Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley is sounding the alarm on the Michigan Democratic Party, saying it’s alienating Black Democrats and taking African American voters for granted.
The longtime Democrat, who previously served as chair of Michigan Legislative Black Caucus and is the current chair of Black Mayors of Michigan, says the party “needs to have a courageous conversation” about disenfranchisement.
“It’s really leading into the original sins of this country of exclusion and oppression,” Neeley tells Metro Times. “It looks different but it feels the same. This is the sentiment that I know is being spoken about in Michigan.”
Polls show an increasing number of Black voters are pulling away from the Democratic Party. Among Black voters nationwide, the Democratic Party’s advantage over Republicans in party preference has dropped by nearly 20 percentage points over the past three years, a recent Gallup poll found.
In Michigan, 92% of Black Michigan voters cast a ballot for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, according to exit polls. But Biden’s support among Black voters has fallen to just 62% in a January EPIC-MRA poll.
That could spell serious trouble for Biden as it becomes increasingly likely that he will face Donald Trump in the November general election.
Biden is also hemorrhaging support from Michigan Muslims and Arab Americans because of his refusal to call for a ceasefire as Israel continues to massacre Palestinians. A campaign called “Listen to Michigan” is urging voters who disapprove of the Biden administration’s backing of Israel’s war in Gaza to select “uncommitted” on the ballot to pressure Biden to push for a ceasefire.
In an op-ed in the Michigan Chronicle on Wednesday, Neeley laid out his concerns that the Michigan Democratic Party was taking Black voters and leaders for granted.
“It seems a glass ceiling has resurfaced to block experienced and well-qualified Black Democratic candidates from reaching elected office at the federal level,” Neeley wrote. “This translates to Black voters feeling taken for granted and ignored by the Democratic party. At this critical juncture in our country’s political trajectory, far too many qualified Black elected officials are being boxed out of elections for higher office and left wondering whether they still have a place in this ‘big tent party.’”
Neeley pointed to wide support among Democrats for newly drawn state legislative districts that diminished the influence of Black voters. A panel of federal judges recently ordered Michigan’s redistricting commission to redraw more than a dozen Detroit district lines because they weakened the political empowerment of Black voters.
Neeley also said the Michigan Democratic Party failed to engage Black elected leaders when U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee announced he won’t seek reelection in 2024 for a seat that covers Flint and Saginaw, two cities with a large African American population. While the open seat is a good opportunity for a Black leader, the party isn’t showing a desire to elect an African American, Neeley said.
The only Black member of Congress from Michigan is a Republican.
“These developments should serve as a wakeup call to all Democrats,” Neeley wrote. “Instead, it increasingly appears as though some in the party are choosing to ignore these glaring warning signs that the Black electorate is being ignored and disrespected.”
Sam Riddle, political director of the Michigan National Action Network, a civil rights organization led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, says Black Democrats are becoming more dissatisfied with the party.
“I have spoken with Mayor Neeley and share the mayor’s concerns,” Riddle said in a statement. “I have been involved in Michigan and national campaigns for more than fifty years. I have never seen more dissatisfaction with Dems other than the Vietnam War Era.”
Riddle added, “President Biden’s unwillingness to force a ceasefire in Gaza and the racist arrogance of Michigan Democrats is a perfect storm for Dems losing Michigan in November.”
Neeley said the party has to begin addressing concerns among Black voters.
“If we keep doing what we are doing, we risk losing the support of talented elected leaders of color, and soon, the voters who supported them,” Neeley wrote. “The Democratic Party must not squander the trust of loyal Black voters and the candidates they trust to represent them.”
Democratic supporters of President Biden should quit freaking out. Despite what a handful of recent polls suggest, there’s good reason to believe that the White House’s policies and performance will be judged a success by the voting public, and that Biden will be elected to another four years.
Pundits and pollsters have been warning for months that Biden’s anemic approval rating, mired around 39 percent, means Democrats are in imminent danger of losing the White House.
