Thread by @GrassrootsSpeak

Rudy Giuliani's Big Lie 'Venezuela' stories sound like drunken crazy talk but it just TWISTS real facts.

Guiliani says Venezuela's 2004 elections were rigged?
President Jimmy Carter says they were fair?
Who do you believe?

And why is Rudy ignoring ES&S's role in the story👇🧵

In 2000, Hugo Chavez was worried the US was trying to steal Venezuela's elections in order to control OIL🤔
And Venezuela's Supreme Court was concerned enough to almost CANCEL the 2000 election.

But Venezuela's voting machine vendor in 2000 was ES&S...NOT Dominion or Smartmatic

Leading up to Venezuela's 2000 election, the nation’s highest court the Venezuelan Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ) threatened to cancel the nations elections due to technical problems with voting machines from ES&S, a US company who'd supplied election machines since 1998.

The head of the court referenced electronic voting machine issues saying conditions did not exist to ensure the votes "credibility & transparency". He said holding elections with unresolved computer problems would "violate the right to vote as stipulated in the Constitution."

The Venezuelan authorities, including Hugo Chavez, blamed ES&S and blamed the U.S. for recommending the company. The President of Venezuela’s National Election commission claimed ES&S was part of a "destabilizing campaign...directed so that the electoral process doesn't occur."

Chavez said "It seems very strange to me...that the US technicians say that they cannot access the system that they have brought…This is very serious."

Chavez agreed to postpone the elections if they couldn’t fix the technical issues. In a last-ditch effort, ES&S was flown in..

Venezuela deployed an air force jet to Nebraska to fly ES&S technical experts in.

ES&S technicians were met at the election offices by dozens of protestors chanting “Gringos get out!”

Soon after the voting machines were repaired, the 2000 election went ahead & Chavez won.

Giuliani's Big Lie starts in 2004. He NEVER mentions ES&S or the 2000 election. Instead he conflates it with the 2004 election overseen by former President Carter himself.

As of today ES&S is the largest voting machine vendor in the US. But Giuliani/Trump NEVER mention ES&S?

Following the 2000 elections the nation became extremely divided & polarized, culminating in an attempted coup in April 2002.

Due to overwhelming public support, Chavez survived the failed military coup attempt & was restored to power just 47 hrs after having been ousted.

After settling back in, Chavez was very vocal about the US playing a role in the failed coup. He may have had good reason since oil policy was at the heart of the coup attempt & subsequent declassified CIA briefings showed the Bush WH had prior knowledge of the opposition’s plan

With Venezuela being a leading oil producer & the Govt in control of that oil, the question of who led the Govt was key in determining the fate of that oil.

And in 2005 & 2006 Giuliani's own law firm was reportedly paid $5,000 a month to lobby on behalf of oil company CITGO

Btw, Giuliani's Big Oil ties to Venezuela are current. As recently as 2019, Giuliani represented Venezuelan energy executive Alejandro Betancourt López. Betancourt hired Trump’s personal attorney to help him contend with a DOJ investigation of alleged money laundering & bribery.

But back to the elections...
In 2000, Venezuela suffered claims that US company ES&S was rigging the election
In 2002, a coup that the US knew about, failed.

To try to diffuse the polarized state of the nation post-coup, Chavez reached out to former US President Carter for help.

By this time President Carter’s non-partisan, not-for-profit, Carter Center was involved in worldwide peacekeeping missions. Part of that mission included supporting democratic elections. It was in this role that Carter was brought in by Chavez to the 2004 Venezuelan elections.

In Venezuela, Presidents are elected to a 6yr term. So Chavez wasn’t up for reelection til 2006.
However, as an outcome of dialogue overseen by Carter, the two sides agreed on a constitutional provision for a recall referendum on the president to help resolve the deep divisions.

In 2004, the country held a referendum vote to determine whether Hugo Chavez would remain, or be removed, as President.
After their 2000 election debacle, ES&S was no longer in the picture.
Smartmatic machines with PAPER BALLOTS were used nationwide for this 2004 referendum vote.

Former US President Carter went to Venezuela to observe the 2004 elections himself, noting at the time, “We were in Venezuela to remain neutral, to observe the electoral system, & to make a careful and sound final assessment regarding whether the will of the people is expressed.”

During the 2004 recall there were grave concerns for security. In response former President Carter himself arranged for extra security.

Carter wrote that he was amazed at the large turnout of voters he observed who were all in great spirits as they waited for their turn to vote.

The Carter Center subsequently oversaw an audit & issued a final report concluding the results were accurate.

In 2012, Carter stated “As a matter of fact, of the 92 elections that we've monitored, I would say the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world"

For years, the U.S. government under Republican leadership, and in many cases in conjunction with Texas heavy hitters tied to oil, have been working in the shadows to overturn the power dynamics in oil-rich Venezuela. Those who control the Venezuelan Government, control the oil.

And Giuliani continues to try to oust Venezuelan President's. In 2018, Giuliani was involved in a more recent effort to overturn yet another Venezuelan president. As Trump’s personal attorney, Giuliani reportedly tried to oust current Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The Chavez & Venezuela election stories are used to paint Rudy Giuliani's drunken ramblings as crazy talk. But they may stem from a grain of truth. Rudy's simply SPINNING the truth & ignoring key details like the ES&S allegations or which year potential election fraud occurred🤔

Republican's seem to be split into two factions

Team Trump v Team Mitch
But both teams seem to be anti-democracy

Maybe Team Mitch paints Trumps election fraud ramblings as crazy talk cause it hits a little too close to home and could draw attn to ES&S & his own 2020 election🤔

A danger of The Big Lie is that Dems raising the possibility of election fraud, or questioning ES&S, are brushed off as sounding like crazy Gop'ers. But what if instead of Dominion, it's the other vendor?

After all, most Western countries use paper ballots NOT electronic voting.

Remember, in 2002 Bush & McConnell brought the Help America Vote Act giving states BILLIONS to buy electronic voting machines & oversee the counts.

Why's McConnell BLOCKING any election security jeopardizing those State rights?

Why won't McConnell allow #handmarkedpaperballots

Maybe Team Trump v Team Mitch is really about Big Oil?
And American Oligarchy v Russian Oligarchy?
And who controls US elections?
And who controls the Republican party?

Maybe the US under Bush did actually interfere with Venezuelan elections?
Maybe Rudy knows more than he should