our cities there are millions of people who have little between them and hunger except a daily job, which they may lose. They demand more “security.” If they feel too insecure, their discontent might some day undermine your security, no matter how personally successful you might be in your own working life. That’s another problem – and there are innumerable others – whose solution requires the thought and good will of every American.

I cannot put it to you too strongly – or too often – that it is to your practical advantage to learn America’s character and problems, in the broadest possible way, and to help to bring those problems to their solutions.

It is dangerous to assume that our country’s welfare belongs alone to the mysterious mechanism called “the government.” Every time we allow or force the government, because of our own individual or local failures, to take over a question that properly belongs to us, by that much we surrender our individual responsibility, and with it a comparable amount of individual freedom. But the very core of what we mean by Americanism is individual liberty founded on individual responsibility, equality before the law, and a system of private enterprise that aims to reward according to merit.

These things are basic – your years in school will help you to apply these truths to the business of living in a free democracy.

Yours is a country of free men and women, where personal liberty is cherished as a fundamental right. But the price of its continued possession is untiring alertness. Liberty is easily lost.

Witness the history of the past twenty years. Even the natural enthusiasm of warm, youthful hearts for a leader can be a menace to liberty.

It was movements of misguided young people, under the influence of older and more cynical minds, that provided the physical force to make Mussolini the tyrant of Italy and Hitler the tyrant of Germany. Mussolini's street song was "Giovinezza" -- "Youth." Hitler based his power most firmly on the Hitler Jugend -- the Hitler Youth.

Never let yourself be persuaded that any one Great Man, any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America. When American consists of one leader and 158,000,000 followers, it will no longer be America. Truly American leadership is not of any one man. It is of multitudes of men -- and women.

Our last war was not won by one man or a few men. It was won by hundreds of thousands and millions of men and women of all ranks. Audacity, initiative, the will to try greatly and stubbornly characterized them. Great numbers of them, if for only a few minutes in some desperate crisis of battle, were leaders.

You will find it so in the fields of peace. America at work is not just a few "Great Men" at the head of government, of corporations, or of labor unions. It is millions and millions of men and women who on farms and in factories and in stores and offices and homes are leading this country -- and the world -- toward better and better ways of doing and of making things. America exceeds all other lands -- by far -- in the number of its leaders. Any needless concentration of power is a menace to freedom.

We have the world's best machines, because we ourselves are not machines, because we have embraced the liberty of thinking for ourselves, of imagining for ourselves, and of acting for ourselves out of our own energies and inspirations. Our true strength is not in our machines, splendid as they are, but in the inquisitive, inventive, indomitable souls of our people.

To be that kind of soul is open to every American boy and girl; and it is the one kind of career that America cannot live without.

To be a good American -- worthy of the heritage that is yours, eager to pass it on enhanced and enriched -- is a lifetime career, stimulating, sometimes exhausting, always satisfying to those who do their best.

Start on it now; take part in America's affairs while you are still a student. There are responsibilities about your home, in your neighborhood, that you can assume. There are activities about your school that will be more productive of good by your contribution.

Don't think that you are too young. "Let no man despise thy youth," Paul the Apostle said to Timothy. These words apply to you as an American. Loyalty to principle, readiness to give of one's talents to the common good, acceptance of responsibility -- these are the measure of a good American, not his age in years.

Alexander Hamilton -- General Washington's aide in war, President Washington's Secretary of the Treasury in peace -- was speaking before applauding crowds of his fellow New Yorkers on the political problems of the American Revolution when he was only seventeen years old and still a student in King's College, now Columbia University. The same stuff of which Hamilton was made is in you and all American youth today.

But above all, while you are still at school, try to learn the "why" of your country. We Americans know "how" to produce things faster and better -- on the whole -- than any other people. But what will it profit us to produce things unless we know what we are producing them for, unless we know what purpose animates America?

To assure each citizen his inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was the "why" behind the establishment of this Republic and is today the "why" for its continued existence. What that means to you personally,. what you must do toward its fulfillment, cannot be answered completely in a letter. But I repeat that the answer can be found in your school, if you seek it deliberately and conscientiouisly. You need neither genius nor vast learning for its comprehension.

To be a good American is the most important job that will ever confront you. But essentially it is nothing more than being a good member of your community, helping those who need your help, striving for a sympathetic understanding of those who oppose you, doing each new day's job a little better than the previous day's, placing the common good before personal profit. The American Republic was born to assure you the dignity and rights of a human individual. If the dignity and rights of your fellow men guide your daily conduct of life, you will be a good American.


President Donald Trump publicly and repeatedly lashed out at Gov. Doug Ducey on Monday, contending the Republican leader and Trump supporter had "betrayed the people of Arizona" by certifying an election that didn't go the president's way.

Trump unleashed a series of blistering posts on Twitter a few hours after Ducey and other state officials signed off on Arizona's general election results, confirming Democratic President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the once reliably red state.

"Why is he rushing to put a Democrat in office?" Trump asked, including a clip of Ducey discussing getting Senator-elect Mark Kelly sworn in as soon as possible. "Especially when so many horrible things concerning voter fraud are being revealed at the hearing going on right now."

By "hearing," Trump meant the public meeting between Trump campaign lawyers and a handful of state lawmakers taking place two miles from the Arizona Capitol. In front of an audience that included at least two Arizona congressmen, the president's team had made unsubstantiated claims of election fraud and urged the Legislature to throw out the state's results.

"What is going on with @dougducey?" Trump continued on Twitter. "Republicans will long remember!"

The president then reposted a claim from a conservative cable host that Ducey had "betrayed the people of Arizona," commenting, simply, "TRUE." He also shared a post that asked: "Who needs Democrats when you have Republicans like (Georgia Gov.) Brian Kemp and Doug Ducey?"


Afterward, Trump reposted a fictional exchange in which Kemp said Georgia had run "the most corrupt election in American history," and Ducey responded with, "Hold my beer."

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
Why is he rushing to put a Democrat in office, especially when so many horrible things concerning voter fraud are being revealed at the hearing going on right now. @OANN What is going on with @dougducey? Republicans will long remember!

