The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Aug. 29, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Special Counsel Jack Smith submitted a revised criminal conspiracy indictment of former President Donald Trump Aug. 27th, adjusted to remove actions deemed “official acts” by the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority. 

Like the original indictment, Trump is charged with four felony counts in the U.S. District Court in DC:   Conspiracy to Defraud the United States; Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; Obstruction of and an Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; and Conspiracy Against Rights.  Removed in this version are charges related to Trump’s alleged manipulation of the U.S. Justice Department, to pressure state officials to change the outcome of the election, which the justices explicitly said was an “official” act.

Alleged “unofficial acts”, however, are still included, including: Knowingly deceiving the American public about the outcome of the election; attempting to pressure Georgia officials to “find” 11,780 votes; knowledge and support of the fake elector scheme; the attempt to pressure Vice President Mike Pence in his Constitutional but ceremonial role presiding over the certification; his speech at a privately-funded rally prior to the Capitol violence on January 6th; and attempting to “injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate” citizens’ rights under the U.S. Constitution.

No new trial date has been set, but it’s no longer feasible to try the former President prior to the election.   We have a link to the new indictment at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
U.S. Supreme Court – Presidential Powers – Presidential Immunity Opinion

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia – Revised Indictment in United States v. Donald J. Trump
SCOTUS Blog – Special Counsel Jack Smith revises indictment against Trump

The Hill – Smith files new indictment in Trump Jan. 6 case, adjusting for immunity decision

Groups Taking Action:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Campaign Legal Center, States United Democracy Center

Check Your Voter Registration:

• U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
• USA Vote Foundation – Registration, Eligibility, State Election Office Links
• Vote.Gov – Register to Vote in Your State
• Vote.Org – Check Your Registration to Vote
  
  

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #TrumpCriminalTrials #ElectionInterference #JackSmith

The post Special Counsel Submits Revised Criminal Conspiracy Indictment of Trump After SCOTUS Immunity Ruling on Presidential Powers appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for March 18, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

We reported extensively last year on the alleged tampering of electronic vote tabulators in Michigan following the 2020 election.  The first of three trials is imminent, but after failing to appear at multiple court hearings, one election-denier defendant faces even more charges.

Reuters reports that Stephanie Lambert Junttila was part of a team of lawyers connected to Sidney Powell, who led former President Trump’s court challenges of the 2020 Presidential election results.   She was allegedly in the room when Matthew DePerno, a candidate for Michigan attorney general, and Daire Rendon, a Michigan state representative, attempted to access the data in a Dominion Voting Systems electronic ballot tabulator in a suburban Detroit hotel room.  The three were charged with conspiracy and unlawful possession of a voting machine  last August.

Trials were originally scheduled for early March.   But according to the Michigan Advance,  Lambert Junttila, failed to appear for two pre-trial hearings, and an Oakland County judge issued an arrest warrant March 8th.   Reuters later reported that March 13th, while under indictment and subject to an arrest warrant, she was in a Washington, D.C. courtroom, representing former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne against Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 Billion dollar defamation lawsuit. Dominion sued Byrne for allegedly pushing the debunked theory that Dominion’s ballot tabulators had manipulated the election for Joe Biden. 

Lambert Junttila’s trial is scheduled to begin April 1st.    

We have more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Reuters – (2022) The Michigan lawyer pushing Trump’s voter-fraud fictions in U.S. courts
Michigan Advance – (2023) Republicans Matt DePerno and Daire Rendon charged in 2020 voting machine probe
Michigan Advance – Judge sets March trial date in Michigan voting machine tampering case
Michigan Advance – One voting machine tampering cases moves to trial, two others await consideration
Michigan Advance – Warrant for Lambert Junttila remains as she misses another hearing in tabulator tampering case
Reuters – Ex-Overstock CEO taps indicted pro-Trump lawyer as defense counsel in Dominion lawsuit

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ElectionDeniers #MichiganPolitics #TrumpCriminalTrials #VotingMachineTampering

The post ‘Election Integrity’ Gone Bad:  Updates on Michigan’s Electronic Ballot Tabulator Tampering Cases appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 23, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

We’re in Arizona today, where a new and normally mundane Election Procedure Manual for election officials has attracted not one, not two, but three GOP lawsuits. 

Arizona’s Secretary of State issued the updated manual in January, after review by the state’s governor and attorney general, and a 15-day public comment period.   

January 31st, House and Senate GOP leaders challenged six new provisions, one of which tells counties they must certify elections by the statewide deadline, or risk county results not being counted by the state.  In 2022, conspiracy theory-driven Cochise County commissioners tried to block certification.  

Another suit by the national and state Republican committees argues that the 15-day public comment period should have been 30 days, and takes issue with seven provisions, including allowing early voting mail ballots to be sent out of state, and allowing federal-only voters with no citizenship papers to vote in Presidential elections.  The Arizona GOP has used proof of citizenship as a voter suppression tactic aimed at Native American voters, some of whom do not have birth certificates. 

