Tables Turned on Activist Group Behind Clarence Thomas Smear Attack

Jacob Bruns
-
0
Tables Turned on Activist Group Behind Clarence Thomas Smear Attack

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) The left-wing activist group that attempted to drag Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas through the muck regarding his personal finances has accidentally leaked documents containing the names of its own donors, the Washington Examiner reported.

The nonprofit group, Fix the Court, is funded by dark-money giant Arabella Advisors. The information was released accidentally when Fix the Court sent an unredacted list of its 2021-22 donors to the Washington Examiner.

Gabe Roth, the organization’s executive director, noted his own mistake in an email to the newspaper.

“As you can see if you’ve reviewed the forms, I’m not a good fundraiser,” Roth wrote. “I’m not a good CPA. I’m a klutz.”

Roth accidentally sent out information regarding “Schedule B” donors, who are not typically known to the general public, but only the IRS.

“It’s not made public,” he continued.

“Like, if you’re donating to a 501(c)(3), the IRS gets to see who donates to you, but the general public doesn’t.”

He even admitted that the organizations he has worked with in the past will not touch him again after his massive slip up.

“I mean, basically, I’ve tried to donate money; I have failed,” Roth added, noting that his error may have ended the organization altogether.

“I tried to raise money; I have failed. I have only two foundations that give me money, and if their names become public, they’re never going to talk to me again, and Fix the Court is over.”

Roth recognized that he may have ended his own personal career as well.

“My screwup this morning probably cost me my job,” he said.

“I really just don’t know what to do here,” Roth added, noting that he “just f***ed up in a minute.”

Fix the Court had targeted Clarence Thomas specifically in recent months, slamming him for failing to disclose gifts, including a 2016 private jet ride from Texas billionaire Harlan Crow.

The group, however, wished to punish Thomas for not following new gift disclosure requirements that were enacted on March 14, 2023—seven years after the alleged flight.

Roth, himself, has acted as the public face of that criticism, appearing on left-leaning networks like CNN to demand greater transparency and accountability—which likely would include the resignation or impeachment of the 74-year-old Thomas if Democrats had their way.

The effort also dovetails with a far-left initiative to pack the court with additional justices of their own choosing.

On Tuesday, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., re-introduced such a bill in the Senate, proposing that four additional justices be added in order to “repair the broken Supreme Court.”

MTG Exchanges Verbal Tussle w/ Squad’s Jamaal Bowman

Corine Gatti
-
0
MTG Exchanges Verbal Tussle w/ Squad’s Jamaal Bowman

(Corine Gatti, Headline USA) A fiery exchange erupted between Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene R-Ga., and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., at the Capitol steps on Wednesday. It was a scene that caught the attention of a throng of press, the Daily Caller reported.

New York Republican Rep. George Santos, who was charged with embezzling money from his campaign, addressed reporters, determined to defend himself against the alleged transgressions. However, Bowman and fellow “Squad” member New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shouted from the crowd to resign.

The freshman congressman said it was his “constitutional right” to defend himself, and “I will do that,” he said. Santos was interrupted by Bowman, who said, “Kick him out! He’s gotta go!” Bowman shouted over the media’s questions, and also advised Santos to “have some dignity.”

Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene exchanged words with Democratic New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman on Wednesday. Twitter/Ursula Perano

However, as tensions mounted, Bowman shifted his focus toward Greene. The two began trading verbal blows, with the subject of guns and immigration serving as the main source of contention.

“Expel him, save the party, the party is hanging by a thread,” Bowman implored Greene. “You’ve got to save the party. Listen–no more QAnon, no more debt ceiling nonsense,” he continued to yell.

Greene responded with a call to action of her own. “No more CNN,” she said, and called for the impeachment of President Joe Biden and for the closure of the border.

“She ain’t worth it bro,” said Ocasio-Cortez, trying to stop the exchange.

Greene said that a staggering 85,000 unaccompanied migrant children had been lost by the Department of Health and Human Services and Bowman said he had no idea what Greene meant. There have been over 4.8 million migrant encounters at the border since Biden assumed office.

