2020 Election: Predictions, Results and Reactions

[N.E. Brigand]

Trouble in Nevada:

Fake electors in Nevada indicted.

"Judge dismisses Nevada fake electors case over lack of jurisdiction."

The judge says the charges should have been brought in Nevada's capital, Carson City. The state will appeal her ruling.

In a sign of Judge Holthus’ skepticism of the jurisdiction, she requested last month that the state provide a list of reasons why Clark County was the appropriate venue for the case.

Prosecutors listed 14 reasons why Clark County was the appropriate jurisdiction, including that two of the defendants — Law and McDonald — live in Clark County and that certain mail related to the fake elector scheme passed through the county. Most notably, fraudulent electoral documents were mailed to a federal judge in Las Vegas.

Attorney Richard Wright, who is representing McDonald, argued that the fraudulent documents addressed to Miranda Du, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court of Nevada, were erroneously sent to Las Vegas. Du is based in Reno, and the documents were never opened in Las Vegas, according to testimony from the court clerk, which Wright said was withheld from the grand jury.

This part doesn't seem fair: "The state is unable to refile the case up north because a three-year statute of limitations expired in December."

[N.E. Brigand]

Trouble in Nevada: "Judge dismisses Nevada fake electors case over lack of jurisdiction." The judge says the charges should have been brought in Nevada's capital, Carson City. The state will appeal her ruling. ... This part doesn't seem fair: "The state is unable to refile the case up north because a three-year statute of limitations expired in December."

Update: "The 3-year statute on 'filing a false instrument' has lapsed, so that case cannot be re-filed. But the second charge -- 'uttering forged instruments-forgery' -- carries a 4-year statute, which means the AG could re-file that case before Dec. 14 if he wants."

Should the state both appeal this decision and refile the forgery charges in Carson City? My concern would be that the state appeals and the state supreme court rules against the state, but not until after December, by which time it's too late to refile in the capital. But if the state does refile, will the state supreme court treat that as an admission that they were wrong to file in Las Vegas?

It's just so weird to me that a judge's action can cause the statute of limitations to expire.

[N.E. Brigand]

This belongs both in the Supreme Court thread and here. Ruling in Fischer v. United States, the Court today forced the federal government to retry hundreds of Jan. 6th insurrectionists who were convicted of obstructing an official proceeding: the Court found that the statute in question only applies to documents. Justices Barrett, Sotomayor, and Kagan agree with me that this is a novel reading of that law, but there it is.

Justice Jackson joined the majority and also wrote a separate concurrence, and based on what she writes, it seems the government may be able to retry many of these criminals by connecting their actions specifically to the goal of destroying electoral certification. But at best, that's a huge amount of work to end up in the same place.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The Fischer decision could have been much worse.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Meanwhile, someone isn't going to be free when the immunity decision comes out on Monday.

[N.E. Brigand]

Meanwhile, someone isn't going to be free when the immunity decision comes out on Monday.

I was just about to note that. Here's NBC's report. It notes that the other Trump advisor jailed for contempt, Peter Navarro, is scheduled to be released soon. He reported to prison on March 19th. Do I remember correctly that there's no early release on federal sentences of less than one year? In other words, will Bannon be in prison until approximately October 28th?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I don't know that for sure, but my guess is that is right. Which would mean that Trump would be missing one of his most important strategists for the bulk of the campaign (except the extent that Bannon could provide input from prison).

While there is really zero chance that Trump himself will be in jail then (regardless of what Justice Merchan does on 7/11) there is a non-zero chance that he will be stuck in court for the last month or so of the campaign.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

More from Riggleman's book (which he co-authored with journalist Hunter Walker) here from NBC:

Oath Keeper charged in Jan. 6 attack texted with Andrew Giuliani about election.

The Oath Keeper is Kellye SoRelle, the Oath Keepers lawyer who was lately charged with conspiracy, and she acknowledged to NBC that she was in touch with White House staffer Andrew Giuliani in the period between the 2020 Election and January 6th.

The funniest part is that she "tried to text" the White House switchboard, but it wouldn't go through because it is (of course) a landline. I'm not sure which state or states she is a member of the bar (I know she unsuccessfully ran for office in Texas, so probably there), but I would like to think that someone that dumb would not be able to pass the famously difficult California bar.