A suit filed February 13th by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club contends new rules protecting voters from threats and intimidation violate the free speech rights of poll watchers.  The rules come after masked and armed vigilantes were stationed at ballot drop boxes in 2022.

We have more details on the suits linked at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Democracy Docket – Arizona Republicans Challenge Elections Procedure Manual
Arizona Mirror/Votebeat – Arizona Republicans sue Adrian Fontes over election manual, claiming disenfranchisement
National Republican Committee/Arizona GOP – Arizona Superior Court Claim
Arizona Mirror – GOP sues Fontes over Election Procedures Manual 

Associated Press – Group challenges restrictions in Arizona election manual on ballot drop-off locations

Groups Taking Action:
Native American Rights Fund,  League of Women Voters Arizona, Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, Voto Latino  

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ElectionDeniers #ProtectPollWorkers #VoterSuppression #NativeVote

The post Not One, Not Two, But Three Lawsuits Contesting Arizona’s New Election Procedure Manual for Election Officials appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for July 25, 2023

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time) 

Today’s Links below the script

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Last week, Texas became the ninth state to officially withdraw from the multi-state voter registration cooperative called ERIC, recently the target of fringe conspiracy theories. But, Texas doesn’t yet have a replacement.

Votebeat Texas reports that the Texas Secretary of State’s office gave its 91-day notice to withdraw from the Electronic Registration Information Center, joining Iowa, Missouri, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia and West Virginia. 

ERIC is a nonprofit cooperative founded and run by states to keep their registration lists clean, identifying voters who have moved, died – or in very rare cases – registered in two places.  

ERIC came under fire when a non-voting board member, formerly of Pew Trusts, moved to Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation, which provided grants to fund municipal election offices during the pandemic.  Another misguided theory claims the original funding from Pew Trusts for ERIC, came in part from Billionaire philanthropist George Soros.  

SB 1070, effective this September 1st, lays out requirements for a system to replace ERIC in Texas.  Problem is, there are no alternatives as effective.   Votebeat Texas reported that June 2022 data from ERIC helped Texas election officials identify 100,000 in-state duplicates, and another 100,000 possible out-of-state duplicates.   

While chasing fringe conspiracy theories, it appears Texas legislators left their state with less election integrity, not more.  

We have a link to articles on ERIC at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Texas Secretary of State – (2020) Statement After Joining Texas Joined ERIC
Texas Tribune/Votebeat Texas – Conspiracy theory whirlwind threatens to blow Texas out of national program that keeps voter rolls updated
Texas Tribune/Votebeat Texas – Texas set to exit multistate program that cleans voter rolls
Votebeat Texas – Texas resigns from ERIC, a national program that keeps voter rolls updated
Votebeat Texas – Letter Withdrawing Texas from ERIC
LegiScan – Text for SB 1070
Associated Press – Texas is largest state to leave bipartisan national effort to prevent voter fraud
National Conference of State Legislators – More Withdrawals From Voter Data Group ERIC Likely

Groups Taking Action:
Campaign Legal Center, Brennan Center for Justice, League of Women Voters

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #FreedomtoVote #VotingRights

The post Texas Withdraws from ERIC, But the State Has Yet to Implement an Alternative to Keep Its Voter Lists Clean appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 20, 2023

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

NPR – Fox News settles blockbuster defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems
Associated Press – Fox, Dominion reach $787M settlement over election claims
Newsweek – Fox News, OAN, Newsmax Defamation Lawsuit Explained
The Guardian – The legal problems still overshadowing Fox News after its Dominion settlement
Washington Post – (paywall) Fox News still faces $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic
Reuters – Dominion sees no chance of settling suits against pro-Trump lawyers Giuliani, Powell
Business Insider – Supreme Court won’t let MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell dodge Dominion’s $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit

Today’s Script:  (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

The defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Election Systems came to a screeching – and expensive – halt Tuesday, as Fox Corporation agreed to pay $787.5 million dollars without having to make an on-air apology.  Fox’s troubles are not over yet, however. Several pending lawsuits are likely to expose even more embarrassing behavior.

Pre-trial disclosures showed Fox management and hosts knew that stories about Dominion equipment being involved in voter fraud were untrue, prompting Judge Eric Davis to say in a in March ruling that allowed the case to go to trial, “The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that it is CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true.” 

The settlement avoids a PR disaster for Fox  – but only for a minute.  A $2.6 Billion dollar lawsuit by another election equipment company, Smartmatic, is also moving forward in a New York court.  Fox also faces a suit by one of its senior producers, who claims Fox lawyers tried to coerce her into giving misleading testimony in the Dominion case.  Discovery in either case may lead to disclosure of more damning emails and documents. 

Dominion and Smartmatic also have cases pending against Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo and former host Lou Dobbs, conservative talk channels NewsMax and One America Network, Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.

We have links to articles at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews

The post Fox News Troubles Not Over Yet, With More Potentially Embarrassing Lawsuits Pending appeared first on American Democracy Minute.