Recently, Robin Dunn Marcos, director of refugee resettlement, was unable to answer basic questions about HHS’s handling of unaccompanied alien children, which has prioritized the speedy release of unaccompanied alien children over their safety during hearing conducted by the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border and Foreign Affairs in April.

More Than 110 Democrats Vote Against Resolution Condemning Efforts to Defund Police

Contributing Author
-
0
More Than 110 Democrats Vote Against Resolution Condemning Efforts to Defund Police

(Headline USA) More than 100 Democrats voted on Thursday against a resolution condemning efforts to defund the police.

The House resolution, which passed in a vote of 301-119, praised the “dedication and devotion demonstrated by the men and women of local law enforcement who keep our communities safe” and condemned “calls to defund, disband, dismantle, or abolish the police.”

The only lawmakers who voted “no” were Democrats, with three other Democrats opting to vote “present.”

During debate over the bill, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, dismissed the resolution as “nothing more than empty rhetoric designed to score political points.”

Nadler also took issue with a section of the resolution that blasted “leftist activists and progressive politicians” who “called for the defunding and dismantling of local police departments across the country and actively encouraged resentment toward local law enforcement.”

“It talks about leftist violence, but it refuses to talk about right-wing violence,” Nadler said, citing the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. “It is not a balanced or fair resolution.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash, chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, also blasted the resolution.

“I resent the characterization that somehow we progressives do not support law enforcement just because we want to have accountability in our community so that black and brown people can walk down the street and feel safe,” she claimed.

In response, Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., quoted a news article in which Jayapal advocated for defunding law enforcement. 

“Law enforcement as a whole has a culture of brutality that you cannot deny if you look at all of these incidents. Most of the protesters are calling for a complete transformation of policing,” Jayapal said in the article.

Likewise, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., read out a quote from Nadler, who said there should be “substantial cuts to the police budget” in New York.

Luggage Thief Sam Brinton Arrested In Maryland as ‘Fugitive from Justice’

Contributing Author
-
0
Luggage Thief Sam Brinton Arrested In Maryland as ‘Fugitive from Justice’

(Headline USA) Sam Brinton, the embattled former senior Biden Energy Department official who was charged with stealing women’s luggage on at least two occasions, was arrested again this week as a “fugitive from justice.”

Brinton was taken into custody in Rockville, Maryland on Wednesday, according to the Daily Wire.

“Four unmarked police showed up last night, they would not let his spouse Kevin leave. After about an hour Sam Brinton was escorted out in handcuffs,” a person who claimed to be Brinton’s neighbor, said.

He is currently in jail and being held without bond, according to county records. A judge has since ordered him to be extradited to Virginia on grand larceny charges.

Brinton pleaded “non contest” to misdemeanor theft last month after he stole $3,670 worth of items in a woman’s suitcase from the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. He has also pleaded guilty to stealing a traveler’s luggage worth $2,325 from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.

Shortly after Brinton was charged for both the Minneapolis and Las Vegas thefts, a Texas woman came forward on social media to accuse Brinton of similarly stealing her luggage from the Washington-Reagan Airport in D.C.

Asya Khamsin shared several photos of Brinton wearing her designs on Twitter, saying they were her “custom designs” that were in a suitcase she lost in the D.C. airport in 2018.

“I saw the images. Those were my custom designs, which were lost in that bag in 2018,” Khamsin told Fox News. “He wore my clothes, which was stolen.”

Khamsin said her luggage vanished from the D.C. airport on March 9, 2018 after she flew into an event during which she was supposed to put her clothes on display. Because her baggage disappeared, she was unable to participate in the event, she told Fox.

It is not clear whether Brinton’s extradition to Virginia is related to Khamsin’s allegations.

N.J. Gov. Signals Plan to Ignore SCOTUS Ruling on Abortion-Pill Ban

Molly Bruns
-
0
N.J. Gov. Signals Plan to Ignore SCOTUS Ruling on Abortion-Pill Ban

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) New Jersey’s Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy announced that his state would continue to allow doctors to prescribe the abortifacient drug mifepristone, possibly in defiance of an upcoming Supreme Court ruling on the matter.

