‘It’s Barbaric’: Graham Blasts CNN Host in Tense Abortion Interview

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‘It’s Barbaric’: Graham Blasts CNN Host in Tense Abortion Interview

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., blasted CNN host Dana Bash over arguments related to abortion laws, calling Democrat-led anti-life policies “barbaric” and out of line with the rest of the civilized world.  

“It’s a human rights issue,” Graham said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked if abortion was a federal or state issue. “Does it really matter when you conceive? At 15 weeks, you have a developed heart and lungs, and to dismember a child at 15 weeks is a painful experience, it’s barbaric. It’s out of line with the rest of the civilized world.” 

“Only North Korea and China allow abortion on demand up to the moment of birth–except the Democratic Party,” the pro-life senator continued. “What the Democratic Party proposes on abortion is barbaric. Abortion up to the moment of birth, taxpayer-funded, I think is barbaric. I welcome this debate. I think the Republican Party will be in good standing to oppose late-term abortion like most of the civilized world.” 

Bash pushed back on Graham’s comments, claiming the Roe v. Wade case allowed abortions up to the point of viability.  

“No, no quit covering for these guys,” a fired-up Graham reacted. “No, no, no. You media keep covering for these guys. They introduce legislation that allows abortion on demand with taxpayer funds. Were you paying for it, the taxpayer, up to the moment of birth. That was their position in Washington. That’s the law they want to pass and nobody in your business would talk about. It is barbaric.” 

The leftist CNN host rejected the notion she was protecting the Democratic Party, which championed the Women’s Health Protection Act, a pro-abortion bill that would allow abortions after viability if passed. The leftist bill was introduced and rejected by Republicans twice last year but was re-introduced by both House and Senate Democrats. 

“Senator, I’m not covering for anybody, you know that, and when I have Democrats on (and I’ve had Democrats) I have asked many, all of them about their position on where, where they believe this issue should be,” Bash responded. 

“Well just report the facts,” Graham said. 

Watch the full exchange below:

U.S. Special Forces Evacuate Sudanese Embassy as Fighting Breaks Out in Khartoum

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U.S. Special Forces Evacuate Sudanese Embassy as Fighting Breaks Out in Khartoum

(Headline USA) U.S. special operations forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Sudan on Sunday, sweeping in and out of the capital with helicopters on the ground for less than an hour. No shots were fired and no major casualties were reported.

With the final embassy employee out of Khartoum, the United States shuttered its diplomatic mission indefinitely. Remaining behind in the East African nation are thousands of private American citizens. U.S. officials said it would be too dangerous to carry out a broader evacuation operation.

Battles between two rival Sudanese commanders had forced the closing of the main international airport and left roads out of the country in control of armed fighters. The skirmishes has killed more than 400 people.

In a statement thanking the troops, President Joe Biden said he was receiving regular reports from his team on efforts to assist remaining Americans in Sudan “to the extent possible.”

He also called for the end to “unconscionable” violence there.

About 100 U.S. troops in three MH-47 helicopters carried out the operation. They airlifted all of roughly 70 remaining American employees from a landing zone at the embassy to an undisclosed location in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia also provided overflight and refueling support, said Molly Phee, assistant secretary of state for African affairs.

Biden said Djibouti and Saudi Arabia provided assistance, too.

“I am proud of the extraordinary commitment of our Embassy staff, who performed their duties with courage and professionalism and embodied America’s friendship and connection with the people of Sudan,” Biden said in a statement. “I am grateful for the unmatched skill of our service members who successfully brought them to safety.”

U.S. Africa Command and Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, were in contact with the factions before and during the operation to ensure that U.S. forces would have safe passage to conduct the evacuation. John Bass, an undersecretary of state, denied claims by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Security Forces that it assisted in the U.S. evacuation.

“They cooperated to the extent that they did not fire on our service members in the course of the operation,” Bass said.

Biden had ordered American troops to evacuate embassy personnel after receiving a recommendation from his national security team, with no end in sight to the fighting.

