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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

Consistently wrong since 2002

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Republicans in disarray!

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Cole is on a roll !

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Fight them, without becoming them!

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You are here: Home / Archives for Jan 6: Insurrection

Jan 6: Insurrection

Late Night Open Thread: Speaker Johnson & the Domestic Terrorists

by Anne Laurie|  December 6, 202311:35 pm| 42 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Terrorism, Jan 6: Insurrection, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Republicans in Disarray!

Republican House Leadership has apparently taken action to hide criminal behavior.

If the Department of Justice believes the videos at issue constitute evidence, then this video blurring action by House Republicans could constitute obstruction of justice. https://t.co/Qesr8Qeo5G

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) December 5, 2023

It could be argued there’s an outside chance Speaker Johnson really believed the Capitol tapes would show ‘peaceful tourists’ quietly browsing the People’s Palace. Or it could’ve been argued, if he hadn’t immediately hustled to cover up criminal behavior by tampering with the evidence. A revered Republican tradition!

House GOP: We need to release all the Jan. 6 footage so people can see what actually happened.

<Jan. 6 footage shows MAGA and QAnon insurrectionists assaulting police, damaging property, and committing other crimes>

House GOP: OK not what *actually* actually happened. Not that. https://t.co/YFBottrRap

— Nicholas Grossman (@NGrossman81) December 5, 2023

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This is an admission that Speaker Mike Johnson is destroying evidence of people committing crimes. If they were just strolling through the Rotunda (à la peaceful tourists), there would be no need to blur their faces. These are people breaking things and smearing feces on walls.

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) December 5, 2023

"Hey thanks for the tapes Mr Nixon, seems like there's some weird gaps in them…oh well, probably nothing worth worrying about" https://t.co/LO9Rvpodck

— The okayest poster there is (@ok_post_guy) December 5, 2023

https://t.co/DROyz1AIGl pic.twitter.com/XYi2yLq6Sy

— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) December 5, 2023

Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution https://t.co/KHUhqH0kCW

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) December 5, 2023

This building fusion between the GOP and right wing paramilitary activity is bringing us towards *failed state* territory. https://t.co/C4o4Yo4RC6

— Eric L. Robinson (@UticaEric) December 5, 2023

Speaker Mike Johnson is a religious zealot in control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mike Lindell is a domestic terrorist who went broke defending conmen like himself.

Lindsey Graham is an empty suit moving rocks for admitted domestic terrorists.

Moms for Liberty is… pic.twitter.com/x0GIRhUQPb

— Ryan Shead (@RyanShead) December 4, 2023

Late Night Open Thread: Speaker Johnson & the Domestic TerroristsPost + Comments (42)

Cheney Turns Over a Teapot

by Betty Cracker|  November 29, 202310:14 am| 150 Comments

This post is in: Jan 6: Hearings, Jan 6: Insurrection, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality

Liz Cheney, avenging angel of the deposed neo-con wing of the Republican Party, has a book coming out soon. CNN got its mitts on a pre-publication copy. From the excerpts I read, it seems that Cheney, unlike certain political reporters, didn’t hold back material details to drive book sales. But the book contains color that may interest DC soap opera addicts.

Cheney describes Kevin McCarthy as a craven liar, which isn’t news to anyone, Republican or Democrat. Contempt for McCarthy (along with loathing for Vivek Ramaswamy) are among the few bipartisan political beliefs Americans still share. But Cheney adds details on the motives behind McCarthy’s post-J6 maneuvers to effect a Trump rapprochement.

I figured McCarthy walked back his initial assertion that Trump bore responsibility for the mob attack on the Capitol after seeing polls indicating Trump was still popular in his district. Turns out the danger McCarthy perceived was related but much graver than that: Cheney says McCarthy feared alienating Trump would affect McCarthy’s “ability to fundraise,” which prompted the about-face on Trump.

Cheney, who was still in House leadership at the time, says when she first saw the photo of McCarthy shaking hands with Trump in Florida three weeks after the coup attempt, she thought it was photoshopped. When she found out it was real, Cheney demanded answers.

“Mar-a-Lago? What the hell, Kevin?” Cheney asked.

“They’re really worried,” McCarthy said. “Trump’s not eating, so they asked me to come see him.”

“What? You went to Mar-a-Lago because Trump’s not eating?” Cheney responded.

“Yeah, he’s really depressed,” McCarthy said.