“He’s losing now and there’s no plan to fix the problems other than hoping that the polls are wrong or that voters look at the race differently when they have more time to focus on it,” writes author/statistician Nate Silver.
“Biden is not up by 12 points. He can’t coast to victory here. He is losing. He is behind in most polls,” says New York Timescolumnist Ezra Klein. “He is behind, despite everything people already know about Donald Trump. He needs to make up ground. If he does not make up ground, Trump wins.”
Silver and Klein both believe that Biden’s age makes his reelection hopeless and that he should quit the race. Other analysis pieces cite polls suggesting Biden is losing ground with Black, Latino, and Asian voters. Vox’s Christian Paz recently looked at numbers suggesting Biden is struggling to attract traditionally Democratic-leaning young voters.
At most, the numbers point to geographic regions and constituencies that need some attention from Democratic strategists. But it’s hardly a reason to panic. The “behind in most polls” rhetoric in particular is overblown and mostly wrong. According to RealClearPolitics, there have been 16 national polls conducted since January 22. Collectively, the surveys show Donald Trump leading Biden by a whopping … 1.1 percent. I’m not sure why Klein would assume Biden should be up by 12 points or some other randomly selected margin in our famously polarized country, but to conclude “he is losing” nine months before Election Day is wildly premature.
One polling number Democrats seem to keep ignoring is the unchanging favorability rating of Trump, the all-but-certain Republican nominee. Throughout his presidency, Trump’s favorability averaged 41 percent. Four years and an insurrection later, that number is 42 percent. The ex-president has a following whose loyalty remains famously unshakable despite riot, scandal, criminal indictments, and brazen promises to govern as a dictator. But Trump does not seem to have added to this base of loyal followers.
For a sober reality check, I contacted Allan Lichtman, a political scientist who has correctly predicted the outcome of every presidential contest since 1984, using indicators that he claims can explain every election since Abraham Lincoln’s victory in 1860. Lichtman’s book Predicting the Next President: The Keys to the White Housedismisses most polls as irrelevant to the final outcome of presidential elections.
“The problem with these horserace polls is they’re not predictors, they are only snapshots. And they are often wrong,” Lichtman told me recently. “The early polls had Jimmy Carter trouncing Ronald Reagan in 1980; Reagan went on to win in a landslide. George H.W. Bush trailed Mike Dukakis as late as June of 1988 by 18 points; he went on to win handily for a 25-point swing. The last Gallup poll in 2012 had Mitt Romney beating Barack Obama, who also went on to win handily.”
And don’t even get me started on the problems with polling in 2016, which famously failed to capture the surges in key states that carried Trump into the White House.
Instead of focusing on polls, Lichtman has developed 13 smart yes/no questions built around the central idea that an incumbent president and his party will normally prevail unless they fail in key measurable areas including foreign policy, domestic policy, party unity, and economic growth. If six or more of the 13 measurements go against the incumbent, according to Lichtman’s theory, the president (or his party) gets kicked out.
“There’s all this grousing about Joe Biden, his terrible approval ratings, he’s too old, he’s not exciting. But the Democrats’ only chance to win, realistically, is with Biden running, because you win the incumbency key,” says Lichtman, along with a second political indicator, party unity (so far, there is no serious Democratic challenger to Biden). Two of Lichtman’s economic-performance indicators — the absence of a recession and growth rates higher than the last two administrations — both look good for Biden. So does Lichtman’s indicator for a major successful domestic-policy change, which is the administration’s infrastructure law and CHIPS Act.
There’s been no serious social unrest under Biden (another key), and no major administration scandal (Hunter Biden’s laptop comes nowhere close to Watergate or the Clinton impeachment). So it looks like seven of Lichtman’s keys are lining up nicely for Biden.
There’s plenty that can go wrong for the administration. “What happens if the Republicans shut down the government? Who knows what effect that could have on the economy?” cautions Lichtman. The turbulence in Ukraine and the Middle East could lead to a foreign-policy debacle, and the emergence of a serious third-party challenger could tilt the playing field against Biden. But those what-ifs point to tangible matters of governance, unlike the latest polls that have rattled nervous Dems.
