Republicans

Subterms

    More stories

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Graham predicts ‘riots in streets’ if Trump is prosecuted over classified records

      by

      Graham predicts ‘riots in streets’ if Trump is prosecuted over classified recordsRepublican South Carolina senator cites ‘the ‘Clinton debacle’ and claims the FBI failed to investigate Hunter Biden Amid growing fears about political violence in the US, a senior Republican senator predicted “riots in the streets” if Donald Trump is prosecuted for mishandling classified information.Of all the legal threats Trump is facing, is this the one that could take him down?Read moreLindsey Graham, of South Carolina, made his remarks about the ex-president while speaking to Fox News’s Sunday Night in America, hosted by Trey Gowdy, a former Republican congressman from the same state.Graham said: “Most Republicans, including me, believe when it comes to Trump, there is no law. It’s all about getting him. There’s a double standard when it comes to Trump.”Alleging a failure by the FBI to investigate Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, Graham added: “I’ll say this, if there’s a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information, after the Clinton debacle … there’ll be riots in the streets.”As a House committee chairperson, Gowdy investigated Hillary Clinton’s work as secretary of state, including her handling of the attack on a US facility in Benghazi in 2012 and her use of a private email server for government business. Clinton was not charged over the email issue.Trump is under investigation and could be indicted over the handling of classified White House records he took to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home, in contravention of federal law.On Friday, an affidavit released with redactions showed how concerns about illegal activity and obstruction of justice merited an FBI search at Trump’s resort earlier this month.Trump seized on the search to claim unfair treatment and whip up supporters. He is reportedly close to announcing another White House run. He is eligible to do so because he escaped conviction in his second impeachment trial for inciting the Capitol attack.Graham’s remarks were widely condemned.Law professor and former White House ethics chief Richard Painter referred to Trump supporters’ deadly attack on the Capitol when he said: “A senator who calls for ‘riots in the streets’ if Trump is indicted should be expelled from the Senate. He’s inciting January 6 all over again.”The president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass, said the “prediction that violence may follow any prosecution of the former [president] may not qualify legally as incitement but it is irresponsible all the same as it will be seen by some as a call for violence. Public officials are [obliged] to call for the rule of law.”Graham was on friendly terms with Biden when they were senators together but his dogged support for Trump has reportedly prompted the president to ice Graham out. In his interview with Gowdy he slammed Biden’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, then returned to his theme.Saying that as “a simple-minded guy” he thought “people want to be treated the same without regard to political ideology”, Gowdy asked about his guest’s own legal problems.Graham is resisting attempts to force him to testify about his involvement in Trump’s attempt to overturn his electoral defeat in 2020 by Biden in Georgia, a swing state.Graham said: “If we let county prosecutors start calling senators and members of Congress as witnesses when they’re doing their job, we’re out of … constitutional balance here.“I’ve got a good legal case. I’m going to pursue it … I love the law. I’ve never been more worried about the law and politics as I am right now.”US political violence is surging, but talk of a civil war is exaggerated – isn’t it?Read moreHe continued: “How can you tell a conservative Republican that the system works when it comes to Trump? … If they try to prosecute President Trump for mishandling classified information after Hillary Clinton set up a server in her basement, there will literally will be riots in the streets. I worry about our country.”Trump indicated his approval, posting video of Graham’s remarks to Truth Social, the platform Trump set up after being suspended from Twitter over the Capitol attack.Former Republican congressman Joe Walsh, who has emerged as a Trump critic, predicted that there will indeed be violence if Trump is indicted.“I see and hear those threats all the time,” he wrote. “But threats of violence should NEVER stop the pursuit of justice. NEVER. And you KNOW that Lindsey. But you’re too much of a coward to say that. Shameful.”TopicsDonald TrumpMar-a-LagoUS politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

    • 225 Shares109 Views

      in US Politics

      Billions in ‘dark money’ is influencing US politics. We need disclosure laws | David Sirota and Joel Warner

