Politics – Page 689

New mural calls attention to Americans held abroad as loved ones say, ‘This doesn’t go away’

July 20, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Families of several Americans who are detained abroad arrived in Washington on Wednesday morning to unveil a mural depicting them in an effort, their relatives say, to increase public awareness and pressure the Biden administration to do more to bring them home.

The mural features 18 Americans held in other countries. There are currently 64 known citizens being detained outside the U.S., according to the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation.

The mural includes WNBA superstar Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan, who have become faces of the issue because of their ongoing detentions in Russia. (Griner was arrested and later pleaded guilty to illegally bringing hashish oil into the country, though she said it was “inadvertent” and was part of her vape cartridge. Whelan was charged with espionage, which he and the U.S. government deny.)

The 15-foot-tall installation aims to bring attention to Griner, Whelan and to a series of under-recognized Americans being held around the world, sometimes for political leverage.

Many of the images used for the mural are of the last pictures taken of the detainees.

While Matthew Heath’s portrait depicts him with a soft smile in his crisp Marine uniform from when he served, his mother, Connie Haynes, said he is currently being tortured in Venezuela after more than two years in detention.

She claims Heath has been repeatedly beaten and left with both hands broken and his retina detached and has at random intervals been fed carbon monoxide while locked in a 2 square-foot box.

Heath tried to kill himself this year but was still being abused and chained to his bed in the medical facility where he was being watched, according to his mom.

“My son is not going to survive if our government does not get him home,” she said Wednesday. “I don’t know how much more he can endure.”

During the unveiling, Haynes was interrupted with a call and rushed to end of the alley next to the mural. Her son was trying to reach her.

“We were able to tell him what we’re doing, for him, for the other families — how hard we’re working to try to get him home,” Heath’s uncle, Everrett Rutherford, said afterward.

They were also able to connect Heath with the Biden administration’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, Roger Carstens, who spoke Wednesday.

During the rare opportunity to talk with Heath, Rutherford said he and Heath’s mom were able to “give [Heath] a bit of courage and hope.”

State Department spokesman Ned Price on Wednesday called the mural “a powerful symbol of those who have been deprived and taken from their loved ones” and said Carstens’ presence at the unveiling was an important way “to continue to show our support for these families who are enduring an ordeal that to anyone but them is unimaginable.”

“These efforts are — by necessity — quiet,” Price said when asked about the frustration of some of the detainees’ families about the future. “We have found that these cases often are best worked behind the scenes. Even though we don’t speak of it, it doesn’t mean that we aren’t working around the clock to see the successful resolution and outcome.”

The mural’s artist says it was designed to be impermanent.

The Americans’ faces, plastered using flour, water, sugar and paper, will “fade, tear and eventually disappear over time,” Isaac Campbell explained in a press release. That fleeting quality is meant to add a sense of urgency for the government to “use the tools available to bring these Americans home — before their faces fade away and disappear from this wall,” Campbell wrote.

“This doesn’t go away,” said Neda Sharghi, the only sister of Emad Shargi, a dual citizen who has been detained in Iran since 2018 on claims he is a spy.

The siblings’ father, who “felt like there was hope to bring his son home” while watching the unveiling, fainted and was taken away in an ambulance out of the event, Neda Shargi said. “This is our world,” she added.

“Any second my father could pass and not see his son anymore,” she said. “But I don’t want to cry,” she continued, calling on anyone struck by the new mural to call their representatives to “let President [Joe] Biden know that you will all stand with him if he can bring Americans home.”

Wednesday’s ceremony comes one day after Biden signed an executive order that declared hostage-taking and the wrongful detention of U.S. citizens a national emergency.

The order is meant to leverage more financial sanctions against those who are directly or indirectly involved in such detentions. Additionally, the State Department added new warnings on its travel advisories to help citizens avoid locations overseas where they risk wrongful arrest.

The White House informed relatives of American detainees of the executive order before its signing in a Monday call that was characterized as a “one-way conversation” by Jonathan Franks, a spokesman for a network of families and the Bring Our Families Home Campaign. He claimed the White House’s latest actions were “an effort to pre-manage the press attention” around relatives of those detained arriving in Washington this week.

While some families have commended the move to improve transparency and intelligence-sharing between the federal government and concerned relatives of those held overseas, others have expressed vexation with their lack of communication with the president.

“We are definitely grateful,” Hannah Shargi, the daughter of Emad Shargi, told ABC News of Biden’s recent actions. But she said she wants to see, at minimum, meetings between families and Biden organized by the country where their relative is detained.

“We know that they’re suffering. We know they’re scared. And we know they’re anxious,” White House spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing on Tuesday. “We know they want their loved ones back home, and the president wants that, too.”

Meanwhile, they work and they wait.

“I used to walk these streets with him,” Hannah Shargi said Wednesday next to the mural that features her father. “It gives me some hope that he is larger than life here. And he is larger than life in real life — so I’m glad people are seeing him how I see him.”

Bannon trial live updates: FBI agent details Bannon’s social posts about subpoena

July 20, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Steve Bannon, who served as former President Donald Trump’s chief strategist before departing the White House in August 2017, is on trial for defying a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Bannon was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 panel for records and testimony in September of last year, with the committee telling him it had “reason to believe that you have information relevant to understanding activities that led to and informed the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

After the House of Representatives voted to hold him in contempt for defying the subpoena, the Justice Department in November charged Bannon with two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, setting up this week’s trial.