“Presidential elections are essentially votes up or down on the party holding the White House. I’ve been screaming this for 40 years, and the politicians paid no attention. It’s governing, not campaigning, that counts,” Lichtman told me. “Forget the sound bites, the negative ads, the attack, the tricks. Campaign on substance.”
Donald Trump could be at risk of losing some of his prized properties if he can’t pay his staggering New York civil fraud penalty. With interest, he owes the state nearly $454 million — and the amount is going up $87,502 each day until he pays.New York Attorney General Letitia James told ABC News on Tuesday that she will seek to seize some of the former president’s assets if he’s unable to cover the bill from Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 16 ruling.Engoron concluded that Trump lied for years about his wealth as he built the real estate empire that vaulted him to stardom and the White House. Trump denies wrongdoing and has vowed to appeal.”If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” James, a Democrat, said in an interview with ABC reporter Aaron Katersky.Trump’s ability to pay his mounting legal debts is increasingly murky after back-to-back courtroom losses. In January, a jury ordered him to pay $83.3 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.Trump claimed last year that he has about $400 million in cash — reserves that would get eaten up by his court penalties. The rest of his net worth, which he says is several billion dollars, is tied up in golf courses, skyscrapers and other properties, along with investments and other holdings.But don’t expect James to try to grab the keys to Trump Tower or Mar-a-Lago immediately. Trump’s promised appeal is likely to halt collection of his penalty while the process plays out.Here’s a look at where things stand in the wake of Trump’s costly verdict. Yes. If Trump isn’t able to pay, the state “could levy and sell his assets, lien his real property, and garnish anyone who owes him money,” Syracuse University Law Professor Gregory Germain said.Seizing assets is a common legal tactic when a defendant can’t access enough cash to pay a civil penalty. In a famous example, O.J. Simpson’s Heisman Trophy was seized and sold at auction in 1999 to cover part of a $33.5 million wrongful death judgment against him.Trump could avoid losing assets to seizure if he has enough cash — or is able to free up enough cash — to pay his penalty and mounting interest.How much he has isn’t clear because most information about Trump’s finances comes from Trump himself via his government disclosures and the annual financial statements that Engoron has deemed fraudulent.Trump reported having about $294 million in cash or cash equivalents on his most recent annual financial statement for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021.After that, according to state lawyers, he added about $186.8 million from selling his Washington, D.C. hotel in May 2022 and the rights to manage a New York City golf course in June 2023. Part of Trump’s penalty requires that he give those proceeds to the state, plus interest.Engoron’s decision last week spared Trump’s real estate empire from what the Republican front-runner deemed the “corporate death penalty,” reversing a prior ruling and opting to leave his company in business, albeit with severe restrictions including oversight from a court-appointed monitor.James didn’t specify to ABC which of Trump’s assets the state might want to seize, though she noted that her office happens to be right across the street from a Trump-owned office building in Lower Manhattan that was the subject of some of the fraud allegations in her lawsuit.”We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers,” James told ABC. “And yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day.” With Trump promising to appeal, it’s unlikely he’ll have to pay the penalty — or face the prospect of having some of his assets seized — for a while. If he wins, he might not have to pay anything.Under state law, Trump will receive an automatic stay if he puts up money, assets or an appeal bond covering the amount he owes. A stay is a legal mechanism halting enforcement of a court decision while the appeals process plays out.”Even if we choose to appeal this – which we will – we have to post the bond, which is the full amount and some, and we will be prepared to do that,” Trump lawyer Alina Habba told Fox News on Monday. Trump’s lawyers can also ask the appeals court to grant a stay without obtaining a bond or with a bond for a lower amount.In his Georgia election interference criminal case, Trump paid $20,000 — or 10% — for a $200,000 release bond. After losing at a first trial involving Carroll last year, Trump put $5.55 million in escrow to cover the cost of the judgment while he appeals. He