      by

      Billions in ‘dark money’ is influencing US politics. We need disclosure lawsDavid Sirota and Joel WarnerA donor secretly transferred $1.6bn to a Republican political group. Because of America’s lax laws, the donation was never disclosed in any public record or database This week, the Lever, ProPublica and the New York Times discovered the largest known political advocacy donation in American history. We exposed a reclusive billionaire’s secret transfer of $1.6bn to a political group controlled by the Republican operative Leonard Leo, who spearheaded the construction of a conservative supreme court supermajority to end abortion, block government regulations, stymie the fight against climate change and limit voting rights.This anonymous donation – which flowed to a tax-exempt trust that was never disclosed in any public record or database – was probably completely legal.Whether you support or abhor Leo’s crusade, we should be able to agree on one larger non-partisan principle: such enormous sums of money should not be able to influence elections, lawmakers, judicial nominations and public policy in secret. And we should not have to rely on a rare leak to learn basic campaign finance facts that should be freely available to anyone.Unfortunately, thanks to our outdated laws, those facts are now hidden behind anonymity, shell companies and shadowy political groups. America is long overdue for an overhaul of its political disclosure laws – and news organizations in particular should be leading the charge for reform.In the early 1970s, leaks and shoe-leather reporting by news organizations uncovered the Watergate scandal – the modern era’s foundational dark money exposé. That debacle birthed the original federal disclosure laws and a golden age of journalism. For a time, the new statutes allowed campaign finance reporting to become systematic, methodical and based on required disclosures, rather than sporadic, random and reliant on the goodwill of courageous whistleblowers.A half-century later, however, the dark money practices of 50 years ago have again become normalized. In 2020 alone, more than $1bn worth of dark money flooded around weak disclosure rules and into America’s elections, financing Super Pacs, ad blitzes, mailers and door-knocking campaigns. As millions of votes were swayed, reporters and the public had no knowledge of the money sources, or what policies they were buying.Heading into the 2022 election, the situation is getting worse. The two parties’ major Senate and House Super Pacs are all being funded by anonymous dark money groups that are not required to disclose their donors.These problems aren’t unique to the campaign arena. Front groups are also shaping public policy, leaving reporters unable to tell voters who exactly is funding what. In the last few years, an anonymously funded group used post-election ads to successfully pressure lawmakers to water down landmark healthcare legislation designed to eliminate so-called “surprise” medical bills.Similarly, Leo’s anonymously funded network spent tens of millions to boost the nomination campaigns of three conservative supreme court justices, after leading a campaign supporting Republicans’ refusal to hold a vote on Barack Obama’s 2016 high court nominee, Merrick Garland.To be sure, news outlets can still cover the shrinking portion of the political finance system that still discloses some money flows to politicians, lobbyists and advocacy groups. And thankfully, there are occasionally disclosures like the Leo leak, which provide a fleeting glimpse into the real forces influencing sweeping policy decisions.But for every sporadic leak, there are scores of secret donors systematically funneling ever more dark money into elections and legislative campaigns without ever being exposed – and they are reaping the rewards of corrupted public policy.That’s the bad news. The good news is there is already a legislative blueprint for reform.The Disclose Act, sponsored by the Democratic senator Sheldon Whitehouse, would force dark money groups to disclose any of their donors who give more than $10,000, require shell companies spending money on elections to disclose their owners, and mandate that election ads list their sponsors’ major contributors. These requirements would extend not only to election-related activity, but also to campaigns to influence governmental decisions – including judicial nominations.A separate Whitehouse bill would additionally require donor disclosure from shadowy groups lobbying the supreme court through amicus briefs designed to tilt judicial rulings without letting the public know which billionaire or CEO’s thumb is on the scale. And other pending legislation would finally allow the Securities and Exchange Commission to require major corporations to more fully disclose their political spending.Journalists should proudly advocate for laws like these, which allow us to tell the public what its government is doing. Our industry has done that before in defending open records laws, and we must do it now in advocating for new campaign finance disclosure rules.In practice, that means reporters elevating the transparency issue and demanding answers from politicians about where they stand on disclosure laws – rather than ignoring or downplaying the rising tide of dark money now shaping every public policy in America.It means newspaper editorial boards advocating for campaign finance reform.It means media organizations lobbying for stronger disclosure laws at the federal, state and local levels.It means the journalism industry participating in – and at times leading – this fight, rather than using objectivity as a cop-out.This battle to update campaign finance disclosure laws and bring sunlight to the darkest of dark money already faces powerful opponents. In recent years, the US Chamber of Commerce and Koch Industries – which represent some of America’s biggest dark money spenders – have been lobbying against the Disclose Act, preventing it from advancing for more than a decade.The Koch network recently convinced the supreme court’s conservative bloc to strike down a California law requiring non-profit dark money groups to at least disclose their major donors to state tax regulators, after spending to back some of those justices’ confirmations to the court.Most recently, conservative groups and Republican state attorneys general have been trying to block a proposal to force companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions by arguing that it is unlawful “compelled speech” – a preview of the argument they might use against new campaign finance transparency legislation.Just as alarming, segments of the journalism industry itself have opposed transparency efforts. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) — which represents the major media outlets making huge profits off of dark money ads — tried to block a rule at the Federal Election Commission a decade ago to require TV and radio stations to disclose ad buys from political groups, arguing it would cost them advertising revenue. The NAB has recently successfully opposed the Federal Communications Commission’s requirements that broadcasters disclose when foreign governments sponsor material. NAB is right now lobbying on the Disclose Act.But this week’s revelations about history’s largest dark-money donation should be an alarm telling us that the status quo must change – and indeed it can change, even within the confines of the supreme court’s own precedents.In the landmark Citizens United ruling that unleashed the modern era of big money politics, the majority noted that while it was unwilling to permit political spending restrictions, it still held that “government may regulate corporate political speech through disclaimer and disclosure requirements”.Those requirements are so desperately needed now – for the free press to play its vital role, and for voters to make informed decisions when they go to the polls.But the only chance it will happen is if news outlets and reporters get off the sidelines and enter the battle to secure what they need to do their jobs – and what we all need to preserve our democracy.
      David Sirota is an award-winning journalist who founded the investigative news outlet the Lever
      Joel Warner is the Lever’s managing editor
      TopicsUS politicsOpinionRepublicansUS supreme courtUS political financingcommentReuse this content More

    • 125 Shares139 Views

      in US Politics

      Kinzinger: Republicans ‘hypocritical’ for defending Trump over taking classified material

      by

      Kinzinger: Republicans ‘hypocritical’ for defending Trump over taking classified materialParty spent years chanting ‘lock her up’ at Hillary Clinton for private email system, says congressman, a vocal critic of Trump Congressman Adam Kinzinger, the Illinois Republican who has been one of the most vocal critics of Donald Trump, called out his party for criticizing Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while continuing to defend the former president’s decision to take sensitive government information to his home at Mar-a-Lago.Kinzinger’s comments came days after the FBI released a redacted version of the affidavit the agency submitted to a federal judge to justify a search of Trump’s home. The document details how Trump retained classified material at Mar-a-Lago and that the government had been working for more than a year to retrieve those materials. A batch of documents returned earlier this year contained 184 documents marked as classified, including 25 marked as top secret.“The hypocrisy of folks in my party that spent years chanting, ‘Lock her up,’ about Hillary Clinton because of some deleted emails or – quote/unquote – ‘wiping a server,’ are now out there defending a man who very clearly did not take the national security of the United States to heart,” Kinzinger, who is retiring from Congress after this term, said on NBC’s Meet The Press. “And it’ll be up to [the US justice department] whether or not that reaches the level of an indictment.“But this is disgusting in my mind. And, like, no president should act this way, obviously.”It’s not yet clear whether Trump will face criminal charges in the matter. But during the 2016 presidential campaign that propelled him to the Oval Office, Trump and his Republican allies said his Democratic rival Clinton should be punished for her use of a private email server while she was serving as secretary of state.“Lock her up,” became a rallying cry at Trump rallies on the campaign trail. A US state department investigation ultimately found there was “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information”.The former justice department official who oversaw the agency’s investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified material, David Laufman, told Politico earlier this month that case and Trump’s were different.“For the department to pursue a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago tells me that the quantum and quality of the evidence they were reciting – in a search warrant and affidavit that an FBI agent swore to – was likely so pulverizing in its force as to eviscerate any notion that the search warrant and this investigation is politically motivated,” Laufman said.Trump has asked a federal judge to appoint a so-called special master who would determine whether materials that the FBI seized from his Florida resort can be used in any criminal investigation into him. The judge late Saturday issued an order indicating an openness to appointing a special master in the case, though that ruling is not final and called for a Thursday afternoon hearing to further consider the matter.Kinzinger is one of two Republicans on the US House committee investigating the deadly January 6 Capitol attack that Trump supporters staged in a desperate attempt to prevent the congressional certification of Trump’s defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.The other Republican on the committee, the Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney, recently lost her bid for re-election in a party primary against Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman.TopicsRepublicansDonald TrumpHillary ClintonUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Broken News review: fired Fox News editor has broadsides for both sides

