The Last Time Billy Barr Ordered a Politicized Investigation, DOJ Altered Documents for Public Consumption
It is a fact that someone (or someones) who were part of the Jeffrey Jensen review of the Mike Flynn prosecution altered documents for public consumption. That is not speculation. It is not hyperbole. It is a fact, one that other outlets had better start replicating and enhancing if they want to prevent Barr’s green light on investigations into election irregularities, announced last night, from doing the same.
At a minimum, DOJ removed protective order footers from a set of documents shared with Sidney Powell on September 23, in advance of the first debate.
The altered January 5, 2017 Strzok notes, altered to suggest a January 5, 2017 meeting might have happened on January 4, 2017, without the footer:
The realtered January 5, 2017 Strzok notes, with the footer:
The second set of Strzok notes (originally altered to read March 28), without the footer:
The second set of Strzok notes, with the footer.
The altered McCabe notes, altered to include a date, with the footer redacted out:
The realtered McCabe notes, with the footer unredacted:
The two other documents released that day, a newly repackaged set of Page-Strzok texts (with newly released personal information that constitutes a new violation of the Privacy Act) that DOJ now claims not to have had a purpose to release and a set of FBI analyst texts the identities of which DOJ seems very concerned about hiding, also lacked protective order footnotes.
The three documents (above) subsequently released with the protective order replaced all had dates added to the initially altered document, a misleading date in at least the case of Peter Strzok’s January 5, 2017 notes and misleading redactions used to suggest something false about the date added to the McCabe notes. DOJ claims those added dates were inadvertent, but the fact they happened with documents that had otherwise been altered (and on a document, the Strzok January 5, 2017 notes, that had already been released once without the date) makes that claim highly unlikely. When prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine submitted a filing admitting that the dates had been altered, she falsely claimed that Strzok and McCabe’s lawyers had confirmed nothing else was altered.
There are several other problems with the altered set of Andrew McCabe notes (including that notes about prep for the Global Threats Hearing got released with no declassification stamp), problems that merit more attention from experts.
But those aren’t the only pieces of evidence that the Jeffrey Jensen investigation evolved from inventing an excuse to blow up the Flynn prosecution into an opportunity to set up campaign attacks for the President. Pro-Trump FBI Agent Bill Barnett gave an interview that was materially inconsistent with his actions during the Flynn investigation (and that claimed to be unaware of key pieces of evidence against Flynn). When DOJ released it, they redacted it in such a way as to hide complimentary comments from Barnett about Brandon Van Grack that would have completely undermined DOJ’s claimed reasons to throw out Flynn’s prosecution.
There are more signs of irregularities with this “investigation.” But this list by itself proves that DOJ, in an investigation personally ordered up by Billy Barr, used the “investigation” to package up propaganda to help Donald Trump. The package even seems to have served to tee up an attack Trump made on Joe Biden in the first debate.
As noted, last night Barr authorized what had previously been forbidden for over forty years, DOJ’s conduct of investigations into claims of irregularities ginned up by the very same lawyers — Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani — who invented the complaints about the Flynn prosecution. One of Barr’s investigations has already altered official documents to sustain false claims. That means there’s reason to believe he would do it again, to serve the same cause. Indeed, Trump’s election loss gives Barr’s a greater incentive to repeat the process, to ensure he is not replaced by someone who would treat these alterations as a crime.
A Bill Barr politicized investigation altered documents to serve propaganda in the past. We should assume it will happen again.
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) 
It’s like you’re one step ahead of ’em.
Maybe two.
And with receipts.
We must have massive protests outside DOJ headquarters.
That — and IMO we should be taking it directly to news outlets so they can’t blow it off as just another anti-Trump rally.
I wish someone would tell me I’m crazy for saying that this is part and parcel of an attempt to create an atmosphere of controversy so that the GOP legislatures in 3 or more states that Biden won can simply decline to certify the results. I should be on meds, right…..right?
I can’t grant your wish, Mr. Fisher, without committing myself to an institution for the mentally ill . . . in good conscience.
In bad conscience . . . You’re crazy “for saying” it.
I’m certifiable also, this is unfortunately not over and there are a bunch of indicators. This act of Barrs, the firing of Esper, who blocked active duty troops from Washington during the protests, the GSA not signing off on transition funds and support, multiple lawsuits with most being dismissed, but one that may reach the Supreme Court. Add it up and it certainly doesn’t look like a smooth transition.
We should all be on meds at this point.
What you described is their likely intent but they are so incompetent, and the goal such a hail mary, that it’s unlikely they will succeed. I think.
I’m a little calmer after reading this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/06/state-legislatures-electoral-college-steal/
but not much. Six months ago this was a conspiracy theory; and now?
The problem with this article is that I think that the House votes by states not by individual representatives. I think that the republicans actually control more state delegations.
I’m worried; but less so when I think of Nancy Pelosi. I’m reminded of how nothing happens in the House without her giving the okey-dokey from on high. Couldn’t the House simply not take up the state by state count? The more I think about it, it’s hard to imagine Pelosi approving of the state by state count coming up after corrupt state legislatures refused to ratify Biden’s victory.
I’m in the minority when it comes to faith in Pelosi. She’s squandered more opportunity’s to check trump than I can count. My unpopular opinion is that she needs to go.
You are not alone in that analysis and feeling. Steny Hoyer and Hakeem Jeffries can go too.