During an appearance Wednesday on MSNBC’s Katy Tur Reports, Murphy insisted that a ruling against widespread access to the drug may “cost people’s lives, women in particular, sadly. And so, if that’s what’s at stake, we’ll do whatever it takes to save lives.”

According to Breitbart, Tur questioned what he, as a state-level official, could do against the Supreme Court.

“We’ve gone to the CEOs of both Walgreens and CVS to make sure that we had unencumbered access,” Murphy explained.

“We have considered a bulk acquisition,” he continued. “We have clearly joined in legal action as an amicus matter.”

Murphy suggested he would stop at nothing to make sure women have unfettered access to kill their children in the state of New Jersey.

“Everything is on the table—and please, God, it doesn’t come to that, but we will continue to fight it like heck,” he said.

Murphy also shared a personal anecdote about his own children, lamenting that, according to the current heartbeat laws supported by many red states, he would have been denied the opportunity to abort them.

“By the way, at six weeks, my wife and I don’t think that we knew we were pregnant with any of our four kids at six weeks—so, people need to understand that,” he said.

“But this is going to cost people’s lives,” Murphy added. “Its going to cost them health. It’s also going to cost people’s lives, women in particular, sadly.”

The Supreme Court recently put on hold a lower-court ruling that would implement a ban on the abortion pills as Democrats attempted to find a way to grant customers wholesale access to the drug, including by mail.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote an opinion staying the decision and slamming the FDA for their shoddy work in approving the drug, which was revealed to cause serious health issues for women, in addition to killing their unborn babies, in multiple studies.

“At present, the applicants are not entitled to a stay because they have not shown that they are likely to suffer irreparable harm in the interim,” Alito wrote.

“Our granting of a stay of a lower-court decision is an equitable remedy,” he continued. “It should not be given if the moving party has not acted equitably, and that is the situation here.”

Trump Deranged Keith Olbermann Slams CNN’s Jake Tapper for Admitting Truth of Durham Report

Jacob Bruns
-
0
Trump Deranged Keith Olbermann Slams CNN’s Jake Tapper for Admitting Truth of Durham Report

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann called for CNN host Jake Tapper’s resignation after Tapper admitted to the truth of the recently published Durham report.

In a segment on the Durham report, Tapper noted not only that former President Donald Trump remained confident in the findings of the report the entire time, but that its publication might have had some effect on the outcome of the 2020 election.

“President Trump. . . openly pressured the Special Counsel to release his findings before the 2020 election,” Tapper said, adding that it is “devastating” to the FBI.

“Regardless, the report is now here, it has dropped, and it might not have produced everything Republicans had hoped for, but it is regardless devastating to the FBI and, to a degree, it does exonerate Donald Trump.”

Olbermann, however, was unhappy about Tapper’s admission, arguing that this was “CNN’s new scandal” and suggesting that Tapper didn’t understand the report’s contents.

Tapper “says the Durham Report is “devastating to the FBI. It isn’t,” Olbermann tweeted, accusing CNN of partaking in right-wing propagandizing.

“Not even close. No charges, just partisan ‘conclusions.’ And Tapper of the new non-journalistic Chris Licht CNN is propagandizing,” he added. “Jake Tapper needs to resign.”

Trump celebrated the decision, but lamented the effects that years of questionable FBI reporting have had on American democracy.

“I, and much more importantly, the American public have been victims of this long-running and treasonous charade started by the Democrats,” Trump said. “There must be a heavy price to pay for putting our country through this.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, noted that the report “confirmed what the American people already know; that individuals at the highest levels of government attempted to overthrow democracy when they illegally weaponized the federal government against Donald J. Trump.”

She added that the “criminal abuse of power” extended to the “Oval Office” where “President Obama and then Vice-President Joe Biden were in on it from the very beginning.”

The report has shaken the establishment, which has so far failed to respond to Durham’s findings.

From conservatives being banned from LinkedIn for mentioning the report, to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre walking out of interviews when asked about it, nobody in the establishment has been willing to address the content of the report.