The Recount @therecount
Gov. Ducey (R-AZ) certifies Biden's win in Arizona, and announces he will sign documents today so that Senator-elect Mark Kelly (D) can be sworn in "as swiftly as possible."
(Kelly will be sworn in on Wednesday, per reports. The Senate will then be 52R-48D.)
4:39 PM Nov. 30, 2020


President made expectations clear

As Ducey was certifying election results Monday morning his cell phone buzzed to the tune of "Hail to the Chief" — a ringtone Ducey previously said he'd set for White House calls. He muted the ring tone and set the phone aside, continuing to sign the documents that made Trump's loss official.

Later that evening, the governor published several tweets defending his actions in certifying the vote and defending election integrity in Arizona, given the state's long history of voting by mail and other laws in place to prevent voter fraud.

He did not mention the president by name or specifically reference his comments.

"The problems that exist in other states simply don't apply here," Ducey wrote. "I've also said all along, I'm going to follow the law."

He continued:

"Here's what the law says. It requires the Secretary of State, in the presence of the Governor and the Attorney General, to canvass the election on the fourth Monday following the general election. That was today. This can ONLY be delayed if counties DECLINE to certify their results. ALL 15 counties in Arizona — counties run by both parties — certified their results. The canvass of the election triggers a 5-day window for any elector to bring a credible challenge to the election results in court. If you want to contest the results, now is the time. Bring your challenges. That’s the law. I’ve sworn an oath to uphold it, and I take my responsibility seriously."


Throughout November, media reports had suggested Arizona's results — and Ducey's response to them — had created a rift between the politicians, something the governor's staff disputed.

During Trump's last Arizona visit before Election Day, the president had made it clear he was expecting Ducey to deliver him the battleground state's 11 electoral votes. "I'm going to be so angry, Doug, if we don't get there," he said during a Bullhead City rally.

Ducey also avoided actively sowing doubt about the state's election system, as Trump had encouraged Republicans to do, though he took weeks to publicly acknowledge Biden's Arizona win.


Still, Trump waited until election lawsuits had unsuccessfully worked their way through Arizona courts and state officials certified results to publicly unload on Ducey.

"Such total corruption," Trump wrote of the state and its leadership Monday evening. "So sad for our country!"

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
TRUE!
Christina Bobb @christina_bobb
Gov Ducey has betrayed the people of Arizona.

4:40 PM Nov 30, 2020


The rise and fall of Trump and Ducey

Ducey's support for the president appeared to be at an all-time high leading up to the election, having evolved since the early days of Trump's candidacy. The governor did not personally welcome or meet with the presidential hopeful when he visited Arizona in 2015.

After Trump won the Republican nomination, Ducey for a time walked the tightrope between conservatives who fervently backed Trump and others who found him too extreme. But he began forging a closer, more public relationship with the president in 2018.

When Trump visited Arizona to stump for then U.S. Senate candidate Martha McSally that year, Ducey briefly took the microphone to credit the president with “how far we've come as a state and a country.”

“Two years ago, families and small businesses were getting crushed," Ducey said, trading his typically reserved demeanor for a fired-up growl. "Today, under President Trump, our economy is booming, thanks to historic tax reform. Washington was on a regulation binge, destroying jobs and killing innovations."

Trump similarly warmed to Ducey, inviting the governor to multiple White House functions over the next two years. During one event, which honored immigration and border officials, Trump thanked Ducey by name and applauded the "great job" the governor had done securing the Arizona-Mexico border.

Late this summer, White House officials held up Arizona as a leader in COVID-19 containment measures, with the president saying Ducey had "done an incredible job" controlling the virus.

Ducey also flew to Washington, D.C., to watch Trump accept the Republican nomination and appeared at his Arizona campaign events, feeding speculation that he would jump ship for a Washington, D.C., cabinet position if Trump won reelection.

It's unclear what the governor might pursue instead now, with his last gubernatorial term coming to an end in two years and many Republicans unhappy with his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it's probably safe to assume it won't involve Trump.

"Watching the Arizona hearings and then watching Gov. Ducey sign those papers," the president retweeted Monday, "Why bother voting for Republicans if what you get is Ducey and Kemp?"

Reach the reporter at maria.polletta@arizonarepublic.com or 602-653-6807. Follow her on Twitter @mpolletta.
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat

Postby admin » Wed Dec 02, 2020 3:33 am

'It cannot be done’: Biden lawyer says Michigan electoral plot would be unconstitutional
by John Fritze, David Jackson, Courtney Subramanian, & Joey Garrison
USA TODAY
11/20/20

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


President-elect Joe Biden’s attorney dismissed President Donald Trump’s expected meeting with Republican officials from Michigan on Friday, arguing that any effort to pressure lawmakers to support Trump electors is “doomed to failure.”

“The harm is real. But there is absolutely no chance Donald Trump can be successful in what it is he’s trying to do,” said Bob Bauer, a senior advisor for Biden who worked as White House counsel under Barack Obama.

Republican leaders of the Michigan House and Senate have been scheduled to meet with Trump on Friday as the president continues his long-shot bid to retain the presidency by overturning election results in key states such as Michigan.

Trump’s attorneys have pushed a dubious legal strategy of having Republican-controlled state legislatures in states like Michigan that Biden won choose their own slates of Trump electors instead of electors for Biden.


White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters the president "routinely meets with lawmakers all across the country."

"It is not an advocacy meeting," she said Friday at her first press briefing in 50 days. "There will be no one from the campaign there."

Bauer said the electoral plot would be unconstitutional, arguing state legislatures are obligated to choose electors based on the popular votes in their states and that going against the will of the voters would also violate citizens’ right to vote.

“No state legislature in our country’s history – ever – has done what Donald Trump is apparently agitating for the Michigan state legislature to do, which is to ignore the result of a popular vote election … The reason it’s never happened before is it cannot be done.”

He added: "This kind of pressure, this raw political pressure is obviously outrageous.”


Bauer also described a Republican press conference a daily earlier led by Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani as “ludicrous” and “absolutely comic.”

Giuliani and other attorneys claimed Thursday without proof they had evidence of “voter fraud” and scolded the media for not presenting it, though no court has yet agreed and legal analysts across the political spectrum have predicted that various lawsuits are going nowhere.

"The election is over," Bauer said, arguing that even Republicans close to the president recognize it.

Michigan’s state board of canvassers, which includes two Democrats and two Republicans, is set to take up the certification of the state’s election results on Monday. Biden defeated Trump in Michigan by 156,003 votes.