The not eating thing has to be a falsehood. I mean, maybe for five hours he didn’t eat, but for three weeks? McCarthy lies a lot, but the Trump muumuu-suits don’t. (Still, I do hope he was despondent, if only temporarily. Despite the pending legal matters, I suspect a psychological toll is the only measure of justice we’ll ever get out of the traitorous orange fart cloud, so every bit of distress should be relished.)

Cheney describes the House Repubs’ descent into cowardice and madness, which we all saw in real time. She says one colleague praised her courage for standing up to Trump but declined to do so himself out of fear for his family’s safety. (Take note, New York appeals court!) She describes a caucus session after she voted to impeach where she was hectored by a colleague in dumb sexist terms:

She refused to back down, and what followed was a four-hour meeting where colleagues attacked her for standing up to Trump. In one memorable exchange, Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania said to her, “It’s like you’re playing in the biggest game of your life and you look up and see your girlfriend sitting on the opponent’s side!”

The remark provoked a chorus of female members who yelled back, “She’s not your girlfriend!”

Good God. But Cheney didn’t fit in anywhere anymore. She writes about working with Democrats on the January 6 inquiry, saying it was like being “a visitor from another planet.” Pelosi understood the value of Cheney’s participation and brushed off staffers’ objections:

Cheney writes that Pelosi’s team “pulled together a list of the 10 worst things I had ever said about her. Speaker Pelosi took one look at the list, handed it back to her staffer, and asked: ‘Why are you wasting my time with things that don’t matter?’”

It was an unexpected alliance, but Cheney says Pelosi always backed her up, and in turn, she was immediately impressed by Pelosi’s leadership.

“We may have disagreed on pretty much everything else, but Nancy Pelosi and I saw eye to eye on the one thing that mattered more than any other: the defense of our Constitution and the preservation of our republic.”

I don’t know if Pelosi holds grudges or settles scores, but if she does, she waits until the object of her ire is no longer useful to Democrats. Smart lady!

According to CNN, Cheney ends the book with a plea:

“Every one of us – Republican, Democrat, Independent – must work and vote together to ensure that Donald Trump and those who have appeased, enabled, and collaborated with him are defeated.”

Cheney concludes: “This is the cause of our time.”

Well, Cheney is wrong about almost everything, but she’s not wrong about that.

Open thread!

Cheney Turns Over a TeapotPost + Comments (150)

Cold Grey Pre-Dawn Open Thread: St. Ashli of the Tragic Narrative Arc

by Anne Laurie|  November 27, 20233:48 am| 78 Comments

This post is in: domestic terrorists, Grifters Gonna Grift, Jan 6: Insurrection, Open Threads

Late Night Open Thread: St. Ashli of the Tragic Narrative Arc 1
 
Late Night Open Thread: St. Ashli of the Tragic Narrative Arc

Not exactly grifting, as far as I can tell, but… exploitive, with a veneer of godliness. Per local news CBS8:

… The film is created by SMS Novel, a faith-based interactive film company that has produced bio-pics like “I Am Kim Porter” and “King of Detroit.”

“It paints a clear picture of #1 the American journey; all of us can find us in Ashli Babbit in some ways, but secondly, a cautionary tale that misinformation has deadly consequences,” said the film’s director Jomo Johnson.

“I think that is subjective that is up to the viewer. We are not promoting one view or the other. Again, I think the fact that she is no longer with us shows that there is a consequence of whatever side you choose,” Johnson said.

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Filming will take place in Washington D.C. and Ocean Beach where Babbitt most recently lived and Spring Valley where she worked for her family pool business.

Johnson says exact filming locations and dates are private due to safety concerns…

It is titled “Nero’s Martyr,” named after the Roman emperor.

“Nero, a roman emperor, who was very unique at using the skilled propaganda to persuade countrymen and enemies. Stories like Ashlie Babbit; I don’t think she was going there to die that day. I don’t think her plan was not to come home. I think she thought she was going to be part of protest. I don’t think she knew what was going to happen. I don’t think she was willing or wanting to die. If something can happen like that to someone who is in a protest, can it happen to us? And so, we want to do honor to telling her story as a human,” said Johnson…

There’s a half-million-dollar pot already waiting, after all:

Late Night Open Thread: St. Ashli of the Tragic Narrative Arc 2

Refresher, from an AP article shortly after Babbitt’s death:

… In the months before her death, Babbitt had become consumed by pro-Trump conspiracy theories and posted angry screeds on social media. She also had a history of making violent threats.

