Tranquillus in Exile
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The 2020 presidential election was the largest in US history, with 156 million votes cast and the highest percentage turnout since 1900. Joe Biden finished more than 7 million votes ahead. Donald Trump refused to concede, claiming the election was rigged.
On November 12, 2020, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency - charged with overseeing the integrity of the election - reported that the election was “the most secure in American history”. Five days later the Agency’s head, Chris Krebs, appointed by Trump in 2018, was fired.
On December 1, 2020, Attorney General William Barr announced that the Department of Justice had found “no fraud on a scale sufficient to impact the result”. Earlier Barr had told Trump in private that claims of widespread illegality were “bullshit”. Barr resigned two weeks later.
The acting Attorney General, Jeffrey Rosen, came under immediate pressure to do Trump’s bidding. Handwritten notes taken by Rosen’s deputy:
https://oversight.house.gov/sites/d...DOJ Donoghue Notes Extract for Production.pdf
Rosen: “Understand that the DoJ can’t + won’t snap its fingers + change the outcome of the election, doesn’t work that way.”
Trump: “Don’t expect you to do that, just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R congressmen.”
But Rosen wouldn’t play. He was in line to be fired too, but key Justice Department officials threatened to resign en masse and Trump backed down.
Meanwhile, Trump’s legal eagles, Giuliani and Powell, launched a blizzard of lawsuits in courts up to and including the SCOTUS. One of the more imaginative scenarios was “Italygate”: an Italian defense firm was said to have used satellites to flip votes from Trump to Biden. And I thought it was a Kraken from Venezuela!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...-election-fraud-conspiracy-trump-team-pushed/
Just one out of 61 lawsuits was upheld, on a minor technicality.
On January 2, 2021, Trump made the last of many calls to Brad Raffensperger(R), Georgia secretary of state, telling him: “I just want to find 11,780 votes”. Raffensperger politely declined. Four days later, Mike Pence faced down Trump’s urgings and did his constitutional duty, certifying the election result.
139 House Republicans and eight Senate Republicans voted against it.
No president or ex-president has behaved like this in the history of the Republic. Trump is the first, and his cultists either can’t see what’s wrong or don’t give a damn. But will He Who Can Never Lose be the last?
On November 12, 2020, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency - charged with overseeing the integrity of the election - reported that the election was “the most secure in American history”. Five days later the Agency’s head, Chris Krebs, appointed by Trump in 2018, was fired.
On December 1, 2020, Attorney General William Barr announced that the Department of Justice had found “no fraud on a scale sufficient to impact the result”. Earlier Barr had told Trump in private that claims of widespread illegality were “bullshit”. Barr resigned two weeks later.
The acting Attorney General, Jeffrey Rosen, came under immediate pressure to do Trump’s bidding. Handwritten notes taken by Rosen’s deputy:
https://oversight.house.gov/sites/d...DOJ Donoghue Notes Extract for Production.pdf
Rosen: “Understand that the DoJ can’t + won’t snap its fingers + change the outcome of the election, doesn’t work that way.”
Trump: “Don’t expect you to do that, just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R congressmen.”
But Rosen wouldn’t play. He was in line to be fired too, but key Justice Department officials threatened to resign en masse and Trump backed down.
Meanwhile, Trump’s legal eagles, Giuliani and Powell, launched a blizzard of lawsuits in courts up to and including the SCOTUS. One of the more imaginative scenarios was “Italygate”: an Italian defense firm was said to have used satellites to flip votes from Trump to Biden. And I thought it was a Kraken from Venezuela!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...-election-fraud-conspiracy-trump-team-pushed/
Just one out of 61 lawsuits was upheld, on a minor technicality.
On January 2, 2021, Trump made the last of many calls to Brad Raffensperger(R), Georgia secretary of state, telling him: “I just want to find 11,780 votes”. Raffensperger politely declined. Four days later, Mike Pence faced down Trump’s urgings and did his constitutional duty, certifying the election result.
139 House Republicans and eight Senate Republicans voted against it.
No president or ex-president has behaved like this in the history of the Republic. Trump is the first, and his cultists either can’t see what’s wrong or don’t give a damn. But will He Who Can Never Lose be the last?