The electoral college, made up of 538 electors nationwide chosen by voters in each state, meets Dec. 14 to formally cast their votes for president. Congress meets Jan. 6 to count the electoral votes and declare the winner of the presidential election.

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who represents the Kalamazoo area, has already congratulated Biden on winning the election. He said he hadn't spoken to the Michigan state lawmakers meeting with Trump.

"I’ve not seen any evidence of fraud that would overturn 150,000 and some votes," Upton told reporters Friday at the U.S. Capitol. He predicted the state legislature wouldn't have the votes to override Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on choosing electors. "That’s just a dead end."

Bauer knocked the entire panoply of Trump efforts to overturn the election, including lawsuits in Pennsylvania and attempts to block certification of the votes in Georgia and Wisconsin – but he added that none of them would work.

"It's an abuse of office, it's an open attempt to intimidate election officials, it's absolutely appalling," Bauer said. "Having said all that, it will be unsuccessful."
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat

Postby admin » Wed Dec 02, 2020 3:46 am

Detroit Voters Sue President Trump Over His Attempt to Block Certification of Election Results: Lawsuit Claims Trump, his Campaign Attempting to Disenfranchise Black Voters
by Cassidy Johncox, Web Producer
Published: November 21, 2020, 7:42 pm
Updated: November 21, 2020, 8:29 pm

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

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DETROIT – Three Detroit voters have joined a local organization in suing President Trump and his campaign over their effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, along with three Detroit residents, filed a lawsuit against the Trump campaign Friday, arguing that the campaign is seeking to disenfranchise Black voters in their attempt to block the certification of Michigan votes -- especially those from Wayne County.

“Having lost the vote in Michigan and other states that are necessary for a majority of the electoral college, President Trump and the Donald J. Trump For President, Inc. Campaign are engaged in a campaign to overturn the results of the election by blocking certification of the results, on the (legally incorrect) theory that blocking certification would allow state legislatures to override the will of the voters and choose the Trump Campaign’s slate of electors,” the complaint reads.

The lawsuit, filed on the plaintiffs’ behalf by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, claims that President Trump and his campaign are in violation of section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which states: “No person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, shall intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for voting or attempting to vote, or intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for urging or aiding any person to vote or attempt to vote.”

The Detroiters argue that Trump and his team have been putting pressure on state and local officials to delay the certification of votes in Michigan. They claim that Trump’s campaign has been “intimidating or coercing state and local officials from aiding Plaintiffs and other residents of Detroit and Wayne County from having their votes ‘counted properly and included in the appropriate totals of votes cast’” -- which, if true, is in direct violation of the act.


Wayne County Board of Canvassers certifies results despite initial deadlock

The lawsuit comes days after two GOP members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers initially voted not to certify the votes, citing discrepancies in the county’s numbers. One of the members, Monica Palmer, reportedly said that she would be open to certifying Wayne County votes, but not the votes in Detroit -- which were notably cast by predominately Black voters who largely favored President-elect Joe Biden.

According to the lawsuit, “other areas of Wayne County had similar discrepancies and in at least one predominantly white city, Livonia, the discrepancies were more significant than those in Detroit.”

Palmer and other GOP board member William Hartmann changed course and ultimately voted to certify Wayne County votes that same day. The pair changed their minds again, however, after President Trump called them personally on Tuesday evening after the certification process. On Wednesday, Palmer and Hartmann filed affidavits with Trump’s team, saying they believed the county vote “should not be certified” in an attempt to rescind their decision.

Michigan officials say that there is no legal mechanism in place for the Wayne County GOP board members to rescind their vote after the certification process is complete.

“Central to (Trump’s) strategy is disenfranchising voters in predominately Black cities, including Detroit, by blocking certification of election results from those cities or counties where they are located,” the complaint alleges. “President Trump and his campaign have repeatedly—and falsely—raised the specter of widespread fraud in Detroit and other cities with large Black populations, including Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Atlanta, in an effort to suggest votes from those cities should not be counted.”

Now the certification of Michigan votes rests in the hands of the state board of canvassers, and is scheduled to take place on Monday, Nov. 23. The Trump administration is trying to put pressure on the state’s board of canvassers -- comprised of two Democrats and two Republicans -- in an effort to keep them from certifying Biden’s win in the state.

Biden holds a lead of about 154,000 votes over Trump in Michigan.

RNC asks to delay Michigan certification of votes

As part of their effort to delay the certification process in Michigan, members of the Republican National Committee on Saturday sent a letter to the Michigan Board of State Canvassers requesting to delay the certification of Michigan votes by two weeks, in order to conduct an “audit” of the state’s votes. According to Michigan Secretary of State, however, the board is unable to audit the election prior to the certification of the votes because “election officials do not have legal access to the documents needed to complete audits until the certification.”

President Trump also invited two Republican Michigan lawmakers to meet with him at the White House on Friday. Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and House speaker Lee Chatfield say the meeting was focused on the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, not the election. In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the representatives said they aren’t “aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan.”

“... 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,” the pair wrote.

Still, some argue that their meeting with the president so close to the state’s certification meeting is concerning. The lawsuit filed against Trump Friday claims that “one of the president’s campaign lawyers overseeing the effort to overturn the election results” participated in the meeting with Shirkey and Chatfield.

The meeting also occurred after news broke of the GOP’s alleged plan to attempt to change electors in key states to individuals who favor Trump, in an effort to flip their states’ votes from Biden to Trump.


The scheme is rooted in the fact that the U.S. Constitution grants state legislatures the power to decide how electors are chosen. Each state already has passed laws that delegate this power to voters and appoint electors for whichever candidate wins the state on Election Day. The only opportunity for a state legislature to then get involved with electors is a provision in federal law allowing it if the actual election “fails.”

If the result of the election was unclear in mid-December, at the deadline for naming electors, Republican-controlled legislatures in those states could declare that Trump won and appoint electors supporting him. Or so the theory goes.

The problem, legal experts note, is that the result of the election is not in any way unclear. Biden won all the states at issue. It’s hard to argue the election “failed” when Trump’s own Department of Homeland Security reported it was not tampered with and was “the most secure in American history.” There has been no finding of widespread fraud or problems in the vote count, which shows Biden leading Trump by more than 5 million votes nationally.

GOP lawmakers in key “battleground” states like Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have said they will not participate in this “scheme” to flip their state’s electors to vote for President Trump.

