2020 Election: Predictions, Results and Reactions

[N.E. Brigand]

Yesterday Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, announced that 20 people had been charged with voting illegally in 2020. Few details were given, but these people appear to have been ex-felons who were exempt from the state's constitutional amendment that restored voting rights to most former criminals. I don't think that 20 people out of 11 million who voted in Florida is statistically significant, and who knows how these cases will turn out, but I thought it worth mentioning.

The Miami Herald has a new story about this matter:

"Five of those arrested Thursday on voter fraud charges told the Herald/Times they believed they were able to vote and had faced no issue registering. They said they would not have voted had they known their previous convictions made them ineligible."

Politico reports that some of these 20 people "were notified by official government entities they were eligible to vote, according to court documents and interviews."

[N.E. Brigand]

Donald Trump today called for the results of the 2020 election to be declared void and for there to be a "new Election, immediately!"

[N.E. Brigand]

A member of the Proud Boys named Joshua Pruitt has been sentenced to 55 months' imprisonment for his actions during the insurrection. Pruitt actually got within sight of then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in the Capitol that day. The Dept. of Justice has asked for 60 months.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

It is important to note that Pruit is NOT one of the leaders of the Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy, which gives a sense of what might happen if they are convicted.

[RoseMorninStar]

Donald Trump today called for the results of the 2020 election to be declared void and for there to be a "new Election, immediately!"

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Donald Trump today called for the results of the 2020 election to be declared void and for there to be a "new Election, immediately!"

[RoseMorninStar]

He just throws whatever crap he can up against the wall to see what will stick, doesn't he? Never mind that it isn't cohesive or coherent. Jeez.

[River]

I want to retroactively put myself on the 2020 ballot and redo the election too. Right now. Immediately. I also want a pink pony and plastic rocket.

On a more serious note, is there no one in this man's life capable of intervening? He needs professional help. Both the legal and the psychiatric kind.

[N.E. Brigand]

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, a member of the January 6th Committee, said on MSNBC today that the U.S. Secret Service has retained outside counsel for its dealings with the committee. Is that normal? For a government agency to engage non-government lawyers to represent it?* I know I'm not the only one who sees the relationship between the President and Secret Service as starting to resemble that between the Roman Emperor and the Praetorian Guard.

*Edited to add: I'm seeing commentary that not only isn't it normal, it's not possible: individuals can lawyer up, but the agency can't.

Last night, Rep. Lofgren confirmed that she actually was referring to three specific agents: Tony Ornato, Robert Engel, and the unidentified driver of the SUV in which President Trump had some sort of tantrum on Jan. 6th when he was told he wouldn't be driven to the Capitol. In yesterday's hearing, we learned that following that encounter, the motorcade remained outside ready to transport Trump for another 45 minutes after that; it's not clear why.

CNN reports that Tony Ornato, an agent and Assistant Director at the Secret Service -- who for two years was the White House Deputy Chief of Staff in the Trump administration before returning to the Secret Service in 2021 -- has retired. Apparently he was scheduled to be interviewed in two days. I wonder if that's still happening.

[RoseMorninStar]

CNN reports that Tony Ornato, an agent and Assistant Director at the Secret Service -- who for two years was the White House Deputy Chief of Staff in the Trump administration before returning to the Secret Service in 2021 -- has retired. Apparently he was scheduled to be interviewed in two days. I wonder if that's still happening.

Top Secret Service Official Leaves Agency—Two Days Before A Jan. 6 Committee Interview
Article in part:

According to The Intercept, Ornato finally agreed to an interview with the agency on August 31, but his resignation means he cannot be legally compelled to cooperate with the probe. It’s unclear whether Ornato will attend the scheduled interview.

DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari had reached out to the Secret Service a month after the insurrection requesting written communications from 24 employees around the attack. But the Secret Service soon admitted that nearly all text exchanges from the recipients had been erased in a planned three-month phone system migration transfer. The deleted texts, the resistance from the agency about explaining the texts, and discrepancies in Cuffari’s reports to Congress have incensed lawmakers and led them to demand answers about how this could have happened and whether there was any foul play involved.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

To be clear, that statement about him not being able to be legally compelled to cooperate with the probe is referring to the investigation by the DHS inspector general, not the 1/6 Select Committee.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Wow!

[N.E. Brigand]

Yet another example of MAGA standing for "Make Attorneys Get Attorneys."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

New York cop who assaulted officer at Capitol gets harshest Jan. 6 sentence to date

[Sunsilver]

Judge Mehta: “We simply cannot have a country,” he said, “in which people who are on the losing side of an election think you can use violence and physical force to undo that result. We cannot function as a country if people think they can behave violently when they lose an election.”

Yes.

[N.E. Brigand]

New York cop who assaulted officer at Capitol gets harshest Jan. 6 sentence to date

A previous reference from this thread to Thomas Webster, aged 56, the Marine Corps vet and retired New York police officer who was found guilty in May of assaulting a D.C. Metro Police Officer during the January 6th insurrection and who today was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. As V notes, that's the longest sentence yet imposed. (But prosecutors had asked for 17 years.)

A jury today found that Thomas Webster, the guy in the red jacket on the left in this photo from January 6th, was not engaged in self-defense at this moment: ... [broken image link]

Webster himself is a retired New York police officer.

Edit: The image link now appears to be broken. It showed Webster standing with his hands on the head of a Capitol Police officer who is kneeling and appears to be in pain.

- - - - - - - - - -
In other January 6th news, the House Select Committee has asked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to testify. They say that they have evidence of his involvement in "aspects of the scheme to overturn the 2020 election and block the transfer of power."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

And in still other January 6 news, Doug Mastriano is suing the committee alleging that they don't have the authority to compel him -- or anyone -- to testify at a deposition.

Trump-backed Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate suing Jan. 6 committee over deposition demands

[N.E. Brigand]

Donald Trump was asked yesterday about people who have been charged with crimes for their actions in January 6th; he responded that he's met with them, has been financially supporting them, and likely would pardon them if he was reelected in 2024.

[Sunsilver]

Donald Trump was asked yesterday about people who have been charged with crimes for their actions in January 6th; he responded that he's met with them, has been financially supporting them, and likely would pardon them if he was reelected in 2024.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Meanwhile former White House attorneys Pat Cippolone and Pat Philbin are testifying today at the grand jury investigating of the January 6 insurrection. Maybe while everybody's attention is on the espionage case, trump will end up getting indicted in this case first.