Thanks for the introduction to Ed McBroom. Evidently an honest politician. A Republican at that. One lengthy excerpt from yours:
"Not everyone in Lansing knew what to make of McBroom and his investigation. Some Democrats saw a Trump-supporting, anti-abortion zealot from a deep-red district where failure to wave the “Stop the Steal” flag might be fatal. Some Republicans saw an unfailingly earnest, devoutly religious man who was offended by the president’s antics and wouldn’t hesitate to wield a righteous hammer against his own party. As the committee got to work, and concerns piled up across the ideological spectrum, one person never doubted where McBroom’s conclusion was headed. “He is a good and honest person,” said Aaron Van Langevelde, a longtime friend of McBroom and the former GOP canvassing official who received death threats after voting to certify Biden’s statewide victory. “[He] is always going to put his service to the people above politics.”
When he began investigating Detroit’s late-night dump of absentee votes—ballots that are uniquely numbered and require signature verification—McBroom said his mental cinema played scenes from The Italian Job. “You know, someone climbs up into the truck through a manhole cover underneath, puts new boxes in, takes old boxes out,” he said. “And so, you ask yourself, Is that even possible?”
He continued: “Okay, sure. Somebody could break into the truck, whether it’s through the manhole cover, or the driver's complicit, or whatever. But then what? What are you switching the ballots with? Is somebody going to go to find thousands of ballots, match the numbers and signatures on all of them, then swap them out, all in a very limited amount of time, just to push Trump down to 10 percent, instead of 12 percent? … As I ran through all the possible calculations, I was able to reassure myself, like, This is not how you would steal an election.”
In his report, McBroom made clear that other conclusions were even simpler to reach.
What about dead voters? The committee reviewed a list of 200 deceased Wayne County residents who allegedly voted from the grave; it found two instances in which ballots were cast under those names, and both cases were clerical errors. (One man mistakenly voted under the identity of a dead relative who had the same name; one woman returned her absentee ballot, then died four days before the election.)
What about jurisdictions with more votes than registered voters? There were none to be found.
What about absentee ballots being counted multiple times? Nope—the poll books would have registered a disparity. (It’s not uncommon for poll books to be out of balance by a handful of votes; anything more would invite scrutiny and a recount that would invalidate ballots counted twice.)
What about tabulators being hacked with vote-switching software? Impossible, the report found, because the tabulators, no matter what Mike Lindell claims, were not connected to the internet to begin with.
While McBroom’s report crackled with annoyance at certain far-flung beliefs, he saved his saltiest language for the Antrim County saga. To recap: On the morning after Election Day, with all 16,044 votes in the county tallied, an unofficial count showed Biden leading Trump by 3,200 votes. The county clerk quickly determined that an inputting error was publishing the candidates’ totals in the wrong database fields; then, in the race to correct that mistake, officials made an additional inputting error. All of this was resolved within 24 hours, and the county’s updated totals reflected exactly what the tabulators had counted—a 3,800 vote lead for Trump. But this net swing of some 7,000 votes, and the underlying confusion about computer inputs, spawned a nationwide campaign to uncover codes in Dominion voting machines, like the ones used in Antrim County, that changed Trump votes to Biden votes.
The only problem? Dominion’s tabulators had counted the vote accurately, as confirmed by subsequent canvassing efforts and a hand recount. Human inputting error was responsible for the initial bad numbers, a fact obvious to everyone except those who stood to benefit from pretending otherwise. “All compelling theories that sprang forth from the rumors surrounding Antrim County are diminished so significantly as for it to be a complete waste of time to consider them further,” McBroom wrote in the report. “The Committee finds [that] those promoting Antrim County as the prime evidence of a nationwide conspiracy to steal the election place all other statements and actions they make in a position of zero credibility.”
He didn’t stop there. Galvanized by the shameless grifting he’d encountered during the course of his investigation, McBroom stunned his GOP colleagues by referring to Michigan’s attorney general for possible prosecution “those who have been utilizing misleading and false information about Antrim County to raise money or publicity for their own ends.”
This represented the one plot twist in McBroom’s report. (Some Democrats expressed surprise at McBroom’s recommending enhanced election-security policies, but most of his proposals are not new, and he has distanced himself from some of his party’s more restrictive new measures.) Concluding that the election wasn’t stolen is one thing. Suggesting that certain people who alleged a stolen election ought to be prosecuted—by a progressive attorney general who is loathed by the conservative base—is another thing entirely.
McBroom is aware of the risks. He will be accused of trying to silence conservatives, of censoring his own constituents, of punishing anyone who dares to question the legitimacy of the Biden administration and the U.S. elections system. But he makes no apologies. “Fraud is fraud,” he shrugged. “If they lied to people to make money off people, that’s a crime.”
