Tag: 2020 elections

Jack Smith Says Trump Did NOT Have First Amendment Right to Say 2020 Election Was Fraudulent in Newly-Released Deposition

House Judiciary Republicans on Wednesday released a transcript and video of Jack Smith’s closed-door testimony to Congress.

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith appeared on Capitol Hill last month for a closed-door testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.

Republican lawmakers called Jack Smith to testify over his “partisan and politically motivated” Trump prosecutions.

Jack Smith was appointed as Special Counsel in 2022 by Joe Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Trump just one day after Trump announced his 2024 bid for the White House.

In June 2023, Jack Smith indicted Trump on 37 federal counts in Miami for lawfully storing presidential records at his Mar-a-Lago estate, which was protected by Secret Service agents.

In a separate case in Washington DC, Jack Smith indicted Trump on four counts: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

Jack Smith defended his inquisition in an opening statement to congressional investigators.

“The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts,” Jack Smith said.

During his deposition, Jack Smith said his prosecutors framed the case against Trump as a fraud case rather than a First Amendment issue.

“Fraud is not protected by the First Amendment, so in my mind it was important to make that clear in the indictment…” Jack Smith said as he boasted about the case ‘prevailing’ in the district court with corrupt Obama-appointed Judge Chutkan.

Two of Jack Smith’s charges against President Trump in the DC case were ultimately torpedoed by the US Supreme Court after it issued a ruling on the obstruction statute – 1512(c)(2).

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‘Disclosure is required now’: DOJ stalling case against 2020 election denier accused of planting bombs ‘outside the RNC and DNC’ day before Jan. 6, lawyers say

Newly released court documents accused a Virginia man of confessing to planting pipe bombs “outside” the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., just one day before the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack. Federal prosecutors who say the man told investigators he did this because he wanted to “speak up” for 2020 election deniers are now choosing to stall the case, according to his lawyers.

“Disclosure is required now, not later,” Brian Cole Jr.’s attorneys write in a 15-page motion for discovery filed Monday, which seeks an order that directs the government to cough up all copies of evidence against him, including “any and all statements, confessions, or admissions.”

Cole’s lawyers say the Justice Department has “asked to push” his preliminary hearing to either Jan. 7 or 8 — but prosecutors have no concrete reason why, the attorneys say, other than “ordinary scheduling matters and the possibility of a forthcoming indictment,” according to court documents.

“That request comes too late,” Cole’s team says in a motion to confirm his preliminary hearing filed late Sunday. “In its email to defense counsel, the government has identified no extraordinary circumstances.”

Cole’s lawyers want the court to direct the government to be “prepared to present its evidence in support of probable cause” on Tuesday, should the preliminary hearing happen. They say Cole has already consented to an extension that moved his hearing to Tuesday, “but he has not consented to any further delay,” according to their motion.

“Dec. 30 is the proper, timely date for the preliminary hearing,” Cole’s team says. “The government’s desire to accommodate ordinary scheduling or the pace of a grand jury is not a lawful basis to continue the hearing for which it has had more than three weeks to prepare.”

Cole, 30, of Woodbridge, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia earlier this month with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce with the intent to kill, injure, or intimidate any individual or unlawfully to damage or destroy any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property. He was also charged with attempted malicious destruction by means of fire and explosive materials.

According to federal prosecutors, Cole drove his Nissan Sentra to Washington, D.C., by himself on Jan. 5, 2021, to plant at least two pipe bombs downtown “in the immediate vicinity” of the RNC and DNC headquarters. The improvised explosive devices had 60-minute timers, but failed to detonate. Cole allegedly said he planted them at night “because he did not want to kill people,” according to the DOJ.

Federal prosecutors say Cole learned how to make the bombs by playing video games. He allegedly admitted that he is a Trump supporter but does not like “either party” and wanted to go after the RNC and DNC because he was sick of election deniers being called “conspiracy theorists” and other “bad” things.

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Trump at Zelenskyy Presser: ‘If the 2020 Election Weren’t RIGGED and STOLEN, You Wouldn’t Have Had This War’

President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday to discuss ongoing peace negotiations aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

Flanked by American and Ukrainian flags, Trump delivered a no-holds-barred assessment of the conflict, tying its origins directly to the stolen 2020 election.