      by

      Broken News review: fired Fox News editor has broadsides for both sidesChris Stirewalt helped call Arizona early and right, enraging Donald Trump. He has harsh words for the US media in general Late on 3 November 2020, Fox News called Arizona for Joe Biden. In that moment, Rupert Murdoch’s US flagship upended Donald Trump’s re-election bid. Chris Stirewalt, a decade-long Fox News editor, was part of the team that put the state in the Democrat’s column. One insurrection and two months later, the network fired him.‘Donald kept our secret’: Mar-a-Lago stay saved Giuliani from drink and depression, book saysRead moreFox called it a “restructuring”. Others, including Stirewalt, shared a different view: he and more than a dozen others had been sacrificed to mollify Trump, Republicans and Fox’s fanbase.“I got canned after very vocal and very online viewers – including the then-president of the United States – became furious,” Stirewalt writes.According to Stirewalt, viewer anger had bled on to Fox’s bottom line: “The high ratings born of a presidential coup attempt in the midst of a global pandemic were never going to be sustainable, but the decline was sharper than industry experts expected.”The suits in the Fox C-Suite and elected Republicans demanded scalps. But Stirewalt would have the last word.This past June, he appeared before the January 6 committee. Under oath, he testified that Biden won and Trump lost. He also accused the ex-president and his minions of seeking to “exploit” a systemic “anomaly”.Specifically, during the 2020 election, in states like Arizona where same-day votes were counted before mail-in ballots, Republicans appeared to lead early on election night.Generally, Democrats tended to vote by mail or before election day while Republicans appeared at the polls on election day itself. On the night, as the hours pass, an apparent Republican advantage may evaporate, leaving little but a red mirage – and enraged viewers.Stirewalt’s book is both a critique of the media and a rebuke of his former employer and Trump. He spares no one. The Washington Post, the New York Times, MSNBC and Joe Scarborough all fare poorly too.Substantively, he contends that much of the news business is about the pursuit of ratings. In part, the media inflames passions to monetize all that passes through its domain. No story is insignificant if it can double as clickbait.Stirewalt says Fox News failed to prepare Trump followers for the possibility that he would lose to Biden, a failure far beyond negligence. Fox News, he writes, stoked “black-helicopter-level paranoia and hatred”, in order to entice viewers to buy a $65 “Patriot” streaming service. These days, Fox is facing rather higher costs, battling defamation lawsuits arising from repeatedly airing Trump’s “big lie”.As for the Times, Stirewalt attacks the paper of record for using its 1619 Project, which casts American history in light of racism and slavery, as a vehicle to “upsell super-users from subscriptions to $35 books”. He also characterizes the 1619 Project as a “frontal assault on the idea of America’s founding as a new birth of freedom that it very plainly, if imperfectly was”.Stirewalt’s devotion to journalism spills on to the page. He places a premium on individual freedom and the classic liberal tradition. He is sympathetic to the intellectual underpinnings of liberalism and conservatism but casts a wary eye toward progressivism and nationalism. He takes both to task for fetishizing the collective will and distorting history.“Progressivism seeks to ameliorate the problems of humankind,” he writes “… but not necessarily within the framework of the American system or the humanistic concept of human rights.”By contrast, “nationalists believe that the appropriate aim of the federal government should always be the improvement of life for the greatest number of Americans, even when that comes at a cost to individual rights greater than a strict reading of the constitution would allow”.Steve Bannon, Sohrab Amari and JD Vance might disagree. Or not.Stirewalt also tackles the issue of the media and politicians being cowed by their bases. As Stirewalt sees it, the threat of the mob – real and virtual – leads people to avert their gaze from our national train wreck.He knocks “liberals who believe in free speech” but “look at their shoes when people are shouted down or fired for their beliefs”. Likewise, he takes to task those “seemingly normal members of Congress” who went “along with Trump’s efforts to steal a second term”.Not surprisingly, Stirewalt has little patience for performative politicians. He lumps together Ted Cruz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and pairs Marjorie Taylor Greene with Rashida Tlaib. He suggests such figures excel at triggering partisan outrage but lack Trump’s entertainment chops.Breaking History review: Jared Kushner’s dispiriting Trump bookRead more“They’re Showtime after 10pm,” Stirewalt cracks. “Trump was hardcore.”Stirewalt is unsparing in his takedown of Cruz. Broken News recalls the Texas senator’s groveling for Tucker Carlson, for referring to the January 6 insurrection as a “violent terrorist attack on the Capitol”. Cruz was a “quavery mass of regret and humiliation” on Carlson’s show, Stirewalt writes.Turning to Carlson, Stirewalt lets us know the Swanson frozen-food heir is loaded, yet at the same time rails against the “big, legacy media outlets”. There is a lot of cognitive dissonance in prime time. For good measure, Stirewalt reminds the reader that Carlson’s employer is a “multinational corporation led by an Australian billionaire who owns arguably the single most powerful news outlet in America”.Stirewalt offers no easy way out. He “urges us to question our own assumptions when consuming news” but does not assure us that doing so will actually lower the volume and temperature. He hopes we can see the other side of the political divide, but sounds uncertain. He provides plenty of food for thought.
      Broken News: Why the Media Rage Machine Divides America and How to Fight Back is published in the US by Hachette
      TopicsBooksFox NewsUS television industryUS press and publishingTV newsUS politicsRepublicansreviewsReuse this content More

