Tag: Trump big lie

DHS is concerned about Trump reinstatement conspiracy theory, top official says

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DHS’s top counterterrorism official told members of Congress about the department’s concerns in a private briefing.

The conspiracy theory that Donald Trump will be reinstated as president in August has sparked concerns at the Department of Homeland Security, a top official there told members of Congress on Wednesday. 

The exchange came in a members-only briefing that John Cohen, the department’s top counterterrorism official, gave to the House Committee on Homeland Security. Three people familiar with the briefing described it to POLITICO. They requested anonymity to discuss the private conversation.

In the briefing, Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) asked Cohen how DHS is following the spread of disinformation and conspiracy theories, as well as the way that discourse can fuel violence. She specifically brought up the conspiracy theory claiming Trump will be reinstated as president in August — a theory Trump himself has reportedly promoted. Continue reading.

Georgia judge dismisses most of lawsuit that alleged fraudulent absentee ballots in Fulton County

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A Georgia judge on Thursday dismissed most of a lawsuit that alleged there were fraudulent mail-in ballots in Fulton County from the 2020 presidential election, dealing a potential blow to a group of local voters that has pushed to inspect all 147,000 absentee ballots cast in the state’s largest county last November.

Superior Court Judge Brian Amero on Thursday dismissed seven of the lawsuit’s nine claims against Fulton County officials on the basis of Georgia’s sovereign immunity laws. Amero did not dismiss two counts in the lawsuit that sought digital images of the mail-in ballots through the state’s open records law.

Fulton County election officials and local representatives have repeatedly asserted that there has been no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, a claim perpetuated by former president Donald Trump, who has continued to baselessly allege that the election was stolen from him. President Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes, the first time the state had gone for a Democrat since 1992. Continue reading.

Inside the ‘shadow reality world’ promoting the lie that the presidential election was stolen

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Wealthy allies of former president Donald Trump have spent millions on films, rallies and other efforts to tout falsehoods about the 2020 vote.

The slickly produced movie trailer, set to ominous music, cuts from scenes of the 2020 election to clips of allies of former president Donald Trump describing a vast conspiracy to steal the White House.

“The Deep Rig,” a film financed by former Overstock.com chief executive Patrick Byrne for $750,000, is set to be released online this weekend — the latest production by a loosely affiliated network of figures who have harnessed right-wing media outlets, podcasts and the social media platform Telegram to promote the falsehood that the 2020 election was rigged.

The baseless assertion, backed by millions of dollars from wealthy individuals, is reverberating across this alternative media ecosphere five months after Trump and many of his backers were pushed off Facebook and Twitter for spreading disinformation that inspired a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol. While largely unnoticed by Americans who have accepted the fact of President Biden’s victory, the deluge of content has captured the attention of many who think the election was rigged, a belief that is an animating force inside the Republican Party. Continue reading.

Trump Urged Justice Department To Probe QAnon’s Conspiracy Theories

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The ongoing release of materials on former President Donald Trump’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election has shown the extent to which the White House pushed for the Department of Justice to investigate far-out conspiracy theories linked to the QAnon movement. And the latest example might also show that false stories circulated in far-right media made their way to Trump himself.

The Detroit News reported last week on emails recently released by the House oversight committee showing some of the Trump administration’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. On December 14 — the same day when the members of the Electoral College met across the country to formalize Joe Biden’s victory — White House aide Molly Michael sent an email to acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen with the subject “From POTUS.”

The email contained a PDF file of a report from a right-wing investigator on an election counting error in the small locale of Antrim County, Michigan, and a set of talking pointsapparently written by the report’s author declaring that “Michigan cannot certify for Biden” due to a “seditious conspiracy to undermine the election process and the will of the American people.” Continue reading.

In sentencing regretful Capitol protester, federal judge rebukes Republicans

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U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth castigated Republican lawmakers on Wednesday for downplaying the violence of the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, saying in handing down the first sentence to a charged defendant that those who break the law must pay a penalty.