Trump didn’t mince words, stating, “I’ve said and nobody’s disputed it: If the election weren’t rigged and stolen in 2020, you wouldn’t have had this war. It didn’t happen for four years. Never was even thought to happen.”

The US president emphasized his good relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite what he called the “total hoax” of the Russia-Russia investigation, and noted that he had recently spoken with Putin about Ukraine.

“Russia WANTS to see Ukraine succeed! It sounds a little strange! But I was explaining to [Zelensky], Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding. Including supplying energy, electricity and other things at very low prices,” Trump said. “A lot of good things came out of that call.”

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The Fulton County 2020 Election Bombshell

If you have struggled to find any reason to support the Democratic Party, you are by no means alone. A new Quinnipiac poll revealed last week that 73 percent of voters disapprove of the way the Democrats in Congress are handling their job. Yet, somehow, the party’s candidates managed to overperform its 2024 margins in all five House special elections this year. How did they work this miracle? One clue can perhaps be found in the recent revelations about election “irregularities” in Fulton County, Georgia. During a recent hearing of the Georgia State Election Board (SEB), an attorney for the county admitted that 315,000 illegally certified votes were included in the final results of the 2020 election.

The gory details of this skullduggery were first reported by Brianna Lyman in the Federalist last week on the same day the Quinnipiac poll was released. The facts, which are now no longer in dispute, throw a white hot spotlight on the urgent need for Republicans in Congress to pass a national election integrity law — even if that means killing the filibuster — that the President can sign into law well before the 2026 midterms. The facts also vindicate Trump’s assertion, during his frequently misrepresented telephone call with Georgia’s feckless Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, that an audit of Fulton County’s ballots would easily disqualify far more than the 11,779 votes that decided the state’s election. This is what Trump said:

In Fulton, where they dumped ballots, you will find that you have many that aren’t even signed and you have many that are forgeries. OK? You know that. You know that. You have no doubt about that. And you will find you will be at eleven-thousand seven-seventy-nine within minutes, because Fulton County is totally corrupt and so is she totally corrupt. And they’re going around playing you and laughing at you behind your back, Brad. Whether you know it or not they’re laughing at you. And you’ve taken a state that’s a Republican state and you’ve made it almost impossible for a Republican to win because of cheating, because they cheated like no one’s ever cheated before.

Raffensperger ignored the President. As Georgia’s chief election official, it was his duty to ensure that Trump’s concerns about Fulton County’s ballots were investigated. When the latest revelations came to light last week, Raffensperger issued this tin-eared statement: “Georgia has the most secure elections in the country and all voters were verified with photo ID and lawfully cast their ballots. A clerical error at the end of the day does not erase valid, legal votes.” Wrong. As 11ALIVE reports, “Ultimately the SEB voted 3-0 to refer the case to the Georgia Attorney General’s Office for possible sanctions against Fulton County, as well as requesting a $5,000 fine for each of the missing tabulator tapes — possibly totaling $670,000 or more.”

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Judge Finally Allows Access to Fulton County 2020 Physical Ballots and Related Documents

It has been 1,071 days since the Georgia Supreme Court remanded the VoterGA.org lawsuit back to the lower courts after determining Garland Favorito’s voter integrity group did, in fact, have standing.  That lawsuit was asking the court to unseal the physical paper ballots and allow inspection.

Last year, the Georgia State Election Board also sought to unseal the physical paper ballots when it issued a subpoena to Fulton County demanding the ballots, ballot stubs, envelopes, and digital images.  Fulton County’s Board of Registration and Elections, without a vote from the board, filed a lawsuit challenging that subpoena.

Today, Judge Robert McBurney granted the State Election Board access to the physical ballots and related documents; however, the Board would be on the hook for the estimated $400,000 in “document costs,” as estimated by the county.

Fulton County has until January 7th to provide the State Election Board with the estimated costs.

Fox 5 Atlanta reported:

As 2025 draws to a close, there is no end in sight to the prolonged legal challenges surrounding Fulton County’s 2020 presidential election.

Last year, the Republican-led Georgia Election Board reopened an investigation into Fulton County’s handling of the 2020 election.

On Friday, they scored a court victory.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney’s decision grants the election board access to Fulton County’s 2020 ballots and related documents.

