2020 Election: Predictions, Results and Reactions

[RoseMorninStar]

I give Dominion a lot of credit for not settling on this case.

[N.E. Brigand]

Fox News did "amicably" settle a related lawsuit the other day with Majed Khalil, a Venezuelan businessman who had sued the network for defamation after Fox host Lou Dobbs accused Khalil of rigging voting machines. The amount of the settlement hasn't been disclosed. (He sued for $250 million. They countersued.)

Fox is also being sued by another election machine company, Smartmatic.

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In what had looked like Fox news not related to the Dominion lawsuit, Rupert Murdoch (age 92) last week broke off his engagement to Ann Lesley Smith (age 66), who would have been his fifth wife (he had only divorced former model Jerry Hall -- also 66 and perhaps best known for her long relationship with Mick Jagger -- in 2022). Vanity Fair reports that Murdoch grew alarmed recently that his fiancee said she believed Fox host Tucker Carlson is a messenger from God.

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A court of appeals turned down former Trump aide Peter Navarro's attempt to not return more than 200 documents to the National Archives. He must do so by Friday.

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As V has noted, last week an appeals court overturned the one lower court judge who had ruled that Jan. 6th defendants can't be charged with obstruction of an official proceeding. However, some observers felt that the ruling left an opening for other defendants to get a different decision. And in a separate case, a separate panel of judges from that circuit will hear new arguments on this issue.

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The Dept. of Justice continues to identify and indict people who engaged in violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6th: in this case a New Mexico man named Rockne Earles is allaged to have assaulted a police officer that day. Video here.

Another man who was charged today, Nathan Pelham of Texas, is only alleged to have trespassed and engaged in disorderly conduct in the Capitol. He sent text messages to his wife on Jan. 7th congratulating himself for having been smart enough to keep his face covered the previous day.

Yesterday, Josiah Kenyon of Nevada was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for having "used a table leg with a protruding nail to strike an officer in the leg and then to strike a second officer on the head such that [the] weapon became lodged in the officer’s face shield and helmet" on Jan. 6th.

[N.E. Brigand]

Oh, and the Washington Post has new reporting on how Special Counsel Jack Smith's team has been asking witnesses questions in front of a grand jury and also has issued subpoenas about Donald Trump using his stolen-election lies as a fundraising tool.

The subpoenas seek more specific types of communications so that prosecutors can compare what Trump allies and advisers were telling each other privately about the voter-fraud claims with what they were saying publicly in appeals that generated more than $200 million in donations from conservatives, according to people with knowledge of the investigation.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

As V has noted, last week an appeals court overturned the one lower court judge who had ruled that Jan. 6th defendants can't be charged with obstruction of an official proceeding. However, some observers felt that the ruling left an opening for other defendants to get a different decision. And in a separate case, a separate panel of judges from that circuit will hear new arguments on this issue.

While it is a different panel, the judge who wrote the lead opinion in the previous case, Judge Pan, is also on this panel. The other two judges were appointed by Obama and Bush, Sr. The previous panel had two Trump judges.

[N.E. Brigand]

More trouble for Fox.

Was this recording from December 2020 included in the discovery that Fox provided to Dominion?



That person isn't Sidney Powell or Rudy Giuliani.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

More trouble for Fox.

Was this recording from December 2020 included in the discovery that Fox provided to Dominion?



That person isn't Sidney Powell or Rudy Giuliani.

Oh, and the Washington Post has new reporting on how Special Counsel Jack Smith's team has been asking witnesses questions in front of a grand jury and also has issued subpoenas about Donald Trump using his stolen-election lies as a fundraising tool.

The subpoenas seek more specific types of communications so that prosecutors can compare what Trump allies and advisers were telling each other privately about the voter-fraud claims with what they were saying publicly in appeals that generated more than $200 million in donations from conservatives, according to people with knowledge of the investigation.

These two stories have the possibility to intersect, as the tapes provide additional evidence that Trump/his campaign were fleecing supporters by lying to them about the election.

[RoseMorninStar]

It's all been one giant money-raising grift.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

At the Proud Boys trial today, apparently there was a sealed session but the microphone was inadvertently turned on for part of the time in the media room. The defense attorneys then went to the media room and begged the reporters not to use the information until after the trial (accompanied by a prosecutor who did not speak). Roger Parloff of Lawfare (who just returned today after a death in the family) says that they will not use it. But:

[N.E. Brigand]

More trouble for Fox.