The plaintiffs in Friday’s lawsuit are asking the U.S. District Court to declare that Trump and his campaign have violated the Voting Rights Act, and to stop them “from continuing to exert pressure on state or local officials in Michigan, or in any other state, to disenfranchise Plaintiffs or other Black voters by not certifying the results of the November 2020 election, or by appointing an unlawful slate of electors that disenfranchises Plaintiffs or other Black voters or from taking other action in violation of Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act.”


On Saturday, the Detroit branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) also announced that they have an attorney of their own in preparation for the state’s scheduled certification meeting on Monday.

“In lieu of the attempts to delay and even subvert the will of the people, it is important that we take every step necessary to protect the vote of the people. This necessity becomes even more apparent when key Republican legislators visit the White House, huddle with President Trump who seeks to overturn the election, and the Michigan Republican party along with the Republican National Committee attempt to delay the certification.” said Detroit attorney Melvin Butch Hollowell. “Each and every one of the quarter of a million votes cast in this election by Detroiters, and by all voters, is sacred. Those votes were duly and properly certified by the County Board of Canvassers, and any attempt to play games with the certification at the state level would be unconstitutional disenfranchisement, and a discriminatory violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. We expect the State Board of Canvassers to do its job and count the votes.”

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. on Monday.

Click here to read the entire lawsuit filed against Trump and his campaign by the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and Detroit residents, or read it in the document below.
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat

Postby admin » Sun Dec 13, 2020 11:26 am

New Jersey congressman urges Nancy Pelosi to BAR 126 Republicans from the House for backing Donald Trump's failed Texas lawsuit, claiming they violated the Constitution by trying to 'install a dictator'
by DailyMail.com Reporter
PUBLISHED: 18:10 EST, 12 December 2020 | UPDATED: 18:21 EST, 12 December 2020

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• New Jersey House representative Bill Pascrell, 83, has called on House speaker Nancy Pelosi to bar 126 GOP members from taking their seats
• The members supported President Trump's Texas lawsuit to overturn the election result, which was thrown out by Supreme Court on Friday
• Pascrell claims the members violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment by backing an 'unelected dictator', and should not be allowed to hold office
• Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was added in 1868 following the Civil War to stop traitors against the Union from taking state, federal or military office
• Pascrell said they were seeking to 'obliterate public confidence in our democratic system'
• Pelosi has not yet responded but wrote in open letter on Friday that the lawsuits were 'election subversion that imperils our democracy'

New Jersey representative Bill Pascrell has urged House speaker Nancy Pelosi to bar 126 GOP members from taking their seats, claiming that their support for President Trump's failed Texas lawsuit made them 'traitors' who had violated the Constitution.

Pascrell, 83, argued Saturday that the House members who signed an amicus brief supporting the court-case, including House Minority leader and California representative Kevin McCarthy, had broken their oaths to uphold the Constitution and should be banned from sitting in the 117th Congress and called on Pelosi to take action.

The Texas attorney general Ken Paxton's suit, supported by 17 other state attorneys general, attempted to reject millions of votes in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, whose citizens chose President-elect Joe Biden over Donald Trump.

The case was thrown out by the Supreme Court on Friday.

Pascrell cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 during post Civil War reconstruction period and was designed to keep traitors out of state, federal or military positions.

It is sometimes called the 'disqualification clause'.

The Democratic law-maker, who has represented parts of New Jersey on and off since 1997, tweeted: 'The text of the 14th Amendment expressly forbids Members of Congress from engaging in rebellion against the United States. Trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems a pretty clear example of that'.

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Representative Bill Pascrell, a Democrat from New Jersey, has launched a bid to persuade House speaker Nancy Pelosi to refuse to seat the 126 GOP members who sought to overtturn the election result. Pictured here on January 9 during a bill enrollment ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C

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Pascrell tweeted his official bid to have the 126 GOP law-makers unseated for seeking to 'make Donald Trump an unelected dictator'

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Pascrell cited section 3 of the 14th Amendment which is designed to keep traitors out of office

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House speaker Nancy Pelosi, pictured during a news conference in Capitol Hill on December 10, has been asked to stop the 126 'rebel' GOPs from taking their seats

In his statement to House leaders Pascrell said that the 126 members were attempting to 'obliterate public confidence in our democratic system' by installing an 'unelected dictator'.

He urged Pelosi to take action and said: 'I call on you to exercise the power of your offices to evaluate steps you can take to address these constitutional violations this Congress and, if possible, refuse to seat in the 117th Congress any Members-elect seeking to make Donald Trump an unelected dictator.'

Pascrell added: 'Men and women who would act to tear the United States government apart cannot serve as Members of the Congress. These lawsuits seeking to obliterate public confidence in our democratic system by invalidating the clear results of the 2020 presidential election undoubtedly attack the text and spirit of the Constitution, which each Member swears to support and defend.'

He later widened his call in a tweet: 'Today I’m calling on House leaders to refuse to seat any Members trying to overturn the election and make Donald Trump an unelected dictator.'

House speaker Pelosi has not yet responded but in a letter published Friday night, she called the politicians involved in the lawsuits 'engaged in election subversion that imperils our democracy.'

After the 2020 race was called for President-elect Biden, Trump and his allies immediately filed lawsuits against multiple states, baselessly accusing them of perpetuating and covering up election fraud. Of the dozens of lawsuits he filed, none have been successful.

The amicus brief was led by staunch Trump ally and Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

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Out-going President Donald Trump has lost multiple lawsuits in his attempt to overturn the election result

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, pictured at the Austin Police Association on Thursday Sept 10, led a failed bid in Texas to overturn the election result

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U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, pictured at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on December 10, is one of the most high profile members to sign the brief

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U.S. Representative Steve Scalise, pictured at a press conference on December 10, signed the briefing

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126 GOP members signed the briefing supporting the baseless Texas lawsuit

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Representative Matt Gaetz, pictured on December 9 on Capitol Hill, supported the Texas lawsuit

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Representative Dan Crenshaw, a Republican from Texas, pictured during a House Homeland Security Committee hearingin June 2019, supported the failed bid to overturn the election

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Pascrell has asked House speaker Nancy Pelosi to bar the GOP members from being sworn in

Following Friday's announcement that the Supreme Court wouldn't hear the case, Trump and his allies issues several drastic statements.

Texas GOP Chairman Allen West said some states should break away from the rest of the United States and 'bond together' in a call for secession not seen since the Civil War.