Fulton County Chairman Rob Pitts seemed irritated with the decision, telling FOX 5, “This nonsense has to stop at some point.  I assured the public then, reassure the public today, those elections are open and fair and transparent, and every vote was counted.”

This decision from Judge McBurney comes as Fulton County admitted to the State Election Board that it was missing signatures from poll managers on poll tapes for more than 315,000 ballots.

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Fulton County admits 315,000 votes were counted in 2020 election without legal certification in Georgia

Fulton County, Georgia officials have admitted that around 315,000 early votes were counted in the 2020 election despite lacking the proper certification. Less than 12,000 votes separated former President Joe Biden, the winner of the swing state that year, from President Donald Trump.

A Georgia State Election Board (SEB) hearing earlier in December regarding a challenge raised by local election integrity activist David Cross, per The Federalist. Cross had filed the challenge in March of 2022, alleging that Fulton County had violated state election rules in the handling of early voting during the 2020 election season, with hundreds of thousands of vote being counted despite poll workers not signing off on vote tabulation “tapes,” which are critical to the certification process.

Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections Ann Brumbaugh said during the hearing that while she has “not seen the tapes,” the county does “not dispute that the tapes were not signed.” She added, “It was a violation of the rule. We, since 2020, again, we have new leadership and a new building and a new board and new standard operating procedures. And since then, the training has been enhanced. … But … we don’t dispute the allegation from the 2020 election.”

Under Georgia’s election rules, election officials are required to have each ballot scanner print three closing tapes at the end of each voting day, which poll workers must sign or include a documented reason for refusal. Poll workers are also required to start each voting day by printing and signing a “zero tape” that shows voting machines are starting the day with zero votes.

An investigation by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office “sustained” findings that Fulton County “violated Official Election Record Document Processes when it was discovered that thirty-six (36) out of thirty-seven (37) Advanced Voting Precincts in Fulton County, Georgia failed to sign the Tabulation Tapes as required [by SEB rules].” The investigation had also found that officials at 32 sites did not verify their zero tapes.

Cross said at the December hearing, “These signed tapes are the sole legal certification that the reported totals are authentic. Fulton County produced zero signed tabulator tapes in early voting.” He said that he had obtained 77 megabytes of data from the county through an open records request, and that this included 134 tabulator tapes, representing 315,000 votes, none of which were signed.

He noted other irregularities in the election, including polling locations being open “impossibly late hours, like 2:09 am,” and that he had found “duplicated scanner serial numbers, where the memory devices were removed from one scanner and printed on an alternate scanner.”

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Fulton County: ‘We Don’t Dispute’ 315,000 Votes Lacking Poll Workers’ Signatures Were Counted In 2020

Earlier this month, Fulton County admitted that approximately 315,000 early votes from the 2020 election were illegally certified but were nonetheless still included in the final results of that election.

The admission came during a Dec. 9 hearing before the Georgia State Election Board (SEB) stemming from a challenge filed by David Cross, a local election integrity activist. Cross filed a challenge with the SEB in March 2022. Cross alleged that Fulton County violated Georgia statute in the handling of advanced voting ahead of the November 2020 election, counting hundreds of thousands of votes even though polling workers failed to sign off on the vote tabulation “tapes” critical to the certification process.

And Fulton County admitted to it.

Ann Brumbaugh, attorney for the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, told the SEB in the hearing that while she has “not seen the tapes” herself, the county does “not dispute that the tapes were not signed.” Brumbaugh continued, “It was a violation of the rule. We, since 2020, again, we have new leadership and a new building and a new board and a new standard operating procedures. And since then the training has been enhanced. … But … we don’t dispute the allegation from the 2020 election.”

Georgia’s Secretary of State Office investigated the alleged failure to sign tabluation tapes and “substantiated” the findings that Fulton County “violated Official Election Record Document Processes when it was discovered that thirty-six (36) out of thirty-seven (37) Advanced Voting Precincts in Fulton County, Georgia failed to sign the Tabulation Tapes as required [by statute],” according to a 2024 investigation summary. In addition to probing the unsigned tabulation tapes, the investigation also found that officials at 32 polling sites failed to verify their zero tapes.

Georgia law requires that election officials have each ballot scanner print three closing tapes at the end of each voting day. Poll workers must sign these tapes or include a documented reason for refusal. Voting laws also require poll workers to begin each day of voting by printing and signing a “zero tape” showing that voting machines are starting at zero votes.