Was this recording from December 2020 included in the discovery that Fox provided to Dominion? That person isn't Sidney Powell or Rudy Giuliani.

Oh, and the Washington Post has new reporting on how Special Counsel Jack Smith's team has been asking witnesses questions in front of a grand jury and also has issued subpoenas about Donald Trump using his stolen-election lies as a fundraising tool.

The subpoenas seek more specific types of communications so that prosecutors can compare what Trump allies and advisers were telling each other privately about the voter-fraud claims with what they were saying publicly in appeals that generated more than $200 million in donations from conservatives, according to people with knowledge of the investigation.

These two stories have the possibility to intersect, as the tapes provide additional evidence that Trump/his campaign were fleecing supporters by lying to them about the election.

Interesting. And in one of the previously unknown recordings released last night, a Trump campaign official tells Fox New host Maria Bartiromo that January 6th will be an important date in determining the outcome of the (already decided) 2020 election.

[N.E. Brigand]

At the Proud Boys trial today, apparently there was a sealed session but the microphone was inadvertently turned on for part of the time in the media room. The defense attorneys then went to the media room and begged the reporters not to use the information until after the trial (accompanied by a prosecutor who did not speak). Roger Parloff of Lawfare (who just returned today after a death in the family) says that they will not use it. But:

Parloff subsequently linked to CNN's report on what happened in that sealed session: (1) three jurors had reported to the court that they had been approached outside of the courthouse by someone who wanted to talk to them about the trial and was later seen in the courtroom; and (2) one other juror said she saw a man four different times at a transit station and that on one occasion he asked her if she was a juror; she was concerned that he might be following her. (We had an inkling about all this based on some CNN reporting last week.) Based on this information, the defense asked for either a mistrial to be declared or for those jurors to be removed. The judge said that he had spoken to the jurors about these matters, that he instructed them to disregard these interactions, that they said they weren't intimidated, and that he believes they will be able to set these interactions aside when deliberating. Accordingly, he ruled against he defense motion.

[RoseMorninStar]

Is it possible they are hoping for a mistrial and that some of these occurrences are not mistakes/happenstance?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

If you are talking about the jurors, no. If you are talking about the defendants and their attorneys, they have made numerous (maybe even dozens) of motions for a mistrial throughout this seemingly endless trial.

[RoseMorninStar]

Yes, I was referring to the defendants & their attorneys.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[N.E. Brigand]

Was this recording from December 2020 included in the discovery that Fox provided to Dominion? That person isn't Sidney Powell or Rudy Giuliani.

Oh, and the Washington Post has new reporting on how Special Counsel Jack Smith's team has been asking witnesses questions in front of a grand jury and also has issued subpoenas about Donald Trump using his stolen-election lies as a fundraising tool.

These two stories have the possibility to intersect, as the tapes provide additional evidence that Trump/his campaign were fleecing supporters by lying to them about the election.

Interesting. And in one of the previously unknown recordings released last night, a Trump campaign official tells Fox New host Maria Bartiromo that January 6th will be an important date in determining the outcome of the (already decided) 2020 election.

The trial in Dominion's lawsuit against Fox was supposed to start today but has been pushed back until tomorrow. This is apparently because Fox made a settlement offer yesterday that Dominion is seriously considering.

I think it would be a real shame if an agreement is reached that doesn't include a public admission of wrongdoing by Fox.

Edited to add: very early this morning, Donald Trump wrote that Fox should "finally admit that there was large scale cheating & irregularities in the 2020 presidential election." I am sure Fox will not do that. In fact, Fox seems to have prevented one of their weekly hosts, Mark Levin, from talking about this subject last night after he promised on his radio show Friday that he would do so.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I am fairly sure that Dominion will not settle without a public admission of wrongdoing by Fox, and a huge payment.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Meanwhile, in the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This is sign that Georgia indictments are coming, but not immediately.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Fox and Dominion have settled. No details have been released as of yet.

ETA:


and

[N.E. Brigand]

I give Dominion a lot of credit for not settling on this case.

I understand that it's generally best to settle, as Dominion and Fox now have done (yesterday Elie Mystal wrote that if the number was high enough, Dominion needn't worry about its reputation), but in a case like this, I fear that the U.S. may be worse off for it.