“This tragic violence in Sudan has already cost the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians. It’s unconscionable and it must stop,” Biden said. “The belligerent parties must implement an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and respect the will of the people of Sudan.”Sudan’s fighting broke out April 15 between two commanders who just 18 months earlier jointly orchestrated a military coup to derail the nation’s transition to democracy.

The power struggle between the armed forces chief, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the head of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, has millions of Sudanese cowering inside their homes.

The violence has included an unprovoked attack on an American diplomatic convoy and numerous incidents in which foreign diplomats and aid workers were killed, injured or assaulted.

An estimated 16,000 private U.S. citizens are registered with the embassy as being in Sudan. The figure is rough because not all Americans register with embassy or say when they depart.

The embassy issued an alert earlier Saturday cautioning that “due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and closure of the airport, it is not currently safe to undertake a U.S. government-coordinated evacuation of private U.S. citizens.”

The U.S. evacuation planning for American employees of the embassy got underway in earnest on Monday after the embassy convoy was attacked in Khartoum. The Pentagon confirmed on Friday that U.S. troops were being moved to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti ahead of a possible evacuation.

Embassy evacuations conducted by the U.S. military are relatively rare and usually take place only under extreme conditions. When it orders an embassy to draw down staff or suspend operations, the State Department prefers to have its personnel leave on commercial transportation if that is an option.

When the embassy in Kyiv temporarily closed just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022, staffers used commercial transport to leave.

In several other recent cases, notably in Afghanistan in 2021, conditions made commercial departures impossible or extremely hazardous. U.S. troops accompanied personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, in an overland convoy to Tunisia when they evacuated in 2014.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Gays Against Groomers Release Travel Advisory for Sexual Predators

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Gays Against Groomers Release Travel Advisory for Sexual Predators

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Gays Against Groomers, an organization that opposes the sexualization of children, released a travel warning advising “predators” and “groomers” to not move to Florida because the state won’t allow them to groom children.

“Groomers, beware,” the group tweeted.

According to Timcast, Gays Against Groomers released its travel advisory as a response to a Florida travel advisory that was issued by LGBTQ group Equality Florida earlier this month.

“Today, Gays Against Groomers took the extraordinary step of issuing a travel advisory, warning of the risks posed to the health, safety and freedom of predators and groomers looking to travel or relocate to Florida,” the organization wrote.

“The advisory comes in response to several new bills that have been passed to allow the death penalty for child abusers, the expansion of parental rights in education and the broadening awareness of how children are being targeted.”

“The state government has made it clear that sexualized events marketed for and featuring children will not be tolerated,” the organization added.

“Many reports are circulating that these moves have already had the desired effect of pushing predatory people that are indoctrinating kids to consider relocating away from Florida. This should show anyone that thinks they can get away with these grotesque behaviors in relation to children will have a rude awakening in Florida.”

Equality Florida released a travel advisory on Apr. 11, warning of risks posed to the supposed health, safety and freedom for those seeking to travel or relocate to Florida.

In the original advisory, Equality Florida cited “passage of laws that are hostile to the LGBTQ community, restrict access to reproductive health care, repeal gun safety laws, foment racial prejudice and attack public education by banning books and censoring curriculum” as an evidence of why leftists should not move to the Sunshine State.

“While losing conferences, and top students who have written off Florida threatens lasting damage to our state, it is most heartbreaking to hear from parents who are selling their homes and moving because school censorship, book bans and health care restrictions have made their home state less safe for their children,” Nadine Smith, Equality Florida Executive Director, said.

LGBT Group Cancels ‘Pride’ Parade After Being Told It Must Be Adults Only

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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LGBT Group Cancels ‘Pride’ Parade After Being Told It Must Be Adults Only

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) The sexual deviants decided that they won’t have one of their “pride” parades because officials in the southeastern town of a conservative Florida stated that anyone under the age of 21 would not be allowed to attend it.

According to the Post Millennial, this comes after Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to prohibit children from attending drag shows by law.

After several talks with the Port St. Lucie officials, the Pride Alliance of the Treasure Coast posted to Facebook that the event was going to be limited to people 21 years and that, therefore, it will be canceled because sexual deviants realized they would not be able to groom minors.