I asked McBroom whether, under that standard, Trump—whose affiliated entities raised enormous sums of money under the guise of a legal strategy to overturn the election results—might be vulnerable to prosecution. He laughed nervously. “We didn’t investigate Trump. The report didn’t investigate him. So I have to stick to what the report says.”"
"The Senator Who Decided to Tell the Truth A Michigan Republican spent eight months searching for evidence of election fraud, but all he found was lies."
294,680 views Jul 11, 2021
MSNBC
Watch highlights of Friday's The Rachel Maddow Show where she reports that the Michigan Attorney General will follow up a GOP-led report that found some false election fraud claims were so egregious that they warranted investigation for fraud. Maddow also shares details of the arrest of Hervis Rogers, who gained brief celebrity when he waited in line for six hours and has now been charged with illegal voting. Watch the top news stories and highlights from The Rachel Maddow Show, airing weeknights at 9 p.m. on MSNBC.
No I'm referring to the Supreme Court dismissing the WI filing. Oh the big swing in MI was from Antrim County where the clerk made a mistake and put in the wrong figure for Biden. It was quickly caught and and she fixed it back in favor of Trump. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=162199693
Michigan, Arizona Move To Investigate Trump And GOP’s Election
"The Senator Who Decided to Tell the Truth A Michigan Republican spent eight months searching for evidence of election fraud, but all he found was lies."
State officials in Michigan and Arizona moved forward this week with efforts to investigate GOP attempts to interfere in the 2020 presidential election—including by former President Donald Trump himself—as Republicans continue to push claims of electoral fraud and launch their own efforts to investigate the election through controversial partisan audits.
Supporters of President Donald Trump rally at the Michigan State Capitol on November 7, 2020, after ... [+] AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
* Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel opened an investigation Thursday into election fraud claims in Antrim County, Michigan, that were widely pushed by the GOP, Nessel’s Press Secretary Lynsey Mukomel confirmed to Forbes, after the state Senate Oversight Committee asked the AG to investigate “those who have been utilizing misleading and false information about Antrim County to raise money or publicity for their own ends.”
* The Republican-led committee issued a report stating those claims of election fraud—which alleged votes for Trump had been intentionally switched with votes for President Joe Biden—were so baseless as to be “indefensible,” and all fraud theories stemming from the Antrim County allegations “are diminished so significantly as for it to be a complete waste of time to consider them further.”
* Mukomel did not confirm the details of the investigation, but the Associated Press notes potential targets could include attorney Matthew DePerno and former state Sen. Patrick Colbeck, who played lead roles in pushing the Antrim County claims.
* Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, sent a letter Wednesday to Republican state AG Mark Brnovich calling for an investigation into whether Trump and allies including Rudy Giuliani, far-right attorney Sidney Powell and Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward violated state law prohibiting interference in elections.
* The Arizona Republic reported Trump and his allies privately contacted Maricopa County Board of Supervisors members as part of a pressure campaign pushing baseless claims about issues with the election and trying to persuade the county to stop counting ballots.
* Brnovich’s office told Forbes it had received Hobbs’ letter but declined comment on whether the AG would launch an investigation, and Hobbs requested Brnovich refer the request to another law enforcement agency should the Republican’s “ethical duties prevent you from investigating this matter.”
“Citizens should be confident the results represent the true results of the ballots cast by the people of Michigan,” Michigan’s Senate Oversight Committee wrote in their report on the election that recommended Nessel open an investigation, adding it “strongly recommends citizens use a critical eye and ear toward those who have pushed demonstrably false theories for their own personal gain.” “Citizens should demand reasonable updates and reforms to close real vulnerabilities and unlawful activities that caused much of the doubt and questionability to flourish and could, if unchecked, be responsible for serious and disastrous fraud or confusion in the future.”
Alison Durkee I am a New York-based journalist covering breaking news at Forbes. I previously covered politics and news for Vanity Fair and Mic, and as a theater critic I serve as a… Read more
The thin gruel of Trump’s latest voter-fraud revelation
"The Senator Who Decided to Tell the Truth A Michigan Republican spent eight months searching for evidence of election fraud, but all he found was lies."
William P. Barr is again fighting back, accusing the man behind it of trying to curry favor with Trump.
U.S. Attorney William McSwain speaks with reporters at a news conference in Philadelphia in June 2019. (Matt Rourke/AP)
By Aaron Blake Senior reporter July 13, 2021|Updated today at 3:04 p.m. EDT
This post has been updated with Barr’s new comment.
