1/ I just got a phone call from someone identifying themselves as a "West Valley City police officer" telling me my daughter had been in an accident.

Turns out I had been targeted by a very elaborate and disturbing scam.

Here's what happened 2/ I answer a phone call and was informed a young lady had been in a car accident and told them I was her emergency contact.

That could only be my daughter.

The person said she suffered a head injury and was having trouble calming down.

Could I talk to her?

Of course.

This story from @metzsam on how the Chinese government has cultivated influence among Utah lawmakers is damning.

Pro-China advocates appealed to lawmakers' affiliations with the LDS Church, which has long dreamed of expanding in China #utpol #utleg

apnews.com/article/china-… Lawmakers delayed action for a year to ban Chinese-funded Confucius Institutes at state universities. The programs have been described as propaganda instruments #utpol #utleg

apnews.com/article/china-…

🚨 1/ New transcripts from the House Jan. 6 committee show the day the 2020 election was called for Joe Biden, Sen. Mike Lee was speaking with campaign lawyer Cleta Mitchell about how to reverse Trump's loss.

She said the alternate elector scheme was "Mike Lee's idea" #utpol 2/ The transcript clearly demonstrates Lee would have joined the objection to certifying Biden's win if states had sent competing slates of electors to Congress on Jan. 6.

Those electors never materialized #utpol

🚨 WHOA! 🚨

1/ Caroline Wren, an organizer of the "Stop the Steal" rally that led to the attack on the Capitol on January 6, said she lobbied Utah A.G. Sean Reyes to sign on to the Texas lawsuit challenging the 2020 election results in several states #utpol 2/ The lawsuit aimed to throw out the election results in four states won by Joe Biden.

It was quickly tossed by the Supreme Court #utpol

sltrib.com/news/politics/…

🚨WHOA!

1/ In a @January6thCmte transcript, Sidney Powell says Sen. Mike Lee invited her to a meeting to discuss what she "was seeing and finding."

Powell alleged deceased Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez had rigged voting machines to steal votes from Donald Trump #utpol 2/ It sure seems Sen. Lee met with Powell more than once following the 2020 election.

Q: If he said that he spoke to you several times regarding your claims or theories with respect to the election, would that jive with your memory?

A: I certainly wouldn't dispute it #utpol

The @January6thCmte report gives new details about the role Sen. Mike Lee played in the scheme to have states appoint alternate electors to help overturn Donald Trump's 2020 election loss #utpol

sltrib.com/news/politics/… The report says Lee "spent a month encouraging the idea of having State legislatures endorse competing electors for Trump."

Lee has claimed he was investigating "rumors" of alternate electors, but the report concludes he had a more active role #utpol

sltrib.com/news/politics/…

1/ The subpoenas are flying in the lawsuit claiming Utah's congressional maps are an illegal gerrymander.

A dozen people were served this week, including all four Utah Republicans in Congress and former Rep. Rob Bishop #utpol #utleg

sltrib.com/news/politics/… 2/ A source familiar with the case told me the subpoenas are seeking documents and other records relating to the drawing of the new maps during the redistricting process #utpol #utleg

sltrib.com/news/politics/…

1/ Recently, I told you how @goud4clerk made posts on Telegram where he claimed Democrats cheated and stole the 2020 election.

There were lots of other posts from Maragani expressing anti-vax, anti-mask and other far-right beliefs #utpol

sltrib.com/news/politics/… 2/ In this post from July, 2021, Maragani responds to a story alleging students were told to hide 'equity survey' questions from parents.

"It's what commies do. We need 100% school choice so parents can pull their kids out of government schools," Maragani wrote #utpol

1/ The question remains: When did @goud4clerk determine the 2020 election was not stolen?

That change had to have happened sometime within the last four months.

He has not responded to my questions about when the shift happened #utpol

https://twitter.com/goud4clerk/status/1577855504520355840

2/ I recently found a video of @goud4clerk participating in a panel discussion prior to a screening of the election conspiracy movie "2000 Mules."

That was May 27 of this year #utpol

Maragani's claim that 14,000 ballots cannot be attributed to registered voters is not true.

It comes from an analysis from Cindy Butler, who was a speaker at election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell's "Moment of Truth" summit #utpol

sltrib.com/news/politics/…

https://twitter.com/goud4clerk/status/1579332510441697281

The Clerk's office walked me through the claim which is based on comparing multiple data sets from different points in time.

They say they've explained this to Maragani and others several times.

Good morning from Alta High School.

I'm here for the Salt Lake County GOP's quarterly central committee meeting.