When asked about the report’s damning findings about President Joe Biden‘s time as VP, Jean-Pierre began packing her bags to head out.

“That is with the Department of Justice,” she said. “That’s not something that I’m going to speak from the podium.”

Before any more questions could be asked, Jean-Pierre said, “Thank you so much. I’ll see you guys in Japan,” immediately leaving the podium.

FBI Whistleblower: Bureau Obstructed J6 Investigation to Protect Informants

Ken Silva
-
0
FBI Whistleblower: Bureau Obstructed J6 Investigation to Protect Informants

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) FBI whistleblower testimony revealed Thursday that the bureau’s Washington DC field office allegedly refused to provide the Boston field office with Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill surveillance footage on the grounds that it could expose the identities of undercover agents and informants.

The testimony from retired FBI agent George Hill was first played by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at a Thursday morning press conference about the retaliation FBI whistleblowers have faced from their employer. Hill was stationed at the FBI Boston field office in 2021.

According to Hill, the FBI’s DC office wanted agents in Boston to open a criminal investigation into 140 people because they rode a bus to the J6 rally.

Hill said the supervising agent in Boston agreed to investigate the peaceful protestors, but wanted footage from J6 to help with the investigation. However, the DC field office denied this request, according to Hill.

“The [Washington field office] said, ‘We can’t show you those videos unless you can tell us the exact time and place those individuals were in the Capitol’, to which [Boston agent] responded back: ‘Why can’t you just give us access to the 11,000 hours of video?’”

According to Hill, the DC office then responded, “Because there may be undercover officers or confidential human sources on those videos, whose identity we’d need to protect.”

Gaetz played the video again later Thursday morning at a House Weaponization Subcommittee hearing into FBI whistleblower retaliation. Gaetz said the testimony from Hill validated another FBI whistleblower, Marcus Allen, who had his security clearance revoked for expressing “conspiratorial views” that the federal government may have been involved in J6.

A report released by the Weaponization Subcommittee before Thursday’s hearing further explains the views Allen was expressing. According to the report, Allen had been raising red flags within the FBI about “potential Federal involvement with the activities on January 6.”

“Mr. Allen, you got retaliated against for saying the very thing the Washington field office was telling Boston,” Gaetz exclaimed.

Allen sued the FBI in December, alleging that the bureau’s improper suspension of him and the revocation of his security clearance is a violation of his constitutional rights. The FBI has responded with a motion to dismiss the lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction. A federal judge has yet to rule on the matter.

Judicial Watch is supporting Allen’s lawsuit.

“The FBI can’t purge employees based on political smears. Judicial Watch seeks to remind the FBI that it is not above the law with this civil rights lawsuit for Mr. Allen, a decorated Marine veteran and highly regarded FBI employee,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton when the lawsuit was filed.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Dem. Frontrunner for Philly Mayor Embraces Giuliani-Like ‘Stop and Frisk’

Editor 1
-
0
Dem. Frontrunner for Philly Mayor Embraces Giuliani-Like ‘Stop and Frisk’

(Headline USA) Cherelle Parker, the Democrat who will almost certainly become Philadelphia’s next mayor, says she wants to hire hundreds of additional police officers to walk their beats and get to know residents.

She also wants to devote resources to recruiting more police and says officers should be able to stop and search pedestrians if they have a legitimate reason to do so.

Those positions, particularly the search policies, would seem out of step in a progressive bastion like Philadelphia.

But the city currently faces a crime epidemic due, in large part, to the pro-criminal approach of George Soros-backed District Attorney Larry Krasner.

That has “defund the police” Democrats in a state of panic as public sentiment does a full reversal, back to the tough-on-crime policies once exemplified by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani brought the Big Apple back from the brink by implementing what was often derisively referred to as “stop and frisk” and was criticized as being conducive to racial profiling.

By borrowing from his playbook, Parker trounced her rivals in this week’s mayoral primary with a message that centered on tougher law enforcement to combat rising crime and violence.

