#cleta — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #cleta, aggregated by home.social.
-
Several high-ranking federal election officials
attended a summit last week at which prominent figures who worked to
🔥overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election
pressed the president to
👉 declare a national emergency to take over this year’s midterms.According to videos, photos and social media posts reviewed by ProPublica,
the meeting’s participants included #Kurt #Olsen, a White House lawyer charged with reinvestigating the 2020 election,
and #Heather #Honey, the Department of Homeland Security official in charge of election integrity.The event was convened by #Michael #Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser,
and attended by #Cleta #Mitchell,
who directs the "Election Integrity Network",
a group that has spread false claims about election fraud and noncitizen voting.Election experts say that the meeting reflects an intensifying push to
persuade Trump to take unprecedented actions to affect the vote in November.Courts have largely blocked his efforts to reshape elections through an executive order,
and legislation has stalled in Congress that would mandate strict voter ID requirements across the country.The Washington Post reported Thursday that activists associated with those at the summit have been circulating a draft of an executive order
that would ❌ban mail-in ballots
and ❌get rid of voting machines
as part of a federal takeover.#Peter #Ticktin, a lawyer who worked on the executive order and had a client at the summit,
told ProPublica these actions were
“all part of the same effort.”The summit followed other meetings and discussions between administration officials and activists
— many not previously reported
— stretching back to at least last fall,
according to emails and recordings obtained by ProPublica.The coordination between those inside and outside the government represents a breakdown of crucial guardrails,
experts on U.S. elections said.“The meeting shows that the same people who tried to overturn the 2020 election
have only grown better organized
and are now embedded in the machinery of government,”
said Brendan Fischer,
a director at the "Campaign Legal Center",
a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization.“This creates substantial risk that the administration is laying the groundwork to improperly reshape elections ahead of the midterms
or even go against the will of the voters.”https://www.propublica.org/article/election-denier-summit-trump-midterms
-
Several high-ranking federal election officials
attended a summit last week at which prominent figures who worked to
🔥overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election
pressed the president to
👉 declare a national emergency to take over this year’s midterms.According to videos, photos and social media posts reviewed by ProPublica,
the meeting’s participants included #Kurt #Olsen, a White House lawyer charged with reinvestigating the 2020 election,
and #Heather #Honey, the Department of Homeland Security official in charge of election integrity.The event was convened by #Michael #Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser,
and attended by #Cleta #Mitchell,
who directs the "Election Integrity Network",
a group that has spread false claims about election fraud and noncitizen voting.Election experts say that the meeting reflects an intensifying push to
persuade Trump to take unprecedented actions to affect the vote in November.Courts have largely blocked his efforts to reshape elections through an executive order,
and legislation has stalled in Congress that would mandate strict voter ID requirements across the country.The Washington Post reported Thursday that activists associated with those at the summit have been circulating a draft of an executive order
that would ❌ban mail-in ballots
and ❌get rid of voting machines
as part of a federal takeover.#Peter #Ticktin, a lawyer who worked on the executive order and had a client at the summit,
told ProPublica these actions were
“all part of the same effort.”The summit followed other meetings and discussions between administration officials and activists
— many not previously reported
— stretching back to at least last fall,
according to emails and recordings obtained by ProPublica.The coordination between those inside and outside the government represents a breakdown of crucial guardrails,
experts on U.S. elections said.“The meeting shows that the same people who tried to overturn the 2020 election
have only grown better organized
and are now embedded in the machinery of government,”
said Brendan Fischer,
a director at the "Campaign Legal Center",
a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization.“This creates substantial risk that the administration is laying the groundwork to improperly reshape elections ahead of the midterms
or even go against the will of the voters.”https://www.propublica.org/article/election-denier-summit-trump-midterms
-
Several high-ranking federal election officials
attended a summit last week at which prominent figures who worked to
🔥overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election
pressed the president to
👉 declare a national emergency to take over this year’s midterms.According to videos, photos and social media posts reviewed by ProPublica,
the meeting’s participants included #Kurt #Olsen, a White House lawyer charged with reinvestigating the 2020 election,
and #Heather #Honey, the Department of Homeland Security official in charge of election integrity.The event was convened by #Michael #Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser,
and attended by #Cleta #Mitchell,
who directs the "Election Integrity Network",
a group that has spread false claims about election fraud and noncitizen voting.Election experts say that the meeting reflects an intensifying push to
persuade Trump to take unprecedented actions to affect the vote in November.Courts have largely blocked his efforts to reshape elections through an executive order,
and legislation has stalled in Congress that would mandate strict voter ID requirements across the country.The Washington Post reported Thursday that activists associated with those at the summit have been circulating a draft of an executive order