William Kristol needs his meds, too.
https://thebulwark.com/be-alarmed/
“Esper is most notable for having come out and said that the military would not intervene in domestic affairs at the behest of the president. Perhaps the new acting secretary of defense might take a different view.”
Seems like Trump, in addition to replacing Esper with a more sympathetic individual, is going more broadly after the Pentagon. Plus his effing with election validity.
I keep thinking Trump could be setting up circumstances where he could declare martial law and bring in the troops, so to speak. Illegality seems to mean nothing to him insofar as going after what he wants.
I think it’s just theatre for an audience of one. McConnell needs Trump onside for the Georgia special election. That’s the only reason that Republicans (save for the Q Believers) are humouring him right now. They know that he’s toast; they’re much more interested in saving their own majority. Hence, Barr’s recent visit to McConnell’s chambers.
It never ceases to amaze how Trump et al are one continuous exercise in projection. What they accuse Democrats of doing is precisely what they themselves do. Doctored ballots, “found” ballots, disappeared ballots, hacked machines and, of course, misrepresentations to the courts: it’s realistic to expect nothing less.
I’ve heard this phenomena described as DARVO:
Deny
Attack
Reverse
Victim &
Offender
Yep. DARVO is a well-known acronym used in academic cult studies literature. Seeing as a how Trump is the cult leader of the world’s largest political cult, this and many other related concepts need to be more widely known…
To this history of altering documents to suit propagandic aims — in this new context of investigating voting “irregularities” — for the interaction effect it’s worth recalling what went down with DOJ’s MDPA investigation of those few ballots discarded by mistake in Luzerne County, PA, by a newbie election worker who was immediately fired.* Then, DOJ put out multiple rounds of misinformation, and, uncharacteristically so, in the midst of an ongoing investigation. Not long after that, Barr issued new policy that DOJ could publicly discuss investigations about voting Maround the election. [Aside, Trump’s new suit (to stop certification of PA results) is filed in MDPA…]
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*ballots were opened or spoiled because the envelopes looked the same as the ones for ballot *applications*; this one-two day employee discarded them in further error. Meanwhile, the GOP rode a frother-wide media free-for-all for days, using it to expand horizons for authoritarian ‘remedies.’
Adam Klasfeld is all over that “new” suit:
https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1325971785729384448
8:21 PM · Nov 9, 2020
LOL! Ted Boutrous notes:
https://twitter.com/BoutrousTed/status/1325994779264479232
9:52 PM · Nov 9, 2020
Thanks, harpie, we overlapped. I also took my AG’s advice (but for the sleep part) and blew off the details of Trump’s shenanigans for the night, so am glad to have Klasfeld’s breakdown.
Okay, this could be a little out of left field, but does Trump have standing to sue?
What I’m getting at is should it be the Republican party or the electors; a “chain of command” progression? Sorry if a silly question.
No meds needed; some blueberry pie would help though.
~~~~~~~~
Here’s some entertainment from NOVEMBER 7, 2012: !!!!!
[This loooonatic got elected president???]
From NYMag:
“ELECTION NIGHT NOV. 7, 2012
Donald Trump Wins Election Night’s ‘Most Unhinged Conservative’ Award
By Dan Amira
Long before the popular vote had been finalized — we’re talking hours and hours, if not days — the world’s most celebrated village idiot, Donald Trump, took to Twitter to call for revolution because Obama had won the election without receiving the most votes. (Not long after, Obama took the lead in the popular vote.) For this wonderfully insane tirade — some of which has since been deleted, but which we have preserved in its entirety — Trump wins Daily Intel’s Election Night Most Unhinged Conservative Award…”
~~~~~~~~
[The tweets are in the article on line.]
Those workers in Luzerne County were, apparently, habitually ‘curing’ ballots (including by shoving them [back] into envelopes). Trump’s latest suit allege-whines that blue/predominantly democratic counties were advising voters to cure mail ballot problems, while red counties were instead “following the law” or some such.
Luzerne county just voted Trump+14.4 (Trump 56.7% to Biden 42.3%). Yet I’ve not seen word one (since the tilted brouhaha) about the unorthodox methods deployed there (which would be outside of any standard practice; though in any event I personally do not wish to see anyone disenfranchized for a simple screw-up by themselves or anyone else, that’s on Trump).
Can’t wait to ctrl-f through that suit to see how exactly he is addressing what’s known re Luzerne Co (tho his goal is getting all mail ballots tossed, knowing Biden is sharply there-favored statewide).
—
ETA: LOL see harpie’s comment, and Klasfeld’s LOL; I regrettably removed my own LOL in an editing error. Did I say LOL?
*
Klasfeld’sharpie’s LOL!This would however fit in with the standard GOP practice of projecting their own actions as evidence of broad D conspiracies. Let’s remember almost all of the known voter fraud cases (such as Ann Coulter’s and the ones in KS, as well as Stokke in NV) involves GOP people “testing” the system to prove fraud. Our tell this time was the ask (IIRC in NV) for people to come forward with claims at the GOP presser, just go over to the table in the corner.
Unless Luzerne and Fayette counties are defendants here, PA should insist that the judge toss the suits since the wring defendants are being charged.
Umm Hmm. They are nothing if not blessedly predictable. On another front of their schemes, Caruso just reported from Harrisburg that the state GOPers have thus far failed to mount this hackneyed angle of the coup attempt (as Trump was exhorting again today on twitter):
Stephen Caruso: “Morning everyone. I am on the Pennsylvania state Capitol today. You may have see[n] reports about Pa. GOP state lawmakers pushing for a legislative election audit. I will be in the digging into this today.