has said he would appeal the $83.3 million January verdict but has yet to do so.”If he can’t post a bond or meet the appellate division’s bonding requirements, then I would expect him to file bankruptcy to take advantage of the automatic stay on collection,” Germain said. “But that’s a couple of chess moves away, so we will just have to see what happens.”Trump’s vow to appeal all but assures the legal fight over his business practices will persist into the thick of the presidential primary season as he tries to clinch the Republican nomination in his quest to retake the White House.The appeal is also likely to overlap with his criminal trial next month in his New York hush-money case, the first of his four criminal cases to go to trial.Trump can’t appeal yet because the clerk’s office at Engoron’s courthouse must first file paperwork to make the verdict official. Once that happens, Trump will have 30 days to appeal and get the penalty stayed, or pay up. Trump’s lawyers wrangled Wednesday with state lawyers and the judge over what that paperwork should say. Trump lawyer Cliff Robert told Engoron in a letter late Wednesday that he wants enforcement of the penalty delayed 30 days “to allow for an orderly post-Judgment process, particularly given the magnitude of Judgment.” With each passing day, Trump owes an additional $87,502 in interest on his civil fraud penalty. By Thursday, that’ll be an extra $525,000 since the decision was issued on Feb. 16. The interest will continue to accrue even while he appeals. Barring court intervention or an earlier resolution, his bill will soar to a half-billion dollars by August 2025.Trump’s underlying penalty is $355 million, the equivalent of what the judge said were “ill-gotten gains” from savings on lower loan interest and windfall profits from development deals he wouldn’t have been able to make if he’d been honest about his wealth.Under state law, he is being charged interest on that amount at an annual rate of 9%.As of Wednesday, Trump owed just over $99 million in interest, bringing his total to just under $454 million — that’s $453,981,779 to be exact, according to the Associated Press’ calculations. Trump’s interest will keep accruing until Trump pays. Trump owes the money individually and as the owner of corporate entities that were named as defendants in James’ lawsuit.Engoron said the interest Trump owes on about half of the total penalty amount — pertaining to loan savings — can be calculated from the start of James’ investigation in March 2019. Interest on the remaining amount — which pertains to the sale of Trump’s Washington hotel and Bronx golf course rights — can be calculated starting in May 2022 or June 2023.In all, Engoron ordered Trump and his co-defendants to pay $363.9 million in penalties, or about $464.3 million with interest. The total bill increases by $89,729 per day, according to AP’s calculations.Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., must each pay about $4.7 million, including interest, to the state for their shares of the Washington hotel sales. Weisselberg was ordered to pay $1 million — for half of the $2 million severance he’s receiving — plus about $100,000 in interest.Until they pay, Weisselberg is on the hook for another $247 per day, while Trump’s sons each owe an extra $990 per day, according to AP’s calculations.
NEW YORK —
Donald Trump could be at risk of losing some of his prized properties if he can’t pay his staggering New York civil fraud penalty. With interest, he owes the state nearly $454 million — and the amount is going up $87,502 each day until he pays.
New York Attorney General Letitia James told ABC News on Tuesday that she will seek to seize some of the former president’s assets if he’s unable to cover the bill from Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 16 ruling.
Engoron concluded that Trump lied for years about his wealth as he built the real estate empire that vaulted him to stardom and the White House. Trump denies wrongdoing and has vowed to appeal.
“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” James, a Democrat, said in an interview with ABC reporter Aaron Katersky.
Trump’s ability to pay his mounting legal debts is increasingly murky after back-to-back courtroom losses. In January, a jury ordered him to pay $83.3 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.
Trump claimed last year that he has about $400 million in cash — reserves that would get eaten up by his court penalties. The rest of his net worth, which he says is several billion dollars, is tied up in golf courses, skyscrapers and other properties, along with investments and other holdings.
But don’t expect James to try to grab the keys to Trump Tower or Mar-a-Lago immediately. Trump’s promised appeal is likely to halt collection of his penalty while the process plays out.