    • 213 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      ‘The US could lose the right to vote within months’: Top official warns on threat to democracy

      by

      Interview‘The US could lose the right to vote within months’: Top official warns on threat to democracyLauren Gambino in Washington Jena Griswold urges Americans to pay attention to crucial but often overlooked races for secretary of stateColorado’s secretary of state, Jena Griswold, is warning anyone who will listen that the fate of free and fair elections in the United States hangs in the balance in this November’s midterm contests.In many of the most competitive races for offices with authority over US elections, Republicans nominated candidates who have embraced or echoed Donald Trump’s myth of a stolen election in 2020.‘It’s an American issue’: can Georgia’s candidate for secretary of state save democracy?Read moreGriswold, who chairs the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (Dass) and is running for re-election, is urging Americans to pay attention to the once-sleepy down-ballot contests for secretary of state – lest they lose their democracy.“What we can expect from the extreme Republicans running across this country is to undermine free and fair elections for the American people, strip Americans of the right to vote, refuse to address security breaches and, unfortunately, be more beholden to Mar-a-Lago than the American people,” Griswold, 37, said in an interview with the Guardian.She added: “For us, we are trying to save democracy.”It’s a daunting task, especially in a political environment that has historically favored the party out of power in Washington. But the primary results so far have laid bare the stakes, she said: “The country could lose the right to vote in less than three months.”Having failed to overturn the 2020 vote, Trump and his loyalists are now strategically targeting positions that will play a critical role in supervising the next presidential election, turning many of the 27 secretary of state contests this year into expensive, partisan showdowns.If elected, Griswold fears that these Trump-backed candidates would weaponize their posts, either by sowing doubts about the results of an election their party loses – or by trying to subvert it outright.In Arizona, Mark Finchem, a prominent election denier who said he would not have certified Joe Biden’s victory in the state, is now the Republican nominee for secretary of state in Arizona. In Michigan, Kristina Karamo, who baselessly claimed to have witnessed voter fraud as an election observer in 2020, is the Republican party’s choice to be the state’s chief election official. And in Pennsylvania, where the governor appoints the secretary of state, the Republican gubernatorial nominee is Doug Mastriano, a far-right lawmaker who led the brazen attempt to reverse Biden’s victory in his state and chartered buses to the rally that preceded the Capitol riot.In November, Griswold will face Pam Anderson, a Republican former county clerk who prevailed in her party’s primary over an election conspiracy theoristindicted for tampering with election equipment. Anderson is running on a pledge to keep politics out of elections administration and analysts anticipate a competitive race.Campaigning across Colorado, Griswold said she sees signs that voters are attuned to the real risks posed by candidates with contempt for the democratic process. On several occasions recently she said voters have broken down in tears over the right to vote.“The stakes are really high but I also think people understand what’s at stake and that’s why you’re seeing this level of enthusiasm,” Griswold said.Underscoring the point, she emphasized the association’s growth. Before 2021, Dass had no full-time employees. It now has eight. And the group has already surpassed its fundraising goal for the cycle, amassing $16m so far – more than 10 times what it raised in the 2018 cycle.“There’s a huge amount of enthusiasm from Democratic donors and the grassroots,” she added. “But, I will say, the Republicans are also seeing a lot of enthusiasm.”Not long ago, secretaries of state operated in relative obscurity, toiling behind the scenes to complete all manner of bureaucratic duties. Chief among them in most – but not all – states was to ensure the smooth and safe administration of American elections. Many viewed the role as ministerial in nature, far removed from the partisan battles confronting other statewide offices.That changed in the tumultuous aftermath of the 2020 election. In his brazen attempt to seize a second term, Trump turned his attention to the guardians of state elections: secretaries of state, county clerks, election board members and other officials in battleground states. Falsely claiming the results had been tainted by fraud, he pressured them to reverse his defeat.The elections officials who stepped forward to resist the defeated president’s fantastical claims and defend the integrity of their elections quickly became the targets of harassment, intimidation and violent threats.Griswold was among the most prominent voices challenging Trump over his attacks on vote by mail, a fixture of Colorado elections. The confrontations made her a lightning rod on the Maga (Make America Great Again) right. Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, once, incredibly, accused her of murder, an outlandish claim he said was only an “analogy”.The effect is a near-daily torrent of threats, many violent and eerily “descriptive”.“It gets to the point where it is really hard to do your job when someone’s telling you over and over how they’re going to hang you,” she said.Threats of violence are an escalating problem across the spectrum of public life in America: from the White House down to local school boards. It is even worse for women and people of color.Since 2020, local election officials, the vast majority of whom are women, say political attacks, safety concerns and misinformation are driving them from public service at all levels.Griswold, who in 2018 became the youngest secretary of state in the country, worries about the “dampening effect” the toxic stream of abuse has on women in politics. In December, she spoke to a woman who wanted to run for the Colorado state legislature, but told her: “I have a six-year-old son. I see the threats against you and I can’t do it.”For that reason, Griswold said she pushed for more security for her office.“The threshold for us to get violent threats is much lower, so we experience things that a lot of people would never expect in this country,” she said.She continued: “The federal government needs to take this seriously. States need to take this seriously. And that’s one of the reasons why we need more women elected – to understand that it’s not hysteria to say, ‘I should have security because someone is telling me repeatedly that they’re going to come kill me.’”Despite Griswold’s efforts, Trump’s lies have gained purchase among conservative voters in her state.“I have a county that works behind bulletproof glass,” she said. “I have a county clerk who wears a bullet-proof vest. Much of their days are spent responding to conspiracy-fueled lawsuits and information requests intended to ‘gum up’ the system and bog down her office,” she added.And earlier this year, Tina Peters, a far-right county clerk in Colorado, was indicted on charges that she directed a breach of voting machines. The episode spurred Griswold to raise the alarm about “insider threats”.In Colorado’s June primary, Republican voters rejected Peters’ bid to be the state’s next secretary of state.Despite losing by nearly 15 percentage points, Peters claimed “fraud” had cost her the nomination and demanded a recount. The review, which Griswold called meritless and “based on conspiracies”, confirmed Peters’ loss.Republicans have accused Griswold of too often blurring the line between defending democracy and defending her seat. It’s a charge many elections officials are now grappling with: when they defend elections and push for reforms, they are often accused of partisanship.“We must reject that it is partisan to protect the right to vote. It’s not,” she said. “It’s the most American and democratic thing you can do.”As for her own election, Griswold said her record speaks for itself. Since the 2020 election, she has helped expand voting access and strengthen election security. Her office backed a slate of reforms that gives the Colorado secretary of state’s office the power to certify elections if local officials refuse to do so, guarding against a scenario that played out earlier this summer in New Mexico, when Republican officials refused to certify an election.The law also includes new protections against insider threats, making it a felony to compromise voting equipment or allow unauthorized access to the state’s voting systems, and stiffens the penalties for threatening election workers or “doxxing them” by publishing their personal information online. Another law passed earlier this year prohibits open-carry within 100 feet of a polling place.Four years ago, when Griswold first ran for the post, she never imagined the kind of challengers her office would face, among them “ensuring that democracy survived a pandemic and also a president of the United States trying to steal an election”.But for many secretaries of state, Griswold said the experience had only “further resolved our determination to not let people willing to destroy the country to win”.This year, Griswold said she is running with her eyes wide open to the peril facing American elections – and democracy – far beyond 2022.“The fight to try to take Americans’ freedoms, it won’t be over after the election – it won’t,” she said. “This is a long-term fight.”TopicsColoradoUS politicsUS midterm elections 2022DemocratsRepublicansUS elections 2020interviewsReuse this content More