[… long thread, incl. POTUS tweet]
“House GOP Leadership team walks out and is basically unchanged, minus expected movement. I.e., any last minute Trump-inspired coup did not happen as of right now.”
https://twitter.com/StephenJ_Caruso/status/1326240688481120257
Hmmm…. It seems our PA postal worker that claimed ballots were backdated in Erie was paid $130,000 by the GOP to make the allegation. Lindsey Graham then cited this as evidence of ballot fraud, let’s see what he does now that the postal worker recanted.
If 130,000 sounds familiar, it was what DJT paid for Stormy’s silence. Also, the postal worker episode is an awful lot like the adventures by Wohl and Burkman who paid women to claim Biden (and others) did repulsive things. I think the postal worker needs to be prosecuted as well as all of the GOP party types that signed and paid off on this.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/11/10/1994810/-GOP-donors-paid-130-000-to-postal-worker-to-claim-voter-fraud
AIUI, the $130K was donations to a gofundme that’s been shut down because of the fraud.
Also, his job is likely to disappear even faster than it already was.
136, but I thought it was rather karmic in a weird way.
It seems Mr. Hopkins has un-retracted his retraction, but still has offered zero evidence of his claim. The fact this went through Project Veritas, James O’Keefe’s scandal fabrication shop well known for paying its actors for gotcha purposes is a clear indicator of the value. Project Veritas was behind many “stings” involving Planned Parenthood and attempted to bug Claire McCaskill’s phone while she was in the Senate. O’Keefe should have been jailed for that alone.
One hopes Mr. Hopkins got paid up front, because this might be the last money he gets.
His “evidence” is useless either way because of his not just vacillating, but directly conflicting, statements. Not to mention that he is tied to O’Keefe and Veritas. Did not get incarceration, but O’Keefe was prosecuted and convicted for his operation on Senator Landrieu.
You’re right, it was Landrieu.
I would also think that as soon as the defense attorney asked “how much did you get paid for this?” it would be the end of Hopkins’ use as a witness.
O’Keefe’s apparently cooking up more trouble for himself (and/or the guy) by claiming there are recordings of federal agents in a two-party-consent state:
Lol, trust me, Owen would know.
I love these people, fine public servants. On voter fraud in the unsued Luzerne County and GOP bounties, Lt. Gov. says:
PS: the @PATreasury account is a great one to follow, general interest. I couldn’t believe my eyes a couple years back when I saw matter-of-fact content on income inequality (also, humor). As it stands, Treasurer is one of the statewide offices we lost to the GOP so whoever’s running it won’t be for long. RIP another enjoyable public servant who seeks public engagement with gov services.
Richard Pilger, director of the Election Crimes Branch for more than ten years, has resigned that position because of Barr’s “new policy abrogating the forty-year-old Non-Interference Policy.”
[screenshot here]: https://twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/1326005466380591105
10:35 PM · Nov 9, 2020
Here’s a paragraph of Barr’s memo:
https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/barr-memo-elections-fraud/9bf5cac375012c4c/full.pdf
Even while justifying his perverse action in favor of Trump, Barr says the quiet parts out loud.
1) He wants to “rectify” an election result before it is declared – in favor of his destructive authoritarian boss.
2) A forty-year precedent is not a “hard and fast rule” that requires respect. Not even under the circumstances for which it was intended, which are exactly the ones we have here.
The DoJ has no role in deciding or materially influencing elections. As the government’s chief prosecutorial and law enforcement agency, it’s supposed to keep its paws off them. There are other agencies of government designed to monitor and insure election integrity – which is primarily a state function.
The DoJ’s prosecutorial job is to investigate legitimately suspect circumstances after they are concluded, to prosecute conduct it can prove beyond a reasonable doubt, and to document circumstances requiring legislative or other reform.
Bill Barr is a corrupt functionary for a corrupt man, who fears for his freedom and fortune should his tenure as a public employee end, which it should about midday on January 20, 2021.
“To all my colleagues at the Department of Justice, let me say that it is a privilege to serve with you. I will do all I can to support your work in advancing the cause of justice.”
William Barr
Former corporate general counsels learn before they get the job how to spew the corporate dogma and piss on it at the same time.
The most dangerous sentence from Barr’s memo above: “While most allegations of purported election misconduct are of such a scale that they would not impact the outcome of an election and, thus, investigation can appropriately be deferred, that is not always the case.”
It reads to me as though Barr is claiming in this one sentence that election fraud on a scale large enough to swing an election is not only possible but has already occurred. If my understanding of his claim is correct, why are we the people not demanding from him citations of those cases that changed an election outcome?
I don’t know what he’s alluding to, but as to scale one possibility is the stuff they are churning in various RW outlets about the fictitious “Hammer” and “Scorecard” (see 936a comment below for link).
I could see them tying this nonsense to the Schulte case as well (and wonder if they had planned to exploit said case wrt attribution for 2016; they are, of late, playing out most of their prior plotlines — ones deferred or aborted by things like the Mueller investigation and impeachment — this season).
You said it yourself, though: it’s a fiction. Barr ought to be called upon to cite those cases of large-scale election fraud to which he alluded.