“I’m especially troubled by the accounts of some members of Congress that January 6 was just a day of tourists walking through the Capitol,” he said. “I don’t know what planet they were on. . . . This was not a peaceful demonstration. It was not an accident that it turned violent; it was intended to halt the very functioning of our government.”

The 49-year-old Indiana woman before him, who had just pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of demonstrating inside the Capitol, did not disagree. Continue reading.

Majority of Americans believe GOP ‘election audits’ are a sham designed to undermine election processes

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As Republican lawmakers continue their efforts to conduct audits of the 2020 presidential election, the majority of Americans are raising questions about the integrity of their efforts. 

The results of a new Monmouth University poll offer insight into how Americans view the so-called election audits, like the one underway in Maricopa County, Ariz. According to Truthout, poll respondents were asked if they believed election audits were “legitimate efforts to identify potential voting irregularities” or “partisan efforts to undermine valid election results.”

Based on the poll results, many Americans see the audits as nothing more than a partisan effort to undermine the outcome of the presidential election. Continue reading.

Mike Lindell unloads on critics: ‘We’re going to have a new inauguration and it’s going to be beautiful’

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MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell on Wednesday lashed out at his critics after claiming that The Washington Post is releasing a “hit piece” to disprove his claim that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.

“The Washington Post is coming out with a hit piece,” Lindell told Steve Bannon during an appearance on Real America’s Voice. “Since we announced the cyber symposium with all the packet captures that we’re going to reveal for the whole election — 37 terabytes of packet captures.”

According to Lindell, the Post “is going to say that what I have is hogwash.”

GOP-led probe finds no evidence of Michigan election fraud — and busts Trump allies for ‘purposefully defrauding people’ with ‘ludicrous’ claims

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A Donald Trump-loving attorney was singled out in a scathing Republican-led investigation that turned up no evidence of widespread fraud in Michigan’s presidential election.

A 35-page report issued by Senate Oversight Committee spends much time debunking conspiracy theories pushed by pro-Trump attorneys Matt DePerno and Patrick Colbeck and recommends the state’s attorney general investigate individuals who made false or misleading claims about Michigan’s election to raise money for themselves, reported Bridge Michigan.

“There is no evidence presented at this time to prove either significant acts of fraud or that an organized, wide-scale effort to commit fraudulent activity was perpetrated in order to subvert the will of Michigan voters,” wrote state Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan), who led the probe. Continue reading.

Trump issues unhinged new statement about ‘winning’ Georgia — and gets quickly shot down by fact checker

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Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued yet another statement falsely claiming to have won the 2020 presidential election in Georgia — but a fact checker for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution quickly shot down his false claims.

In his statement, Trump praised Georgia officials for removing over 100,000 names from their voter rolls — but then demanded to know why those names weren’t removed before the last election, which he narrowly lost to President Joe Biden.

“WHAT ABOUT THE LAST ELECTION?” Trump demanded. “WHY WASN’T THIS DONE PRIOR TO THE NOVEMBER 3RD PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, where they had us losing by a very small number of votes, many times less than the 101,789 figure?” Continue reading.

Trump Pays Legal Fees Of Two Counties In ‘Meritless’ Georgia Election Lawsuit

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ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump has paid the attorneys’ fees of two metro Atlanta counties in a lawsuit that sought to overturn the presidential election results in Georgia.

Election officials in Cobb and DeKalb counties sought the fees in a Trump lawsuit Cobb called “meritless and legally deficient.” A hearing on those requests was set for this Friday.

But last week Trump paid the Cobb County Board of Elections $15,554 to cover its legal costs through June 1, the county’s attorney confirmed. Trump’s attorney confirmed the former president also has paid fees to DeKalb County, though the amount was not immediately available. DeKalb sought $6,105 in fees in a motion filed in February. Continue reading.