Here is how the news is developing. All times are Eastern:

Jul 20, 6:18 PM EDT
Bannon again rails at Thompson as he leaves courthouse

For the second day in a row, Bannon blasted Jan. 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson on his way out of court at the end of the day.

“Does he really have COVID?” said Bannon of the chairman, who announced Tuesday that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

“What are the odds that a guy that is vaxxed, boosted and double boosted, following Dr. Fauci’s recommendation — what are the odds, on the very day this trial starts, he comes up with COVID?” Bannon said of Thompson’s absence as a witness in his trial.

“Why is Bennie Thompson not here?” Bannon repeated.

-Laura Romero and Soo Rin Kim

Jul 20, 5:55 PM EDT
FBI agent details Bannon’s social posts about subpoena before government rests its case

After just two witnesses, the government rested its case against Steve Bannon.

FBI agent Stephen Hart, the prosecution’s second witness, spent less than an hour on the stand.

Hart spent much of time testifying about Bannon’s page on the social media platform Gettr, which Hart described as “similar to Twitter.”

Prosecutor Molly Gaston showed that on Sept. 24, 2021, the day that Bannon’s subpoena was received by his then-attorney, Robert Costello, Bannon’s Gettr page posted a link to a Rolling Stone article with the words, “The Bannon Subpoena Is Just the Beginning. Congress’s Jan. 6 Investigation is Going Big.” Then on Oct. 8, 2021, the day after he was supposed to produce records to the Jan. 6 committee, Bannon’s Gettr page posted a link to a Daily Mail article with the words, “Steve Bannon tells the January 6 select committee that he will NOT comply with their subpoena.”

The Gettr post included images of Bannon, Trump, and a letter from Costello.

The materials prompted a debate over whether the posts were made by Bannon himself or by someone with access to his account, and whether those were Bannon’s own words or the media outlets’ words.

Gaston then had Hart read from the Daily Mail article, which quoted Bannon as telling the Daily Mail, “I stand with Trump and the Constitution.”

“Those are his words,” Gaston said of Bannon.

Hart also testified about a November 2021 videoconference he and prosecutors had with Costello after Costello requested the meeting to try to convince prosecutors not to pursue the contempt case against Bannon.

Hart testified that during that meeting, Costello told them that by Oct. 7, 2021, the deadline to produce documents, “they had not gathered any documents by that point.” Costello also had no other reason for Bannon’s refusal to comply other than executive privilege, Hart said.

Hart also testified that Costello, in the meeting, did not suggest they thought the deadlines were flexible, or that they were negotiating for a different date, or that Bannon would comply if the committee set different deadlines.

At one point, Corcoran tried to remind jurors that many lawmakers didn’t support the resolution to find Bannon in contempt of Congress. On cross examination, he asked Hart about the investigative steps Hart took in this case, asking him, “Did you interview … the 200-plus members of Congress who voted not to refer Steven Bannon to the U.S. Attorney’s office for contempt of Congress?”

Gaston objected, and the judge agreed, so Corcoran moved on.

Prosecutor Amanda Vaughn subsequently stood up and told the judge, “Your honor, the government rests.”

Court will reconvene on Thursday morning.

Jul 20, 4:39 PM EDT
Defense says Bannon was in ongoing negotiations with committee

As his cross-examination of Jan. 6 committee staffer Kirstin Amerling wrapped up, defense attorney Evan Corcoran continued to frame Bannon’s noncompliance with the subpoena as happening at a time when Bannon’s attorney was still in negotiations with the committee.

Amerling, however, testified that Bannon wasn’t in negotiations because there was nothing to negotiate — Trump hadn’t actually asserted executive privilege, Amerling said, so there was no outstanding issue to resolve. And she said that the committee had made clear to Bannon repeatedly that there were no legal grounds for his refusal to turn over documents and testify before the committee.

Corcoran showed the jury the letter that Trump sent to Bannon on July 9, 2022 — just two weeks ago — in which Trump said he would waive executive privilege so Bannon could testify before the committee. He also displayed the letter that Bannon’s former attorney, Robert Costello, sent the committee on the same day saying that Bannon was now willing to testify in a public hearing.

But Amerling then read aloud from the letter that the committee sent to Costello in response, noting that Bannon’s latest offer “does not change the fact that Mr. Bannon failed to follow [proper] process and failed to comply with the Select Committee’s subpoena prior to the House referral of the contempt resolution concerning Mr. Bannon’s defiance of the subpoena.”

Prosecutor Amanda Vaughn noted that before two weeks ago, Bannon never offered to comply with the subpoena, even after being told repeatedly by the committee last year that his claims had no basis in law and that he could face prosecution; even after he was found in contempt of Congress in October last year; even after he was criminally charged a month later for contempt of Congress; and even after a lawsuit related to executive privilege had been resolved by the Supreme Court six months ago.

Amerling testified that had Bannon complied with the subpoena in time, the committee would have had “at least nine months of additional time” to review the information, and now there are “five or so months” left of the committee.

“So as opposed to having 14 in total, the committee only now has five?” Corcoran asked.

“That’s correct,” said Amerling.

Jul 20, 3:48 PM EDT
Defense argues Bannon was constrained by questions over executive privilege

In the defense’s ongoing cross examination of Jan. 6 committee staffer Kirstin Amerling, attorney Evan Corcoran continued to stress how Bannon was prevented from testifying due to the right of executive privilege that protects confidential communication with members of the executive branch.

But Amerling testified that there are two main issues with such a claim.

