Tag: Trump fake voter fraud crisis

‘We have to stop this!’: Ex-Trump official slams Republicans to their faces over election misinformation

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Republican Christopher Krebs, who formerly headed a cybersecurity agency at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was among the witnesses who testified on Wednesday during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing that addressed alleged “irregularities” in the 2020 election. During his testimony, Krebs only made it clear to Republican senators that he saw no evidence of the type of widespread voter fraud that President Donald Trump and his allies have been alleging — he also called out the extremists who have been threatening election officials.

Krebs discussed the voting equipment that was used in the election, emphasizing that there was no reason to believe that such equipment swung votes to President-elect Joe Biden as some Trump allies have been claiming.

“I’m seeing these reports that are factually inaccurate continue to be promoted,” Krebs told Sen. Ron Johnson and other members of the Homeland Security Committee. “That’s what rumor control is all about. That’s what I’m continuing to do today based on my experience and understanding in how these systems work. We have to stop this! It’s undermining confidence in democracy.” Continue reading.

Rand Paul gets hammered after making bogus claim that the election ‘was stolen’

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During a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and fellow Republican Christopher Krebs — who formerly led a cybersecurity office at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — expressed very different views on the security of the 2020 presidential election. Krebs, during his testimony, emphasized that the election was quite secure, while Paul echoed the baseless claims of widespread voter fraud that President Donald Trump’s campaign and legal team have been promoting. And Paul’s comments are getting a lot of reactions on Twitter.

Paul told Krebs and senators on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, “If you’re saying that it’s the safest election based on no dead people voted…. no people broke the absentee rules, I think that’s false. And I think that’s what’s upset a lot of people on our side — is that they’re taking your statement to mean, ‘Oh well, there was no problems in the elections.’ I don’t think that you’ve examined any of the problems that we’ve heard here.”

Paul insisted, “The fraud happened. The election, in many ways, was stolen.” Continue reading.

Mitch McConnell Warns Republicans Not to Fight Biden’s Electoral College Win

WASHINGTON — Fending off a messy fight that could damage Republicans ahead of Georgia Senate runoffs, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned fellow GOP senators on Tuesday not to join President Donald Trump’s extended assault on the Electoral College results.

In public remarks and private warnings, McConnell worked to push ahead to the Biden era and unite a fractured Republican Party ahead of the runoff elections that will determine Senate control.

First, the Republican leader heaped praise on Trump’s “endless” accomplishments as he congratulated President-elect Joe Biden during a morning Senate speech. Then he pivoted, privately warning Republican senators away from disputing the Electoral College tally when Congress convenes in a joint session Jan. 6 to confirm the results. Continue reading.

After electoral college backs Biden, Trump continues falsely insisting he won: ‘This Fake Election can no longer stand’

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After the electoral college cemented his victory on Monday, President-elect Joe Biden urged the nation and the GOP to “turn the page” on weeks of false claims by President Trump and his allies that massive fraud had flipped the election.

Trump, though, soon made it clear that he has no intention of moving on.

In a cascade of tweets sent after midnight, the president shared more dubious claims of electoral fraud and falsely insisted, yet again, that he was the true victor. Continue reading.

Michigan House punishes GOP Rep. Gary Eisen for hinting at Electoral College disruption

Michigan Republican legislative leaders pulled a GOP lawmaker from his committee assignments Monday after the lawmaker hinted he was part of a group that sought to disrupt or otherwise undermine the Electoral College vote slated to happen at the Capitol in the afternoon. 

State Rep. Gary Eisen, R-St. Clair Township, made the comments Monday morning during an interview with Port Huron-area radio station WPHM-AM (1380). He was asked about the Electoral College, members of which were set to meet Monday in the state Senate chamber to cast the state’s 16 electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden. 

Eisen made the comments in the context of he and others in Lansing having some sort of event, either at the Capitol or somewhere else. He said he could not rule out the possibility of violence.  Continue reading.

