Thread by @DempseyTwo

Jan 6th, 2017 is a very important day in our history. Joe, you got the date wrong and we’re only in the first tweet. No, that’s right…On Jan 6, 2017, Dept of Homeland Security Secy Jeh Johnson determined our election infrastructure, was critical infrastructure.

Not a wee 🧵👇🏻

By DHS recognizing election infrastructure as ‘critical’, it put it into a category of things protected at levels like Dams and Nuclear Reactors. Critical infrastructure.

Jeh Johnson, on January 6th, 2017 protected the integrity of our elections.

dhs.gov/news/2017/01/0…

Folks, I invite you to settle in. Get comfy.

The J6C has shown us evidence of a scheme to overturn the 2020 election driven by the Big Lie. The Big Lie of course is that there was voter fraud in the 2020 election on a level so large as to change the outcome. (There wasn’t)

I know…The Big Lie is getting old. It’s so yestersh..yest..yestergg, it’s just getting old. I don’t know how long the Big Lie has been being told exactly, but I do know it was told one week after trump was inaugurated. He tweeted about ‘illegal’ votes here.👇🏻

That tweet was dated January 27, 2017. Just 7 days after he is inaugurated as president, trump claims 3 million votes were illegal. The man is essentially claiming voter fraud in an election he just won. trump was not looking backwards you guys, he was looking forward.

On May 11, 2017 former president trump signed Executive Order 13799 establishing what would become the Presidential Advisory Election Integrity Committee. It was chaired by VP Pence and co chaired by former Kansas Secy of State Kris Kobach.
dhs.gov/publication/ex…

The bipartisan Election Integrity committee was comprised of 5 former Secretary’s of State, a County Clerk, a member from the Election Assistance Commission, a former State Rep from AR, a judge, and a few people from the Heritage Foundation.

Aww FFS.🤦🏼‍♂️

On July 19, 2017, the first meeting of this group was held in the White House. trump kicked it off. He was looking surly. Almost like he had just gotten news, or a pig in a blanket that didn’t agree with him. Watch the first meeting of the PAEIC here.
👇🏻

While welcoming and introducing the commissioners, trump mentions there are some states that aren’t sharing. He says ‘there are 30 states but the others you have to ask why they don’t want to share. There is a reason. There always is.’

What was it that wasn’t being shared?

Voter roll data.

Let that sink in. Knowing what you know now from J6C, think about what it would mean for trump to have access to all voter roll data in all 50 states. Now recall he filed for re-election on Jan 20,2017…

Which means he was running for the 2020 election since the day he was inaugurated, which means he could have a campaign team. *Now* think about him gaining access to all voter rolls. Now think about him being surly about finding out that 20 of 50 states were unwilling to share.

During his opening remarks on the Commission, Vice Chairman (the one who would ultimately be driving the team) Kris Kobach, former Kansas Secy of State said how proud he was of the partnership and data sharing he enjoyed with 30 states. Voter rolls.

During her opening remarks on the Committee, former Secy of State of Mike Pence’s Indiana, Connie Lawson was frustrated by DHS’s decision to designate our election infrastructure as ‘critical’. Remember? The thing Jeh Johnson did on Jan 6?

From the moment trump tweeted about 3 million illegal votes to the May 11, 2017 Election Committee being named, the search was on for who should be part of the committee, right? Like, who ginned up the group? Or was it ready made…

After a recent Senate Judiciary committee hearing in which Sen Whitehouse (D-RI), discussed the Big Lie and presented the below, he tweeted ‘Connect the dots.’

https://twitter.com/senwhitehouse/status/1554966445632765952

Let’s look at some dots…because the same dots keep coming up.

Ken Blackwell sat on the Presidents Advisory Election Integrity Committee. He sat next to Pence during its first meeting (spoiler: there were only 2)

Back in 2013, Blackwell was with Ginni Thomas’ Groundswell.

Blackwell is also connected to Heritage Foundation, ALEC, Council for National Policy and Conservative Partnership Institute, you remember them from when Sidney Powell presented a coup plan to the senators Mike Lee assembled on November 9, 2020, and Sen Whitehouse’s presentation.

https://twitter.com/dempseytwo/status/1515664552326750211

During Blackwell’s opening statement in the Election Integrity Committee meeting, he made sure to thank Ken Klukowski. If his name is familiar, it’s because the J6C introduced him to us for allegedly collaborating with John Eastman. Here is Blackwell referring to him too.👇🏻

On Oct 20, 2016, prior to trump being elected, Ginni Thomas sent an email to a group of people asking if they could put up signs listing laws people would break if they do voter fraud. The group included Klukowski as well as Election Integrity committee member J Christian Adams.

