Tag: Trump election fraud lie

Watchdog: Capitol Police need ‘culture change’

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The Capitol Police’s internal watchdog will testify before lawmakers Thursday about how the police force failed to prepare for the mob attack on Jan. 6 despite warnings ahead of time of possible violence. 

The report from the Capitol Police’s inspector general, Michael Bolton, paints a picture of a police force that failed to disseminate critical warnings about the insurrection to top leaders and even take basic measures to properly maintain equipment that could have helped protect officers from the violent mob.

Bolton is expected to tell lawmakers on the House Administration Committee that the Capitol Police needs a fundamental “culture change” to adequately protect the seat of American democracy and prevent another deadly attack. Continue reading.

Inspector general cites glaring problems within Capitol Police

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House Administration Committee on Thursday will hear from IG himself

The Capitol Police department needs to restructure its civil disturbance unit and overhaul its intelligence operation, glaring problems that hampered the department’s ability to secure the Capitol during the attack on Jan. 6.

The summary of Capitol Police Inspector General Michael A. Bolton’s findings, obtained by CQ Roll Call, illustrates a department woefully unprepared for the deadly pro-Trump insurrection, including a lack of training and operational planning deficiencies. Bolton will appear Thursday before the House Administration Committee to discuss his work.

Bolton, in his prepared testimony, says the department needs to undergo a fundamental culture transformation. Continue reading.

Fox News hosts accused of conspiring behind the scenes with Trump attorneys as network faces lawsuit

“The Fox anchors decided to join forces with Giuliani and Powell to disseminate disinformation about Smartmatic”

A new court filing argues that Fox News anchors cannot hide behind the First Amendment after helping former president Donald Trump and his allies spread election lies.

Voting technology company Smartmatic filed a 120-page motion asking a New York state court to reject the conservative network’s attempt to dismiss a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit by claiming its coverage was protected speech, arguing those protections should not apply because anchors knew election fraud claims were untrue, reported Law & Crime.

“This is not a game. The First Amendment does not provide the Fox Defendants a Get Out Of Jail Free card,” the motion argues. “The Fox Defendants do not get a do-over with their reporting now that they have been sued.” Continue reading.

Chaos erupts at GOP meeting as Trump-loving attorney Lin Wood gets confronted for spreading election conspiracies

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Some Republicans are rejecting election conspiracy theories pushed by pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood, who’s trying to unseat the South Carolina state GOP chairman.

Dozens of guests packed into a ballroom — mask-free and crammed together in spite of the pandemic — on Sunday to hear Wood, who recently moved to the state and bought $16 million in property in Beaufort County, explain why they should choose him to replace state GOP chair Drew McKissick next month, reported The Post and Courier.

“I did not come to divide you,” Wood said. “I came to unite you and and grow your party.” Continue reading.

Federal prosecutors will not bring charges in Ashli Babbitt death

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Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that they would not file charges against the U.S. Capitol Police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

Babbitt, who was 35, was one of the five people who died as a result of the riot as supporters of former President Trump overran the Capitol while Congress was preparing to certify President Biden‘s Electoral College victory.

Her shooting was captured on video just outside the House chambers where a crowd was trying to make its way past police. Continue reading.

Hundreds of Companies Unite to Oppose Voting Limits, but Others Abstain

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Amazon, Google, G.M. and Starbucks were among those joining the biggest show of solidarity by businesses over legislation in numerous states.

Amazon, BlackRock, Google, Warren Buffett and hundreds of other companies and executives signed on to a new statement released on Wednesday opposing “any discriminatory legislation” that would make it harder for people to vote.

It was the biggest show of solidarity so far by the business community as companies around the country try to navigate the partisan uproar over Republican efforts to enact new election rules in almost every state. Senior Republicans, including former President Donald J. Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell, have called for companies to stay out of politics.

The statement was organized in recent days by Kenneth Chenault, a former chief executive of American Express, and Kenneth Frazier, the chief executive of Merck. A copy appeared on Wednesday in advertisements in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Continue reading.

Top private law firms plan ‘SWAT teams’ to fight voting restrictions in court

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Top private law firms plan ‘SWAT teams’ to fight voting restrictions in court

First, it was the businesses. Now, it’s the bar.

More than a dozen of the country’s top law firms have committed to join forces to challenge voting restrictions across the country, adding legal might to the corporate pressure campaign opposing Republican-led attempts to overhaul elections in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s loss.

One of the effort’s leaders, Brad Karp, chairman of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison of New York, said Monday that 16 firms had signed on so far, including his. The lawyers will act like “SWAT teams” for legal action, he said. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale School of Management professor who is working to help mobilize corporate America against the restrictions, described the legal coalition as an “army of election law experts ready to dispatch at a moment’s notice.”

The group came together from conversations among major law firms about publicly taking a stand against restrictive voting laws like the one enacted in Georgia last month, as well as bills under consideration in Texas, Arizona, Florida and other states. Continue reading.

Inside Trump’s private, revisionist, grievance-laden speech to the RNC

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The Donald Trump Show was rekindled privately Saturday night at a Republican National Committee event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., with the former president delivering a speech heavy on his election grievances and with relatively little to say about the future of the GOP.

As The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey reported Sunday, Trump’s speech reserved the heaviest and newest criticisms for the man who is currently the most powerful Republican in Washington, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.). Trump hit McConnell for not helping overturn the 2020 election and called him a “dumb son of a b—-,” while accusing him of being ungrateful for Trump’s appointment of McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, to his Cabinet.

Audio of the speech reviewed by The Post reveals that Trump at times went even further in going after his foes and revising electoral history, even lodging a suggestive attack involving former first lady Michelle Obama’s appearance. Continue reading.

Kristen Clarke faced abuse for taking on Trump. Now she’s poised to lead Justice Department’s civil rights team.

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President Donald Trump was waging his baseless assault on the presidential election results last fall when Kristen Clarke, head of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, opened her inbox to a stream of vicious threats over her efforts to fight back and protect the rights of voters.

Openly misogynistic, littered with racial epithets, the messages were of the variety that seeks to debase and intimidate prominent minority women. “May you be found guilty by military tribunal and executed by hanging,” one email read.

Clarke, who is Black, posted it on Twitter. Continue reading.

Wake Up, GOP, Warns Liz Cheney: Trump Is Still Waging ‘War On The Constitution’

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The Wyoming lawmaker also called the sex trafficking allegations against Matt Gaetz “sickening.”

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) called on her party Sunday to move on from former President Donald Trump, saying in an interview on “Face The Nation” on CBS that he’s peddling his old lies and continuing to wage “war on the Constitution.”

In an incendiary speech Saturday at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser for the Republican National Committee, Trump yet again baselessly claimed the election had been illegally stolen from him. He attacked former Vice President Mike Pence for lacking “the courage” to block voters’ choice of Joe Biden as president. He expressed no regrets about, nor remorse for, the deadly Capitol riot, The Washington Post reported.

“The former president is using the same language that he knows provoked violence on January 6th,” Cheney said of the speech. “As a party, we need to be focused on the future. We need to be focused on embracing the Constitution — not embracing insurrection.” Continue reading.