Tag: Trump election fraud lie

Momentum of Capitol riot inquiries stalls amid partisan flare-ups

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Momentum is stalling amid congressional efforts to swiftly investigate the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, threatened by logistical delays and deepening partisan disagreement about the scope of an independent inquiry advocated by Democrats.

After initial House and Senate hearings that scrutinized law enforcement and intelligence failures leading up to the insurrection, the pace of such public sessions has slowed to a halt, as lawmakers struggle to determine their next investigative steps. Meanwhile, a fight between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her Republican counterparts over the scope of a Sept. 11-style commission has intensified this week after she announced her plan for how it should be structured.

Now, a looming congressional recess is expected to delay resolution on both fronts until mid-April at the soonest — a pause that threatens to undermine the momentum and spirit of cooperation Democrats and Republicans had exhibited immediately after the riot. Continue reading.

‘No remorse’: Man accused in Capitol officer beating, who allegedly buried badge in backyard, ordered to jail

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A New York man charged in a vicious assault on a D.C. police officer during the deadly Capitol riot was ordered jailed pending trial, when an angry federal judge Tuesday declared the suspect’s alleged behavior as “just not acceptable.”

Thomas Sibick is accused of ripping the radio and badge from the tactical vest worn by Officer Michael Fanone, who was later pulled into a mob where he was battered and shocked with a stun gun by rioters who attempted to take his service weapon.

After allegedly lying to the FBI multiple times about his involvement in the attack, Sibick last month surrendered Fanone’s mud-smeared badge, which the suspect had allegedly buried in the backyard of his Buffalo home. Continue reading.

People Think There Was Fraud Because We Kept Saying There Was Fraud, So Now We Need Voter-Suppression Laws

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The sleight-of-hand from Republican bullshit artists like Texas Governor Greg Abbott is a growing problem.

So, where are we suppressing votes on Tuesday? Well, Georgia, of course, but it’s clear that the Republicans in the Texas legislature have looked over at Georgia and saw the bandwagon heading for the horizon. From the Texas Tribune:

At a press conference in Houston, Abbott served up the opening salvo in the Texas GOP’s legislative response to the 2020 election and its push to further restrict voting by taking aim at local election officials in the state’s most populous and Democratically controlled county. The governor specifically criticized officials in Harris County for attempting to send applications to vote by mail to every registered voter and their bid to set up widespread drive-thru voting, teeing up his support for legislation that would prohibit both initiatives in future elections. “Whether it’s the unauthorized expansion of mail-in ballots or the unauthorized expansion of drive-thru voting, we must pass laws to prevent election officials from jeopardizing the election process,” Abbott said on Monday. Harris County planned to send out applications to request a mail-in ballot, not the actual ballots.

Remember when that federal judge down in North Carolina said that state’s new election laws targeted minority voters with “almost surgical precision”? Well, the new Texas effort targets Harris County—and its minority populations—with the same kind of deadly accuracy.

Harris County officials quickly fired back at Republicans’ proposals in their own press conference. “These kinds of attempts to confuse, to intimidate, to suppress are a continuation of policies we’ve seen in this state since Reconstruction,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said. “It is a continuation as well of the big lie that’s being peddled by some far-right elements that the election in 2020 was somehow not true and should be overturned.”

Continue reading.

U.S. intelligence: Putin authorized influence operations to hurt Biden’s candidacy

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The Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Tuesday released a declassified report on foreign actors’ attempts to influence and interfere in the 2020 election.

The big picture: The U.S. intelligence community found that Russia and Iran conducted influence operations aimed at affecting the outcome of the election, but that China did not. The report found no indications that foreign actors attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process.

Russia: U.S. intelligence agencies assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden’s candidacy, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the election and sowing divisions. Continue reading.

Judge rips Arizona GOP for ‘groundless’ lawsuit challenging Biden’s win, orders it to pay legal fees

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Calling its lawsuit challenging 2020 election procedures “groundless” and “disingenuous,” a judge has ordered the Arizona Republican Party – and its lawyers – to pay the state thousands of dollars in legal fees.  