But for some reason, none of that has deterred the many, many stolen-election true believers in the GOP. You’d think at some point they’d resent those who promised so much and delivered so little. But it hasn’t happened.
A big reason: They are continually served up thin gruel to keep the con going. And former president Donald Trump delivered a heaping serving of that thin gruel Monday.
Trump has over the past 10 days previewed a new angle in his long-running, quixotic quest to vindicate his voter-fraud claims. He said at a rally in Florida on July 3 that a U.S. attorney appointed by his administration was prohibited from examining claims of voter fraud in Philadelphia. (“That’s a big statement,” Trump said, adding: “Could you imagine this?”) He followed that up Sunday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) by again citing the alleged stifling of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Bill McSwain, and suggesting a letter was involved.
“This just came out in a letter,” Trump said. “We have a letter. You’ll have to get it from him. Because I want to stay out of it. Get if from the U.S. attorney. I’m sure he’d be willing to provide it.”
It turns out Trump does want to get involved in it. On Monday night, his team released the letter .. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20988295-mcswain-trump .. after all. In it, McSwain claims then-Attorney General William P. Barr directed him not to publicly disclose voter-fraud allegations and to refer them to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. But he suggests this was bad because Shapiro, a Democrat, predicted before Election Day that Trump would lose Pennsylvania.
“On Election Day and afterwards, our Office received various allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities,” McSwain wrote. “As part of my responsibilities as U.S. Attorney, I wanted to be transparent with the public and, of course, investigate fully any allegations. Attorney General Barr, however, instructed me not to make any public statements or put out any press releases regarding possible election irregularities. I was also given a directive to pass along serious allegations to the State Attorney General for investigation — the same State Attorney General who had already declared that you could not win.”
The idea that Barr, who took many controversial stands for Trump, was somehow part of the deep state working to ensure Trump’s loss is rich enough. But there are plenty of other reasons the letter is hardly as significant as Trump suggests.
The first reason is the timing and the man who wrote it. The letter is not a contemporaneous account from when these fraud allegations were lodged or when McSwain was allegedly stifled; rather, it’s dated June 9, months after McSwain exited as U.S. attorney.
And McSwain isn’t just a former U.S. attorney; he’s ramping up a campaign for governor of Pennsylvania. The purpose of the letter is very clear: He wants Trump’s endorsement for that campaign.
“Based on my background and experience, I am uniquely positioned to defeat Mr. Shapiro (the likely Democratic candidate) and would welcome the chance to discuss this with you in person,” McSwain says. “I would be honored to have your support.”
In an interview with The Washington Post .. https://wapo.st/3wF4CPw , Barr denied McSwain’s allegation and said McSwain told him Monday that he was indeed trying to curry favor with Trump: -- In an interview, Barr disputed McSwain’s characterizations of his actions, and said McSwain told him he wrote the letter in a bid to win Trump’s endorsement — or at least stave off attacks.
“Any suggestion that McSwain was told to stand down from investigating allegations of election fraud is false. It’s just false,” Barr said, adding that the assertions “appeared to have been made to mollify President Trump to gain his support for McSwain’s planned run for governor.”
Barr said he called McSwain on Monday to complain about the letter, which he heard about before it became public. McSwain defended his missive as technically accurate while asserting, “I can’t have Trump attacking me,” Barr said. McSwain, he added, told him that “he was in a tough spot because he wanted to run and he needed Trump’s at least neutrality, if not support.”
The third point is that, whatever concerns McSwain has had about the validity of the election, he has been rather tight-lipped about them .. https://www.inquirer.com/politics/clout/bill-mcswain-josh-shapiro-doug-mastriano-trump-20210709.html . Why come out with this now? And why do it privately while seeking an endorsement? McSwain emphasizes in his letter that he complied with Barr’s order because he’s a former Marine who respects the chain of command. But anybody writing that letter had to know that Trump would be tempted to disclose this. It just looks self-serving now.
That last key point, though, is that there’s just not a lot of there there. The policy of the Justice Department is almost always to avoid disclosing allegations and to wait until crimes can actually be charged. So that’s hardly surprising.
What’s more, McSwain offers no detail on exactly what the allegations were. There are always allegations of fraud in elections, and this election saw a bunch of them from potentially well-meaning people. They signed sworn affidavits that the Trump team used in court, but those affidavits were regularly proved to be baseless, misinformed about election procedures or outright false .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/20/affidavit-giuliani-vote-fraud/?itid=lk_inline_manual_33 .
In other words, there is still no proof of widespread fraud in Pennsylvania or any other key state. Trump and his lawyers promised proof, and they haven’t delivered. So they’ve instead apparently been reduced to playing this kind of small-ball involving people with political motivations who aren’t even really saying all that much.
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