“As all of you know, the political climate that we are currently in has us all very concerned for our community. After multiple meetings with city officials, it is with a heavy heart that Pride Alliance of the Treasure Coast has to announce that this weekend’s Pridefest will now be a 21 and older event,” the group wrote in its Facebook post.

“The city has decided that with the likelihood that the Governor will sign the latest bill into effect this evening, that we will need to be on the side of caution and has required us to make this necessary change. We are obviously upset and dishearten[ed] that it has come to this. We also regret to announce that we will have to cancel our plans to bring back our beloved parade.”

The news comes after the Florida House sent a bill to DeSantis that is set to defend children from grooming by banning children from attending adult-oriented performances, like drag shows.

The Post Millennial reported that the bill defines “adult live performances” as “any show, exhibition, or other presentation that is performed in front of a live audience and in whole or in part, depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, specific sexual activities, lewd conduct or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts.”

American Manufacturing Incapable of Meeting War Time Munition Needs

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American Manufacturing Incapable of Meeting War Time Munition Needs

(Headline USA) One of the most important munitions produced by America comes from a historic factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, built by coal barons, where tons of steel rods are brought in by train to be forged into artillery shells that the U.S. can’t produce fast enough.

The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant is at the vanguard of a multibillion-dollar Pentagon plan to modernize and accelerate its production of ammunition and equipment to be ready for a potential conflict.

But it is one of just two sites in the U.S. that make the steel bodies for the critical 155 mm howitzer rounds that the U.S. is rushing to Ukraine to help in its grinding fight to repel the Russian invasion in the largest-scale war in Europe since World War II.

The invasion of Ukraine revealed that the U.S. stockpile of 155 mm shells and those of European allies were unprepared to support a major and ongoing conventional land war, sending them scrambling to bolster production.

The dwindling supply has alarmed U.S. military planners, and the Army now plans to spend billions on munitions plants around the country in what it calls its most significant transformation in 40 years.

It may not be easy to adapt: practically every square foot of the Scranton plant’s red brick factory buildings — first constructed more than a century ago as a locomotive repair depot — is in use as the Army clears space, expands production to private factories and assembles new supply chains.

So far, the U.S. has provided more than $35 billion in weapons and equipment to Ukraine.

The 155 mm shells are used in howitzer systems which allow soldiers to hit targets up to 20 miles away with a highly explosive munition.

The Army is spending about $1.5 billion to ramp up production of 155 mm rounds from 14,000 a month before Russia invaded Ukraine to over 85,000 a month by 2028, U.S. Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo told a symposium last month.

But even with higher near-term production rates, the U.S. cannot replenish its stockpile or catch up to the usage pace in Ukraine, where officials estimate that the Ukrainian military is firing 6,000 to 8,000 shells per day. In other words, two days’ worth of shells fired by Ukraine equates to the United States’ monthly pre-war production figure.

Currently, the metal bodies for the 155 mm shells are made at the Army’s Scranton plant, operated by General Dynamics, and at a General Dynamics-owned plant in nearby Wilkes-Barre, officials say.

Together, the plants are under contract for 24,000 shells per month, with an additional $217 million Army task order to further boost production, although officials won’t say how many more 155 mm shells are sought by the task order.

The Russians are firing 40,000 shells per day, said Ustinova, who serves on Ukraine’s wartime oversight committee.

“So we’re doing five times less than they do and trying to keep it up. But if we don’t start the production lines, if you don’t warm it up, it is going to be a huge problem,” Ustinova said.

The obstacles the U.S. faces in ramping up production can be seen at the Scranton plant.

The factory, which was built for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad just after 1900, when the city was a rising coal and railroad powerhouse, has produced large-caliber ammunition for the military going back to the Korean War.

But the buildings are on the National Historic Registry of Historic Places, limiting how the Army can alter the structures.

Inside, the floor is crowded with piles of shells, defunct equipment and production lines where robotic arms, saws, presses and other machines cut, heat, forge, temper, pressure test, wash and paint the shells.

The plant is in the midst of $120 million in modernization plans and the Army hopes to open a new production line there by 2025.