Here’s a look at where things stand in the wake of Trump’s costly verdict.
Yes. If Trump isn’t able to pay, the state “could levy and sell his assets, lien his real property, and garnish anyone who owes him money,” Syracuse University Law Professor Gregory Germain said.
Seizing assets is a common legal tactic when a defendant can’t access enough cash to pay a civil penalty. In a famous example, O.J. Simpson’s Heisman Trophy was seized and sold at auction in 1999 to cover part of a $33.5 million wrongful death judgment against him.
Trump could avoid losing assets to seizure if he has enough cash — or is able to free up enough cash — to pay his penalty and mounting interest.
How much he has isn’t clear because most information about Trump’s finances comes from Trump himself via his government disclosures and the annual financial statements that Engoron has deemed fraudulent.
Trump reported having about $294 million in cash or cash equivalents on his most recent annual financial statement for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021.
After that, according to state lawyers, he added about $186.8 million from selling his Washington, D.C. hotel in May 2022 and the rights to manage a New York City golf course in June 2023. Part of Trump’s penalty requires that he give those proceeds to the state, plus interest.
Engoron’s decision last week spared Trump’s real estate empire from what the Republican front-runner deemed the “corporate death penalty,” reversing a prior ruling and opting to leave his company in business, albeit with severe restrictions including oversight from a court-appointed monitor.
James didn’t specify to ABC which of Trump’s assets the state might want to seize, though she noted that her office happens to be right across the street from a Trump-owned office building in Lower Manhattan that was the subject of some of the fraud allegations in her lawsuit.
“We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers,” James told ABC. “And yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day.”
With Trump promising to appeal, it’s unlikely he’ll have to pay the penalty — or face the prospect of having some of his assets seized — for a while. If he wins, he might not have to pay anything.
Under state law, Trump will receive an automatic stay if he puts up money, assets or an appeal bond covering the amount he owes. A stay is a legal mechanism halting enforcement of a court decision while the appeals process plays out.
“Even if we choose to appeal this – which we will – we have to post the bond, which is the full amount and some, and we will be prepared to do that,” Trump lawyer Alina Habba told Fox News on Monday.
Trump’s lawyers can also ask the appeals court to grant a stay without obtaining a bond or with a bond for a lower amount.
In his Georgia election interference criminal case, Trump paid $20,000 — or 10% — for a $200,000 release bond. After losing at a first trial involving Carroll last year, Trump put $5.55 million in escrow to cover the cost of the judgment while he appeals. He has said he would appeal the $83.3 million January verdict but has yet to do so.
“If he can’t post a bond or meet the appellate division’s bonding requirements, then I would expect him to file bankruptcy to take advantage of the automatic stay on collection,” Germain said. “But that’s a couple of chess moves away, so we will just have to see what happens.”
Trump’s vow to appeal all but assures the legal fight over his business practices will persist into the thick of the presidential primary season as he tries to clinch the Republican nomination in his quest to retake the White House.
The appeal is also likely to overlap with his criminal trial next month in his New York hush-money case, the first of his four criminal cases to go to trial.
Trump can’t appeal yet because the clerk’s office at Engoron’s courthouse must first file paperwork to make the verdict official. Once that happens, Trump will have 30 days to appeal and get the penalty stayed, or pay up. Trump’s lawyers wrangled Wednesday with state lawyers and the judge over what that paperwork should say. Trump lawyer Cliff Robert told Engoron in a letter late Wednesday that he wants enforcement of the penalty delayed 30 days “to allow for an orderly post-Judgment process, particularly given the magnitude of Judgment.”
With each passing day, Trump owes an additional $87,502 in interest on his civil fraud penalty. By Thursday, that’ll be an extra $525,000 since the decision was issued on Feb. 16. The interest will continue to accrue even while he appeals. Barring court intervention or an earlier resolution, his bill will soar to a half-billion dollars by August 2025.
Trump’s underlying penalty is $355 million, the equivalent of what the judge said were “ill-gotten gains” from savings on lower loan interest and windfall profits from development deals he wouldn’t have been able to make if he’d been honest about his wealth.