that would ❌ban mail-in ballots
and ❌get rid of voting machines
as part of a federal takeover.#Peter #Ticktin, a lawyer who worked on the executive order and had a client at the summit,
told ProPublica these actions were
“all part of the same effort.”The summit followed other meetings and discussions between administration officials and activists
— many not previously reported
— stretching back to at least last fall,
according to emails and recordings obtained by ProPublica.The coordination between those inside and outside the government represents a breakdown of crucial guardrails,
experts on U.S. elections said.“The meeting shows that the same people who tried to overturn the 2020 election
have only grown better organized
and are now embedded in the machinery of government,”
said Brendan Fischer,
a director at the "Campaign Legal Center",
a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization.“This creates substantial risk that the administration is laying the groundwork to improperly reshape elections ahead of the midterms
or even go against the will of the voters.”https://www.propublica.org/article/election-denier-summit-trump-midterms
-
Several high-ranking federal election officials
attended a summit last week at which prominent figures who worked to
🔥overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election
pressed the president to
👉 declare a national emergency to take over this year’s midterms.According to videos, photos and social media posts reviewed by ProPublica,
the meeting’s participants included #Kurt #Olsen, a White House lawyer charged with reinvestigating the 2020 election,
and #Heather #Honey, the Department of Homeland Security official in charge of election integrity.The event was convened by #Michael #Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser,
and attended by #Cleta #Mitchell,
who directs the "Election Integrity Network",
a group that has spread false claims about election fraud and noncitizen voting.Election experts say that the meeting reflects an intensifying push to
persuade Trump to take unprecedented actions to affect the vote in November.Courts have largely blocked his efforts to reshape elections through an executive order,
and legislation has stalled in Congress that would mandate strict voter ID requirements across the country.The Washington Post reported Thursday that activists associated with those at the summit have been circulating a draft of an executive order
that would ❌ban mail-in ballots
and ❌get rid of voting machines
as part of a federal takeover.#Peter #Ticktin, a lawyer who worked on the executive order and had a client at the summit,
told ProPublica these actions were
“all part of the same effort.”The summit followed other meetings and discussions between administration officials and activists
— many not previously reported
— stretching back to at least last fall,
according to emails and recordings obtained by ProPublica.The coordination between those inside and outside the government represents a breakdown of crucial guardrails,
experts on U.S. elections said.“The meeting shows that the same people who tried to overturn the 2020 election
have only grown better organized
and are now embedded in the machinery of government,”
said Brendan Fischer,
a director at the "Campaign Legal Center",
a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization.“This creates substantial risk that the administration is laying the groundwork to improperly reshape elections ahead of the midterms
or even go against the will of the voters.”https://www.propublica.org/article/election-denier-summit-trump-midterms
-
Several high-ranking federal election officials
attended a summit last week at which prominent figures who worked to
🔥overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election
pressed the president to
👉 declare a national emergency to take over this year’s midterms.According to videos, photos and social media posts reviewed by ProPublica,
the meeting’s participants included #Kurt #Olsen, a White House lawyer charged with reinvestigating the 2020 election,
and #Heather #Honey, the Department of Homeland Security official in charge of election integrity.The event was convened by #Michael #Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser,
and attended by #Cleta #Mitchell,
who directs the "Election Integrity Network",
a group that has spread false claims about election fraud and noncitizen voting.Election experts say that the meeting reflects an intensifying push to
persuade Trump to take unprecedented actions to affect the vote in November.Courts have largely blocked his efforts to reshape elections through an executive order,
and legislation has stalled in Congress that would mandate strict voter ID requirements across the country.The Washington Post reported Thursday that activists associated with those at the summit have been circulating a draft of an executive order
that would ❌ban mail-in ballots
and ❌get rid of voting machines
as part of a federal takeover.#Peter #Ticktin, a lawyer who worked on the executive order and had a client at the summit,
told ProPublica these actions were
“all part of the same effort.”The summit followed other meetings and discussions between administration officials and activists
— many not previously reported
— stretching back to at least last fall,
according to emails and recordings obtained by ProPublica.The coordination between those inside and outside the government represents a breakdown of crucial guardrails,
experts on U.S. elections said.“The meeting shows that the same people who tried to overturn the 2020 election
have only grown better organized
and are now embedded in the machinery of government,”
said Brendan Fischer,
a director at the "Campaign Legal Center",
a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization.“This creates substantial risk that the administration is laying the groundwork to improperly reshape elections ahead of the midterms
or even go against the will of the voters.”https://www.propublica.org/article/election-denier-summit-trump-midterms
-
Democracy experts believe there is no longer any doubt about Trump’s desire to interfere with this fall’s elections.