Others, including vloggers Diamond and Silk questioned: 'where is the military?'

The Supreme Court earlier this week rejected a bid from Pennsylvania Republicans to undo Biden’s win in the state. The order was unsigned and had no noted dissents.

Pascrell previously called for an investigation into the entire Trump administration when Biden takes office.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment

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The US Constitution was ratified in 1787 and currently has 27 Amendments

What is Section 3 of the 14th Amendment?

It was designed to keep 'traitors' out of power by giving the federal government the right to stop anyone who 'rebels' or commits 'treason' against the United States from running for state, federal or military office.

This includes if they deny someone their rights as a US citizen, including the right to vote. It is sometimes called the 'disqualification clause'.

Why was it brought in?

It was added in 1868 when the country was in the middle of the horrors of the post Civil War reconstruction era and Congress was feuding with President Andrew Johnson over how to treat the Confederate states.

Formerly enslaved Africans Americans had just been granted citizenship three years earlier with the 13th Amendment, but several southern states were refusing to recognize it and had passed their own repressive laws, known as 'black codes'.

So Section 3 was added as a fail-safe to keep former Confederate leaders from running for office.

It can only be overturned by a two-third majority in the houses of Congress.

Has it been used before?

In 1919, Victor L. Berger, a member of the Socialist Party of America who had been convicted under the Espionage Act, was repeatedly prevented from taking his seat by a House resolution after winning the Fifth Wisconsin District, The New York Times reports.

Could House speaker Nancy Pelosi use it now?

Although the clause was written in the context of the Civil War, it would theoretically still apply for members of future rebellions or insurrections against the United States, with occasional historical uses setting a precedent.

Full text of Section 3, 14th Amendment of the US Constitution:

No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

THE 126 HOUSE REPUBLICANS WHO WANT SCOTUS TO OVERTURN THE ELECTION RESULT

Ralph Abraham Louisiana
Robert Aderholt Alabama
Rick W. Allen Georgia
Jodey Arrington Texas
James R. Baird Indiana
Jim Banks Indiana
Jack Bergman Michigan
Andy Biggs Arizona
Gus Bilirakis Florida
Dan Bishop North Carolina
Mike Bost Illinois
Kevin Brady Texas
Mo Brooks Alabama
Ken Buck Colorado
Ted Budd North Carolina
Tim Burchett Tennessee
Michael C. Burgess Texas
Bradley Byrne Alabama
Ken Calvert California
Earl L. 'Buddy' Carter Georgia
Ben Cline Virginia
Michael Cloud Texas
Doug Collins Georgia
Mike Conaway Texas
Rick Crawford Arkansas
Dan Crenshaw Texas
Scott DesJarlais Tennessee
Mario Diaz-Balart Florida
Jeff Duncan South Carolina
Neal P. Dunn Florida
Tom Emmer Minnesota
Ron Estes Kansas
A. Drew Ferguson Georgia
Chuck Fleischmann Tennessee
Bill Flores Texas
Jeff Fortenberry Nebraska
Virginia Foxx North Carolina
Russ Fulcher Idaho
Matt Gaetz Florida
Greg Gianforte Montana
Bob Gibbs Ohio
Louie Gohmert Texas
Lance Gooden Texas
Sam Graves Missouri
Mark Green Tennessee
Morgan Griffith Virginia
Michael Guest Mississippi
Jim Hagedorn Minnesota
Andy Harris Maryland
Vicky Hartzler Missouri
Kevin Hern Oklahoma
Clay Higgins Louisiana
Jody Hice Georgia
Trey Hollingsworth Indiana
Richard Hudson North Carolina
Bill Huizenga Michigan
Bill Johnson Ohio
Mike Johnson Louisiana
Jim Jordan Ohio
John Joyce Pennsylvania
Fred Keller Pennsylvania
Mike Kelly Pennsylvania
Trent Kelly Mississippi
Steve King Iowa
David Kustoff Tennessee
Darin LaHood Illinois
Doug LaMalfa California
Doug Lamborn Colorado
Robert Latta Ohio
Debbie Lesko Arizona
Billy Long Missouri
Barry Loudermilk Georgia
Blaine Leutkemeyer Missouri
Kenny Marchant Texas
Roger Marshall Kansas
Kevin McCarthy California Minority leader
Tom McClintock California
Cathy McMorris Rogers Washington
Dan Meuser Pennsylvania
Carol D. Miller West Virginia
John Moolenaar Michigan
Alex Mooney West Virginia
Markwayne Mullin Oklahoma
Gregory Murphy North Carolina
Dan Newhouse Washington
Ralph Norman South Carolina
Steven Palazzo Mississippi
Gary Palmer Alabama
Greg Pence Indiana
Scott Perry Pennsylvania
Bill Posey Florida
Guy Reschenthaler Pennsylvania
Tom Rice South Carolina
Mike Rodgers Alabama
John Rose Tennessee
David Rouzer North Carolina
John Rutherford Florida
Steve Scalise Louisiana Minority whip
Austin Scott Georgia
Mike Simpson Idaho
Adrian Smith Nebraska
Jason Smith Missouri
Ross Spano Florida
Pete Stauber Michigan
Elise Stefanik New York
Gregory Steube Florida
Glenn 'GT' Thompson Pennsylvania
Tom Tiffany Wisconsin
William Timmons South Carolina
Jeff Van Drew New Jersey
Ann Wagner Missouri
Tim Walberg Michigan
Mark Walker North Carolina
Jackie Walorski Indiana
Michael Waltz Florida
Randy Weber Texas
Daniel Webster Florida
Brad Wenstrup Ohio
Bruce Westerman Arkansas
Roger Williams Texas
Joe Wilson South Carolina
Rob Wittman Virginia
Ron Wright Texas
Ted S. Yoho Florida
Lee Zeldin New York
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat

Postby admin » Tue Dec 15, 2020 9:40 am

Michigan GOP lawmaker who doubts safety around electors meeting loses committee assignments
by Craig Mauger and Melissa Nann Burke
The Detroit News
December 14, 2020

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In Michigan, electors also formally cast their votes for Biden and Harris. The vote came after the Trump administration filed lawsuits that were dismissed by state and federal judges, and despite Trump’s attempts to pressure Republican lawmakers to replace Democratic electors. Republican Michigan state Representative Gary Eisen was reprimanded and stripped of his committee assignments after he told a radio host Monday morning he planned to join a protest to obstruct the state’s Electoral College vote, that could turn violent. This is Eisen speaking to Port Huron-area radio station WPHM-AM on Monday morning.