    • 188 Shares109 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump search affidavit reveals potential for ‘evidence of obstruction’ at Mar-a-Lago – as it happened

      by

      The affidavit as released is of course full of redactions, across its 38 pages. But it reveals some interesting nuggets about the search, including that the Department of Justice and FBI had “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction” would be found at Mar-a-Lago.In another interesting section … the affidavit says that on 9 February 2022, the DoJ leaned that a preliminary review of 15 boxes taken to Mar-a-Lago “indicated that they contained ‘newspapers, magazines, printed news articles, photos, miscellaneous print-outs, notes, presidential correspondence, personal and post-presidential records, and ‘a lot of classified records’.“Of most significant concern was that highly classified records were unfoldered, intermixed with other records, and otherwise unproperly [sic] identified.”The affidavit reproduces a Trump statement after the issue became public, and then … is extensively redacted. The redacted passage is a chronological retelling of how the issue developed. The next significant un-redacted passage contains the news that Trump’s own notes were included in the materials in question. It reads as follows:“From May 16-18, 2022, FBI agents conducted a preliminary review of the FIFTEEN BOXES provided to NARA and identified documents with classification markings in fourteen of the FIFTEEN BOXES. A preliminary triage of the documents with classification markings revealed the following approximate numbers: 184 unique documents bearing classification markings, including 67 documents marked as CONFIDENTIAL, 92 documents marked as SECRET, and 25 documents marked as TOP SECRET. Further, the FBI agents observed markings reflecting the following compartments/dissemination controls: HCS, FISA, ORCON, NOFORN, and SI.“Based on my training and experience, I know that documents classified at these levels typically contain NDI. Several of the documents also contained what appears to be FPOTUS’s [Trump’s] handwritten notes.Closing summaryIt has been a day of drama as the redacted affidavit explaining why the FBI chose to raid Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence was finally published to an eagerly awaiting world. It wasn’t exactly a damp squib. The document – much of which was blanked out – detailed the huge numbers of secret documents squirreled away and security risks they posed.But due to the large numbers of redactions there was no explosive new line, though one thing does seem certain: this FBI investigation is just getting started and has a long long way to go.Here’s what else happened today:
      Amy Coney Barrett was in the news via a Guardian US scoop showing that a faith group she has been closely associated with places huge emphasis on female obedience.
      Joe Biden and his administration stood by his calling out of the Republican politicians as behaving like semi-fascists. The move drew ire from the rightwing party.
      Washington is to follow the path of its fellow west coast state California and pursue the eventual ban of sales of new gasoline-powered cars.
      A Jim Crow-era provision of the Mississippi constitution designed to disfranchise Black voters is constitutional, a federal appellate court ruled.
      Dow drops 1,000 pointsThe Guardian’s Dominic Rushe writes here that there has been a steep drop on Wall Street in response to the latest forecasts on the economy from Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell.A 1,000 plus point drop is hardly a catastrophe but it is definitely a nasty fall.Dominic writes: US stock markets nosedived on Friday after Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, warned of “pain” ahead as the central bank struggles to bring down inflation from a 40-year high.Powell’s highly anticipated speech was more hawkish than had been expected, with the Fed chair pledging to do all he could to end rising prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost just over 1,000 points, 3%, the S&P fell 3.3% and the Nasdaq dropped almost 4%.Speaking at the Kansas City Fed’s annual meeting of the world’s central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Powell said the Fed’s “overarching focus right now is to bring inflation back down”.Read more:Dow plunges 1,000 points after Fed chief Powell warns of inflation ‘pain’Read moreNikki Haley for 2024?The former UN ambassador under Donald Trump is often mentioned as a potential 2024 candidate and someone who could – potentially – straddle the two disparate and often bitterly feuding worlds of Trump and non-Trump Republicans.That sees Haley frequently seek to a perform a difficult dance between courting her old bosses’ favor, but also trying not to seem too close to him.Politico has the details of some of the people donating to her political future and it makes interesting reading of a long list of Republican stalwarts.The report says: “Many of the GOP’s biggest donors are among those who funneled anonymous contributions to former U.N ambassador Nikki Haley’s nonprofit as she lays the groundwork for a prospective 2024 presidential bid, according to previously unreported tax documents obtained by Politico.Haley’s nonprofit policy advocacy group, Stand For America, Inc, has received major donations from people including New York hedge fund manager Paul Singer, investor Stanley Druckenmiller, and Miriam Adelson and her late husband, casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, the Internal Revenue Service filings reveal.The roster of supporters who gave undisclosed donations in 2019 also includes Suzanne Youngkin, the wife of Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, himself a possible presidential contender; former Pennsylvania Senate candidate and hedge fund executive David McCormick; and Vivek and Lakshmi Garipalli, members of a New Jersey family that has donated large sums to Democrats – but which gave Haley’s organization $1 million.”Fascist or not?It might have seemed an odd question even just a few years ago, but Joe Biden’s speech on Thursday night has put the word “fascism” squarely into mainstream American political discourse.His accusations that modern Republicans were behaving like semi-fascists certainty triggered questions to his top press spokesperson. The Biden administration – understandably – is standing behind the phrase.Reuters captures the scene:The actions of some Republicans allied to former President Donald Trump fit the definition of fascism, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday, a day after President Joe Biden said they edged toward “semi-fascism.”“I was very clear when laying out and defining what MAGA Republicans have done and you look at the definition of fascism and you think about what they’re doing in attacking our democracy. … That is what that is. It is very clear,” Jean-Pierre told a press briefing.MAGA refers to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. Fascism is a political philosophy that exalts nation and often race above the individual and supports an autocratic government led by a dictatorial leader involving the forced suppression of opposition, U.S. dictionary Merriam-Webster says.In response to Biden’s Thursday evening comments that Trump-allied Republicans embraced violence and hatred, and edged toward “semi-fascism,” the Republican National Committee called the remarks “despicable.”A key questionWashington Post columnist Helaine Olen seems to have hit the nail on the head with a very simple tweet. Answers on a postcard please… no redactions.What’s the innocent explanation for Trump keeping all these classified documents?— Helaine Olen (@helaineolen) August 26, 2022