Adams actually had to let Ginni know, the signs with the laws at the polling places was not a great look. He didn’t say the loud part, but it’s a form of voter intimidation and in 2016, the Republican Party wasn’t allowed to engage in such activity. Here’s why👇🏻

https://twitter.com/dempseytwo/status/1522554116668628992

Adams is also a part of the Public Interest Legal Foundation. Board members of PILF include, committee members Ken Blackwell, J Christian Adams, Hans Von Spakovsky, also John Eastman, and Cleta Mitchell among others.

Cleta Mitchell is interesting because she has something in common with a different member of the Election Integrity Committee, Christy McCormick. They each served as Election Assistance Commission members.

In McCormick’s opening remarks, she used a phrase Blackwell used in his; ‘Vote dilution’. Meaning your vote doesn’t count as much if non citizens vote. She too is frustrated at Jeh Johnson and DHS’ decision to categorize election infrastructure as critical.

McCormick says that Johnson discarded and dismissed opinions and concerns from secy’s of state and Election Assistance Commission members.

Perhaps he was trying to protect our critical infrastructure from something.

McCormick also has ties to ALEC, Heritage Foundation, and Conservative Partnership Institute.

Anyone sensing a trend?

Remember that time Ginni Thomas wrote those emails to 29 members of the Arizona State government? Is it weird that an Election Assistance Commissioner who sat on the presidents election integrity committee was the subject of Karen Fann text messages in Arizona?

Another member of the presidents election integrity committee was Hans Von Spakovsky. He was a Senior Legal Fellow at Heritage foundation and you saw earlier a PILF board member.

He too has issues with Jeh Johnson’s decision. Why is that? Why is protecting our election infrastructure no differently than we protect our nuclear reactors such a bad thing for at least 3 members of this presidential election integrity advisory committee?

Remember earlier when J Christian Adams had to stop Ginni Thomas from engaging in voter intimidation? Von Spakovksy presented a case to the committee that DOJ brought against the New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation.

Wanna guess who was part of the team that brought that case?

Hint: it starts with J and ends in Christian Adams.

justice.gov/crt/united-sta…

At the start, Pence said the committee had no preconceived outcomes. But individually though? I mean these seem like true partisans. This was after all, a bipartisan committee. So let’s look at the democrats the president appointed.

Mark Rhodes was county clerk for Wood County West Virginia. He did not have any prepared opening remarks. Neither did former Maine Secy of State Matt Dunlap. That’s weird because all the republicans were prepared. Were the democrats left in the dark?

Apparently, yes.
Dunlop was so dismayed at the lack of transparency of the committee, he sued them. Here’s a weird thing for someone appointed to an election integrity committee by the president to say. epic.org/wp-content/upl…

Another Democrat was NH Secy of State Bill Gardner. In his opening remarks, he said, more Americans should vote, not less. He says approximately half of the US believes there is voter fraud. I wonder how they got that impression.

To round out our committee members, there was a probate judge from Alabama named Alan King. He oversaw elections in Jefferson County. One he highlighted was the special election to fill Jeff Sessions seat because he was about to be Attorney General.

Another committee member was state rep from Arkansas, David Dunn. Dunn had maybe the most important and prescient thing to say in his remarks. He wanted to ensure data, statistics, information rec’d by the committee or state, was safeguarded against political misuse.

Was EO 13799 an initiative to study our election vulnerabilities to be exploited at a later date? Was it cover to get voter data to the trump campaign for political misuse? Both? Look for signs of the Big Lie in these presentations. trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/articles/presi…

Remember when the J6C told us Sidney Powell and Mike Flynn wanted to seize voting machines? They were arguing for critical infrastructure to be turned over to them. Thanks to Jeh Johnson, since Jan 6, 2017, we protect our critical infrastructure.

On January 3, 2018, with Executive Order 13820, trump dissolved the committee. trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-a…

If you’re still reading this, thank you. I mean it. This has been a long investment of your time and I appreciate it. This November we will hold the election to save our democracy. Confirm you’re registered and Vote. vote.org

Senator Whitehouse is correct. We need to connect the dots.

Reporters: There is more to this story. Tell it.

@maddow @joyannreid