Babbitt, 35, was fatally shot while attempting to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby inside the Capitol, where police officers were evacuating members of Congress from the mob supporting Trump’s false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. She was one of five people who died during or immediately after the riot, including a Capitol Police officer.

On social media, Babbitt identified as a Libertarian and ardent supporter of the Second Amendment. Her posts included videos of profane rants against Democrats, COVID-19 mask mandates and illegal immigration.

Her Twitter account, which was taken down after her death, was rife with references to the QAnon conspiracy theory, which centers on the baseless belief that Trump has secretly battled deep-state enemies and a cabal of Satan-worshiping cannibals that includes prominent Democrats who operate a child sex trafficking ring…

Trump has repeatedly insisted Babbitt was murdered, and she has achieved martyr status among Trump supporters. Her name and likeness now appear on T-shirts and flags at pro-Trump rallies…

A Trump partisan with anger issues and a gun fetish, she’s just like us, fr fr!… Not sure there’s a coherent *narrative* to be assembled, but there’s clearly a *market* out there.

Cold Grey Pre-Dawn Open Thread: St. Ashli of the Tragic Narrative ArcPost + Comments (78)

Serpentine (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  November 7, 20232:15 pm| 156 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Jan 6: Insurrection, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity

Back in August, coup plotter John Eastman did an interview with a Claremont Institute hack in which Eastman basically admitted that he tried to overthrow the government in 2021 because voters bounced Trump and right-wingers didn’t like that:

“There’s actually a provision in the Declaration of Independence that a people will suffer abuses while they remain sufferable, tolerable while they remain tolerable,” he said. “At some point abuses become so intolerable that it becomes not only their right but their duty to alter or abolish the existing government.”

Among the intolerable abuses Eastman cites as justification for attempting to overthrow the government are the existence of drag queen story hours and alleged OSHA regulations pertaining to chairs in home offices. I am not a lawyer, but I remember thinking it was pretty dumb for a person who was then under investigation for an attempted coup to assert a “right” to overthrow the government on camera.

Now, Eastman is under criminal indictment for trying to overthrow the government, but he’s made the decision to confess on camera some more, this time during a “60 Minutes” interview. He starts off by saying his legal team’s first piece of advice was to shut the fuck up but then makes more damning admissions.

Here’s the entire clip. The relevant bit starts around the 9:00 minute mark and comes in response to a question from Scott Pelley about why no swing state officials (including multiple Republicans) were buying the Trump team’s bullshit fraud claims.

“I think we are quickly turning into a country where, uh, there’s the ‘pro-government party’ or the ‘uni-party’ as one [Steve Bannon] might euphemistically call it, uh, and folks that are concerned about the direction our country is going — the MAGA movement, the tea party movement before that, if you will. And the folks in those government offices tend to be on the one side of that dispute rather than the other.”

To clarify, the “side” Eastman is putting his opponents on is democracy, and in tandem with his earlier assertion in the Claremont interview, Eastman is claiming that MAGA/tea party cranks have “not only their right but their duty” to abolish the government if they don’t like the way the election works out.

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Pelley also interviewed Greg Jacob, former legal counsel to Mike Pence. You may recall Jacob as the Republican official who famously emailed Eastman during the January 6 riot to say, “Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.”

Jacob told Pelley that Eastman was “a serpent in the ear of the president.” But Trump is a serpent himself. I’ve always found it incredibly ironic that Trump likes to recite “The Snake” poem at rallies to gin up hate and fear toward immigrants.

The stanzas so clearly apply to Trump, who’s a destructive force to anyone who throws their lot in with him, as Eastman and the rest of the coup plotters are now finding out. It’s snakes all the way down.

Maybe there’s also a throughline between Eastman’s serial confessions and Trump’s logorrhea in court yesterday. David Kurtz at TPM says Trump’s courtroom behavior signals he’s a loser:

Look, Donald Trump wouldn’t resort to the name-calling, the prickly attacks on judges and prosecutors, the self-defeating effort to appeal to his base even when it hurts him in court if – and I can’t emphasize this enough – he weren’t losing.

It’s a losing man’s bet to gamble that instead of winning in court you’re going to win at the polls on Election Day and make this all go away.

It’s a loser’s play to chide, ridicule, and threaten the judge who is hearing the big fraud case against you.

It’s a desperate man’s Hail Mary to ignore the overwhelming evidence against you and play to the cameras and friendly audiences.