PAUL MILLER: What event are you referring to?

REP. GARY EISEN: It’ll be all over the news later on.

PAUL MILLER: This sounds dangerous, Gary. And I’m not kidding around.

REP. GARY EISEN: It is dangerous. And I will be there. I was the one — there’s going to be violence, going to be protests. You know, and they’re asking me if I would assist today. And I said, “You know what? How can I not?”


-- Election Chaos Adds Fuel to Campaign for a National Popular Vote to Elect U.S. President, by Democracynow.org


Lansing — Michigan Rep. Gary Eisen made cryptic comments Monday about Republicans possibly trying a "Hail Mary" to intervene in the afternoon votes of the state's presidential electors and wouldn't promise a radio host that the day would be safe.

The St. Clair Township Republican made the comments during an interview on WPHM-AM Monday morning. Within hours, the GOP leadership of the Michigan House stripped him of his committee assignments, saying public officials shouldn't "open the door to violent behavior."


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State Rep. Gary Eisen, R-St. Clair Township

Eisen later issued a statement clarifying his remarks, saying he actually "wanted to attend today’s event to help prevent violence, not promote it."

"I regret the confusion over my comments this morning, and I want to assure everyone that those of us who are supporting an alternative slate of electors intend to do so peacefully and legally," Eisen said.

Eisen said earlier there was a possible "Hail Mary" for Republicans to try Monday as Democratic electors convene at the state Capitol to cast their votes for President-elect Joe Biden. He didn't specify what the "Hail Mary" attempt would be during the interview.

"Can you assure me that this is going to be safe day in Lansing, nobody's going to get hurt?" radio host Paul Miller asked Eisen at the end of an 11-minute interview.

"No," he responded. "I don't know because what we're doing today is uncharted. It hasn't been done."

But during the radio interview, Eisen described what would occur on Monday in Lansing as a "historic event" and said it "will be all over the news later on."


Eisen later said that his comments were meant to reflect that while his group intended to be peaceful, "I did not feel I could speak for other groups."

"Apparently, some people are making credible threats of violence today, and I am glad local law enforcement is on the scene preventing any such action and keeping everyone safe," Eisen said.

"Our group, who will also be at the Capitol today to request to be seated as electors, intends to participate in our democracy peacefully. We are all concerned about safety today and hopeful for a safe, legal and clear process at the Capitol.”

As his interview began to gain attention on social media, the leaders of the House Republican caucus announced in a joint statement that Eisen would lose his committee assignments for the remainder of the year.

"We as elected officials must be clear that violence has no place in our democratic process. We must be held to a higher standard," said House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, and Rep. Jason Wentworth, R-Farwell, who will become speaker next term.

Chatfield in a separate statement also said there's not enough support in the House to cast a new slate of electors.

Chatfield noted the Legislature decades ago chose to award Michigan's electors to the winner of the popular vote, and the Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that once created, the right to a popular vote for president becomes "fundamental, and the exercise of a fundamental right can’t be infringed retroactively for due process reasons."

"Maybe they were right. Maybe they were wrong. But that was the court’s decision. And it still stands today," said Chatfield, who campaigned for Trump.

"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.

"I fear we'd lose our country forever. This truly would bring mutually assured destruction for every future election in regards to the Electoral College. And I can't stand for that. I won’t."


On Monday, Michigan's 16 presidential electors will convene at 2 p.m. to vote for Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. The event will take place in the state Senate chamber with limited members of the public and press in attendance.

The Michigan Capitol will be closed to the public amid concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic and public safety. On Sunday, the Michigan House and Senate announced their offices would be closed in downtown Lansing Monday because of "credible threats of violence.

During his radio interview, Eisen said there had been a "bomb threat phoned in from Wisconsin."

Eisen also indicated he might try to gain access to the Capitol on Monday.

"I'm on a football team. We have one more play. Am I just going to give up or am I going to do that Hail Mary?" he said, referring to the play where football teams try a deep pass into the end zone, usually at the end of a game.


"Will it change the outcome of the election? Probably not," added Eisen.

Eisen was one of at least 12 Michigan Republicans who signed onto a motion last week to intervene in a Texas lawsuit at the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to “establish a constitutional process for the selection of presidential electors” related to the Nov. 3 election.

They wanted state legislators to have a post-election certification vote that would determine the electors for Michigan and wanted the justices to stop Michigan's electoral vote until a legislative certification can take place.

During an interview on Dec. 3, Eisen initially declined to comment on whether lawmakers have any say in the selection of Michigan's presidential electors. If there was fraud, it was proven and certain things fell in place, "we may have input," he said.

The chances of that are "very small," Eisen said.

Michigan law currently says the 16 electoral votes go to the winner of the certified popular vote in the state. Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes in results that were certified on Nov. 23.

cmauger@detroitnews.com
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat

Postby admin » Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:55 am

Former Houston Police Captain Paid to Hold Up Air Conditioner Repairman Over Crackpot Voter Fraud Theory: Cops: A Houston organization engaged in its own vigilante probe of the election paid the former cop $266,400, the district attorney said.
by Blake Montgomery
Updated Dec. 15, 2020 6:29PM ET Published Dec. 15, 2020 6:02PM ET

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Houston Police

Houston police were left wondering what happened to one of their own Tuesday after arresting a former captain who allegedly ran a man off the road and held him at gunpoint, believing he was in possession of hundreds of thousands of fraudulent election ballots.

The former squad leader, Mark Anthony Aguirre, 63, allegedly believed so strongly in pro-Trump claims of massive voter fraud plaguing Harris County’s presidential election that he was willing to commit crimes himself to substantiate them. David Lopez-Zuniga, the man Aguirre allegedly surveilled for four days and briefly held hostage, is not a scheming mastermind of political crime, however, just an air conditioner repairman.

“[Aguirre] crossed the line from dirty politics to commission of a violent crime and we are lucky no one was killed. His alleged investigation was backward from the start, first alleging a crime had occurred and then trying to prove it happened,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a press release.

Aguirre is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. His bond is set at $30,000.