We should be demanding facts. But since Barr has not apparently begun any investigations – something we should demand to know – but only authorized them, he will have none to provide. That’s what the MSM should be covering. That is, that he has NO facts and is authorizing investigations to cater to the whims of a sociopath.
Yes, politicians on both sides of the aisle should decry Barr’s unprecedented arrogation of power, using the resources of a department that traditionally has no role in and normally works hard to stay the fuck away from elections.
Absolutely we should demand the evidence now because Barr’s pronouncements have a chronic pattern of falling apart when subjected to any examination, to the point of showing that Barr’s take is the opposite of what the relevant document says.
FWIW, the number of votes under contest is nowhere close enough to swing the states, i.e. AZ has 180 ballots being challenged when Biden leads by over 15,700 votes. PA could throw out 7800 late arrivers but Biden is ahead by more that 45,600, and so on. The concern for me is that SCOTUS will pull a “Citizen’s United” and expand the decision to topics not asked for a sweeping opinion invalidating the election for some form of do-over to help DJT.
This is about laying markers for future elections where gerrymandering gets worse (based on recent SCOTUS opinions about legislative control) and more suppression gets approved. As for gerrymandering, I guess progressives need to move into those districts to swing them.
Pompeo is in on this, also. “a smooth transition to a second Trump administration” is not something he should say.
Mary Louise Kelly with a sick, sick burn (via Marcy):
“Might Pompeo point us to a state on the map where there’s evidence of widespread voter fraud?”
https://twitter.com/NPRKelly/status/1326239328851402754
The more I hear from these fools, Trump etc… don’t strike me as willing to go gently into that good night.
From Raw Story .com
“Republicans accused of conspiring to commit election fraud in Pennsylvania
…
“Hours before President Donald Trump went on national television Thursday to declare the inherent illegitimacy of ballots received after Nov. 3, local Republican officials recruited volunteers to call Pennsylvania voters and urge them to get their ballots in by Friday—three days after Election Day,” The Daily Beast reported late Thursday evening.
“The request, election lawyers say, appears to flagrantly run afoul of state law. Under Pennsylvania law and a recent state Supreme Court decision, absentee and mail-in ballots are valid as long as they were postmarked by Election Day and received by Nov. 6. Any Trump supporter who sends in their ballots either Thursday or Friday would not have it postmarked within the acceptable deadline—creating the precise situation that the president himself has deemed fraudulent and corrupt,” The Beast explained. ” …
More about this at this comment:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/11/10/the-last-time-billy-barr-ordered-a-politicized-investigation-doj-altered-documents-for-public-consumption/#comment-866571
THIS guy. On the other side of this FUD (? rat-FUDding ?) operation:
Infamous ‘Hoax’ Artist Behind Trumpworld’s New Voter Fraud Claim
He tricked the Bush administration into thinking he could detect terrorist signals in al Jazeera broadcasts. Now Dennis Montgomery has a new set of believers.
by WIll Sommer
Updated Nov. 09, 2020 3:14AM ET / Published Nov. 08, 2020 9:04PM ET
https://www.thedailybeast.com/infamous-hoax-artist-behind-trumpworlds-new-voter-fraud-claim
Good opportunity to familiarize oneself with the parlance that’ll captivate the Fox-watchers for the next four years or so.
I’m trying to post a significant update to this comment but because it contains conspiracy kw favored by our POTUS and his flying monkeys, the site is outright rejecting the update. Bear with me to see if this modified version goes through:
On the impending firing of CISA head Christopher Krebs:
[thread: CISA’s rejection of the fictitious supercomputer and software described above cited as particular source of WH anger; tweet links to article below]
https://twitter.com/Bing_Chris/status/1326981149890138119
Exclusive: Top official on U.S. election cybersecurity tells associates he expects to be fired | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-officials-exclusive/exclusive-senior-u-s-cybersecurity-official-tells-associates-he-expects-to-be-fired-idUSKBN27S2YI
Related/most def not unrelated to this FUD project, Trump earlier today:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1326926226888544256
Dilanian just got caught pottymouthing *twice* on live tv when Melvin called him to air (saying ‘Oh Shit, Fuck’ – to his notes? — or perhaps there was a phone).
He was about to report on how Grenell refuses Biden any intelligence, PDB; no acknowledgement of the Transition until results certified and GSA “declares” a winner, they’d said earlier. Not sure if NBC has any new details vs., say, what CNN reported last night. Can locate the blooper clip but not any actual (new) story atm:
Whoopsie:
https://twitter.com/SuperAngryAtty/status/1326199280630034432
CNN last night:
https://twitter.com/ZcohenCNN/status/1325946643087290375
1145a he just returned to air; they have confirmed no PDB is new reporting; they change keyword to GSA “a
Not enough time to sneak that in edit above: the new reporting is that NBC has confirmed that Biden is not receiving a PDB; the keyword re GSA has been changed to “ascertained” from “declares” a winner; Biden won’t receive the different quality (really searching for the right word here, given current admin leadership) briefing on intel matters until then.
The winner *has* been ascertained, and they’re out of line.
On the subject of PDBs, the Washington Post has this article about fears about Trump revealing classified intelligence after he is gone.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-possible-security-risk/2020/11/09/f19c853e-229e-11eb-952e-0c475972cfc0_story.html
The fear is less about details from PDBs, which he doesn’t read, as more general information. He could, for example, reveal the existence of a missle program currently under development.
The article notes that Trump has no legal immunity if he reveals classified info as soon as he is out of office.