Under state law, he is being charged interest on that amount at an annual rate of 9%.
As of Wednesday, Trump owed just over $99 million in interest, bringing his total to just under $454 million — that’s $453,981,779 to be exact, according to the Associated Press’ calculations. Trump’s interest will keep accruing until Trump pays. Trump owes the money individually and as the owner of corporate entities that were named as defendants in James’ lawsuit.
Engoron said the interest Trump owes on about half of the total penalty amount — pertaining to loan savings — can be calculated from the start of James’ investigation in March 2019. Interest on the remaining amount — which pertains to the sale of Trump’s Washington hotel and Bronx golf course rights — can be calculated starting in May 2022 or June 2023.
In all, Engoron ordered Trump and his co-defendants to pay $363.9 million in penalties, or about $464.3 million with interest. The total bill increases by $89,729 per day, according to AP’s calculations.
Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., must each pay about $4.7 million, including interest, to the state for their shares of the Washington hotel sales. Weisselberg was ordered to pay $1 million — for half of the $2 million severance he’s receiving — plus about $100,000 in interest.
Until they pay, Weisselberg is on the hook for another $247 per day, while Trump’s sons each owe an extra $990 per day, according to AP’s calculations.
A new Politico report says some of former President Donald Trump’s closest allies are planning to infuse “Christian nationalism” into his administration if he secures a second term. Alex Ward, Politico national security reporter and co-writer of the article, joins “America Decides” to discuss.
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August 19, 2014 –Perry voluntarily appears at the Travis County Court house to be booked and fingerprinted and to have his mug shot taken. He pleads not guilty to charges of coercion of a public servant and abuse of official capacity. The next day he makes the first of six campaign style stops across New Hampshire.
July 24, 2015 – A Texas appeals court dismisses one of two criminal charges against Perry. The court agrees with the argument from Perry’s legal team that a Texas law concerning “coercion of a public servant” violates Perry’s First Amendment freedom of speech rights. The court is allowing a charge related to abuse of power to move forward.
September 27, 2016 – Is eliminated from “Dancing With The Stars.”
November 22, 2016 – Returns to “Dancing With The Stars” for the season finale. Perry dances with Vanilla Ice during a live performance of “Ice Ice Baby.”
Ksenia Karelina, an American with dual Russian citizenship has been arrested in Russia and charged with espionage and treason. Karelina’s detainment comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin cracks down on dissent in the wake of opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s death. CBS News foreign correspondent Imtiaz Tyab has more.
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Taking crazy pills: Former President Donald Trump said last evening that the civil fraud verdict that will force him to pony up $355 million for inflating his net worth to banks is actually “a form of Navalny” and “a form of communism or fascism.”
When asked about the Russian state’s imprisonment and killing of dissident Alexei Navalny, Trump responded: “It’s happening here.” The indictments are “all because of the fact that I’m in politics,” in his telling.
He made these comments last night during a Fox News town hall. On Truth Social, his own alternative social media platform, Trump said, “the sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country.”
Alexei Navalny, who was reported dead on Friday, served as an opposition leader in a state that disallows opposition and legitimate voting. Navalny garnered a massive following—more than 6 million YouTube followers, for starters, with at least one video viewed 130 million times—by doing legitimately good journalism digging into the kleptocratic, repressive Putin regime. Navalny offered normal Russians legitimate, well-sourced explanations for why they are so poor: their leaders consistently abdicate responsibility, choosing to enrich themselves. Their leaders are content with everyday people living in squalor and dysfunction, as long as they stay comfortable.
Running for office, and cutting through the state’s propaganda, made him so disfavored by the regime that he went into exile. Navalny returned to Russia in 2021 with full awareness that he would be locked up but a devout belief that he ought to continue his work domestically, displaying courage in the face of certain persecution. And sure enough, he was locked up, then sent to an even more remote prison camp called IK-3, in Kharp, which is in the Arctic Circle. His death there was reported last week, but the opposition movement will not die with him. “In killing Aleksei, Putin killed half of me, half of my heart and half of my soul,” said his widow, Yulia, “but I have another half left—and it is telling me I have no right to give up.”