A federal judge has found that Kelly Sorelle is currently incompetent to stand trial and has had her committed to a medical treatment facility.

SoRelle has now been found competent to stand trial, and is pleading guilty.

[N.E. Brigand]

"Rudy Giuliani's bankruptcy case has been dismissed, removing a hurdle for Georgia election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman to collect their judgment. The judge slammed Giuliani's 'lack of financial transparency' as 'particularly troubling.'"

[N.E. Brigand]

Mother Jones has obtained audio of Steve Bannon on Oct. 31, 2020 discussing election strategy with Guo Wengui, the exiled Chinese billionaire on whose yacht Bannon had been arrested earlier that year. The article is titled "Bannon Bragged That He Used Porn to Help Smear Hunter Biden." Bannon praised Guo's "editorial creativity" in mixing apparently genuine explicit content from Hunter's laptop -- which Bannon says he gave to Guo (apparently having received it from Rudy Giuliani?) -- with "false claims about the material":

First, [Guo] told [his staff who were posting the material online] to say the files included images of Hunter Biden with underage Chinese girls. There is no evidence at all supporting this allegation. Second, Guo told subordinates to claim that the Chinese government had obtained the material and used it to blackmail Hunter and his father, Joe Biden. That, too, was a lie, people involved in publishing the material told me.

In the recordings, Bannon also says -- more than a week before the election -- that the lies Guo spread about Hunter Biden were keeping Donald Trump close enough in the polls that Joe Biden would not be able to win in a blowout, which meant that Trump could adopt his backup "strategy" of claiming that there was fraud and declaring victory even if he was behind in the votes. Bannon went on: "So my point is, any peaceful resolution of this [election] is probably gone."

I'd never encountered the term "Faraday bag" before reading today's news about Guo Wengui (real name Ho Wan Kwok), the exiled Chinese billionaire and Steve Bannon's erstwhile funder and host. Guo was charged today in a $1 billion fraud scheme. ... It turns out that the government searched Guo's home in 2019 in connection with some other unrelated investigation, and in that search they found some 96 cell phones, "44 of which were located inside Faraday bags in safes."

Steve Bannon's billionaire associate Guo Wengui was convicted today of nine of the twelve counts he faced, "including racketeering conspiracy and securities fraud ... The jurors agreed with prosecutors that Guo had used a series of supposed investment opportunities he launched starting in 2020—a media company, a loan program, a supposed membership club, and a crypto currency exchange—to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from investors. The verdict also affirmed prosecutors’ contention that a political movement that Guo built alongside former Trump campaign chief Steve Bannon starting in 2018—which the men claim aims to 'take down the CCP'—was largely a con, a pretense that Guo used win the support and trust of people in the Chinese diaspora, and then fleece them."

Bannon was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in this case. He "helped Guo launch some of the companies that were part of Guo’s fraud scheme, publicly promoted them, and even advised Guo on how to set them up to avoid SEC scrutiny. Bannon’s perceived ties to Trump also helped Guo suggest his political movement, and associated financial ventures, enjoyed a link to Trump." The prosecuting attorney said in closing arguments that "It's not some accident ... that Steve Bannon was involved" because Guo “used Steve Bannon. He was hired for a million dollars so that Guo could use Bannon's notoriety and his fame to promote himself."

More: "Guo and his companies also paid or employed other prominent MAGA figures, including Trump adviser Jason Miller, Rudy Giuliani, former White House aide Peter Navarro, Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, Turning Point USA chief Charlie Kirk, and Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt. Guo supporters are surely hoping those relationships, should Trump return to the White House next year, could help Guo secure a pardon or commutation."

[N.E. Brigand]

New from the Washington Post: "Virginia grand jury indicts torch carriers in 2017 Charlottesville rally." The story is behind a paywall, so I'm not sure who was charged, nor with what.