It would be fitting were he nabbed for brokering minor details about Space Force (that’s the closest we’ll get to resembling Comedy Central’s “The End of Trump”).
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MB: yes, hence the word search. However, I suspect the Biden camp could pick up on some subtly-placed info which would elude censorship from Trump’s lackey-overseers.
I had heard that the PDBs were simplified for Trump, limited to 1 page and containing drawings and pictures so that the First Moron could grasp their content. I’ve also heard that Trump frequently ignores even the simplified PDBs.
So…even if Biden did have access to Trump’s PDBs, he might want to see the grownup version of them in order to better formulate his proposed policies.
Another reason Trump won’t give Biden access to the PDB: he’ll read the full briefing and understand it. That will put him way beyond Trump in understanding what’s happening.
Plus, Biden and his top people will start to read about what’s happening that Trump is not disclosing, but which should be disclosed. Examples might include evidence of Russian election interference and foreign appreciations of what an incompetent destructive ass Trump is.
Rumor has it that they kept dumbing down the PDB until it got to one page and Trump still wasn’t reading it. So, they went back to a more typical executive summary, a small portion of which is apparently read out to the president by an aide, whose identity changes with Trump’s whims. Even at that, Trump won’t sit still for it every day.
Formerly an Honorary Position ~ The Order Of The Royal Stool (rubber gloves not provided).
Anyone catch Mitch’s presser a bit ago?
As Chris Lu points out, citing a WaPo article today, the delay in getting BushCheney people in place promptly was cited by the 9/11 commission as a “critical vulnerability” that contributed to 9/11.
That psychopath Donald Trump doesn’t give a shit is no surprise. But is it equally true of all Republicans in the House and Senate, and all the bureaucrats in government?
https://twitter.com/ChrisLu44/status/1326122588754620418
Not all of the bureacrats. Even if some political appointees are spraying cold water all over, there are career bureacrats who doing everything they can to facilitate a transfer to new leadership.
Pretty much every embassy right now, for example, is starting to deal with sending packing boxes to the home of every ambassador, giving them the deadlines for getting their stuff shipped home before they will have to pay for it, letting them know when their health insurance runs out….
Getting the old people out is not the same as getting new people in. But it’s a start and something the Obama administration didn’t seem to put much effort into.
From Twitter,
Ryan Browne @rabrowne75
~5:00 pm EST 11/10/20
Pentagon finally confirms near total decapitation of civilian leadership in the last 24 hours. Secretary of Defense Esper fired Monday, the top Pentagon Policy official, top Defense Department intelligence official, and chief of staff to the Defense Secretary all out today.
FYI: https://www.fox43.com/article/news/politics/republican-attorneys-general-join-legal-action-against-pennsylvania-mail-in-ballots/521-c06e01c0-265d-4229-846c-54aed97ecda7
I am unable to find any “guesstimate” of the total votes that were counted, but set aside in PA that arrived post election day close.
Hopeful that the count wouldn’t affect the outcome. And, of course, this is not a fraud issue.
Hi Pete, the SoS announced last night that there are 10k of those segregated ballots (they are not included in the vote total– YET). They would not change the outcome. So we’re in the clear there. 10s of thousands others left to count as well that are not under any challenge — Biden’s lead is expected to increase.
So all of Trump’s threats worked to get people to get them in sooner, by methods other than USPS, or to abandon their mail ballots and vote provisional.
I still think Judge Sullivan’s orders for postal sweeps etc. made a crucial difference. Wish I knew the number of ballots collected on Tues *and possibly delivered on Tues* before polls closed (so would be included in ‘regular’ total).
—
Where things stand today:
10,000 Pennsylvania mail ballots arrived after Election Day — too few to change result if thrown out
https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-mail-ballots-counted-deadline-supreme-court-20201111.html
The GOP seems to be in the process of a Coup d’Etat in slow motion. I suspect they’ll concentrate to manufacture an ‘alternative’ Electoral College vote, they can use the claim legitimacy. After all, it seems, all they actually need is the degree of recklessness and corruption that produces the 270 votes required. The law suits might just be deflection and a propaganda tool, noise, and buying time till they are prepared to do it.
isnt evidence required for a lawsuit to have standing?
Not the other way around, i.e., bring a lawsuit and then fish for evidence —
You are on the right track.
“Standing” is required of the parties to the suit, more or less analogous to, “having a dog in the fight”.
But yes, a lawsuit must be in “good faith” and thus have some evidentiary basis to be brought. (Even in my state, IL, where we have “suits in discovery”, there’s a minimum showing necessary to proceed, which showing also includes standing.)
The Secretary of State is now making “jokes” about the lawful transition of power, just like a pilot might get on the intercom and joke about crashing into the side of a mountain, you know, to show the passengers that he has a sense of humor.
Trump is apparently bullying Loeffler and Perdue – and they’re complying – into a burn the house down approach. That includes demanding that the GOP GA SecState resign.
That’s not because he did anything wrong or incompetently, but, as with the Hunter Biden and the Ukraine, it’s merely to create the false impression that something improper happened in the GA election. It’s fiction as stage management. It might also be because he wasn’t corrupt enough for Trump.
That’s not politics, it’s a running coup.
The incompetent but mysteriously successful nebbish, Kash Patel – a Trump favorite and a Devin Nunes protege – surfaces again. He has just been made new Acting SecDef Miller’s chief of fucking staff. That makes him an information bottleneck through which important things in the Pentagon flow.