Almost all of the seats in the #utleg in play are in Salt Lake County, so this meeting is very important with just over two months to go until election day #utpol County party chairman @cnull tells me they feel good about picking up some seats in the #utleg this year, but he's also feeling pressure to deliver.

Null says redistricting was favorable for the GOP, which is a reason why he's feeling some optimism #utpol

1/ A conservative non-profit political organization run by longtime activist Leonard Leo received a massive $1.6 billion donation.

Why does Marble Freedom Trust list a North Salt Lake address on its tax filings? #utpol

sltrib.com/news/politics/… 2/ Marble Freedom Trust is controlled by Leonard Leo, who was one of the first paid employees of the Federalist Society. He's now co-chairman of the group's board of directors #utpol

sltrib.com/news/politics/…

Oh, hey!

Election conspiracy cranks "Two Red Pills" are doing an interview with a local right-wing podcast.

Let's see what falsehoods and fabrications they come up with today! Jen Orten and Sophie Anderson are talking about how they've been invited to an event with "True the Vote," which is the people who helped Dinesh D'Souza with his garbage "documentary" 2000 Mules.

Buttigieg-a-palooza (TM) has moved from the Capitol to a Unified Fire Station in Emigration Canyon as we prepare for a roundtable discussion with Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson and others about firefighting efforts and improving transportation infrastructure #utpol SLCO Mayor Jenny Wilson and Secretary Pete Buttigieg join several other people for the roundtable discussion.

"This is an important time for our nation, and it's an important time for our county," Wilson says to start #utpol

Good morning from the Utah State Capitol.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is in town to announce a new $7.3 billion program to help states and communities prepare for and respond to extreme weather events #utpol The funding is available to states over five years to make transportation infrastructure more resilient to extreme weather and natural disasters.

The funds can be used on highway and transit projects, port facilities and improving evacuation routes #utpol

Once again, the Utah County Commission is discussing the topic of "election integrity" and taking public comments from election conspiracy enthusiasts.

It's a lot of the same people who show up every time to yell about non-existent election fraud #utpol One woman just said she could not believe that nearly "every patriotic America First candidate" lost in the primary election.

Once again, for the people in the back: GOP primary voters are MUCH MORE MODERATE than candidates favored by the convention crowd #utpol

1/ Nomi Health, Domo and Qualtrics leveraged their connections to then-Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox and other Republican leaders to secure millions of dollars in no-bid contracts during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic response #utpol

usatoday.com/in-depth/money… 2/ Cox said he had never heard of Nomi Health, but they were recommended by leaders within Silicon Slopes.

Cox (and others) were contacted by leaders in Iowa, Nebraska and Tennessee who also gave Nomi lucrative contacts #utpol

usatoday.com/in-depth/money…

1/ Following a recount, Joseph Elison defeated Willie Billings in the HD72 GOP primary by just 10 votes.

Billings is making allegations about potential irregularities with vote counting machines, and plans to sue to force a hand recount #utpol

sltrib.com/news/politics/… 2/ Billings and his supporters point to a post-recount audit where the county randomly selected just under 3% of the ballots to see if they matched up with the machine count.

The votes in that random sample favored Billings 61-39% #utpol

sltrib.com/news/politics/…

1/ This @USATODAY investigation of Nomi Health is damning.

The company, with zero public health experience, leveraged relationships with GOP officials in five states into a $219 million payday during the COVID pandemic #utpol

usatoday.com/in-depth/money… 2/ Tennessee officials had "no confidence" Nomi's COVID tests would provide reliable results.

Tennessee terminated its contract in June of 2020.

Utah, and other states, continued to pay Nomi millions of dollars #utpol

usatoday.com/in-depth/money…

1/ Rep. Joel Ferry is holding on to his seat in the Utah House while simultaneously working as acting director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources — an arrangement which appears to violate the Utah Constitution's separation of powers #utpol #utleg

sltrib.com/news/politics/… 2/ Gov. Spencer Cox's office says the situation is okay because Ferry has been removed from assignments that deal with natural resources, and he is not taking legislative compensation #utpol #utleg

sltrib.com/news/politics/…

SCOTUS just issued an opinion in Carson v. Makin.

The court rules 6-3 that Maine violated the free exercise clause of the Constitution by refusing to provide public funding for private religious schools. This is a MASSIVE decision.

The conservative majority holds the First Amendment REQUIRES Maine taxpayers to fund explicitly religious schools.

Essentially, they overrule the establishment clause (separation of church and state) with the free exercise clause.