Text of above referenced article by Salvador Rizzo:

At least three men who marched with blazing tiki torches at the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville are now facing criminal charges, according to indictments unsealed this week. A grand jury in Virginia indicted “multiple individuals” who carried torches at the Unite the Right rally in August 2017, Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney James Hingeley said in a statement. Indictments had been unsealed Tuesday for three defendants who were extradited from their home states: Tyler Bradley Dykes of Bluffton, S.C.; Dallas Medina of Ravenna, Ohio; and Will Zachary Smith of Nacona, Tex. Officials said additional indictments remain under seal. Prosecutors allege the torch carriers violated a rarely enforced criminal statute, which makes it a crime to burn objects with intent to intimidate, when they marched around the University of Virginia campus on Aug. 11, 2017, while chanting “You will not replace us” and the Nazi slogan “Blood and soil.” ... Dykes and Smith were jailed, while Medina was released on bail, court records show. An attorney for Smith declined to comment. The others did not have attorneys listed in court records. Smith also was charged this year with illegal use of tear gas, and he has a hearing in Albemarle County Circuit Court scheduled for Friday.

Either I didn't know that Tyler Dykes was charged in connection with January 6th in addition to his actions at Charlottesville, or I forgot, but here's an update:

"Charlottesville tiki torch rioter endorses Donald Trump at his Jan. 6 sentencing" (NBC).

Dykes "was sentenced to more than four years ... [today] for stealing a police shield and twice using it against officers during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol." He disputed prosecutors claims that during this Capitol attack, he gave a Nazi salute, but Judge Beryl Howell said she didn't believe him since he has participated in extremist activity for years, was filmed giving a Nazi salute at Charlottesville, and quoted Adolf Hitler earlier on Jan. 6th.

But here's where we are. Violent racist criminals are praising Trump during sentencing with hopes that he'll pardon them upon becoming president.

(I would be totally on board with a Constitutional amendment that prevents a president from issuing corrupt pardons and gives a bipartisan committee the power to retroactively undo them.)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I would say that this woman would make me embarrassed that my family is Ukranian, but she is in no way representative of Ukraine. She is an embarrassment to both countries.

[N.E. Brigand]

Another Dept. of Justice inspector general report has been released, the second in two days: "A Report of Investigation Into the Department's Release of Public Statements Concerning a Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Election Fraud Investigation in September 2020." Again, former Attorney General Bill Barr declined to be interviewed by investigators. Again the report finds that the actions of Barr and the DOJ were unorthodox but not illegal. Information about an investigation that normally would not be shared was made public. The DOJ made some incorrect statements about the investigation, statements which would bolster Donald Trump's false warnings about election fraud. And Barr gave Trump information about the election that Trump then shared when calling into a radio program.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Well, this is interesting.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Amazing that this thread is still ongoing. But I'm sure that it will transition to even more crazy stuff after this year's election.

[River]

Yeah, it was all over CPR yesterday. And, in the run-up to the trial, there were features about what happened out there in Mesa County. One of her peers among county clerks in Colorado described her as a "low information clerk" and even before the 2020 election she had to fight off a recall because she kinda sucked at being a clerk. In other words, she wasn't the right person for the job even before she bought into all the Trump crap. Apparently she was suspicious because Trump didn't get as wide of a margin in Mesa County as she thought he should and what really tipped her over the edge, though, was when the Grand Junction municipal election didn't go as far right as she wanted it to. So she turned to crime to try to prove something and ended up violating the trust of her constituents instead. They played an interview of her being Very Upset that Secretary Griswold, a Democrat, took away her power to oversee elections after the security breach was discovered. She claimed Griswold put in a puppet to oversee the elections. She carefully omitted the fact that the "puppet" Griswold handed Mesa County elections off to was Griswold's Republican predecessor in the CO SoS office. It just so happens he lives in Mesa County.

[RoseMorninStar]

Our township has (had?) Dominion voting machines and if Trump wouldn't have won here I wouldn't have been surprised to see shenanigans. There are so many Trump signs in places that it can feel hostile. Many of them have been left up (and added to) since the last election.

[Dave_LF]

There are several full-blown Trump shrines within a couple miles of me, complete with blown-up mugshots, giant flags, and aggressive slogans. I have little doubt there will be violence if he loses. And if he wins too, except then it will be state-sanctioned.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I cannot overstate how extraordinarily unusual this is.

[N.E. Brigand]

A federal judge has found that Kelly Sorelle is currently incompetent to stand trial and has had her committed to a medical treatment facility.

Kelly SoRelle has now been found competent to stand trial and is pleading guilty.

An update: "Kellye SoRelle, the lawyer for the Oath Keepers and girlfriend of Stewart Rhodes, has officially pleaded guilty to breaching Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 and urging members of the group to delete evidence from their phones. She’ll be sentenced in January."