First, she said, some of what the subpoena requested “had nothing to do with communication with the former president” and “could not possibly be reached by executive privilege” — especially Bannon’s communications with campaign advisers, members of Congress and other private parties, as well as information related to Bannon’s podcast, she testified.

In addition, despite what others may have said, “The president had not formally or informally invoked executive privilege,” Amerling said. “It hadn’t been invoked.”

Yet Bannon still refused to comply with the subpoena, despite having no legal grounds to do so, she said.

Amerling reiterated that by the time the committee met to decide whether to pursue contempt charges, “there had been extensive back-and-forth already between the select committee and the defendant’s attorney about the issue of executive privilege, and the select committee had made its position clear.”

Corcoran also argued that Bannon didn’t comply with the subpoena right away because he expected the deadline would ultimately change, due to the fact that it’s common for subpoena deadlines to shift.

Amerling, however, testified that Bannon’s situation was different.

“When witnesses are cooperating with the committee and indicate they are willing to provide testimony, it is not unusual to have some back-and-forth about the dates that they will appear,” she said. However, she said, “it is very unusual for witnesses who receive a subpoena to say outright they will not comply.”

In his questions, Corcoran also suggested that Amerling might be a biased witness, noting that she had donated to Democratic causes in the past, and that she is a member of the same book club as one of the prosecutors in the case, Molly Gaston.

“So you’re in a book club with the prosecutor in this case?” Corcoran asked.

“We are,” Amerling replied.

Amerling said that it had been some time — perhaps as much as a year or more — since she and Gaston both attended a meeting of the club. But she conceded that, with the types of people who are in the book club, it was “not unusual that we would talk about politics in some way or another.”

Jul 20, 12:55 PM EDT
Defense attorney presses Jan. 6 staffer on timing of subpoena deadline

Under cross-examination from Bannon defense attorney Evan Corcoran, House Jan. 6 committee senior staffer Kristin Amerling was pressed on why the committee set the deadlines it did for Bannon to comply with the subpoena — especially since “the select committee is still receiving and reviewing documents” now, Corcoran said.

Corcoran pressed Amerling over who specifically decided that Bannon should have to produce documents by 10 a.m. on Oct. 7, 2021, and who specifically decided that Bannon should have to appear for a deposition on Oct. 14, 2021.

Amerling said that the “process” of drafting the subpoena involved many people, including senior staff like herself, but it was all ultimately approved by committee Chairman Bennie Thompson.

“To the best of my recollection, because of the multiple roles that we understood Mr. Bannon potentially had with respect to the events of Jan. 6, at the time that we put the subpoena together, there was a general interest in obtaining information from him expeditiously, because we believed this information could potentially lead us to other relevant witnesses or other relevant documents,” Amerling said. “There was general interest in including deadlines that required expeditious response.”

“The committee authorization is just through the end of this year,” so it is operating under “a very tight timeframe,” she said.

Corcoran also said he wanted to made clear to the jury that, as he put it, “in this case, there is no allegation that Steve Bannon was involved in the attack” on the Capitol.

Earlier, Amerling testified that the committee tried to give Bannon “an opportunity” to explain his “misconduct” in ignoring the subpoena and to provide “information that might shed light on his misconduct, such as he might have been confused” about the subpoena — but Bannon never presented any such explanation or information before he was found in contempt, she said.

Jul 20, 11:17 AM EDT
Jan. 6 staffer says panel ‘rejected the basis’ for Bannon’s privilege claim

Kristin Amerling, a senior staffer on the House Jan. 6 committee, returned to the stand to continue her testimony from Tuesday. She testified that Bannon was clearly informed that any claims of privilege were rejected by the committee, and that his non-compliance “would force” the committee to refer the matter to the Justice Department for prosecution.

She said the subpoena issued to Bannon indicated he was “required to produce” records encompassing 17 specific categories, including records related to the Jan. 6 rally near the White House, his communications with Trump allies and several right-wing groups, his communications with Republican lawmakers, and information related to his “War Room” podcast.

The committee was seeking to understand “the relationships or potential relationships between different individuals and organizations that played a role in Jan. 6,” Amerling said. “We wanted to ask him what he knew.”

Asked by prosecutor Amanda Vaughn if Bannon provided any records to the committee by the deadline of 10 a.m. on Oct. 7, 2021, Amerling replied, “He did not.”

“Did the committee get anything more than radio silence by 10 a.m. on Oct. 7?” Vaughn asked.

“No,” said Amerling.

Amerling said that in a correspondence she received that day at about 5 p.m. — after the deadline had passed — Bannon’s attorney at the time, Robert Costello, claimed that Trump had “announced his intention to assert” executive privilege, which Costello said at the time rendered Bannon “unable to respond” to the subpoena “until these issues are resolved.”

But the next day, Amerling recalled on the stand, she sent Costello a letter from Jan. 6 committee chairman Bennie Thompson, “explaining that the committee rejected the basis that he had offered for refusing to comply.”

“Did the letter also tell the defendant he still had to comply?” Vaughn asked Amerling.

“Yes, it did.” Amerling said.

“Did the letter warn the defendant what might happen if he failed to comply with the subpoena?” Vaughn asked.

“Yes, it did,” said Amerling.

The letter was “establishing a clear record of the committee’s views, making sure the defendant was aware of that,” Amerling testified.