While local politics don’t always align with the ideological divides that guide the national debate, Parker’s victory offers a fresh case study for Democrats as they wrestle with how to approach the epidemic of violent crime that has consumed many deep-blue cities over the past three years in particular.

Parker, a former state legislator and city council member, argued that it’s a false choice to decide between investing in policing and addressing broader societal problems.

“It is not either/or,” the 50-year-old Parker said during the campaign.

That approach helped her defeat progressive rival Helen Gym by more than 25,000 votes.

Gym, who advocated for measures including stronger police training and faster 911 response times, was backed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and appeared with the lawmakers at a rally on the eve of the election.

Gym and her supporters blamed her loss, in part, on late attacks funded by wealthy donors who opposed her progressive policies.

The debate over policing intensified in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter riots sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. While Democrat Joe Biden prevailed that year, some moderate Democrats said the party wasn’t quick enough to denounce it.

In major U.S. cities that are Democratic strongholds, voters also have been divided in recent years.

New York elected Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain who vowed to invest more in public safety, and San Francisco voters recalled a progressive prosecutor amid frustration about public safety.

In Chicago, progressive Brandon Johnson—who favored investing in areas like housing and youth jobs—topped a more moderate rival who had support from the police union. And progressive prosecutor Kim Foxx, who prioritized violent crimes over lower-level offenses and faced blowback for dropping charges against actor Jussie Smollett, said she will not seek reelection.

In Philadelphia, Parker was the only black candidate among the top tier of hopefuls on Tuesday, and she was backed by majority black precincts across the city in both early and Election Day ballots. In addition to 300 more officers, her public safety plan also called for fixing broken streetlights, removing graffiti and investing in programs for at-risk youth.

Parker also defended her support for “Terry stops,” or for officers to use “just and reasonable suspicion” to stop pedestrians. She and other candidates faced criticism including a protest at City Hall last month from those opposed to “stop and frisk.”

The policy has riled the city in the past, with critics saying it was used disproportionately against minorities. According to ACLU Pennsylvania, Philadelphia police nearly doubled the number of pedestrian stops during Mayor Michael Nutter’s administration in the 2000s.

Civil rights lawyers said at least half of the more than 250,000 such stops in 2009 didn’t meet the legal standard, and almost none resulted in arrest. The ACLU sued to stop the practice, and it now monitors police use of stop and frisk under a settlement with the city.

“We want to build that relationship and we also want folks to know that there will be zero tolerance for any misuse and or abuse of authority,” Parker said in response to questions about her position. “But a proactive law enforcement presence is a key part of that plan, and I am unapologetic about it.”

Tuesday’s result suggests the salience of police reform may be subsiding from the days when people were protesting in overwhelming numbers, said Michael Sances, a political science professor at Temple University.

Crime ”has crowded out concerns about overpolicing,” Sances said.

“It doesn’t mean that people have become anti-reform, that can easily be surfaced,” he added. “It’s just a sign of where the public’s attention is, and where political leaders have moved, and that’s really toward the center.”

Philadelphia saw a record number of homicides in 2021, most of them gun-related.

That number fell from 562 to 516 in 2022, but was still significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels.

On Wednesday, an 18-year-old was rearrested in Philadelphia after he escaped from a prison in the city along with another inmate. The man was being held on charges in four slayings.

But in a reminder that there’s no easy trend line on the political dynamics related to crime, voters in Pittsburgh made a turn to the left in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for county prosecutor.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala, in office for nearly a quarter century, is trailing challenger Matt Dugan by double digits in unofficial returns, although Republicans launched a write-in campaign for him so the two could face off again in November.

Dugan, the county’s chief public defender, ran on a range of progressive policies, including eliminating cash bail, diverting low-level and nonviolent crimes and emphasizing mental health and substance abuse treatment.

What happens in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh could have national implications as Pennsylvania will again be a prime battleground in 2024.

This week, the Senate voted to overturn a local Washington, D.C. law enacted to improve police accountability that was backed by the district’s Democratic mayor.