      Arizona judge strikes blow against election fairness skepticsIn just one of many such scenes playing out in courts across the US, Republicans who believe Donald Trump’s unfounded claims of a stolen election and a fraudulent US voting process have suffered a set back.An Arizona judge has refused to require that Arizona officials count ballots by hand in November, dismissing a lawsuit filed by Republican nominees for governor and secretary of state based on false claims of problems with vote-counting machines.AP has more: Kari Lake, who is running for governor, and Mark Finchem, a secretary of state candidate, won their GOP primaries after aggressively promoting the narrative that the 2020 election was marred by fraud or widespread irregularities.Their lawsuit repeated unfounded allegations about the security of machines that count votes. They relied in part on testimony from Donald Trump supporters who led a discredited review of the election in Maricopa County, including Doug Logan, the CEO of Cyber Ninjas, who oversaw the effort described by supporters as a “forensic audit.”U.S. District Judge John Tuchi ruled that Lake and Finchem failed to show any realistic likelihood of harm and that their lawsuit must be brought in state, not federal, court. He also ruled that it is too close to the election to upend the process.“The 2022 Midterm Elections are set to take place on November 8,” Tuchi wrote. “In the meantime, Plaintiffs request a complete overhaul of Arizona’s election procedures.”Various reactions have been pouring out online over the affidavit. Virginia Democratic senator Mark Warner, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee said:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“It appears, based on the affidavit unsealed this morning, that among the improperly handled documents at Mar-a-Lago were some of our most sensitive intelligence * which is one reason the Senate Intelligence Committee has requested, on a bipartisan basis, a damage assessment of any national security threat posed by the mishandling of this information. The Department of Justice investigation must be allowed to proceed without interference.” Meanwhile, North Carolina Republican Representative Dan Bishop said: “So much for transparency,” tweeting alongside a photo of redacted sections of the affidavit. Bishop is a member of the House of Representatives Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. echoed similar sentiments online, tweeting a photo of the redacted affidavit with the caption, “Well this really clears things up.” Well this really clears things up. pic.twitter.com/6S2FxIQtSi— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 26, 2022
      Nina Lakhani and Oliver Milman report…Taking on the fossil fuel industry in West Virginia was always going to be a David v Goliath type battle, but after years of protests, lobbying and lawsuits, 68-year-old Becky Crabtree thought the community-led resistance had beaten the Mountain Valley pipeline (MVP) in a fair fight.So when news broke earlier in August that the state’s fossil-fuel friendly senator Joe Manchin had resurrected the pipeline, Crabtree, a high school science teacher who teaches students about the climate crisis, felt “numb”.Manchin, a conservative Democrat who receives more campaign financing from the fossil fuel industry – including pipeline companies – than any other lawmaker in Congress, had agreed to back his party’s historic climate legislation before the crucial midterm elections. But only after he negotiated a side-deal to fast-track the MVP.“It’s the unfairness that makes me so angry. It’s a deal with the devil,” said Crabtree, 68, who owns a 30-acre sheep farm in Lindside, Monroe county.Full story:‘It’s a deal with the devil’: outrage in Appalachia over Manchin’s ‘vile’ pipeline plan Read moreWhite House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has just finished briefing the media and taking questions and she was asked about Joe Biden’s remarks at a fundraiser last night where he referred to the “MAGA Republican philosophy” as akin to “semi-fascism”.Asked to explain what the US president meant by that remark, Jean-Pierre said of right-wing Republicans: “He was very powerful last night. When it comes to ‘MAGA Republicans’, when it comes to the extreme, ultra wing of the Republicans, they are attacking democracy, they are taking away rights and freedoms, they are using threats of violence, taking away voting rights, and he [Biden] called it what it is … and what many would argue, historians would agree with us on.”“He believes that presidents should be the strongest voice for democracy,” she added.Jean-Pierre also strove to differentiate between what she referred to as “traditional, conservative” Republicans and the [Trumpist] “Make America Great Again” rightwing loyalists to the former president.A quick recap, blog readers, it’s been a dramatic morning and there will be plenty more news over the coming few hours. But for now, here’s where things stand:
      Donald Trump has released a statement about the release of the government affidavit that underpinned the search of his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in Florida earlier this month. He posted it on Truth Social, his struggling social media platform that he created after being banned by Twitter.
      The US Department of Justice and the FBI had “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction” would be found at Mar-a-Lago when it sought a warrant to search the property, the affidavit notes.
      The affidavit is replete with details that would provide “a roadmap” for anyone intent on obstructing the investigation.
      The affidavit reminds us of the context of the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, thus: “The government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful concealment or removal of government records.”
      While the public waited for the affidavit to be released, we also noted that Joe Biden called the “MAGA Republican” philosophy “semi-fascism” last night, based on the anti-democratic efforts of the more extreme wing of the GOP that hews unfailingly to Trump.
      We have Donald Trump’s reaction, on Truth Social, the social media platform he set up after being kicked off Twitter over the Capitol attack….css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Affidavit heavily redacted!!! Nothing mentioned on “Nuclear,” a total public relations subterfuge by the FBI & DOJ, or our close working relationship regarding document turnover – WE GAVE THEM MUCH. Judge Bruce Reinhart should NEVER have allowed the Break-In of my home. He recused himself two months ago from one of my cases based on his animosity and hatred of your favorite President, me. What changed? Why hasn’t he recused himself on this case? Obama must be very proud of him right now!To unpick:
      “Nuclear” – it has been reported that some of the materials kept at Mar-a-Lago concerned nuclear weapons. And some concerned Emmanuel Macron, which, by the by, might interest Liz Truss. But anyway…
      “Break-in” – nope. Warrant duly served, etc, which is why we’re here.
      “Obama must be very proud” of the judge … we may all remember John Roberts, the chief justice of the supreme court, rebuking Trump for referring to “Obama judges”, etc. We may also all remember Trump’s pride at having installed a huge number of judges himself, including three on Roberts’ court. In short – judges are not meant to act politically but they are politically appointed. And so on.
      Of Judge Reinhart: he made a donation to Barack Obama in 2008. He also donated to Republicans, if not Donald J Trump.
      Attached to the affidavit is a letter from lawyers for Donald Trump, complaining of unfair treatment and asserting a president’s “absolute authority to declassify documents” – both features of his response to the search and the claims of his supporters in Republican ranks and on the right of the US media.The letter, signed by M Evan Corcoran of Silverman Thompson Slutkin White, begins:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Public trust in the government is low. At such times, adherence to the rules and long-standing policies is essential. President Donald J Trump is a leader of the Republican Party. The Department of Justice (DOJ), as part of the Executive Branch, is under the control of a President from the opposite party. It is critical, given that dynamic, that every effort is made to ensure that actions by DOJ that may touch upon the former President, or his close associates, do not involve politics.”I refer you back to President Joe Biden’s comment to reporters before the affidavit was filed today, when asked if he thought national security might have been compromised at Mar-a-Lago while Trump was storing classified documents there:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We’ll let the justice department determine that.”The lawyers’ letter conforms to Trump’s worldview, that attorneys general and the Department of Justice exist to serve presidents politically. Biden’s answer speaks for generally accepted wisdom, which is that the DoJ does not exist for that purpose and is in fact independent of any White House or administration. More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      The FBI’s Mar-a-Lago affidavit paints an unsettling portrait of Trump | Lloyd Green