Jul 20, 10:06 AM EDT
Judge won’t let trial become ‘political circus,’ he says

Federal prosecutors in Steve Bannon’s contempt trial raised concerns with the judge that Bannon’s team has been suggesting to the jury that this is a “politically motivated prosecution” before the second day of testimony got underway Wednesday morning.

Before the jury was brought in, prosecutor Amanda Vaughn asked U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols to make sure the jury “doesn’t hear one more word about this case being” politically motivated, after she said the defense’s opening statement Tuesday had “clear implications” that the defense was making that claim.

Nichols had barred such arguments from the trial.

In response, defense attorney Evan Corcoran defended his opening statement, saying it “was clearly on the line.”

Nichols then made it clear that during trial, the defense team may ask witnesses questions about whether they themselves may be biased — “but may not ask questions about whether someone else was biased in an action they took outside this courtroom.”

“I do not intend for this to become a political case, a political circus,” Nichols said.

Jul 19, 6:14 PM EDT
Bannon, outside courtroom, criticizes Jan. 6 panel

Speaking to reporters after the first full day in court, Bannon blasted members of the Jan. 6 committee and House Democrats for not showing up as witnesses in his trial.

“Where is Bennie Thompson?” asked Bannon regarding the Jan. 6 committee chairman. “He’s made it a crime, not a civil charge … have the guts and the courage to show up here and say exactly why it’s a crime.”

“I will promise you one thing when the Republicans that are sweeping to victory on Nov. 8 — starting in January, you’re going to get a real committee,” Bannon said. “We’re going to get a real committee with a ranking member who will be a Democrat … and this will be run
appropriately and the American people will get the full story.”

-Laura Romero and Soo Rin Kim

Jul 19, 5:23 PM EDT
A subpoena isn’t voluntary, says prosecution witness

The first witness for the prosecution, Kristin Amerling of the Jan. 6 committee, testified that a subpoena is not voluntary.

Amerling, the Jan. 6 panel’s deputy staff director and chief counsel, read aloud the congressional resolution creating the committee and explained that the committee’s role is to recommend “corrective measures” to prevent future attacks like the one on Jan. 6.

“Is a subpoena voluntary in any way?” asked prosecutor Amanda Vaughn.

“No,” Amerling replied.

Amerling also discussed how important it is to get information in a timely manner because the committee’s authority runs out at the end of the year. “There is an urgency to the focus of the Select Committee’s work … we have a limited amount of time in which to gather information,” she said.

Amerling noted that Bannon was subpoenaed pretty early on in the committee’s investigation.

She said the committee subpoenaed Bannon in particular because public accounts indicated that Bannon tried to persuade the public that the 2020 election was “illegitimate”; that on his podcast the day before Jan. 6 he made statements “including that all hell was going to break loose, that suggested he might have some advance knowledge of the events of Jan. 6”; that he was involved in discussions with White House officials, including Trump himself, relating to “strategies surrounding the events of Jan. 6”; and that he had been involved in discussions in the days leading up to Jan. 6 with “private parties who had gathered in the Willard hotel in Washington, D.C., reportedly to discuss strategies around efforts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power or overturning the election results.”

“Is that something that would have been relevant to the committee’s investigation?” Vaughn asked.

“Yes, because the Select Committee was tasked with trying to understand what happened on Jan. 6, and why,” Amerling replied.

Amerling will be back on the stand Wednesday morning when the trial resumes.

Jul 19, 3:55 PM EDT
Defense tells jury ‘there was no ignoring the subpoena’

Bannon’s defense attorney Matt “Evan” Corcoran said in his opening statement that “no one ignored the subpoena” issued to Bannon, and that “there was direct engagement by Bob Costello,” Bannon’s attorney, with the House committee, specifically committee staffer Kristin Amerling.

He said Costello “immediately” communicated to the committee that there was an objection to the subpoena, “and that Steve Bannon could not appear and that he could not provide documents.”

“So there was no ignoring the subpoena,” Corcoran said. What followed was “a considerable back and forth” between Amerling and Costello — “they did what two lawyers do, they negotiated.”

Corcoran said, “the government wants you to believe … that Mr. Bannon committed a crime by not showing up to a congressional hearing room … but the evidence is going to be crystal clear no one, no one believed Mr. Bannon was going to appear on Oct. 14, 2021,” and the reasons he couldn’t appear had been articulated to the committee.

Corcoran told the jury that the government has to prove beyond a reasonable that Steve Bannon willfully defaulted when he didn’t appear for the deposition on Oct. 14, 2021 — “but you’ll find from the evidence that that date on the subpoena was the subject of ongoing discussions” and it was not “fixed.”

In addition, Corcoran told jurors, you will hear that “almost every single one” of the witnesses subpoenaed led to negotiations between committee staff and lawyers, and often the appearance would be at a later date than what was on the subpoena.

Corcoran also argued that the prosecution may have been infected by politics, telling the jury that with each document or each statement provided at trial, they should ask themselves: “Is this piece of evidence affected by politics?”

Jul 19, 3:31 PM EDT
Prosecutors say Bannon’s failure to comply was deliberate

Continuing her opening statement, federal prosecutor Amanda Vaughn told the jury that the subpoena to Bannon directed him to provide documents by the morning of Oct. 7, 2021, and to appear for a deposition the morning of Oct. 14, 2021 — but instead he had an attorney, Robert Costello, send a letter to the committee informing the committee that he would not comply “in any way,” she said.

“The excuse the defendant gave for not complying” was the claim that “a privilege” meant he didn’t have to turn over certain information, Vaughn said. “[But] it’s not up to the defendant or anyone else to decide if he can ignore the [request] based on a privilege, it’s up to the committee.”

