It's 2:55 a.m. and I just figured out how Pence massaged the rules of the Electoral College counting session to avoid introducing the "rival" slates of Trump electors.
These are the instructions VPs have given out at the start in each of the last 5. Note the difference?
TLDR: The law specifies that the VP must introduce all "purported" electoral votes. This year, that might've included the unserious/mock Trump electors.
But Pence worked with the parliamentarian to interpret it so only electors backed by a state "authority" would be introduced.
Note how Pence emphasizes, before introduced each state that not only is the slate of electors "regular" and "authentic," but that the parliamentarian has advised him is the only one backed by a state "authority."
That is not a regular acknowledgment at these sessions.
A lot of people interested in this process. Even had Pence introduced these electors, which it’s not entirely clear he had authority to do, they would be legally invalid and unable to be counted by Congress. It would have accomplished nothing except making a lot of people angrier
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OK this is a new thing. Jack Smith relied on the Jan. 6 committee's interview with Trump's White Hous valet. House Republicans released this transcript earlier this year, but it was significantly redacted.
Smith's excerpt includes portions that were previously unreleased.
The valet describes getting Trump a Diet Coke while he got positioned to watch footage of his speech and the riot. The reason it seems like the House GOP version was redacted? The valet appears to be reviewing timestamped photos of his interactions with Trump.
BREAKING: Judge Chutkan has denied Trump's effort to block a new dossier of Jack Smith's evidence from becoming public.
She says she will unseal it tomorrow.
Chutkan says Trump's request to block the filing because of election considerations is not persuasive and that just because her decisions may have an effect on politics isn't the same as "intentional interference."
In fact, Chutkan says that withholding the filing — which is of high public interest — because of its effect on the election would be the actual election interference Trump warns of.
1) A Trump campaign employee and alleged coconspirator sought to foment chaos at the TCF ballot processing center in Detroit. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
2) Trump sidelined his campaign leal team on Nov. 13, putting RUdy Giuliani (CC1) in charge because he was willing to lie about the election results.
The 37-page indictment describes a sophisticated hack-and-leak campaign that succeeded in tricking Trump campaign officials and allies. documentcloud.org/documents/2517…
The hacking operation successfully compromised these people/organziations:
NEW: Courts have chipped away at the Justice Department’s cases against Jan. 6 rioters — and several other threats loom that could further erode what has been the largest and most complex federal probe in history.
1) Many of DOJ’s recent cases have relied on a “geofence” warrant to Google — using devices’ location tracking to identify people inside the restricted area of the Capitol on Jan. 6. But the 5th Circuit recently found geofence warrants are unconstitutional politico.com/news/2024/09/2…
The 5th Circuit isn’t the final word — and a couple other courts have ruled differently — but the issue could be another SCOTUS showdown that limits DOJ’s tools.