I'm honestly curious, given the existence of primaries and beliefs among the GOP electorate, about why Kemp, Ducey, Raffensperger, MI/PA/WI legislative leaders *haven’t* gone full MAGA and tried to overturn the results.
Respect for facts and the law? Goodness of their hearts?
What we’ve seen over the past month is that lots of Rs have been willing to *rhetorically* back Trump’s “stolen election” lies and to urge *other* Republicans to do something about it. But almost no R in a position of power to do something has actually done so.
The main exceptions here were the Wayne County canvassers who quickly caved and the one MI state board of canvassers holdout who ultimately didn't matter. But other than that, no one in a position of authority was really willing to push the limits for Trump.
This is surely part of the calculation for the statewide officials in AZ and GA, but not so much for the gerrymandered legislature leaders
I guess the question I'm trying to think out loud about here is, is it the institutional role that matters most, and has effectively been constraining all these officials?
If Doug Collins was governor of Georgia right now, would he be acting like Kemp?
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Conservatives had hoped that Clinesmith would "flip" and reveal misconduct from others. No sign he did so in this sentencing memo. Says he spoke about his other FISA applications but does not mention providing any useful information that should mitigate sentence
Strong case from @emptywheel that Durham's speculation that political bias might have played a role in Clinesmith's offense is inappropriate. He admits he can't prove it, just asserts it's "plausible"
Some short last names redacted here in the court document describing a "bribery-for-pardon" scheme involving an attorney dcd.uscourts.gov/sites/dcd/file…
The bribery-for-pardon scheme appears to be about someone who's already in Bureau of Prisons custody
This part says the clemency request involved “past substantial campaign contributions” and “anticipated future substantial political contributions”
Aaron van Langevelde, key GOP vote on the Michigan board of canvassers, speaks at meeting: "We have a duty to certify this election based on the returns. This is very clear. I'm not going to argue that we're not." But, wants to wait to hear public comments before making the vote
Van Langevelde is stressing that the board of canvassers has a limited role, and a legal "duty" to certify.
"We don't have the authority to conduct a trial here on whether election fraud occurred."
Van Langevelde confirms he'll vote to certify MI results.
"The law is absolutely clear. We have a clear legal duty to certify the results of the election as shown by the returns that were given to us... As John Adams once said, we are a government of laws, not men"
A spokesperson from Gov. Kemp's office told the AP yesterday that Kemp would "make a determination in his own mind if he’s seen" evidence of widespread voter fraud apnews.com/article/joe-bi…
.@BrendanKeefe reports that certification in Georgia will happen as expected. Presser at 5 PM.
Last week, two longtime Michigan Republicans sounded the alarm about "the very real prospect the Republicans who control the Senate and House in Lansing might nullify the clear and decisive victory achieved by Joe Biden in Michigan"
This appears to be the Twitter account for one of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers Republican members who voted not to certify. A Gateway Pundit fan who has RTed a Trump tweet claiming mail ballot fraud twitter.com/HartmannDude/w…