Still, clearing space for it has been a complicated task while the military adds newer machinery to make existing lines more efficient.

“There’s a lot going on,” said Richard Hansen, the Army commander’s representative at the plant.

Meanwhile, the Army is expanding supply chains for parts — metal shells, explosive fill, charges that shoot the shell and fuses — and buying the massive machines that do the work.

The Army has new contracts with plants in Texas and Canada to make 155 mm shells, said Douglas Bush, an assistant Army secretary and its chief weapons buyer. The U.S. is also looking overseas to allies to expand production, Bush said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

JP Morgan Chase’s Deeper Ties to Jeffrey Epstein Revealed

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JP Morgan Chase’s Deeper Ties to Jeffrey Epstein Revealed

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) A Friday report from the Wall Street Journal revealed that the relationship between investment bank JPMorgan Chase and deceased child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein was deeper than the firm has previously admitted.

According to recent lawsuits that were filed against JPMorgan Chase, Epstein, who ran a hedge fund before his so-called “suicide” in 2019, benefited from special treatment at the investment bank because he attracted several wealthy clients. Even though the attorneys state that the firm is not liable for the crimes committed by Epstein, the firm nevertheless continued to have business with him for five years after his 2008 state-level conviction for procuring prostitution from a minor.

Aside from being in touch with the pedophile, in general, three specific people who worked for the bank were also connected to Epstein directly.

One of those people was Mary Erdoes, a senior lieutenant to veteran JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. In 2011 and 2013, she made two visits to Epstein’s townhouse in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, according to unnamed people familiar with the matter who revealed this information to the Journal. Erdoes also communicated with Epstein via email about a charitable fund the bank was seeking to launch.

The second person who was connected to the pedophile was John Duffy, who formerly led JPMorgan Chase’s private bank. In 2013, he reportedly visited the townhouse for a meeting. The Journal reported that, despite multiple warnings from compliance officers, the company renewed an authorization one month later permitting Epstein to borrow funds against his account.

The last person who was associated with Epstein was Justin Nelson, a banker who worked with Epstein at JPMorgan Chase. In 2016, he traveled to a New Mexico ranch owned by the pedophile. In between 2014 and 2017, he also participated in a handful of meetings at the Manhattan townhouse.

“Epstein’s sex trafficking operation was impossible without the assistance of JPMorgan Chase, and later Deutsche Bank, and we assure the public that we will leave no stone unturned in our quest for justice for the many victims who deserved better from one of America’s largest financial institutions,” lawyers for the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Epstein victim, identified only as Jane Doe, asserted in a statement, as reported by the Daily Wire.

Environmentalists Endanger Homes and Lives with Lawsuit Over Fire-Retardant

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Environmentalists Endanger Homes and Lives with Lawsuit Over Fire-Retardant

(Headline USA) A legal dispute in Montana could drastically curb the government’s use of aerial fire retardant to combat wildfires after environmentalists raised concerns about waterways that are being polluted with the potentially toxic red slurry that’s dropped from aircraft.

A coalition that includes Paradise, California — where a 2018 blaze killed 85 people and destroyed the town — said a court ruling against the U.S. Forest Service in the case could put lives, homes and forests at risk.

An advocacy group that’s suing the agency claims officials are flouting a federal clean water law by continuing to use retardant without taking adequate precautions to protect streams and rivers.

The group, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, requested an injunction blocking officials from using aerial retardant until they get a pollution permit.

The dispute comes as wildfires across North America have grown bigger and more destructive over the past two decades because climate change, people moving into fire-prone areas, and overgrown forests are creating more catastrophic megafires that are harder to fight.

Forest Service officials acknowledged in court filings that retardant has been dropped into waterways more than 200 times over the past decade. They said it happens usually by mistake and in less than 1% of the thousands of drops annually.

“The only way to prevent accidental discharges of retardant to waters is to prohibit its use entirely,” government attorneys wrote. “Such a prohibition would be tantamount to a complete ban of aerial discharges of retardant.”

Government officials and firefighters say fire retardant can be crucial to slowing the advance of a blaze so firefighters can try to stop it.