Eastman’s confessions reek of loser stink too. He’s desperate for a Trump restoration because that’s his only hope.

I’ve never believed that Trump will do time, even if he’s convicted of serious crimes. I hope I’m wrong about that, but I suspect that when it comes down to it, folks in power will decide that it’s too embarrassing for the country to jail a former president. But Eastman isn’t too big a fish and might actually go to prison. Good.

Open thread.

Serpentine (Open Thread)Post + Comments (156)

Sunday Morning Open Thread

by Anne Laurie|  November 5, 20237:50 am| 182 Comments

This post is in: Information Warfare, Jan 6: Insurrection, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Venality

Don Lemon says he thinks Michelle Obama is prettier than Melania.

Michelle Obama is without question a better person, and was a better First Lady, than Melania Trump ever thought about being.💙#ProudBlue #VoteBlueToSaveAmerica #GOPBetrayedAmerica #TrumpIsATraitor pic.twitter.com/6AfVUUL8wJ

— LA Blue Dot in GA 🌊💔 (@namwella1961) November 4, 2023

(Well, the tweet sold at least *one* of those tshirts!)
 
Elsewhere… If it weren’t for hypocrisy, Republicans would have no values whatsoever:

Here is a paywall-free version of my article about Mike Johnson's ridiculous claim about the impartiality of the Biden impeachment probe — and how Comer is actively proving him wrong. https://t.co/ReZ4PwhyVJ

— Philip Bump (@pbump) November 3, 2023

Phillip Bump, at the Washington Post, “Does new House speaker really think Biden impeachment push is apolitical?”:

Ten days ago, it didn’t really matter what Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) thought about his party’s impeachment inquiry into President Biden. It had been announced by then-speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in September and yielded one hearing later that month — a hearing that, by most objective (and some subjective) accounts ended up mostly embarrassing the congressional leaders responsible for running it.

But then Johnson became speaker. And, in the first weekly news conference hosted by Republican leaders since his election, Johnson offered adamant support for the inquiry that has mostly been put on ice.

Johnson was asked his views of the inquiry by a reporter who noted that House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), one of the leaders of the inquiry, had “suggested that his investigation is winding down.” Johnson didn’t dispute that, framing the lull since the first hearing as a function of conscientiousness, not ineptitude.

He began by insisting that he took the whole thing seriously.

“I was called upon to serve on the impeachment defense team in the House twice under President Trump,” he said, “when the Democrats used it for raw partisan political purposes. And I decried that at each step of the way.”

That’s an interesting presentation, certainly…

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“What you’re seeing right now is a deliberate constitutional process that was envisioned by the founders, the framers of the Constitution,” Johnson claimed at the news conference. “This is how they envisioned this to go, not the way the Democrats did it: snap impeachments, sham impeachments and all the rest.”

He went on to insist that Comer and his colleagues were doing an “extraordinary job very methodically and I would say outside the scope of politics.”

This, too, fails to withstand scrutiny…

Where we end up is where we usually end up: Comer hyping a revelation that easily collapses under scrutiny. Comer offering that revelation in part to continue to position himself at the forefront of GOP efforts to impugn the president a year before the 2024 election.

“I’m once again asking for your help to defend my good name,” he wrote in a fundraising appeal sent out this week, “as I delve deeper into the belly of the corrupt beast that is ravaging our country: THE BIDEN CRIME FAMILY.”

If your pitch for money is that you’re the knight in (expensive; donate now!) shining armor battling a dangerous dragon, you have to convince people there’s a dragon.

This is not, I would offer, someone doing an “extraordinary job very methodically,” much less “outside the scope of politics.”

The funniest part of the new Comer stuff, of course, is the idea that “being repaid after loaning someone money” is a huge, lucrative benefit.

— Philip Bump (@pbump) November 2, 2023

Thing is… Comer is a hardened criminal, but “Speaker Johnson” is a far-right hothouse flower who’s only facing impartial scrutiny for the first time. There’s already a bunch of malformed skeletons falling out of his Shreveport closets, with more to come. And his fellow MAGApublicans may defend him against Democrats (and the good of the country as a whole), but they’re all hypersensitive, touchy about their prerogatives, and itching to recapture the media spotlight.

I’m pretty sure MAGA Mike will still be there for the start of the upcoming Shutdown Battle(s), but I’m not sure he’s got the protective coverage to be there when it ends.