      by

      The FBI’s Mar-a-Lago affidavit paints an unsettling portrait of TrumpLloyd GreenAccording to the affidavit, the government previously found in Trump’s possession 184 documents marked ‘classified’, 67 marked ‘confidential’, 92 marked ‘secret’, and 25 ‘top secret’ Donald Trump is a life-long teetotaler. But at this moment, he may want to re-consider his commitment to sobriety.Early on Friday afternoon, a heavily redacted version of the much-vaunted FBI affidavit went public. It did not paint a flattering portrait of the 45th president or his environs.“[P]robable cause exists to believe that evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed … will be found at the premises,” it read. Prison times under the statutes cited in the affidavit run the gamut from three to 20 years, depending on the specific offense.Redacted Trump Mar-a-Lago affidavit released: five key takeawaysRead moreSection 793 addresses defense information and section 1519 is directed at the “destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in Federal investigations and bankruptcy.” Section 2071 speaks to the “concealment, removal, or mutilation” of documents.For Trump, a candidate and incumbent who made “lock her up” a rallying cry, the latest developments make him look ridiculous. And that is being generous.These developments also place an unwelcome millstone around the neck of the Republicans – who pride themselves on law, order and national security – as the US careens toward its midterm elections.Despite being heavily redacted, the affidavit says plenty. Mar-a-Lago had become a storage facility for documents that Trump should never have transported when he exited the White House. Unfortunately, he believed the mantra of Louis XIV, France’s Sun King: “L’état, c’est moi.”In May 2022, according to the affidavit, the government found in Trump’s possession 184 documents marked “classified”; 67 marked “confidential”; 92 marked “secret”; and 25 marked “top secret.” But Trump’s nightmare doesn’t end there.FBI agents “observed markings reflecting” human intelligence sources and other highly sensitive intelligence categories, the affidavit says. Trump, an ex-reality show host, makes Hillary Clinton look almost fastidious.Or as Trump framed things on social media, “WE GAVE THEM MUCH.” To be sure, he did not say, “WE GAVE THEM ALL.” Here, it is a distinction with real world significance.As the affidavit hit the docket, reports emerged of a woman posing as a member of the Rothschild family playing golf with Trump and Lindsey Graham while ingratiating herself with Trump’s supporters. Talk about synchronicity.The incidents are under active investigation in the US and Canada. Her alleged real identity is Inna Yashchyshyn, a Russian-speaking immigrant from Ukraine.This latest episode stands as a cross between Maria Butina and Inventing Anna. Life imitates life. History can be repetitive. One thing is clear, security is not a primary concern for Trump.Meanwhile, the clock ticks down for Merrick Garland, the attorney general, and Trump. Under justice department practice, politically sensitive prosecutions cannot be launched within 60 days of an election.As a result, Labor Day in early September marks a cut-off for indicting Trump until after November’s congressional contests. Two related questions are “if and when” Trump declares his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.One way or another, the former guy will appear on this fall’s ballot. Beyond that, the release of the redacted affidavit raises the issue of disclosure of a non-redacted version by the Biden administration to the senior members of Congress, the so-called Gang of Eight.By law, the Speaker of the House, the House minority leader, the Senate’s majority and minority leaders, together with the chairs and ranking minority members of the intelligence committees of both houses of Congress are entitled to be briefed on covert actions.They have reportedly requested relevant information.To be sure, the FBI frowns on briefing Congress on open investigations. Here, however, the barn door is wide open. The horse has bolted. Indeed, it was Trump who publicized the court-approved search.The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell has reported that the “[s]ourcing and information the FBI would’ve needed to pinpoint those locations with such confidence, suggests [that] there are people close to the former president potentially cooperating with this investigation”.Can you say, “GoodFellas and Henry Hill”? In other words, the walls around Trump may be closing. A man with few friends, he may need someone he can talk to without furthering a conspiracy or paying $1,000 an hour.Signs are not encouraging. Earlier this week, Jared Kushner, whose own father received a Trump pardon, scrambled to distance himself from Ivanka’s dad.Asked by Fox News about Trump’s handling of classified material, Kushner demurred. “Like I said, I’m not familiar with what was in the boxes,” he answered. “But I think President Trump, he, uh, he governed in a very peculiar way and when he had his documents, I’m assuming he did what he thought was appropriate.”And if Trump can’t count on his son-in-law to deliver something other than a potpourri of word salad, who can he trust?
      Lloyd Green served in the Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992
      TopicsDonald TrumpOpinionUS politicsRepublicansFBIMar-a-LagocommentReuse this content More