“It buys you time,” said Scott Upton, a former region chief and air attack group supervisor for California’s state fire agency. “We live in a populous state — there are people everywhere. It’s a high priority for us to be able to use the retardant, catch fires when they’re small.”

Forest Service officials said they are trying to come into compliance with the law by getting a pollution permit but that could take years.

A ruling from U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen is expected sometime after the opposing sides present their arguments during a Monday hearing in federal court in Missoula.

More than 100 million gallons (378 million liters) of fire retardant were used during the past decade, according to the Department of Agriculture. It’s made up of water and other ingredients including fertilizers or salts that can be harmful to fish, frogs, crustaceans and other aquatic animals.

A government study found misapplied retardant could adversely affect dozens of imperiled species, including crawfish, spotted owls and fish such as shiners and suckers.

Health risks to firefighters or other people who come into contact with fire retardant are considered low, according to a 2021 risk assessment commissioned by the Forest Service.

To keep streams from getting polluted, officials in recent years have avoided drops inside buffer zones within 300 feet (92 meters) of waterways.

Under a 2011 government decision, fire retardant may only be applied inside the zones, known as “avoidance areas,” when human life or public safety is threatened and retardant could help. Of 213 instances of fire retardant landing in water between 2012 and 2019, 190 were accidents, officials said.

The remaining 23 drops were necessary to save lives or property, they said.

Stahl’s organization suggested in court filings that the buffer zones be increased, to 600 feet (182 meters) around lakes and streams.

In January — three months after the lawsuit was filed — the Forest Service asked the Environmental Protection Agency to issue a permit allowing the service to drop retardant into water under certain conditions. The process is expected to take more than two years.

Forest Service spokesperson Wade Muehlhof declined comment on the case.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Disney World Employee Arrested for Creeping on Female Guests

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Disney World Employee Arrested for Creeping on Female Guests

(Headline USA) A former Walt Disney World employee is facing a charge that he surreptitiously took a video up the skirt of a female customer.

The creep told investigators he had done it more than 500 times over the past six years.

Jorge Diaz Vega, 26, worked at the Star Wars gift shop inside Disney World’s Hollywood Studios theme park in Florida until his recent arrest on one count of video voyeurism, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

According to court records filed by Orange County Sheriff’s detectives, Vega was spotted by a witness shooting a video up an 18-year-old woman’s skirt. She later told security officers she was not aware of Vega’s actions.

Detectives said that Vega volunteered during questioning that he takes the videos as a “guilty pleasure” and showed them multiple examples on his cellphone.

He was arrested March 31 and released on $2,500 bail.

Court records do not show if Vega has an attorney and a current phone number could not be located.

Disney World said Sunday that Vega doesn’t currently work for the company.

The sheriff’s office deferred until Monday commenting on whether investigators are pursuing more charges against Vega.

Both the sheriff’s office and Disney declined to say whether they are working to identify the other women who Vega allegedly took videos of.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

‘Impeach’: GOP Reacts to Biden, Blinken Engineering Russia Hoax over Laptop

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‘Impeach’: GOP Reacts to Biden, Blinken Engineering Russia Hoax over Laptop

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) In testimony before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committee, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell exposed Blinken as “the impetus” of an infamous intel letter released in October 2020 signed by intel officials with the aim of suppressing a New York Post story involving Hunter Biden’s laptop. The letter, which was signed by 51 current and former intel officials, dubbed the Hunter Biden laptop scandal as Russian disinformation, Headline USA reported Friday.

President Joe Biden, the then-Democrat nominee for president, cited the infamous letter as evidence of no wrongdoing. “There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plant,” Biden said in a presidential campaign in 2020. “Five former heads of the CIA – both parties – said what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage.”

Shortly after the bombshell was revealed, Twitter erupted with Republican lawmakers calling on Biden to be impeached and demanding Secretary Blinken resigned over their false claims.

“Biden is so busted,” reacted Citizen Free Press on Twitter. “Michael Morell just blew this up.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., blasted Biden, calling him dishonest. “According to a former top CIA official, Biden’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, was behind an intel memo designed to debunk Hunter Biden’s laptop story,” she said. “How dishonest is this administration.” 