Sunday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (182)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Things That Might’ve Been Overlooked This Week

by Anne Laurie|  October 28, 20238:13 am| 150 Comments

This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, GOP Death Cult, Jan 6: Insurrection, Local Races, Proud to Be A Democrat, Vice-President Harris

This Sunday on 60 Minutes, @BillWhitakerCBS interviews Vice President Kamala Harris. She discusses the situation in Israel and Gaza in the wake of the Hamas terror attack and urgent domestic issues, including gun violence prevention and immigration. pic.twitter.com/MZBk6oWNH8

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 27, 2023

"Our democracy is on the line. And I, frankly, in my head, do not have time for parlor games.” – @VP on #60Minutes when asked by @BillWhitakerCBS about #BidenHarris2024 chances of reelection.
YESSSSS! These complicit media's obsession with her approval ratings is way overblown. pic.twitter.com/L9iOAzSREW

— KAMALA NATION (@KamalaNation) October 28, 2023

A good day for democracy!??https://t.co/4sp9XkObNM

— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) October 26, 2023

I've officially been drawn out of my congressional district by a small group of politicians.

It’s blatant corruption, but I’ve got news for them:

I’m running for Attorney General, and I’m going to use that job to fight political corruption.

Join us: https://t.co/tb9ykB1pUH pic.twitter.com/nEcQnXEw5g

— Rep. Jeff Jackson (@JeffJacksonNC) October 26, 2023

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I’m glad I was able to hand deliver her a copy of my upcoming book for establishing the January 6 Select Committee and supporting the investigation into the day’s events. @SpeakerPelosi @TeamPelosi pic.twitter.com/mIlUXcGIN9

— Staff Sergeant Gonell, Aquilino (@SergeantAqGo) October 26, 2023

The largest-EVER investment in our grid—and it’s going to be life-changing.

As extreme weather events fueled by climate change continue to strain the nation’s aging transmission systems, we're ensuring our grid provides reliable, affordable power to all.https://t.co/STix2C0Tzd

— Secretary Jennifer Granholm (@SecGranholm) October 24, 2023

Scofflaws shall be duly punished:

BREAKING: Rep Jamaal Bowman has been criminally charged with one misdemeanor count of falsely pulling a fire alarm for the September 30th incident in the Cannon Office Building, according to court documents, @dnlbrns & I report.

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) October 25, 2023

Meanwhile, the Rethuglican Death Cultists:

You can’t really blame Comer for not wanting to hold another impeachment hearing. The first one was a total disaster.
More evidence media should assume everything he puts out is cherry picked and hiding the full facts. https://t.co/5NhgPT5VG4 pic.twitter.com/JJTubxekUn

— Josh Schwerin (@JoshSchwerin) October 27, 2023

… In late September, the impeachment inquiry held a hearing involving a handful of witnesses, none of whom could provide any evidence impugning Joe Biden or his son, by their own admissions. The 2019 impeachment of Donald Trump — probably the target of Johnson’s sniffy disparagement of “the other team” — had released its final report about three weeks after its first hearing (which was followed by four more days of hearings). The Biden “impeachment inquiry” has held no more hearings in the month since the first one. And, by his own admission, Comer doesn’t want to.

“I don’t know that I want to hold any more hearings, to be honest with you,” Comer said while speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill last week. He complained that it was hard to keep members present for hours on end, given that so many had other commitments. Instead, he said, he preferred depositions, which “you can do more with.”

There’s a truth buried in that, of course. You can do more with cherry-picked transcripts when your goal is to coat Joe Biden with insinuations and unproved allegations. Had Devon Archer’s deposition been a hearing, the final result would have been that viewers saw him acknowledge that Biden was not involved in his son’s work. There would have been multiple Democrats on hand to evaluate Archer’s testimony critically, something that does Comer (and, by extension, Johnson) no good. In 2019, the witnesses were generally deposed before offering live testimony with cross-examination from Republicans. Comer appears to prefer stripping out that last bit…

One would think that at some point, Comer would need to present evidence that withstands objective scrutiny — including by non-right-wing media outlets. The value of adjudicating these things in public hearings is that they are tested and challenged, making the surviving evidence stronger. We can be more confident that Biden’s role in the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor was not corrupt because the assertion was evaluated during the 2019 impeachment…

Saturday Morning Open Thread 23

(Clay Jones via GoComics.com)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Things That Might’ve Been Overlooked This WeekPost + Comments (150)