The retired policeman allegedly used his SUV to ram the back of the repairman’s truck on Oct. 19 to lure the Lopez-Zuniga from the car around 5:30 a.m. Aguirre claimed to police the collision had been an accident. Once Lopez-Zuniga exited his vehicle, Aguirre held him at gunpoint and knelt on his back while an unnamed accomplice took the truck to a nearby parking lot, where police found it, authorities said.

Aguirre told investigators he was a member of a civilian organization calling itself Liberty Center for God and Country that was engaged in a vigilante probe of the election. The group paid Aguirre $266,400, the district attorney said.

According to the police report, Aguirre told his arresting officer, “I just hope you’re a patriot.” The former cop also parroted a conspiracy theory about donations from Mark Zuckerberg swaying the election.

Aguirre had surveilled Lopez-Zuniga for four days and believed the technician to be in possession of more than 750,000 fraudulent ballots, though he had no evidence to buttress his claims, police said. Lopez-Zuniga’s truck contained only air conditioning materials and repair tools, and police found Aguirre’s claims of voter fraud without merit.
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat

Postby admin » Sat Dec 19, 2020 3:39 am

Trump's former national security advisor says the president should impose martial law to force new elections in battleground states
by Sonam Sheth
Business Insider
12/18/20

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President Donald Trump and Michael Flynn. John Locher/AP Photo

Former national security advisor Michael Flynn said on Thursday that President Donald Trump should impose martial law to overturn the results of the 2020 US election.
• Specifically, Flynn told the pro-Trump network Newsmax that the president should deploy the military to "rerun an election" in battleground states that he lost to President-elect Joe Biden.
• The former national security advisor, who was recently pardoned by Trump, made a similar suggestion earlier this month when he shared a message calling on the president to deploy the military for a "national re-vote."
• Flynn's comments are not based in reality — the election results have already been certified, the president does not have the power to unilaterally change the date of an election, and declaring martial law does not suspend the Constitution.


Former national security advisor Michael Flynn said this week that President Donald Trump should impose martial law to force new elections in battleground states that he lost.

Speaking with the pro-Trump network Newsmax on Thursday night, Flynn said the president should deploy the military and "seize" voting machines to hold a new election.

"There is no way in the world we are going to be able to move forward as a nation," said Flynn, who was recently pardoned by Trump after pleading guilty to a felony count of lying to the FBI. "He could immediately, on his order, seize every single one of these machines, on his order."

Flynn appeared to be referencing the far-right conspiracy theory that Democratic operatives and election officials somehow rigged voting machines across the country to switch votes from Trump to President-elect Joe Biden.

There is no evidence that this allegation holds any merit. Voters in the battleground states where the Trump campaign contested election results voted on hand-marked paper ballots, ballot-marking devices that produce paper ballots, or voting machines with voter-verifiable paper trails.

"He could order the, within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities, and he could place those in states and basically rerun an election in each of those states," Flynn told Newsmax. "I mean, it's not unprecedented. These people are out there talking about martial law like it's something that we've never done. Martial law has been instituted 64 times."

The former national security advisor's remarks are not based in reality.

First, despite Republican claims of fraud and election rigging, nonpartisan officials and election experts have confirmed that the 2020 election was the safest and most secure in US history. The president does not have the power to unilaterally cancel, delay, postpone, or change the date of an election, even if he declares martial law. As Business Insider previously reported, that power lies with Congress.

Declaring martial law also does not suspend the Constitution, and the military has no role in administering elections. Even if it did, it would not be able to run new elections because the right to vote is not specified in the Constitution or by a federal statute.

This isn't the first time Flynn has called for a military takeover to throw out the election results. On December 1, he shared a message on Twitter from a right-wing Ohio activist group calling for Trump to "suspend the Constitution," declare martial law, and have the military hold a "national re-vote."

As of this month, all 50 states and Washington, DC, had certified their election results. On December 14, the Electoral College convened across the country, and electors cast their votes for Trump or Biden, depending on how their respective states voted. The final tally showed that Biden won 306 electoral votes — and the presidency — while Trump notched 232.

The Trump campaign, Republican officials, and Trump voters have filed dozens of lawsuits contesting the election results since November 3 and won just one case, a minor victory that did not affect the overall results in any state. The Supreme Court also rejected a long-shot bid by the state of Texas to throw out the election results in four states that voted for Biden.


On January 6, Congress is set to officially count up the electoral votes for each candidate and certify Biden as the winner, and on January 20, he will be sworn in as president.
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat

Postby admin » Sat Dec 19, 2020 5:02 am

Proud Boys Call For Disguises, Violence At Biden Inauguration
by Michael Stone
Progressive Secular Humanist
December 17, 2020

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Proud Boys Call For Disguises, Violence At Biden Inauguration (Image via Twitter)

Domestic Terrorists: Leaders of the Proud Boys, a far-right, neo-fascist group, are encouraging members to disguise themselves as Biden supporters in order to “wreak havoc” and engage in political violence at Biden’s presidential inauguration next month.

The Sun reports:

Members of the Proud Boys are reportedly plotting to disguise themselves as Joe Biden fans to wreak havoc during the presidential inauguration.

The Trojan Horse-style plot was revealed on InfoWars alum Joe Biggs’ YouTube channel — on which the right-wing militants were ordered to ‘kick off this presidency with f*cking fireworks.’


Daily Dot reports:

The Proud Boys are using YouTube to organize violence at Joe Biden’s inauguration


Discussing the Biden inauguration on YouTube, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio instructed his followers to gain admission to the inauguration anyway possible, including by disguise as Biden supporters, and then “revolt.”

Tarrio said:

“Revolt motherf***ers!

Do whatever you got to do to f*cking get your tickets. You show up there in Biden gear and you turn his inauguration into a f*cking circus, a sign of resistance, a sign of revolution.


Last September, during a presidential debate, when asked to condemn the political violence of the Proud Boys and other alt-right, white nationalist groups, Trump refused, and instead gave a shout out to the Proud Boys, telling them to “stand back and stand-by.”

The Proud Boys are not the only domestic terrorist organization planning violence when Biden assumes power. According to Stewart Rhodes, leader of the Oath Keepers, the domestic terrorist militia will lead a “bloody civil war and revolution” if Trump leaves office and Joe Biden is sworn in as president.

