NEW: We obtained more of former Attorney General William Barr’s text messages from his time in office, including a text thread about a secret meeting Barr held with Italian intelligence officers in August 2019. americanoversight.org/document/doj-t…
On Aug. 11, 2019, Will Levi — then a counselor to Barr who later became his chief of staff — texted that a top Italian intelligence official wanted to meet with Barr on Aug. 15.
The official wanted to know if the U.S. embassy would be included.
Barr said the embassy wouldn’t be included, but that Seth DuCharme would need to be.
DuCharme, then counselor to Barr, was involved with John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Russia investigation.
In Aug. and Sept. 2019, Barr traveled to Italy to ask for help with Durham’s probe into the origins of the Russia investigation. reuters.com/article/us-usa…
Previously, we obtained records of the expenses for Barr’s other meeting with Italian intelligence officials in Sept. 2019.
“If you do an audit...they will do...everything to try and stop you," Arizona Senate Pres. Karen Fann said at an ALEC event. "We’ve spent well over half a million dollars just fighting lawsuits. American Oversight...every week we’re getting more requests." documented.net/investigations…
.@ItsDocumented obtained this audio recording of an invitation-only voter-suppression strategy session hosted by the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The meeting covered a range of topics, including election “audits.”
In her presentation, Arizona Senate President Fann mentioned us and our ongoing lawsuit for records from the Senate’s sham ballot review. And yes, we have sued to bring much-needed transparency to the “audit.”
The “audit” was announced late on Sept. 23, just hours after former President Donald Trump publicly pressured Gov. Greg Abbott to investigate the election and to back legislation that would pave the way for future audits.
The documents we obtained include communications sent by election officials in Collin and Tarrant counties from November 2020 to mid-October 202l and back up previous reports that county officials were given no advance notice and little guidance. cnn.com/2021/09/24/pol…
Pennsylvania has joined the growing number of states where partisan actors have launched baseless election investigations. In Sept., lawmakers initiated a “forensic investigation” into the state’s 2020 election results. Here’s how we’re investigating. americanoversight.org/investigation/…
Supporters of former President Trump’s baseless claims of fraud had been laying the groundwork in Pa. for months, creating committees on “election integrity,” filing legislation to impose new voting restrictions, holding hearings about the election process, and more.
One key player who led the push to “audit” Pennsylvania’s election was state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a vocal Trump ally who attended and organized buses to the rally that preceded the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
We obtained records from ICE that provide insight into the deportations of migrants during the spring of 2020 and ICE’s failure to implement proper safety measures. The records indicate that several migrants tested positive upon arrival in their destination countries.
The documents we obtained also include conversations among high-ranking officials about pushback from the governments of Guatemala, Jamaica, India, and other nations. americanoversight.org/covid-19-overs…
An email we obtained suggests that in spring 2020 the Guatemalan government requested that people deported from the U.S. be tested and that their negative results be sent for approval prior to the flight.
In Georgia, several counties have tried to restructure their local election boards to give partisan actors control over election administration. Some have warned that these measures could suppress access to voting. americanoversight.org/emails-from-sp…
This week, we’re highlighting emails we uncovered that show the backlash among county election officials to these measures.
First, here’s what emails from Spalding County reveal.
In April, Georgia passed H.B. 769 which changed the county’s Board of Elections — which leaned Democratic — by replacing the board’s fifth member with an appointee selected by a majority of county judges.
“Elected officials in Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and other states have studied Donald Trump’s crusade to overturn the 2020 election. They have...taken concrete steps to avoid failure next time.” theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
"They are fine-tuning a legal argument that purports to allow state legislators to override the choice of the voters.”
We’ve been fighting to expose these efforts using public records requests and litigation. Here’s some of what we’ve uncovered.
We obtained records showing backlash among Georgia county election officials earlier this year against efforts to give partisan actors control over local election administration. americanoversight.org/emails-from-sp…