Trump, on the other hand, misrepresented his net worth to banks, defrauding lenders (who…still had a responsibility to do due diligence, a fact ignored in much mainstream media reporting of the case). “Trump claimed his apartment in Manhattan’s Trump Tower was 30,000 square feet, nearly three times its actual size,” writesReason‘s Jacob Sullum. “He valued Mar-a-Lago, his golf resort in Palm Beach, based on the assumption that it could be sold for residential purposes, which the deed precluded.” But “[New York Attorney General Letitia] James was not able to identify any damages to lenders or insurers,” writes Sullum, and “the striking absence of any injury commensurate with the punishment lends credibility to Trump’s reflexive complaint that he is the victim of a partisan vendetta.”
Both things can be true, that Trump attracts politically motivated ire—which attorneys general and judges are wrong to indulge—and that he also did something wrong by inflating his net worth. But he’s a far cry from Navalny—Trump enjoys self-dealing more than fact-finding and truth-telling—and the way this went down, via the court system, where Trump had the right to defend himself, is a far cry from how “justice” gets dispensed in Russia—by Putin, in penal colonies, via murders of anyone whose beliefs threaten the man in charge.
“Clinical psychologists with the Department of Veterans Affairs faced retaliation and ostracization at work after they publicly opposed a gender-inclusion policy that allows men to access women’s medical spaces within the VA,” reportsNational Review.
RFK Jr.’s “origin story makes this like Odysseus returning to the manor, stringing the bow, this is that iconic moment,” said Bret Weinstein on Joe Rogan’s podcast. If you say so, Bret.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton just announced a lawsuit against El Paso’s Annunciation House, an NGO in charge of a shelter network for migrants, for “facilitating illegal entry to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house.” But going after charities that help migrants—whatever you think of the behavior they engaged in to get here—seems like a wrongheaded stunt.
I do not think this is true or that there’s much evidence for it:
do you want a black pill?
like… a really really black pill?
George Carlin would be pro-censorship if he were alive today b/c he didn’t actually love free speech, he just fucking hated Christians
“The enormous contrast between [Alexei] Navalny’s civic courage and the corruption of [Vladimir] Putin’s regime will remain,” writesThe Atlantic‘s Anne Applebaum. “Putin is fighting a bloody, lawless, unnecessary war, in which hundreds of thousands of ordinary Russians have been killed or wounded, for no reason other than to serve his own egotistical vision. He is running a cowardly, micromanaged reelection campaign, one in which all real opponents are eliminated and the only candidate who gets airtime is himself. Instead of facing real questions or challenges, he meets tame propagandists such as Tucker Carlson, to whom he offers nothing more than lengthy, circular, and completely false versions of history.”
Related: People were arrested for laying flowers in memory of Navalny.
On Feb. 17 at 9 a.m., we encountered significantly long security lines at Denver International Airport’s west side, leading to delays and frustrations for hundreds if not thousands of passengers. Lines snaked through common areas, adding to the inconvenience. Certainly not an upgraded experience.
While millions of dollars were supposedly invested in security upgrades, the recent experience suggests further improvements are needed. Are there staffing limitations contributing to the issue?
I urge the airport authorities and Denver City Council to investigate the root cause of these long lines. The city spent millions of dollars and obviously didn’t improve the security process. This makes our airport look like a third-rate facility. If the City of Denver can’t run the airport, hire professionals to do the job.
I am filled with gladness at the hiring of Troy Renck as a sports columnist and especially happy with the departure of Mark Kiszla, who was, in my opinion, a journalistic hack, a peddler of negativity, and a troll who unnecessarily attacked and demeaned the character and personality of Denver sports personalities. Most recently, his remarks about Broncos coach Sean Payton were odious, and he was unkind to quarterback Russell Wilson before he ever stepped on the field. This represents a move toward more balanced and positive reporting by The Post and I hope it continues.