In his ruling, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah contended the GOP’s team acted in “bad faith” when it questioned the process for auditing voting machines and sought to delay certification of election results last November. 

Instead of living up to the “privileged position in the electoral process” afforded to it by state law, Hannah said, the party sought to undermine Arizonans’ confidence in election results. Continue reading.

Trump insiders turn on each other over ‘Dominion dossier’ as defamation lawsuits loom

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Someone on former President Donald Trump’s legal team created a “dossier” filled with false allegations leveled at Dominion Voting Systems, and now former Trump officials are pointing fingers at one another to avoid culpability as the company shells out defamation lawsuits against them.

The Daily Beast reports that the dossier was handed out to state legislators last December to give them talking points about how Dominion supposedly stole the election on behalf of President Joe Biden.

Although the dossier’s author is listed on its cover sheet as Trump campaign legal volunteer Katherine Friess, she’s now insisting she had nothing to do with it, and she’s pinning the blame on former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro for distributing the report. Continue reading.

Army initially pushed to deny District’s request for National Guard before Jan. 6

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The Army initially pushed to reject the D.C. government’s request for a modest National Guard presence ahead of the Jan. 6 rally that led to the Capitol riot, underscoring the deep reluctance of some higher-ups at the Pentagon to involve the military in security arrangements that day.

In an internal draft memo obtained by The Washington Post, the Army said the U.S. military shouldn’t be needed to help police with traffic and crowd management, as city officials had requested, unless more than 100,000 demonstrators were expected.

The draft memo also said the request should be denied because a federal agency hadn’t been identified to run the preparations and on-the-day operations; the resources of other federal agencies hadn’t been exhausted; and law enforcement was “far better suited” for the task. Continue reading.

MAGA rioter arrested for assaulting Capitol cops refers to himself as the ‘Sandwich Nazi’

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George Pierre Tanios, a 39-year-old MAGA rioter who was arrested on Sunday for allegedly assaulting late Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, refers to himslf as the “Sandwich Nazi” in his LinkedIn profile.

West Virginia Metro News reports that Tanios is the owner of the Sandwich University diner in Morgantown, West Virginia, which describes itself as the “King of the Fat Sandwich” on its website.

In his LinkedIn profile, Tanios lists being a “Sandwich Nazi” as his work experience, although it’s not clear if this is a commentary on his own far-right political views that inspired him to storm the United States Capitol on January 6th in the name of keeping former President Donald Trump in power. Continue reading.

Two arrested in assault on police officer Brian D. Sicknick, who died after Jan. 6 Capitol riot

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Federal authorities have arrested and charged two men with assaulting U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick with an unknown chemical spray during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot but have not determined whether the exposure caused his death.

Julian Elie Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania and George Pierre Tanios, 39, of Morgantown, W.Va., were taken into custody Sunday. Authorities said they grew up together in New Jersey.

“Give me that bear sh–,” Khater said to Tanios on video recorded at 2:14 p.m. at the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol, where Sicknick and other officers were standing guard behind metal bicycle racks, arrest papers say. Continue reading.

Proud Boys leader reveals feds met with him before violent rallies and provided him with tips: report

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In a deep dive by the New York Times into the now-changing relationship between law enforcement officials and the extreme right-wing Proud Boys, one of the leaders of the group admitted that he exchanged information with federal authorities before their rallies that often turned violent.

According to the report, law enforcement officials for years have ignored the growing violence at Proud Boy rallies — choosing instead to arrest their antagonists — but things have changed since the Jan 6th riot when supporters of Donald Trump overran the Capitol and sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives.

As the Times’ David Kirkpatrick and Alan Feuer wrote of the Proud Boys, “The group’s propensity for violence and extremism was no secret. But the F.B.I. and other agencies had often seen the Proud Boys as they chose to portray themselves, according to more than a half-dozen current and former federal officials: as mere street brawlers who lacked the organization or ambition of typical bureau targets like neo-Nazis, international terrorists and Mexican drug cartels.” Continue reading.