This is not what you do to set up people on your nomenklatura for a job you hope to give them in a future GOP administration years hence. It is not what you do just to tear up a department, in the manner of a crazed Eddie Haskel burning the Monopoly board after being bankrupted by the Beaver. It might be what you do to keep everyone in line and their mouths shut for a few months. But it’s also what you do to implement a coup.
Trump is not better at one thing more than another. He’s incompetent across the board, which is a saving grace and might allow us to avoid a full out attempt by him to remain in office. But it will set up a stab-in-the-back legend that will nurture the Base for years. If we’re lucky, that will only mean Trump’s begging for litigation money – really to pay for his past and future campaigns, and his personal habits, which he charges to them – is more successful than it should be. But Trump is a vicious psychopath, who views getting even 10x over like Vince Lombardi viewed winning.
https://twitter.com/dnvolz/status/1326252515474747393 – citing a pay-walled WSJ article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-national-security-council-aide-is-named-to-top-pentagon-post-11605037916
MSNBC needs Claire McCaskill’s commentary as much as it needs James Carville’s, or CNN needs Rick Santorum’s. She makes Chuck Toddler appear intelligent and challenging. But almost all their commentators continue to treat Trump’s refusal to accept defeat as a rude, precedent-breaking, irritating, sometimes humorous personal failing.
It is all those things. But Trump is also a ruthless, vindictive, psychopath, for whom leaving office is a ticket to hell. He’s also president. Is he really as powerless as Don Knott’s Mr. Limpet or Bob Hope’s Peter Potter, the Painless Dentist?
Ari Melber, too, takes Donald Trump and Bill Barr literally. His assessment is that Bill Barr’s memo last night is laughably weak, it’s a damp squib no one should be frightened of, and, impliedly, it’s not worth resigning over.
That may be accurate, as far as it goes. But given Bill Barr’s history with this and the Bush Sr. administration, what’s really laughable is that your analysis of what Barr and Trump are up to would stop there.
This describes much better what I want to say. You do not need to publish my comment, or better do not actually, I just want you to make aware of this possibility. It’s no accident I post this to you, you have always been right at the curve or ahead of it. This coup is stopped the easier than everyone is aware of what’s going on.
“The Constitution, states’ laws, and precedent indicates that if there was indeed a legitimate dispute and a state couldn’t certify their election by December 14, state legislatures could use that “uncertainty” to select their own slate of electors. There are Republican state legislatures in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona. Trump doesn’t need to win in Court. He simply needs to tie things up in enough of those states until December 14 when legislatures appoint electors to cast ballots for their states. That is why he is claiming fraud and irregularities with no evidence.”
https://www.newsandguts.com/opinion-there-is-an-attempted-coup-happening-right-now/
Toast
Suck it up, Mr. Schmuck,
Cold turkey for a lame duck,
We give thanks you’re out of luck,
But you’ll still try to pass the buck.
Unlike Colin & Scarlett Jost,
with Meals on Wheels, coast to coast,
You can’t lift a glass to toast,
Or even sit through a well earned roast.
The only folks to give you props
are not the ones who do mic drops,
Pulling out all the stops,
You just don’t have the chops.
“It’s the show. It’s the clues,”
It’s the respect to pay the dues,
Risking jeopardy for what ensues,
Even if you might finally lose.
Suck it up, Mr. Schmuck,
Cold turkey for a lame duck,
We give thanks you’re out of luck,
But you’ll still try to pass the buck.
Savage! ~ I can hear Ethel Merman now!!
LOL!
Ethel Merman belting with Fred Astaire
https://youtu.be/DgLtRLgVcQg
The plot thickens. Actually, it’s coffee in which a spoon would stand straight up. An aide to disgraced Mike Flynn – Ezra Cohen-Watnick – has just been promoted to the senior DoD position of Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.
This is his second move this year at the Pentagon. He was first made deputy assist. secretary for counternarcotics and global threats, a mid-level position. A few months later, he was promoted to acting assistant secretary for “special operations/low intensity conflict.” That made him the equivalent of a vice president. His latest promotion, in effect, makes him an executive vp with an office just outside the CEO’s door.
The speed with which C-W passed through the administration is as mysterious as his priorities. Mike Flynn put Cohen-Watnick, now 34, on the NSC. He was the first guy John Kelly got rid of when he became COS. Gen. McMaster tried to get rid of him earlier, to no avail. Before that, C-W was educated at Penn, was trained in clandestine espionage by the CIA at “the farm,” and held jobs at DIA and as a top aide to Jeff Sessions at the DoJ.
At a minimum, Trump is putting a concrete lid on DoD intel. But that’s a passive role that C-W is unlikely to have accepted. Nor is it consistent with Miller’s appointment as Acting SecDef and Kash Patel’s promotion to Miller’s COS. One thing is for sure: the general consensus is that Trump has no more avid supporter than Ezra Cohen-Watnick.
https://twitter.com/attackerman/status/1326282360015495169
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/ezra-cohen-watnick/534615/
I’m curious what the point of this is with so little time — maybe digging out classified info?
Maybe also trying to dig out and fire supposedly disloyal people?
There are early signs the defense industry wants to play nice with Biden and the Pentagon is sick of Trump, I could imagine the Trump side of the GOP sees an opportunity to upset a Biden drive to establish regular order at DOD?