Bottom line: The Proud Boys, a far-right, neo-fascist group, are encouraging members to disguise themselves as Biden supporters in order to “wreak havoc” and engage in political violence at Biden’s presidential inauguration next month.
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat

Postby admin » Sat Dec 19, 2020 5:09 am

Oath Keepers’ Stewart Rhodes Repeats Demand That Trump Declare Martial Law to Avoid Militia-Led Civil War
by Peter Montgomery
Right Wing Watch
December 17, 2020 11:35 am

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Oath Keepers' Stewart Rhodes at a pro-Trump "prayer rally" Dec. 12, 2020.

Stewart Rhodes, pro-Trump leader of the anti-government extremist group Oath Keepers, posted an open letter to President Donald Trump Monday urging Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act against “domestic traitors,” order “trusted military units” to “seize all databases of the CIA, FBI, NSA, DNI, etc and the records held by all state electoral systems and administrators,” and declassify evidence of treason by “corrupt and compromised elites” who he claimed had worked with the Chinese government to subvert the election.

The letter echoes comments Rhodes made at a Dec. 12 “prayer rally” on the National Mall, where he warned Trump that if he doesn’t take action, right-wing militias will have to do so in a “much more bloody war.”

This language is nothing new for Rhodes. During last year’s impeachment investigation, Rhodes warned, “We ARE on the verge of a HOT civil war. Like in 1859.” In a 2017 Fourth of July message he said that if Hillary Clinton had defeated Trump with the help of “election fraud” and “illegal alien votes,” the country would have been involved in civil war “combat.” As Right Wing Watch’s Kristen Doerer noted in October, the Oath Keepers’ violent language is part of a broader use of rhetoric about civil war from across the right-wing movement.


In his new open letter, Rhodes writes:

It’s time to honor that oath by defending the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

This is your moment of destiny. Will you take your place in history as the savior of our Republic, right up there with President Washington and Lincoln? Or will you fail to act, while you still can, and leave office on January 20, 2021, leaving We the People to fight a desperate revolution/civil war against an illegitimate usurper and his Chicom puppet regime?


Rhodes claims that the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the recent case brought by the attorney general of Texas “shows that the cancer of cowardice, compromised officials, and treason has spread even to the Supreme Court.” He urges Trump not to concede the election:

Through well-orchestrated mass vote fraud, the Communist Chinese and their domestic enemy allies are about to install their illegitimate puppet, Joe Biden, and his equally illegitimate puppet running mate, Kamala Harris, into the White House, with their treasonous fingers on the nuclear launch codes.

You must act NOW as a wartime President, pursuant to your oath to defend the Constitution, which is very similar to the oath all of us veterans swore. We are already in a fight. It’s better to wage it with you as Commander-in-Chief than to have you comply with a fraudulent election, leave office, and leave the White House in the hands of illegitimate usurpers and Chinese puppets. Please don’t do it. Do NOT concede, and do NOT wait until January 20, 2021. Strike now.

If you fail to act while you are still in office, we the people will have to fight a bloody civil war and revolution against these two illegitimate Communist China puppets, and their illegitimate regime, with all of the powers of the deep state behind them, with nominal command of all the might of our armed forces (though we fully expect many units or entire branches to refuse their orders and to fight against them) and with their foreign allies also joining in to assist in the suppression of American patriots.


Rhodes urges Trump to federalize all National Guard units, call up military veterans under the age of 65, and order “all able-bodied Americans between the ages of 17-45 who are still loyal to the Constitution to likewise report for duty, bearing their own arms” to keep the peace and “suppress the expected riots, terrorism, and armed insurrection by the radical left in the United States (who have been armed and equipped for months now by our foreign and domestic enemies).”

Rhodes concludes the letter to Trump with a repeat of the demand and threat he posed at Saturday’s rally:

WE ARE IN FOR A FIGHT, NO MATTER WHAT. LET’S GET IT DONE WITH YOU AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF

There is no way out but through. And we will NOT submit to a Chicom puppet regime. You must stand tall and use your constitutional powers to fight this war against enemies foreign and domestic while you are still President and Commander-in-Chief. If you fail to do so, we the people will have to fight a bloody revolution/civil war to throw off an illegitimate deep state/Chinese puppet regime.


Oath Keepers, launched by Rhodes in 2009 after the election of President Barack Obama, claims to be a nonpartisan group of current and former law enforcement and military service members committed to protecting Americans’ constitutional rights by refusing to abide by unconstitutional orders. In reality, Oath Keepers under Rhodes is a hard-right anti-government group. Rhodes has repeatedly called for violence and declared that the U.S. is at the point of civil war.

In an article in the November 2020 issue of The Atlantic, Mike Giglio reported that Oath Keepers “has recruited thousands of police, soldiers, and veterans.” His reporting drew in part on a database of 25,000 Oath Keepers members and supporters obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Rhodes told Giglio that it would be better to wage civil war than to “slide into a nightmare” of a dictatorship. Giglio reported that at a recruiting meeting outside Nashville, Tennessee, in July, Rhodes called anti-fascist activists and protesters “insurrectionists” and declared, “Us old vets and younger ones are going to end up having to kill these young kids,” adding, “And they’re going to die believing they were fighting Nazis.” At an event in Virginia, a former marine declared, “We should have been shooting a long time ago instead of standing off to the side.”

Politico’s Ciara O’Rourke reported earlier this month that “Oath Keepers are quietly infiltrating local government.”


In 2016, Trump gave a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention to Sheriff David Clarke, who had previously received an award from the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, a group that shares some of Oath Keepers’ ideology. Clarke had also spoken at a fundraising event for Oath Keepers’ New York chapter.

The Rhodes letter was co-signed by Kellye SoRelle, identified as a “Texas attorney and former prosecutor.” SoRelle, identified in news reports as a member of Lawyers for Trump, ran unsuccessfully for the Texas legislature this year, drawing single digits in the March 3 Republican primary. After the November election, she was “at the center of a debunked election conspiracy” when she reportedly made a video of a man rolling a wagon carrying a box into the Detroit convention center where ballots were being counted. The video was given life online by right-wing websites, including Gateway Pundit, and boosted on social media by Eric Trump and others, even though a television station affirmed that the man was a photographer bringing camera equipment to cover the counting.
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat

Postby admin » Sat Dec 19, 2020 5:56 am

Fmr. Trump Official [Elizabeth Neumann, former assistant secretary at the department of Homeland Security] is Worried About Political Violence in Coming Months
The Mehdi Hasan Show
Dec 18, 2020

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