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., called on Blinken to resign. “So Tony Blinken, Secretary of State, orchestrated the letter falsely calling the Hunter Biden laptop Russian disinfo,” he said. “This guy should not still have a job,” the senator said on Twitter.”

“It’s past time for some accountability,” Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas., blasted on Twitter. “Hunter Biden laptop is Russian disinfo? A lie. The Steele dossier? A lie. All Biden classified docs found? A lie,” he added.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb, called out the Biden campaign’s hypocrisy. “The fabrication that Hunter Biden’s laptop was a Russian ploy & the letter signed by 51 intel leaders attesting to such was created lock, stock and barrel by the Biden team itself,” he said. 

In an interview with Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., flirted with the idea of impeaching Biden. “How could we not impeach Biden if this does in fact reach him,” he said. “I wonder what their defense would be.”

Using his government account, Burchett called the Biden White House “corrupt.”

“[Blinken] had 50 intelligence officials sign on to a statement claiming the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation a month before the presidential election,” he said. “The Biden White House is corrupt to its core.”

Echoing Burchett’s demands, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., demanded to know if Biden had any role in this cover-up attempt. “What did Joe Biden know about the lies his campaign told to cover up Hunter’s laptop? And when did he know it?”

 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, blasted Blinken in a letter, alerting him that both Republican-led committees are investigating the letter’s origins, citing “oversight of federal law-enforcement and intelligence matters within our respective jurisdiction.” 

“We are examining that public statement signed by 51 former intelligence officials that falsely discredited a New York Post story regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop as supposed Russian disinformation,” they blasted. “As part of our oversight, we have learned that you played a role in the inception of this statement while serving as a Biden campaign advisor, and we therefore request your assistance with our oversight.”

Read Jordan’s letter to Blinken in full here.

Leftist Candidates Protest ‘Skewed’ Election, Cite Voter Fraud in Illinois Mayoral Race

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Leftist Candidates Protest ‘Skewed’ Election, Cite Voter Fraud in Illinois Mayoral Race

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Residents in East St. Louis, a city in Illinois, including leftist political candidate Marie Franklin and outgoing Mayor Robert Eastern III, protested on Thursday the election results of an April 4 mayoral election citing alleged voter fraud, bribery and flawed verification processes for signatures.

“I ran a clean campaign and hard-working campaign, and we were disappointed,” Franklin, a 60-year-old community activist said, according to Fox-affiliated Fox 2. “Everybody who was with us was disappointed. We were like, these numbers just aren’t adding up. That’s because this election and others in the past have been decided on the basis of those mail-in ballots. The process we’re dealing with those is skewed. The process is off. We need to have a better process.” 

Mayor Eastern III sent a letter to county prosecutors and the state’s Attorney General demanding a criminal investigation claiming illegal election processes, local reporter Deion Broxton said Thursday.

“It’s been going on for years,” Franklin told Broxnton in an interview.

Franklin’s supporters claimed they witnessed individuals voting using other people’s names and receiving cash payments in exchange for votes, local media reported on Thursday. 

“You know we have people telling folks, ‘Oh, we’re going to fill this out for you so you can get paid,” Franklin warned. “Really? That’s what we’re doing still?” 

Franklin announced her failed candidacy in October 2022 and ran on far-left platform, promising to abolish cash bail and take down what she dubbed “systems that are in place that oppress us,” reported local newspaper Belleville News-Democrat on October 4, 2022. 

Rev. Dr. Kelvin Ellis, a protestor, called on those fraudulent votes to be thrown out and demanded a new election. “If those votes are in fact thrown out and the requirement for a new election in that particular district, that may in fact change the outcome of the entire election,” he said.

The local board of election rejected Franklin’s claims and proceeded to certify the April 4 election. “No evidence will be taken, and no arguments will be heard,” said a spokeswoman for the Board of Election Commissioners. “Please be advised that the appropriate manner for reporting any alleged voter fraud should be forwarded to the state attorney’s office.”

City council member Charles Powell III won the election, local outlets reported.

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