Alone these things might not mean much, but taken together they point to something ominous.
New non-scalable fence placed around White House.
Barr weaponizes the Justice Department to investigate Trump’s baseless fraud claims.
Trump fires DOD leadership and replaces them with “loyal” people.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell throw his support behind President Trump’s legal challenges in the wake of his loss to President-elect Joe Biden. This done minutes after meeting with AG Barr.
Five days before the presidential election, the Trump administration dispatched attorney Trent Benishek of the White House general counsel’s office to the General Services Administration.
Secretary of State Pompeo says: “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration”
To what end?
How long before Rich Higgins is appointed to a top position at the NSC?
Four Seasons Landscaping the Trump event that keeps on giving.
“empoweredvoters #DarylBrooks – #RudyGiuliani’s star witness in alleging there was #electionfraud – is not only a convicted felon who was imprisoned for three years for exposing himself to 7- and 11-year old children, and not only is he allegedly a deadbeat dad who owes child support payments, but this “Pennsylvania poll watcher” is also a New Jersey resident, not a PA resident.
“Brooks was incarcerated in the 1990s on charges of sexual assault, lewdness and endangering the welfare of a minor for exposing himself to two girls ages 7 and 11, according to news accounts.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Brooks has run for various offices, including U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“I started watching it and all of a sudden I was like, ‘there’s New Jersey’s perennial candidate claiming to live in Philadelphia and Giuliani claiming him to be a poll watcher and Philadelphia resident,” Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora said in a phone interview.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
James Gee, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), also said he immediately recognized Brooks.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“Yeah, I know Daryl. It’s so fitting that he would be there,” Gee said.” [Politico]”
Rick Wilson’s epithet-filled rant at the Daily Beast suggests that Trump will ultimately slink away from the office of the President. I suggest that Trump and his minions are playing for keeps, and that people need to stop thinking that what Trump et al. are doing is something other than a very serious effort to stay in power using illegitimate means. Everyone who wants to avoid Trump remaining in power needs to take steps, using all legitimate means, that they can take to avoid that outcome. That is the only way that Trump will depart. The press needs to comprehend that this is not a game and is not being done to gain some tactical advantage once Biden takes control.
Your analysis is pointed and cogent. He told you himself that you would get tired of (his) winning. Yes, he is playing for keeps. Winning, for him, is all that matters.
I’m constantly astonished at the commentary here and elsewhere, that discounts how dangerous he is when uncontrolled. Dangerous and uncontrolled – but I repeat myself.
The little-more-than whining that I’ve seen for the last 10 years (from both sides) is evidence enough that no good thing will come for humanity.
American exceptionalism? It surely is.
Your assumption they have not taken such steps is based on what?
My assumption that some people, but certainly not all, are not taking things as seriously as they should, and thus should up their game. That would include, but not be limited to, any Republicans who are not power hungry sociopaths and many members of the media. No criticism of the principals here is intended.
I have no idea where to start this clickhole but it’s hilarious (well, and bigoted in every way possible). This is how GOP pol-types spend their lonely existence, catfishing for Trump voters (at least Vlad’s guys get paid for this) (hang in til you get to the part about Miss Patti LaBelle’s son/nephew):
Gregg Housh: “This Republican botnet seems to be having problems. [off you go….]”
https://twitter.com/GreggHoush/status/1326271406947102720
Rep. Malcolm “Biden/Harris WON” Kenyatta: “Oh Dean….You crazy as hell. Signed, An actual black gay guy. [screenshot of busted GOP imposter who forgot which account he was on]”
https://twitter.com/malcolmkenyatta/status/1326281045352861703
—
BRAD, IS THIS WHERE ALL THE CAMPAIGN COFFERS WENT? CENTS-ON-THE-TWEET?
Eureka, I thought the whole Four Seasons Total Landscaping thing was hysterical. Then you reference this! I couldn’t stop laughing about Patti La Belle’s nephew/son. Then I had to find my Labelle album and listen to Lady Marmalade again. Dammit! :)
Biggest laugh I had all day.
The “Patti Labelles son” stuff is most easily found here:
https://twitter.com/williamlegate/status/1326292748174045184
TRUMP WORLD is SYSTEMATICALLY ATTACKING our NATIONAL SECURITY from within AND without.
I don’t know how Marcy processes so much information so quickly and precisely [!], but there are about 5 variations on the above theme on her twitter timeline just from this morning.
1] https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1326390121588002823
12:03 AM · Nov 11, 2020
Links to:
https://twitter.com/dangillmor/status/1326388608278917124
11:57 PM · Nov 10, 2020
Re: the baseless nature of the legal challenges [again, Marsha Blackburn]
https://twitter.com/hunterw/status/1326234209980125185
1:44 PM · Nov 10, 2020
More about the LUDICROUS allegations of “voter fraud”:
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1326460247175786502
4:42 AM · Nov 11, 2020
Links to:
https://twitter.com/bradheath/status/1326394667542441987
12:21 AM · Nov 11, 2020
2] https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1326383556843745280
11:37 PM · Nov 10, 2020
Following an illegal order, even if you have a bogus legal opinion in hand, is against the military code.
The rank and file can’t make that judgment call, nor can most of the officer corps. But the top generals can push back on it, legally and politically.
Let me amend that. The odds of someone lower on the ladder not obeying an order because it was illegal would depend on many factors, starting with how obviously illegal it was, were there witnesses, and so on.
