Tag: Trump tried to steal a second term

New report exposes Trumpworld connections to a plot to ‘strong-arm’ elections officials in Michigan

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Michigan is one of the states where former President Donald Trump and his lawyers, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, unsuccessfully tried to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Reporter Mardi Link, in an article published by the Traverse City Record Eagle this week, discusses events in Michigan in late November — when some pro-Trump GOP operatives showed up to examine election data.

The operatives, according to Link, went to Antrim County, where they “identified themselves to township officials as representing Rudy Giuliani’s legal team” and “accessed official election data in at least one township, according to local officials.” On Nov. 27, Link notes, they examined “two separate paper totals tape” from a precinct tabulator.

Antrim County Clerk Sheryl Guy told the Record Eagle, “They made calls to township people on Thanksgiving Day to set all this up. They were strong-arming local clerks to get in and see those machines. Some clerks said ‘no’ or didn’t answer their phones. And as soon as we could, we sent out an e-mail telling the clerks not to let them in. Then, we learn after the fact, they’d already been in three different locations.” Continue reading.

Judge says Capitol riot suspects ‘zip tie guy’ and his mom must stay in custody

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In a blistering opinion Wednesday, a federal judge said a Nashville man and his mother, charged in the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, must stay in custody because their release on bail would threaten national security.

Eric Munchel, dubbed “zip tie guy” in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection, and his mother Lisa Eisenhart will be held until their trials. Federal prosecutors say they were part of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol to stop lawmakers from certifying the election of President Joe Biden.

Investigators identified Munchel, 30, and Eisenhart, 56, in video footage from the riot. Munchel was seen inside the Capitol carrying plastic handcuffs, wearing a tactical vest, with a taser holstered on his right hip and an iPhone strapped to his chest, facing outward. Continue reading.

Trump entertained plan to install an attorney general who would help him pursue baseless election fraud claims

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Then-President Donald Trump in early January entertained a plan to replace the acting attorney general with a different Justice Department lawyer who was more amenable to pursuing his unfounded claims of voter fraud, nearly touching off a crisis at the country’s premier federal law enforcement institution, people familiar with the matter said.

The plan — if enacted — would have pushed out Jeffrey Rosen as the acting attorney general and installed in his place Jeffrey Clark, whom Trump had appointed to lead the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and who later would come to lead the Civil Division. Clark, then, could have taken steps to wield the Justice Department’s power to help keep Trump in office. But the president was ultimately dissuaded from moving forward after a high-stakes meeting with those involved, the people said.

The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a politically sensitive matter. The move was first reported by the New York Times. Legal analysts said it amounted to a disastrous attack on the Justice Department’s independence, and perhaps something worse. Continue reading.