And, said Vaughn, the committee clearly told Bannon that “your privilege does not get you out of this one, you have to provide documents, and you have to come to your deposition.” And importantly, she said, the committee told Bannon that “a refusal to comply” could result in criminal prosecution.

“You will see, the defendant’s failure to comply was deliberate here,” Vaughn told the jury. “The only verdict that is supported by the evidence here: that the defendant showed his contempt for the U.S. Congress, and that he’s guilty.”

Jul 19, 2:58 PM EDT
Prosecution begins opening statements

Federal prosecutor Amanda Vaughn began opening statements by saying, “In September of last year, Congress needed information from the defendant, Steve Bannon. … Congress needed to know what the defendant knew about the events of Jan. 6, 2021. … Congress had gotten information that the defendant might have some details about the events leading up to that day and what occurred that day.”

So, Vaughn told the jury, Congress gave Bannon a subpoena “that mandated” he provide any information he might have.

“Congress was entitled to the information it sought, it wasn’t optional,” Vaughn said. “But as you will learn in this trial, the defendant refused to hand over the information he might have.”

Vaughn said Bannon ignored “multiple warnings” that he could face criminal prosecution for refusing to comply with the subpoena and for preventing the government from getting “important information.”

“The defendant decided he was above the law and decided he didn’t need to follow the government’s orders,” she said.

Jul 19, 2:51 PM EDT
Judge instructs jury of the burden of proof

Prior to opening statements, the judge made clear to the jury that the Justice Department has the burden to prove four distinct elements “beyond a reasonable doubt”:

(1) that Bannon was in fact subpoenaed for testimony and/or documents;

(2) that the testimony and/or documents were “pertinent” to the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation;

(3) that Bannon “failed to comply or refused to comply” with the subpoena;

(4) that the “failure or refusal to comply was willful.”

Jul 19, 2:44 PM EDT
Jury sworn in after judge denies continuance

A 14-member jury has been sworn in for the contempt trial of ex-Trump strategist Steve Bannon.

Of the 14 jurors, nine are men and five are women.

The swearing-in of the jury comes after U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols denied the defense’s request for a one-month delay of the trial, which attorneys for Bannon argued was necessary due to a “seismic shift in the understanding of the parties” of what the government’s evidence will be.

“We have a jury that is just about picked,” Nichols said in denying the request for a one-month continuance.

One of the jurors, a man who works for an appliance company, said Monday during jury selection that he watched the first Jan. 6 committee hearing and believes the committee is “trying to find the truth about what happened” on Jan. 6.

Another juror, a man who works as a maintenance manager for the Washington, D.C., Parks and Recreation department, said he believes what happened on Jan. 6 “doesn’t make sense.”

Another juror, a woman who works as a photographer for NASA, said “a lot” of her “photographer friends were at the Capitol” on Jan. 6, and she has watched some of the Jan. 6 hearings on the news.

Georgia prosecutors ‘target’ 16 ‘fake electors’ in 2020 election probe

July 20, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(FULTON COUNTY, Ga.) — The Georgia district attorney probing former President Donald Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state has notified 16 people identified as “fake electors” that they have been targeted in the ongoing criminal investigation, prosecutors revealed in court documents filed on Tuesday.

Those 16 individuals, who allegedly participated in a scheme to overturn the state’s election results, received letters “alerting that person both that [their] testimony was required by the special purpose grand jury and that [they were] target of the investigation” the filing said.

The Fulton County district attorney has been probing the effort to overturn the 2020 election results since last February, including the so-called “fake elector” plan — which has gained increased scrutiny and come under focus in other investigations around the country probing efforts to overturn the 2020 election around the country.

The target notification came after the Georgia investigation “matured and new evidence came to light,” prosecutors said, according to a separate filing by a defense attorney for 11 of the 16 individuals.

The attorney said the purported electors “did not and could not have had any involvement in or knowledge of” the alleged larger scheme by former President Trump’s allies to put for the alternate slate of electors to overturn the election.

He said in the filing that the actions of the “nominee electors” were “proper, and even necessary.”

The Jan. 6 committee has described the plan, which appeared to have multiple iterations, as being set up by the Trump campaign in multiple swing states to assemble “groups of individuals in key battleground states and got them to call themselves electors, created phony certificates associated with these fake electors and then transmitted these certificates to Washington, and to the Congress, to be counted during the joint session of Congress on January 6th.”

The Department of Justice is also examining the issue of fake electors as part of its own separate investigation, sources tell ABC News. Last month, DOJ subpoenaed Georgia GOP chairman David Shafer for information related to the effort to send a fraudulent slate of electors to Congress, according to sources familiar with the matter.

A lawyer representing Shafer declined to comment at the time.

Shafer sat for a deposition with the Jan. 6 committee as well, and his transcript is among those DOJ wants the committee to turn over.

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified to the Jan. 6 committee that Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani, his associates and “several” lawmakers discussed the plan around Thanksgiving — and that she heard the White House counsel office say it was potentially illegal.

Giuliani has repeatedly downplayed his involvement with the Jan. 6 riot.

“My only involvement on January 6th was being invited to speak there,” he said in a radio appearance last month in response to Hutchinson’s testimony. “I had nothing else to do with it.”

ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Katherine Faulders and Ben Siegel contributed to this report.

