1/There is more to this election than the most recent poll: Last week the FBI arrested an ISIS linked terrorist as he bought weapons & ammo from someone he didn't know was with law enforcement to carry out a violent election day attack. But this story has barely been covered.
2/The threat from white supremacist groups also has not disappeared. DOJ has taken extraordinary steps to coordinate with state & local law enforcement to minimize the threat. But you may not have heard a lot about the election threat task force, either. justice.gov/voting/electio…
3/Meanwhile, Trump is spewing lies about migrants, claiming they're voting & taking American jobs—demonstrably untrue. & Gen'l Flynn, Trump's advisor (after a pardon kept him out of prison), won't rule out executing people to clear "the swamp." More here: open.substack.com/pub/joycevance…
4/Also for those who want to know more about the terrorism case, here are the basics, but expect DOJ to get a grand jury indictment in the next couple of weeks, at which point we'll learn more details. joycevance.substack.com/p/a-new-electi…
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Memories are short. But I went back thru old tweets to see just how strong the protest against a hush-and-hurry-up confirmation proceeding for now-Justice Kavanaugh was after allegations of sexual assault, which he denied, surfaced.
DOJ has charged (in a complaint not a grand jury indictment, which suggest urgency) an Afghani national in a terrorist plot on election day.Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi is charged with material support of ISIS & conspiring to receive weapons & ammunition. justice.gov/opa/media/1372…
Per DOJ: Tawhedi "conspired & attempted to provide material support to ISIS & obtained firearms & ammunition to conduct a violent attack on U.S. soil in the name of ISIS. As part of the plot, the defendant allegedly took steps to liquidate his family’s assets, resettle members of his family overseas, acquire AK-47 assault rifles & ammunition & commit a terrorist attack in the US"
It's clear the the FBI was on top of the situation early, & ran an undercover operation to see just how far the defendant was willing to go. It turns out, he was willing to go all the way.
1/Trump's claim that “illegal aliens” are voting and poised to “steal” the election from him is a lie. Noncitizens can’t just walk across the border and register to vote. It’s a federal crime for noncitizens to vote in a presidential election. That doesn't stop him though...
2/Despite the lack of evidence that noncitizen voting is a problem, last January, Trump began ginning up concern that it is. How bad has it gotten? Read on. apnews.com/article/trump-…
3/@BrennanCenter studied 42 jurisdictions after the 2016 election & found only about 30 cases of potential noncitizen voting out of 23.5 million votes cast. & how does Trump explain immigrants being responsible for his loss when GOP senators & congresspeople won?
1/ @wapo reports that early in his presidency, the Secret Service warned Trump about concerns about protecting him if he continued to golf at his courses, because of their proximity to public roads. Trump told them his courses were safe & kept playing. washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/…
2/The Secret Service did its job—the gunman didn’t get closer than 500 feet, about a football field & 1/2, to Trump. The gunman didn’t get a shot off, despite the fact that Trump’s outing had not been previously planned, which forced Secret Service agents “to work on the fly”
3/Different approach: Ronald Reagan essentially gave up golf "because he was concerned about putting other people at unnecessary risk" after an armed man took hostages at Augusta National to try & get to him.
1/For those of you who want to take a look at the statutes DOJ is using, (I've ironically been discussing with my students in class this past week), start with 18 USC 922(g) the felon in possession charge. Routh has at least one felony law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18…
2/The criminal history I've seen is probably incomplete, but shows a lot of misdemeanors and one 20 year + old felony. But that qualifies. Prosecutors often use their discretion not to charge a very old felony & say, someone with a hunting gun, but that won't be the case here.
3/ There could also be additional provisions in 922 that would apply if, say, Routh has a dishonorable discharge or a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
1/Emotions today, September 11, 2024, run the gamut from the joy at the remarkable experience of watching Kamala Harris mop the floor with Donald Trump in the debate last night to the horrific sadness of yet another commemoration of the 9/11 anniversary, 23 years later.
2/Today should be a day of national remembrance and public service. Instead, democracy is fighting for its life. It feels theatrical to write those words, but that doesn't change the fact that they are true. We saw it on full display in the debate last night.
3/.@GregTSargent had an observation about about the ridiculous "Haitian immigrants eating cats" nonsense that Donald Trump has been peddling & repeated last night & that JD Vance doubled down on in a post-debate interview.