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.

Trump’s baseless claim about ballot drop boxes in Fulton County, Ga.

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“Thank you and congratulations to Laura Baigert of the Georgia Star News on the incredible reporting you have done. Keep going! The scam is all unraveling fast.”

— Former president Donald Trump, in a statement, June 17

False and misleading claims that cast doubt on Georgia’s 2020 election results continue to pop up seven months after the vote, and Trump keeps promoting them.

We have a high bar for fact-checking the former president these days, but this claim about an election “scam” in the Atlanta area carries weight. The state launched an investigation based on the same reports Trump is referencing from a website called the Georgia Star News.

But there is no evidence of a scam unraveling in Georgia, only shoddy record-keeping by local election officials. Continue reading.

Pelosi announces select committee to investigate Jan. 6 Capitol riot

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Thursday that she will create a House select committee to investigate the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Why it matters: The creation of a single Democratic-controlled special committee, which will consolidate several House investigations, comes after Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have established a bipartisan 9/11-style commission.

  • While Republicans would have had equal control over the blocked 9/11-style investigative commission, it’s unlikely they will have the same leverage over the House select committee investigation. Continue reading.

Obama: Voting rights bill must pass before next election

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Former President Obama said Monday that Congress needs to pass voting rights legislation before the 2022 midterm elections, or American democracy could be at risk.

“We can’t wait until the next election because if we have the same kinds of shenanigans that brought about Jan. 6, if we have that for a couple more election cycles, we’re going to have real problems in terms of our democracy long-term,” said Obama.

Speaking on a call with grassroots supporters alongside former Attorney General Eric Holder, Obama said debate over the voting rights bill, known as the For the People Act, was worth it for him to engage in political debate, even as a former president. Continue reading.

Pennsylvania Senate GOP edges toward Arizona-style election audit

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A top Pennsylvania Republican says he supports an audit of the state’s presidential election results similar to a review being conducted in Arizona, raising the potential for other states to spend taxpayer money investigating former President Trump’s false claims of improprieties and fraud.

Pennsylvania state Sen. David Argall (R), who heads the Senate State Government Committee that has oversight of election administration, told reporters he supports another look at the Pennsylvania results.

“It’s a very careful recount, forensic audit, so yeah, I don’t see the danger in it,” Argall said during a forum with reporters from Spotlight PA, a consortium of media companies from across the state. “I just think that it would not be a bad idea at all to proceed with an audit similar to what they’re doing in Arizona.”  Continue reading.

Feds investigating whether Roger Stone ‘radicalized’ Trump supporters who stormed Capitol: Report

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Roger Stone is reportedly under investigation for his role in planning the Jan. 6 insurrection to undo Donald Trump’s election loss.

Federal prosecutors are building a conspiracy case against right-wing militants who allegedly plotted the insurrection, and investigators are looking into the roles Stone and Alex Jones may have played in radicalizing Trump supporters who joined the assault on the U.S. Capitol, according to Los Angeles Times legal affairs columnist Harry Litman.

“I think they are leaving no stone unturned to kind of portray and determine the color of what happened here, were the insurrectionists influenced by staff, members of Congress, Trump loyalists like Roger Stone and Alex Jones,” Litman told MSNBC’s Zerlina Maxwell. “They’re really wanting to paint a full picture rather than — we see the biggest charges against some of the people, they are criminal conspiracy and insurrection, they pack plenty of wallop already, and that is the overall code they are going after but the picture deservedly is one of terrorism. These were domestic terrorists.” Continue reading.