If there is no record of whether the tabulator was set at zero at the start of polling, there is no way of telling whether ballots from a previous election (or ballots from a test run) were left on the memory card and might later be counted. Notably, this happened in Montana, where officials discovered more votes than were cast and believe the votes were leftover sample data that had not been cleared.

“These signed tapes are the sole legal certification that the reported totals are authentic,” Cross told the SEB at the Dec. 9 hearing. “Fulton County produced zero signed tabulator tapes in early voting.”

Cross stated that he obtained 77 megabytes of election records from Fulton County through an open records request that cost $15,800. According to Cross, these included 134 tabulator tapes, representing 315,000 votes. Each signature block on these tapes was blank, Cross said.

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President Trump Drops a Bomb: “The Election Was Rigged in 2020. We Have All the Ammunition… It’s Coming Out in Truckloads”

President Donald Trump made a shocking admission this past weekend. His statements were making waves in political circles.

Trump says his administration is about to release “truckloads” of evidence PROVING the 2020 election was “RIGGED” by Democrats.

He added that he has evidence Gavin Newsom is rigging California elections with mail-in ballots.

“They’re professionals at cheating because we won in 2016 by a lot. The election was rigged in 2020. We have all the ammunition, all the stuff, and you’ll see it come out. It’s coming out in truckloads”

“California more than any other place is so rigged. It’s such a rigged election — If the vote in California was legitimate, which it’s not, they have 38 million ballots. Everything is mail-in voting. They mail out 38 million ballots, and they come in. Where the hell did they go, and where did they come from?

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Trump Pardons Rudy Giuliani, Others Involved in Bid to Challenge 2020 Election

President Donald Trump has pardoned a number of prominent figures involved in his effort to challenge the 2020 election outcome, according to U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin on Nov. 9.

A proclamation document shared by Martin on social media named more than 70 individuals, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and attorneys Sidney Powell and John Eastman, all accused of involvement in Trump’s bid to challenge the 2020 election results.

The pardons apply to conduct tied to the individuals’ involvement in activities surrounding the 2020 presidential election, as well as any conduct related to “their efforts to expose voting fraud and vulnerabilities in the 2020 Presidential Election,” according to the document.

“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election and continues the process of national reconciliation,” the document states.

The pardon would only cover federal charges brought against those listed. The proclamation also explicitly states that the pardon does not apply to Trump.

Neither Trump nor the White House released a statement regarding the pardons. The proclamation was signed by the president on Nov. 7, according to the document.

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FIREWORKS! “DO NOT ANSWER THAT!” – Fulton County Board of Elections Chair LOSES IT When Member Asks “Do We Have the 2020 Ballots?”

During an tense exchange at a Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections meeting on Friday, boardmembers had a revealing argument over the 2020 elections records, including ballots, which are now subject to a Department of Justice investigation as well as previous Georgia State Election Board subpoenas. 

The only question is: where are the ballots?

This was asked by the lone Republican boardmember, Julie Adams, sparking a heated debate.

Chairwoman Sherri Allen immediately interjected when Adams asked Elections Director Nadine Williams, “Do we have the 2020 ballots?”

“Miss Williams, Do not answer that. That is a matter that is currently, I believe, in litigation as well. And Ms. Adams, you well know that as well,” Allen shot back before Adams defended her right to ask the question.

Williams contempously told Adams, “As you’ve been told several times, the ballots are in the possession of the Clerk of Superior Court. She continued, “They are physically in the Clerk of Superior Court warehouse and secured in that location. They have been there for five years.”

When Adams stated that she was told the ballots were in the County’s posession at the warehouse, Williams accused her of lying, stating, “ Nobody told you that. They are in the clerk’s posession.” Chairwoman Allen then shut the debate down, arguing that the matter is before the court and the public will just have to wait for their ruling “soon.”

The board faced numerous public comments about the outstanding questions surrounding the 2020 election and ongoing investigations by the DOJ. Prior to the exchange over 2020 ballots, Julie Adams had questioned whether decisions about the subpoenas and 2020 election are subject to backroom executive session discussions. Sherri Allen had refused to hold any further public discussion or actions on the 2020 election subpoenas when Adams asked the golden question.

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