Sen. John Thune speaks about inflation and House vote to protect same-sex marriage

July 20, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — On Tuesday, House Democrats passed a bill which would protect same-sex and interracial marriages, in response to the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and fear among lawmakers that other legal protections might be at risk.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department announced inflation has reached its highest rate in 40 years, a fact that is being blamed on the White House and Democratic lawmakers, with a recent ABC-Ipsos poll showing that more than 80% of Americans think the economy is either an important or very important issue affecting how they will vote in the midterm elections this November.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune spoke with GMA3 about the House vote on Tuesday, his perspective on what’s causing inflation and what he thinks is the biggest concern for voters.

GMA3: Let me bring in now Senate Minority Whip John Thune. Senator, thank you so much for being with us. I think a lot of people wouldn’t be surprised that a Republican is blaming Democrats maybe for inflation. We’re going to get to that in just a second. But I do want to ask you about the news we saw overnight, what happened in the House, the kind of a bipartisan bill came out of there to protect same-sex marriage. This, of course, in the wake of the Roe v. Wade decision with, some say, other things like same-sex marriage could be at risk. I want to ask, are you ready in the Senate to support that bill as well to somewhat codify same-sex marriage in this country?

THUNE: Well, thanks, TJ. Amy, good afternoon. We don’t know if that bill is coming to the Senate. They did pass a bill in the House last night. And if and when Senator Schumer decides to bring it up in the Senate, then we’ll consider it at that time. But as you saw, there was a fairly significant vote, bipartisan vote last night. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case in the Senate. But I will go across that bridge if and when we come to it.

GMA3: But would you say we do in this country? Maybe that’s something we do need to codify? Do we need to make it clear — same-sex marriage — so it doesn’t end up in the Supreme Court’s decision again?

THUNE: Well, I don’t think it’s an issue. It’s not an issue. Anybody, certainly in my state of South Dakota, for that matter, across the country is talking about right now. They’re talking about inflation and gas prices and all the other things. I don’t — I think it’s an issue that right now, at least the Democrats here in Washington are talking about, because they’re trying to create an issue going into the election because they don’t want to talk about the economic issues. So, it’s not — it’s just not something the court is considering.

They made it very clear, actually, in their opinion on Dobbs that they were not dealing with anything but the precedent on abortion, that it wouldn’t affect other precedents. So, I think you had a very strong majority of people point out that Justice Thomas had a dissenting view. That’s true. But if you look at the six-person Justice majority on that opinion, they made it abundantly clear that this issue addressed specifically the issue of abortion and not other precedents.

GMA3: Senator Thune, let’s move on to the economy and inflation specifically. I’ll directly let everyone know your tweet that we know TJ was referring to. You said or you tweeted, “this level of inflation is a direct result of Dems spending since they’ve taken control in D.C.” Where do you believe costs should be and could be cut right now to rollback that tide of inflation?

THUNE: Well, I think if you look at it, Amy, when President Biden took office, the inflation rate was 1.4%, well within the Fed’s range of 2%. Now, as you said, it’s a 40-year high, 9.1% last month, year over year. What that represents, according to the Joint Economic Committee in a study they did recently, is about 700 additional dollars per month per family in this country, or about $9,000 a year in higher costs.

So, I think it comes back to the bill they passed, which we tried to discourage them from passing. And even liberal Democrat economists from the Obama administration also suggested this was a really bad idea to flood the zone with a lot of spending, which they did with the $2 trillion bill last year. That overstimulated the economy. You know, the textbook definition of inflation is too many dollars chasing too few goods. So, it started with the spending.

I think the other issue, honestly, is lack of a coherent energy policy in this country. A lot of what drives inflation is gas prices. And if you look at the price of gas, it’s doubled since the president took office. And I think a lot of that has to do, which is not having the supply. They shut down a lot of oil and gas production in this country. I think there are things you can do that, you know, one, stop the wasteful spending, unnecessary spending.

Don’t talk about raising taxes. That would be a horrible idea right now, which is on their agenda and then come up with a coherent energy policy that emphasizes American energy production so that we’re not dependent upon other countries around the world.

GMA3: What would you like to do right now given that — and again, you listed many things, and I again, somewhat said it jokingly, nobody surprised to hear a Republican put the blame at the feet of Democrats. But we had the pandemic and there were a lot of things that did happen that was kind of out of a lot of people’s control with the supply-chain issues. A lot of people came right back to the market. The demand went up really quickly. And I know you talked about the 2 trillion in spending, but a lot of that was to put money back in Americans’ pockets who were struggling coming out of the pandemic. So it was a lot of things going on there. But what can you do? What can Congress do right now — do you feel?

THUNE: Well, and honestly, TJ, to your point, there was $5 trillion in spending in 2020, all done on a bipartisan basis. The $2 trillion came last year after the president took office. And there are things we can do. I worked on a bipartisan way with Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota on a supply chain issue, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, which is designed to get at some of those bottlenecks that we’re experiencing at the ports.

And I think, again, as I said before, focusing on and getting the administration to work with us on an energy policy that is American energy, all, you know, it should be all of the above strategy. But we ought to try to achieve energy independence in this country. I think that will drive gas prices down, which I think would have a pretty profound impact on inflation. And I just think, again, it would be a mistake right now, which the Dems are talking about, to increase taxes and come up with yet another pretty big spending bill.

They’re talking about another trillion dollars. I think that would be a huge mistake. But it shouldn’t come as any surprise to you or anybody else. It’s an even numbered year. This is an election year. So obviously we’re going to be talking about issues that we think impact people’s pocketbooks in this country. And certainly inflation represents that.