It was the second time this year that Democrats joined with Republicans to reject a D.C. measure amid high rates of crime. Earlier, Biden agreed with the GOP that some of the measures—such as lowering penalties for carjackings—went too far.

Biden was expected to veto this week’s vote, which would mean upholding the D.C. law, saying that while he doesn’t back all provisions in the D.C. law he does support “commonsense police reforms” that are part of it, such as banning chokeholds, limiting the use of deadly force and improving access to body cameras and requiring additional training.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

‘Nasty’ CNN Town Hall Moderator to Take Chris Cuomo’s Former Primetime Slot

Editor 1
-
0
‘Nasty’ CNN Town Hall Moderator to Take Chris Cuomo’s Former Primetime Slot

(Headline USA) CNN said Kaitlan Collins will host a new hourlong show at the center of the prime-time lineup, filling a slot left vacant since the firing of Chris Cuomo and as the network’s ratings are at a low ebb.

Collins will begin regularly hosting the 9 p.m. Eastern show next month, the network said Wednesday, making the announcement during a Warner Discovery sales presentation to advertisers.

It comes as rival Fox News recently announced a shakeup to its own lineup, which will likely move Sean Hannity from the 9 p.m. slot into the 8 p.m. slot previously occupied by popular ratings leader Tucker Carlson. There was speculation that Jesse Watters would then move from a successful 7 p.m. gig to fill Hannity’s place, according to rumors attributed to network insiders.

The ex-White House correspondent moderated CNN’s town hall with former President Donald Trump last week, drawing criticism from both the Right and Left. While Trump himself called her “nasty” for interrupting him with trivial and highly subjective “fact checks,” Democrats fumed that Collins had been steamrolled by the former president.

To her credit, Collins has a background in conservative media, having made Fox News appearances while working for the Carlson-founded Daily Caller, and even using one such appearance to excoriate far-left oligarch George Soros.

While it is unclear what led to Collins’s apparent shift in values, her ability to reach across the aisle may help with the rebranding effort undertaken by CNN Chairman Chris Licht, who inherited a network notorious for its spread of fake news talking points and leftist propaganda.

“She is a smart and gifted journalist who we’ve all seen hold lawmakers and newsmakers accountable,” Licht said in a memo to staff members. “She pushes politicians off their talking points, gets real answers—and as everyone who’s worked with her knows—breaks a lot of news.”

It’s the biggest move by Licht, who became CNN’s leader last year, to put his imprint on the prime-time lineup, which has lagged far behind Fox News and MSNBC in viewership.

In continuing Collins’s meteoric rise at CNN, Licht has something in common with his predecessor Jeff Zucker, who noticed and hired Collins full-time based on her occasional guest appearances on CNN.

Licht had named Collins to host a revamped morning show with Poppy Harlow and Don Lemon that began last November. With Lemon fired and Collins elevated, Harlow will work with guest anchors until morning changes are announced in the months ahead, Licht said in his memo.

CNN has rotated guest hosts in the evening since December 2021, when Cuomo was fired after the network said he was not forthcoming about help offered to his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. At the time, Cuomo hosted CNN’s top-rated show.

The network has struggled to gain traction without him. On Monday, for example, CNN averaged 454,000 viewers in the time slot, compared to Rachel Maddow’s 2.41 million viewers on MSNBC and Hannity’s 1.97 million on Fox, the Nielsen company said.

Last Friday, with Anderson Cooper on duty for a second hour at 9 p.m. and reaching an audience of 293,000, CNN slipped behind the conservative Newsmax network and host Chris Plante’s “Right Squad” in viewership, Nielsen said.

CNN last month announced the pairing of Charles Barkley and Gayle King for another prime-time show starting later this year, although that will be once a week.

To the advertisers, CNN tried to increase anticipation by showing clips of King and Barkley. “She’s going to be a straight shooter,” Barkley said. “You know I’m going to be a straight shooter.”

In his appearance, Licht emphasized CNN’s newsgathering and said it was more important now than ever.