There are fundamental ones we would know are wrong, like engaging in violating Geneva and other obvious crimes. When lawlessness prevails in GOP administrations there will always be those who will follow the prevailing wind.
3] https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1326376472987230212
[Responding to a tweet from Arthur Schwartz]
11:09 PM · Nov 10, 2020
4] https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1326498534154235905
[Responding to a tweeted video from Marsha Blackburn]
7:14 AM · Nov 11, 2020
Links to:
https://twitter.com/MarshaBlackburn/status/1326252244971433985
2:55 PM · Nov 10, 2020
5] Marcy links to:
Trump Will Have His Own ‘Deep State’—and His Own #Resistance
Now that Biden has won, a coalition of current and former security officials can be expected to challenge him. And the one that opposed Trump and supports Biden might fracture.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-will-have-his-own-deep-stateand-his-own-resistance
Spencer Ackerman Nov. 07, 2020 12:10AM
I was hoping Marcy would write about all this and she DID!
PALACE INTRIGUE: TRUMP PREPARES HIS CONSOLATION PRIZE FOR VLADIMIR PUTIN
https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/11/11/trump-prepares-his-consolation-prize-for-vladimir-putin/
November 11, 2020
So the Republicans are not saying anything about Trump changes at Pentagon, because they don’t want to affect Georgia runoff races.
And Trump knows this. And it could mean Trump is going to be unchecked once again.
Biden on the other hand is constrained because he wants to unite the country. And Trump knows this.
I have a bad feeling about all this.
Democrats in Congress should at least try to find out why Trump is doing all of these changes.
And not accepting the results is not ok. The voters fired Trump.
Even democrats should not indulge in this narrative that if he feels he wants to sue in courts, he will loose anyway. He lost the election, he is not accepting the results, so now he burns the country because he wants to cheat?
Why is everybody walking on egg shells around Trump. He is a “strong” man.
MAGA crowd would never worship a weak man, would they?
The whole thing is so idiotic, and terrifying.
Feels like Trump is robbing us of the joy of winning this election.
Trump used VETERANS DAY as a PROP for a photo op for his 2024 campaign.
Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent at The Times of London was
waiting for TRUMP to arrive at ARLINGTON CEMETARY:
https://twitter.com/scribblercat/status/1326558261785538561
He arrived late and stayed for six minutes. Then at
2:53 PM · Nov 11, 2020
Trump posts this gross VIDEO of his CEMETARY PHOTO OP:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1326614135958888448
[VIDEO]
Twenty-five minutes late for a ceremony to honor the dead? For a hundred years it has been on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, to commemorate the Armistice for the First World War.
The disrespect for the men and women who served, their families, and their countries is boorish and palpable. It’s as if Trump is always reliving the greatest thrill of his life: buying his way out of Vietnam with a fake bonespur.
The man is lucky any member of the military follows his orders. We’re lucky their oaths are to defend the Constitution, not an individual public employee. That might be his first experience of bad luck.
Maybe he stopped at McD’s on the way, and that takes time.
Let’s also remember that while Meadows never served, he was born an Army hospital at Verdun because his father was serving in France at the time and I would think the significance of 11/11/1918 would have rubbed off somehow (especially there at Verdun). But, Meadows has been (we think) isolated by COVID-19 and we have de facto CoS Stephen Miller and/or Jared, neither of whom give a damn about servicemembers and apparently botched the logistics.
Then again, it was also raining and as we saw in France DJT blew off visiting the American dead there because he might get his hair mussed.
Ryan Goodman and Andrew Weissmann take Barr’s memo apart here:
Barr isn’t just humoring Trump. He’s weaponizing law enforcement.
A new Justice Department memo could lead to bogus investigations
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/11/12/barr-memo-trump-campaign/
Ryan Goodman / Andrew Weissmann November 12, 2020 at 6:00 a.m.
We talked about this at this comment:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/11/10/the-last-time-billy-barr-ordered-a-politicized-investigation-doj-altered-documents-for-public-consumption/#comment-866233
EOH comment here also related:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/11/10/the-last-time-billy-barr-ordered-a-politicized-investigation-doj-altered-documents-for-public-consumption/#comment-866299
On 9/2/20 Barr was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer.
Daniel Dale et al factchecks the interview here:
Fact-checking Attorney General William Barr’s claims on voter fraud, election interference and Jacob Blake
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/03/politics/william-barr-cnn-wolf-blitzer-interview-fact-check/index.html
10:44 PM ET, Thu September 3, 2020
Andrew Weissmann tweeted about the interview at the time:
https://twitter.com/AWeissmann_/status/1301210672005623809
1:29 PM · Sep 2, 2020
After Barr’s recent memo, Weissmann tweeted:
https://twitter.com/AWeissmann_/status/1326002593773084672
10:23 PM · Nov 9, 2020
Occurred to me: should Hunter Biden sue over the nincompoopery regarding the laptop crap?
Per Marcy:
“Goodness gracious. Trump is refusing to concede and Glenn Greenwald is still writing about the Hunter Biden laptop.”
~~~~~~~~
THIS IS ALARMING:
From Vinny / vtc123:
“Hear me out.
Trump just put bunch of his enablers in charge of the Pentagon.
Trump starts a war.
Trump refuses to let Biden in on PDBs.
Trump claims it’s unsafe to hand over the presidency.
GOP is complicit.
@GenMhayden, tell me this can’t happen.”