“We should not be waiting for the next shoe to drop,”
said Wendy Weiser, vice-president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice.
🆘“There is a full-blown effort to seize control of some of the mechanisms of our elections and to lay the foundation for interfering in upcoming elections.”The president has no power over federal elections,
and the US constitution is not ambiguous on the matter.
Article I, section 4 of the document gives states the power to run elections.
Congress, the constitution says, can pass nationwide rules for federal elections.Nonetheless, Trump and his allies have suggested the president may still be able to wield some kind of emergency power to take control of the electoral process.
“The president’s authority is limited in his role with regard to elections except where there is a threat to the national sovereignty of the United States
– as I think that we can establish with the porous system that we have,”
#Cleta #Mitchell, a conservative lawyer and Trump ally said on a podcast interview last year.
⚠️“Then, I think maybe the president is thinking he will exercise some emergency powers to protect the federal elections going forward.”Declaring a national emergency unlocks about 150 statutory powers for the president, including things like shutting down radio stations, suspending certain military regulations, and to sanction foreign countries.
But none of those powers “even come close to giving the president any authority over elections”, Weiser said.
“The president has zero emergency powers over elections.”The concern about the president using emergency powers has only been amplified by the presence of #Tulsi #Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, at the Fulton county raid.
Gabbard, whose presence as an intelligence official on a domestic matter has caused widespread outrage, is said to be investigating voting equipment and foreign interference.Among others, Gabbard is briefing Mitchell and #Kurt #Olsen, another lawyer who was involved in Trump’s effort to overturn the election, on her investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Mitchell declined to comment on those briefings, but said she understood Trump’s comments to be more about the need to change federal voting laws.
“All of the election statutes need significant revision, updating, and reform. And many of us are working on that,” Mitchell said in an email. “Clearly there are far too many election officials nationwide who treat the law as optional suggestions. And have instituted procedures that are contrary to law. That happened in spades in 2020 and is all too common every election. Sloppy, poor administration and intentional disregard of basic statutory requirements. We see it everywhere.”There is no evidence of widespread fraud in 2020 or in any other election.
The White House press secretary, #Karoline #Leavitt, has framed Trump’s comments similarly.
Trump subsequently undercut those efforts to downplay his comments,
criticizing Democratic cities such as Philadelphia, Detroit and Atlanta, saying:
🔥“If they can’t count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over.”Beyond unspecified actions to take control of state election processes, there are other pathways for Trump to try to interfere in the election process.
#Steve #Bannon, the influential conservative personality and former Trump strategist, has called for Trump to deploy ICE agents at the polls.
Such an effort would violate a federal law that prohibits federal troops from being at the polls “unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States”.
❌“We’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November.
We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again,”
Bannon said on his podcast on Tuesday.
“And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.”The Trump administration has already shown its willingness to use emergency powers to try to expand the president’s authority.
Last spring, the Trump administration invoked the
💥"Alien Enemies Act",
an 18th-century law that allows the government to deport immigrants without full due process.The United States, the government argued, was subject to an invasion by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Federal judges have since blockedthat order and expressed skepticism it is a legitimate invasion.
Trump has also claimed he has emergency powers to impose tariffs, though the supreme court appears poised to reject that argument.Part of the reason Trump is talking about nationalizing elections now may be to try to get the public to accept an idea that is obviously illegal.