I just came from a weekend back in South Dakota, out in the western part of the state, and it is having a profound impact on the economy in a state like South Dakota, which in the summer months depends on the travel industry and that, you know, gas prices has a very consequential impact on that.

GMA3: Senator Thune, it is an election year, as you point out. And according to the latest Pew Research poll, 62% of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in all, or at least most cases. Obviously, we saw the sweeping reversal of Roe versus Wade. I’m curious, how do you see women losing their reproductive rights that they’ve had for nearly five decades? How do you see that impacting Republicans? I know you’re up for reelection as well in these midterms.

THUNE: Right. Well, and I think it’s an issue that it will in certain areas of the country, act probably as a motivator for people to vote. I think in the end, Amy, it does get trumped by these other economic issues. It’s an issue that people care — certainly intensity behind it on both sides, which is the reason, I think for the past 50 years, there’s been so much tumult in the country and why the court decided to take it up.

But, you know, again, remember, it doesn’t do away with abortion. It simply returns that power to the states and their elected representatives. And it’s, I think, one of those issues you have to find political consensus around. And I think each state, at least right now, will probably do that slightly differently in how it plays out in the election. I don’t think it’s anybody’s guess. I think it’s an issue and I think in certain places it will be more prominent than it is in other places.

But I think in most areas of the country, people are going to be focusing on these pocketbook economic issues. I think that’s ultimately going to be what they vote on.

Georgia’s 6-week abortion ban to go into effect immediately in ‘unorthodox’ ruling

July 20, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(ATLANTA) — Georgia’s so-called “heartbeat law” can go into effect, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday, making the state the latest to institute a six-week ban on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

The court additionally allowed the ban to take effect immediately — instead of later this summer, as was initially expected — in an unusual move abortion rights advocates criticized as “horrific.”

The bill, which Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law in 2019, had been blocked from going into effect since a lower court ruled it unconstitutional.

Under the legislation, abortions in the state are banned after about 6 weeks. There are exceptions for medical emergencies, “medically futile” pregnancies and rape and incest — if a police report has been filed. The law also redefines “natural person” under Georgia law to mean “any human being including an unborn child” — including an embryo or fetus at any stage of development.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit lifted an injunction on the law on Wednesday, citing precedent from the Supreme Court’s landmark decision last month in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe.

The appeals court also vacated an order blocking the expanded definition of natural person, ruling that the redefinition “is not vague on its face,” as abortion-rights advocacy groups had argued. The decision does allow for challenges to specific Georgia statutes amended by the redefinition, according to the plaintiffs in the case.

The court’s ruling typically wouldn’t have taken effect until it issued an official mandate — usually 28 days after a decision. But the court additionally issued a stay on the lower court’s injunction on Wednesday, allowing the abortion ban to immediately go into effect.

Previously, abortion up to 21 days and six days of pregnancy had been legal in Georgia.

Gov. Kemp, one of the defendants in the case, celebrated the court’s decision.

“We are overjoyed that the court has paved the way for the implementation of Georgia’s LIFE Act, and as mothers navigate pregnancy, birth, parenthood, or alternative options to parenthood — like adoption — Georgia’s public, private, and non-profit sectors stand ready to provide the resources they need to be safe, healthy, and informed,” he said in a statement.

The organizations that filed the lawsuit called the move by the court to stay the injunction “highly unorthodox” and “outside of the normal court procedures.”

“This is a highly unorthodox action that will immediately push essential abortion care out of reach for patients beyond the earliest stages of pregnancy,” the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Georgia, Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Southeast and Planned Parenthood Federation of America said in a joint statement. “Across the state, providers are now being forced to turn away patients who thought they would be able to access abortion, immediately changing the course of their lives and futures. This is horrific.”

Abortion-rights advocates vowed to continue to preserve abortion access in Georgia following the decision.

“Soon, Georgians past the earliest stages of pregnancy will face that same barrier, and it will be insurmountable for some. People who can’t afford to leave the state will be forced to seek abortion outside the health care system or remain pregnant against their will,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.

“This is a grave human rights violation, and Planned Parenthood, along with its partners, will do everything in our power to fight back and ensure all people can get the health care they need, regardless of where they live,” Johnson’s statement added.

Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate facing off against Kemp in the race for governor, called the law “draconian.”

“What has been done with this law is an assault on our liberties and we will fight back,” she said in a video message on Twitter.

Since Roe fell, several other states, including Tennessee, Ohio and South Carolina, have instituted bans on abortion at around 6 weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant.

Will Democrats’ ‘enemy of my enemy’ midterm strategy be effective?

July 20, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — As midterm elections heat up, political campaigns are beginning to think differently and trying some unorthodox methods to win.

Recently, there have been efforts by Democratic PACs to steer Republican voters to specific candidates in primaries.

In Maryland, one Democratic PAC, DGA Action, ran ads promoting Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Other races are taking similar approaches.

ABC News Political Director Rick Klein spoke with “START HERE” Wednesday about this strategy and its effectiveness.

START HERE: Rick, why would Democrats try to help a Trump Republican win a primary?

KLEIN: Because they think that Trump Republican would be easier to beat. You know, in some ways, this is one of the oldest tricks in the book. You try to choose your own opponent because you think you can beat the other person.

And you do it in this case with the kind of false praise of saying, Oh, this person is 100% MAGA or 100% pro-life. Of course, that’s a badge of honor inside a Republican primary and the Democrats that are spending millions of dollars to boost those far-right opponents, they know that.