Domestic Terrorists Open Thread: Mark Meadows’ Turn in the Barrel

by Anne Laurie|  October 24, 20238:41 pm| 144 Comments

This post is in: Jan 6: Insurrection, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Republicans in Disarray!, Trump Crime Cartel

🚨 🚨🚨 BREAKING 🚨🚨🚨

Jack Smith granted Mark Meadows IMMUNITY earlier this year in EXCHANGE for his testimony. This is one of the biggest developments in any case thus far. https://t.co/7nYIWaoTyS

— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) October 24, 2023

Former President Donald Trump’s final chief of staff in the White House, Mark Meadows, has spoken with special counsel Jack Smith’s team at least three times this year, including once before a federal grand jury, which came only after Smith granted Meadows immunity to testify under oath, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The sources said Meadows informed Smith’s team that he repeatedly told Trump in the weeks after the 2020 presidential election that the allegations of significant voting fraud coming to them were baseless, a striking break from Trump’s prolific rhetoric regarding the election.

According to the sources, Meadows also told the federal investigators Trump was being “dishonest” with the public when he first claimed to have won the election only hours after polls closed on Nov. 3, 2020, before final results were in.

“Obviously we didn’t win,” a source quoted Meadows as telling Smith’s team in hindsight.

Trump has called Meadows, one of the former president’s closest and highest-ranking aides in the White House, a “special friend” and “a great chief of staff — as good as it gets.”
.

The descriptions of what Meadows allegedly told investigators shed further light on the evidence Smith’s team has amassed as it prosecutes Trump for allegedly trying to unlawfully retain power and “spread lies” about the 2020 election. The descriptions also expose how far Trump loyalists like Meadows have gone to support and defend Trump…

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Meadows told investigators he believes the Justice Department was taking allegations of fraud seriously, properly investigating them, and doing all they could to find legitimate cases of fraud — and he told investigators he relayed all that to Trump a few weeks after the election, the sources said.

Similarly — as described by sources to ABC News — despite Meadows telling investigators that Giuliani never produced evidence of significant fraud in the election, his book refers to Giuliani’s efforts to expose “the fraud, and the dirty tricks on election night.”

“The people who rigged this election knew that eventually, these irregularities would come to light … [So] they conducted the operation, then attacked anyone who dared ask questions about what they had done,” his book says.

Meadows went even further while promoting his book on right-wing media in November 2021. When asked by a podcast host if he believes the outcome of the 2020 election was fraudulent, Meadows responded, “I do believe that there are a number of fraudulent states … I’ve seen at least illegal activity in Pennsylvania [and] in Georgia” — referring to two key states that clinched the White House for Biden.

Under the penalty of perjury, Meadows offered a vastly different assessment to Smith’s investigators, telling them he’s never seen any evidence of fraud that would undermine the election’s outcome, according to what sources told ABC News…

Is Nil Nisi Bonum considered a defense under law?

I would like to point out that for at least FOUR MONTHS – likely longer – NONE of us knew that Meadows had been granted immunity by Jack Smith. Please keep that in mind the next time you ask the DoJ to "do something".

They are. They have been. And they will continue to do so.

— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) October 24, 2023

I’ll tell you this, nobody had to talk Mark Meadows into cooperating. No arm twisting there. As soon as he found out Cassidy Hutchinson flipped he was ready to camp out overnight waiting for the Special Counsel to open up like he was trying to get Springsteen tickets in 1985.

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) October 24, 2023

Mark Meadows is a seditionist.
Lock him up. pic.twitter.com/kN6ovLuJj1

— voteblue2024🗳️💙🇺🇸🇺🇦🟧🟦🌊 (@lflorepolitics) October 24, 2023

If Murphy the Trickster God decides to be very good to us:

If I were Ginni Thomas I’d be looking for a damn good criminal lawyer right about now. pic.twitter.com/0ymkF1X6Uq

— Hey, Dave! (is boosted!) (@davegreenidge57) October 24, 2023

Ginni wrote states over 30 letters offering to meet and show them how to overturn the 2020 vote outcome. She asked Mark Meadows to make Sidney Powell "The lead and face" of the insurrection. Her husband makes election rulings and she's charged with nothing.
Make it make sense. pic.twitter.com/XBhMqSd6v1

— Brown Eyed Susan🟧🟦 (@smc429) October 23, 2023

Domestic Terrorists Open Thread: Mark Meadows’ Turn in the BarrelPost + Comments (144)

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