    • 100 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Biden decries Republican loyalty to Trump as ‘semi-fascism’

      by

      Biden decries Republican loyalty to Trump as ‘semi-fascism’ President condemns Republicans’ current political ideology in remarks at Democratic National Committee fundraiser In fiery remarks on Thursday night that set out a combative platform for Democrats ahead of the midterm elections, Joe Biden decried Republican loyalty to Donald Trump’s political brand as “semi-fascism”.The US president delivered a barbed speech in Maryland, calling out Trump as a threat to US democracy and decrying his penchant for embracing political violence and stoking anger.Biden went further at a $1m fundraiser in a wealthy suburb on the outskirts of Washington DC, before the campaign rally, condemning Republicans’ current political ideology as approaching “semi-fascism”.President Biden condemns MAGA at DNC fundraiser: “What we’re seeing now is the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy. It’s not just Trump, it’s the the entire philosophy that underpins the – I’m going to say something – it’s like semi-fascism.”— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) August 25, 2022“Trump and the extreme Maga Republicans have made their choice – to go backwards full of anger, violence, hate and division,” Biden told several thousand supporters at an event hosted by the Democratic National Committee at Richard Montgomery high school, nodding to Trump’s Make America Great Again (Maga) campaign slogan.The campaign rally kicked off a nationwide White House effort aimed at bolstering Democrats ahead of the midterm elections in November, as Biden and Democrats alike attempted to capitalize on frustration among voters.Chief among standout themes for Democrats are the US supreme court’s decision to overturn longstanding abortion protections, the recent passage of a historic climate, tax and healthcare package, and the White House’s decision to cancel millions of Americans’ student loan debt.All of this happens against the backdrop of a high-profile congressional investigation arguing that Trump, while in office, incited an “attempted coup” at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, as he struggled to stay in office despite his defeat by Biden in the 2020 election.During Thursday’s speech, Biden touted recent accomplishments and argued that Trump and Republicans increased the federal deficit by $2tn in tax cuts while Biden and Democrats reduced it with the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.He described a rocky political terrain following the supreme court’s overturning of the landmark 1973 abortion case Roe v Wade, where Republican-controlled states have now put trigger laws into effect that prevent women obtaining an abortion there.If Republicans took control of Congress in the midterms, Biden argued, women “won’t have the right to choose anywhere”. He vowed to veto legislative attempts by Republicans to further restrict abortion access at the federal level.But if Democrats kept their wafer-thin control of the Senate and also kept the House, Biden pledged to offer a different “vision of a better America” providing voters turned out in November and make sure “no one ever has the opportunity to steal an election again”.Biden: “If we elect two more [Democratic] senators, we got a lot of unfinished business we’re gonna get done. Folks, look, we’re gonna codify Roe v Wade. We’ll ban assault weapons, we’ll protect Social Security & Medicare, we’ll pass Universal Pre-K …” pic.twitter.com/VIVc8tsFmn— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 26, 2022Biden warned on Thursday that “Democrats, independents and mainstream Republicans” needed to coalesce to push back against Trump-backed Republicans who, he noted, “refuse to accept the will of the people”.Biden winds down his speech in Maryland: “In this moment, those of you who love this country — Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans — we must be stronger, more determined, & more committed to saving American than the MAGA Republicans are to destroying America” pic.twitter.com/NnSHnbqTnc— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 26, 2022“America must choose. You must choose,” Biden told supporters. “Whether our country will move forward or backward.”Earlier, Biden met Democratic donors for a $1m party fundraiser in a backyard in a leafy neighborhood north of Washington.Strolling with a handheld mic, Biden detailed the tumult facing the US and the world from the climate crisis. He spoke about economic upheaval and the future of China and was strongly critical of the direction of the Republican party.“We’re seeing now either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme Maga agenda. It’s not just Trump … It’s almost semi-fascism,” he said.Republicans are hoping to ride voter discontent with inflation, questions about Biden’s policies and cultural resentment from its majority white base to victory in November.The party that controls the White House usually loses seats in Congress in a new president’s first midterm elections.TopicsJoe BidenUS midterm elections 2022Donald TrumpUS politicsRepublicansDemocratsnewsReuse this content More