But what makes this different is we’re talking about individuals who are flat-out election deniers. In the case of Cox, the person that Democrats are boosting in the state of Maryland, this is someone who bused supporters into the Capitol on January 6, although he says he didn’t enter himself. And as the riot was ongoing, he tweeted and later deleted that [then-Vice President] Mike Pence is a traitor.

There’s a lot of history of screwing around and the other side’s primary, but the stakes this time could be different.

START HERE: Rick, what if it doesn’t work? Because I’m trying to think of the last really Trumpy candidate that was seen as a walkover. Oh, that’s right. His name was Donald Trump. A lot of people said Hillary Clinton got what she wished for. She still lost. So why should Democrats think that will not happen again?

KLEIN: Yeah, it’s a huge risk. And forget Maryland, because Maryland’s probably not a battleground state in 2024. But guess what is: Pennsylvania.

That’s where Democrats spent money to try to boost Doug Mastriano, a state senator who again was at the Capitol on January 6 and is one of the staunchest Trump supporters in the nation. He’d be in a position, if he’s governor, to name the next secretary of state to oversee the next election. That’s a dangerous place to have an election denier.

You also saw Democrats try to do this and succeed in Illinois. They failed in Colorado, another battleground state. But the other consequences of this misfiring are vast. And it’s why even some Democrats are saying, ‘wait a second, this is not a time to be playing politics as usual.’ You have to be careful about this. Already with the data that ABC has compiled, along with FiveThirtyEight, we’re talking about more than 120 Republican candidates on the ballot this fall for major offices like secretary of state or governor or for Congress who deny the legitimacy of the last election. That’s just different than we’ve seen in the past and underscores how risky this strategy really is.

START HERE: And there’s no reason to think that if another election came along featuring Donald Trump or not, that that wasn’t seen as favorable to Republicans, that these same people would not say no, that you should throw those results out. Rick, in the meantime, I’m trying to figure out what even this midterm election landscape looks like compared to a couple of months ago, because a lot of people figured Republicans were kind of a lock to take back the House and the Senate. President Biden’s approval hasn’t been so hot, but all that, of course, was before Roe v. Wade was overturned. Is there a different sense now of where each party stands?

KLEIN: Yeah, there’s an interesting trend that’s starting to emerge, Brad, where the president’s numbers are still pretty bad historically; about as bad as any president at this point in his term. And the numbers in the House kind of reflect that. The Democrats are almost certainly going to lose control of the House. But something different is happening in Senate races.

You’re seeing Democrats begin to do a little bit better on what we call the generic ballot. Do you support a Democrat or a Republican? And abortion rights and gun violence and all the other issues they may be adding into that. Despite the drag that inflation has. But the other thing that’s happening is that Republicans are putting up a lot of flawed candidates, some of whom, as we’ve been discussing, put up there because of Democrats meddling in primaries, other cases, just because Trump has been such a loud voice.

In places like Georgia [and] Ohio, [and] like Pennsylvania’s governor’s race and Senate race with Dr. Oz. You have a situation where the Republicans may not have their best choice on the playing field and it might boost Democrats’ chances. And it has a lot of Democrats thinking, ‘you know what, we’ve got a shot at keeping the Senate despite all of the headwinds we’re facing this year.’

AG Garland reiterates ‘no person’ — not even Trump — is above the law over Jan. 6

July 20, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday reiterated that “no person” is above the law amid calls from some congressional Democrats to charge former President Donald Trump over last year’s Capitol riot.

A visibly animated Garland twice stated that “no person” is above the law during a press conference when pressed specifically about Trump, whom Democrats say incited the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection over his unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud in 2020.

The Department of Justice has been prosecuting various cases related to the rioting that day.

“There is a lot of speculation about what the Justice Department is doing, what’s it not doing, what our theories are and what our theories aren’t, and there will continue to be that speculation,” the attorney general said. “That’s because a central tenant of the way in which the Justice Department investigates and a central tenant of the rule of law is that we do not do our investigations in the public.”

“We have to hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election, and we must do it in a way filled with integrity and professionalism,” Garland added.

In the 18 months since the attack on the Capitol, the Justice Department has charged 855 defendant’s from all 50 states, and among those 263 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, including approximately 90 individuals who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer, according to the Justice Department.

The Justice Department has secured more than 325 pleas in January 6th cases and just under 100 have been sentenced to time in federal prison.

Former Trump campaign and White House official Steve Bannon is currently on trial over contempt of Congress charges, pleading not guilty to allegations that he did not comply with the House Select Committee Investigating the attack on the US Capitol.

However, as the House panel investigating the insurrection ramps up its public hearings, Democrats are clamoring for the Justice Department to charge the former president himself. Those calls ramped up after testimony before the panel revealed that Trump was aware that some in the crowd during his speech at the Ellipse were armed before urging his supporters to march to the Capitol.

“Trump was told the mob was armed. He sent them to the Capitol to kill us. He wanted to go into the House Chamber to overturn the election. He assaulted a Secret Service agent who told him no. He must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the…law,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., tweeted last month.

The issue of charging Trump is not a new one, though this is the first time it is an option since he left the White House.

Former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016 said it could not definitively clear the then-president of obstruction of justice accusations but cited longstanding Justice Department policy against charging sitting presidents.

Bannon trial live updates: Defense says Bannon was in ongoing negotiations with committee