GOP strategist reveals the ‘trap’ Republicans ‘fell into’ — prompting Trump to lash out at Georgia’s Brian Kemp

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President Donald Trump is still lashing out at Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, as the president attacked him as a “fool” on Twitter early on Monday morning.

The Washington Post reports that Trump has been unhappy with Kemp for the last year, starting when Kemp told Trump that he planned to appoint Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) to the Senate even though the president felt there were better options.

The tensions all came to a head last month when Trump lost Georgia and Kemp refused to intervene to steal the state for him. Continue reading.

Secession And Martial Law Obsess Right-Wing Media Outlets

After the Supreme Court on Friday declined to hear a lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to overturn the election, many far-right pro-Trump media figures, social media personalities, Republican Party officials, and former congressional candidates expressed support for secession from the United States or the use of the military to overturn the election which President Donald Trump lost.

The lawsuit sought, in a “seditious abuse of judicial process,” to invalidate the election results from several swing states that contributed to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. This extreme attempt to overthrow our democracy garnered mainstream Republican support, with 17 GOP state attorneys general and more than half of House Republicans signing on in support of it.

The Supreme Court’s rejection of the lawsuit did not end Trump supporters’ calls to overturn the election results. While treason talk — fueled by Rush Limbaugh — had already begun in the right-wing circles before the Supreme Court announced its decision, it really took off afterward. Continue reading.

‘A dark, empty place:’ Public officials face personal threats as tensions flare

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State and local officials of both parties have warned that President Trump’s increasingly desperate tweets about election fraud are fueling the potential for violence as well as another ominous trend of 2020, in which public servants and others who disagree are targeted at their offices and homes with armed protests, harassing phone calls and stalkers.

Last week, an “enemies” list of state and federal officials who rejected Trump’s baseless election conspiracy theories floated up from the dark corners of the Web, with home addresses listed and red targets over their photos, the latest in a string of threats to public officials.

The list falsely accused swing-state governors, voting systems executives and the former top U.S. cybersecurity official responsible for securing November’s presidential election of “changing votes and working against the President” in a treasonous attempt to “overthrow our democracy.” The names from the list shared on social media included the hashtags #remembertheirfaces and #NoQuarterForTraitors. Continue reading.

Trump allies in Wisconsin legislature are stiffing Dane, Milwaukee Co’s $3 million recount costs

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It appears that the Trump campaign’s promise to pay for the work of Wisconsin ballot workers for the added costs incurred in unnecessary and pointless vote recounts Trump demanded as part of his futile effort to overturn the 2020 election has gone the way of that equally imaginary $200 “Medicare Card” promised to seniors, just before they went to the polls in November.

As reported in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

MADISON – The Republican-led Legislature’s budget committee is holding up reimbursements to two counties for their recount costs.

President Donald Trump’s campaign paid $3 million for recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties, Wisconsin’s two most Democratic areas.

But two top Republicans said Friday they were withholding the money from the counties for now. They did not explain why.

Continue reading.

Trump Allies Eye Long-Shot Election Reversal in Congress, Testing Pence

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Some House Republicans plan to try to use Congress’s tallying of electoral results on Jan. 6 to tip the election to President Trump. The attempt will put Republicans in a pinch.

President Trump lost key swing states by clear margins. His barrage of lawsuits claiming widespread voting fraud has been almost universally dismissed, most recently by the Supreme Court. And on Monday, the Electoral College will formally cast a majority of its votes for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.

But as the president continues to refuse to concede, a small group of his most loyal backers in Congress is plotting a final-stage challenge on the floor of the House of Representatives in early January to try to reverse Mr. Biden’s victory.

Constitutional scholars and even members of the president’s own party say the effort is all but certain to fail. But the looming battle on Jan. 6 is likely to culminate in a messy and deeply divisive spectacle that could thrust Vice President Mike Pence into the excruciating position of having to declare once and for all that Mr. Trump has indeed lost the election. Continue reading.