Category Archives: chicanery

“Judge Appears Skeptical Over Efforts to Dismiss Dominion Suit”

June 25, 2021, 6:57 amchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

AP: A federal judge on Thursday appeared skeptical of arguments to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems over baseless 2020 election claims made by Trump allies Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and the MyPillow Guy.The voting system company… Continue reading

“They Seemed Like Democratic Activists. They Were Secretly Conservative Spies”

June 25, 2021, 6:52 amchicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: The young couple posing in front of the faux Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas fit right in, two people in a sea of idealistic Democrats who had arrived in the city in February 2020 for… Continue reading

“Inside the ‘shadow reality world’ promoting the lie that the presidential election was stolen”

June 25, 2021, 6:45 amchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

WaPo: The slickly produced movie trailer, set to ominous music, cuts from scenes of the 2020 election to clips of allies of former president Donald Trump describing a vast conspiracy to steal the White House.“The Deep Rig,” a film financed… Continue reading

“Biden campaign workers and ex-state lawmaker sue ‘Trump Train’ members involved in dangerous Texas highway incident” (link to complaints)

June 24, 2021, 1:57 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

CNN: A White House staffer and former Texas state representative are among those suing several participants of a “Trump Train” that allegedly harassed a Biden campaign bus last October in Texas, claiming in a lawsuit filed Thursday that the… Continue reading

“GOP investigation finds no Michigan vote fraud, deems many claims ‘ludicrous’”

June 23, 2021, 7:13 amchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Bridge Michigan: A months-long Republican investigation into Michigan’s 2020 election uncovered no evidence of widespread fraud and concluded Wednesday with a recommendation the attorney general investigate those who made false claims for “personal gain.” The 35-page report prepared by Sen.… Continue reading

“Report on the Cyber Ninjas Review of the 2020 Presidential and U.S. Senatorial Elections in Maricopa County, Arizona”

June 22, 2021, 9:59 amchicanery, election administration, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

States United Democracy Center: The report is co-authored by two eminent election experts former Kentucky GOP Secretary of State Trey Grayson and Dr. Barry C. Burden of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The report takes… Continue reading

“Trump Election Pressure Caused Senior Justice Official to Weigh Resigning”

June 22, 2021, 7:48 amchicanery, Department of JusticeRick Hasen

WSJ: John Demers, head of the Justice Department’s national security division, said the sole time in his three-year tenure he considered resigning came when the agency fell under pressure from then-President Donald Trump to pursue baseless claims of election fraud… Continue reading

“Two dark money groups shut down following CREW complaints”

June 22, 2021, 7:38 amcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

Matt Corley writes.

Must-read: “‘Italygate’ election conspiracy theory was pushed by two firms led by woman who also falsely claimed $30 million mansion was hers”

June 21, 2021, 6:46 amchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Another crazy, grifty, report on the 2020 election conspiracies, this one from WaPo: Late last December, as President Donald Trump pressed senior officials to find proof of election fraud, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows emailed acting attorney general… Continue reading

“As Missouri Senate contenders peddle conspiracies, what’s the damage to democracy?”

June 21, 2021, 6:36 amchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

KC Star: One Republican candidate in Missouri’s Senate race skipped the state party’s annual convention last week and traveled instead to Arizona, where he toured the site of a discredited 2020 election audit and falsely claimed it could lead to… Continue reading

TPM: von Spakovsky Involved with Group That Originated Crazy Conspiracy Theory that Italian Defense Contractor Changed Votes from Trump to Biden (via Satellite!) During 2020 Election

June 19, 2021, 8:53 amchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Josh Kovensky for TPM: For those ready to believe that President Trump really won re-election, there’s one particularly fantastical conspiracy theory to hang your hat on.It’s called ItalyGate, and it offers a simple, direct, and especially implausible claim: An Italian… Continue reading

Before Texas Filed in Supreme Court in Trump Election Case Kris Kobach Pushed Louisiana to File to Overturn Election Results Based on Absurd Legal Theories and Weak Evidence (via TPM Exclusive)

June 18, 2021, 11:22 amchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Big Tierney Sneed report for TPM: Before Texas filed a lawsuit that asked the Supreme Court to block President Biden’s win in four battleground states, a draft of the petition was circulated to the Louisiana attorney general’s office.The template… Continue reading

The Republican “Triangle of Doom”

June 17, 2021, 12:45 pmchicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

Smart Andy Kroll piece: Over the winter and spring, I spoke to half a dozen moderate Republican members and anti-Trump GOP operatives to understand what had happened. One of them was Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), an outspoken leader of… Continue reading