“We prioritize reporting over punditry and separate the news from the noise,” he said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Kari Lake Exposes Maricopa’s Failed Signature Verification Process on Day 1 of New Trial

Editor 1
-
0
Kari Lake Exposes Maricopa’s Failed Signature Verification Process on Day 1 of New Trial

(Headline USA) Maricopa County has a failed process for verifying thousands of ballot signatures that even some of its own workers question, attorneys for Kari Lake, the 2022 Republican candidate for Arizona governor, argued in court Wednesday.

Lake’s lawyers spent most of the first day of a three-day trial showing video and taking testimony from two previous signature screeners who alleged election workers were overwhelmed while trying to verify the massive number of mail-in ballots and provisional ballots resulting from systemic polling place failures on Election Day.

“There’s simply no way to review signatures with respect to procedures,” Kurt Olsen, one of Lake’s attorneys said.

The state—whose top election official at the time, then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, was also the Democrat gubernatorial candidate—took longer than every other state of equivalent size to count and certify the ballots, fueling rampant speculation that Hobbs and her team were waiting to arrive at the desired outcome.

The eventual outcome, certified by Hobbs, broke with 17,117 votes in Hobbs’s favor, or 0.67% of the total number of overall votes.

Lake listened to the proceedings from a seat in the back of the courtroom but did not speak. She left two hours into the hearing.

The Arizona Supreme Court last week revived her challenge to the implementation of signature-verification procedures on early ballots in Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of the state’s voters.

The case now hinges on newly available evidence that had not been turned over when the lower-court judge initially dismissed the claim.

On Twitter, some supporters provided photographic evidence from the 2020 election showing the sloppy signature verification standard that was applied in the state, when Joe Biden allegedly won by a margin of 10,457 votes.

Superior Court Judge Peter A. Thompson said in a ruling Monday that Lake alleges Maricopa County officials failed to perform any higher level signature verifications on mail-in ballots that had been flagged by lower level screeners for any inconsistencies.

In a subsequent decision, Thompson said Lake also is challenging any alleged violations of signature verification policies by lower level screeners, too.

The video footage shown by Lake’s legal team came from a Maricopa County camera feed that purportedly shows a signature verified incorrectly and hastily by a worker.

Reynaldo “Rey” Valenzuela, Maricopa County director of elections, testified that the temporary worker simply didn’t grasp the technological skills needed for the job and he was re-assigned elsewhere. Signature verifiers are also randomly audited.

“We review them for consistency,” Valenzuela said. “Was there some sort of inconsistency where someone did all good [signatures] or all bad?”

A lower-level worker also testified that higher-level signature reviewers were overwhelmed and kicked back ballot affidavit envelopes that seemed questionable.

Three workers on lower-level signature verification who filed declarations in court on Lake’s behalf have said they experienced rejection rates due to mismatched signatures on 15% to 40% of the ballots they encountered.

Attorneys for Arizona election officials said the workers’ speculation on signature verification efforts does not amount to a violation of the law or misconduct by election workers—and raised questions about whether the three workers could know the outcome of the specific ballots they had flagged.

Lake isn’t contesting whether voters’ signatures on ballot envelopes matched those in their voting records.

In a ruling Monday night, Thompson refused to throw out Lake’s claim.

Lake faces a high bar in proving not only her allegation over signature verification efforts but also that it affected the outcome of her race.

Lake’s lawyers say there was a flood of mail-in ballots in Maricopa County at a time when there were too few workers to verify ballot signatures. Her attorneys say the county ultimately accepted thousands of ballots that had been rejected earlier by workers for having mismatched signatures.

By reviving the claim, the Arizona Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision that found Lake waited too long to raise it.

Earlier in her lawsuit, Lake had focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling places in Maricopa County.

The defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the on-site tabulators at polling places. Lines were backed up in some areas amid the confusion. Lake alleged ballot printer problems were the result of intentional misconduct.

County officials insisted that everyone had a chance to vote and all ballots were counted because those affected by the printers were taken to more sophisticated counters at election headquarters.

The trial beginning Wednesday will be the second conducted in Lake’s election challenge.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

1...1,9831,9841,985...3,892Page 1,984 of 3,892