Republicans in the U.S. House have abandoned the freedom fighters in Ukraine. When Ronald Reagan built the strongest military force in the world and stoutly supported freedom, Ukraine and other states were able to throw off Russian domination. Vladimir Putin is determined to rebuild that “evil empire,” and today’s Republican appeasers are happy to open the door for him.
Ukraine will not be the last country Putin enslaves. We can stop him now by supplying ammunition, or we can retreat and imperil our future.
Ray Harlan, Denver
Ronald Reagan would turn in his grave if he knew Donald Trump’s puppet, House Speaker Mike Johnson, is sitting on Ukraine aid. If Trump’s buddy, Putin, succeeds in ensnaring the Ukrainian people, who is next? We need to help Ukraine for their sake and for our own sake.
If Johnson continues to deny more weapons for Ukraine’s self-defense, then the next best thing is the Lend-Lease process we used in WWII, with the hope that someday Ukraine could pay us back.
I am so glad to hear the Rockies are going to stream their games this year at the low price of $99.99 for the entire season. That’s less than a dollar a loss!
Donald Trump raised eyebrows with his latest brazen boast to Fox News personality Laura Ingraham on Tuesday.
During a discussion on the multiple criminal and civil cases the former president is facing, the four-times-indicted Republican front-runner declared: “I’ve become an expert at law.”
The comment sparked a ripple of laughter from the friendly audience.
“If I didn’t run, I wouldn’t have any of these lawsuits, you know that, none of them,” Trump added, a repetition of his baseless claim that President Joe Biden is directing the 91 criminal charges.
Biden’s campaign shared footage of the moment on X, formerly Twitter.
“Trump says his 91 felony indictments make him an ‘expert at law,’” it captioned the clip, which was one of many offbeat Trump comments it posted from the televised town hall.
Biden’s campaign has ramped up its attacks on Trump in recent weeks, with the president reportedly asking aides to point out the “crazy shit” his likely 2024 rival says in public.
Critics on X, meanwhile, questioned Trump’s definition of “expert” and suggested why he could be a specialist on legal matters ― but for the wrong reasons.
Trump said he’s become an expert at law…probably because he spends the majority of his time in a damn courtroom and has had hundreds of lawyers!
LOS ANGELES — President Joe Biden kicked off a three-day fundraising sprint in California, making the case to supporters to stay focused on what’s at stake in his reelection battle where he will likely again face Donald Trump in November.
In remarks at a campaign reception on the grounds of billionaire Haim Saban’s Los Angeles home, Biden told supporters that a Trump win could lead to a nationwide abortion ban, more Republican efforts to undo Obamacare and a deteriorating American reputation on the world stage. Biden also addressed head-on the concerns among his supporters and detractors alike about his age – a lingering issue that’s become a drag on his reelection hopes.
“I may not run as fast as I used to. I may not be able to play flanker back at Delaware,” Biden told the audience that included actor Jane Fonda and comedian Greg Proops. “But I tell you what … I’ve been around long enough to know what’s going on.”
The president will also make campaign stops in San Francisco and Los Altos Hills this week and will deliver a policy speech near Los Angeles on Wednesday, in an effort to collect as much cash as he can for his reelection bid.
Going into the trip, Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee announced that they had collected $42 million in contributions during January from 422,000 donors. Biden ended January with $130 million in cash on hand. Campaign officials said that is the highest total amassed by any Democratic candidate at this point in the cycle.
Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez called the haul “an indisputable show of strength to start the election year.”
“While Team Biden-Harris continues to build on its fundraising machine, Republicans are divided – either spending money fighting Donald Trump, or spending money in support of Donald Trump’s extreme and losing agenda,” she said.
The figures suggest Biden is cementing an early cash advantage over Trump. But the numbers still lag what Trump had amassed during a similar period in 2020, when his campaign routinely smashed fundraising records.
Raising money is only part of the equation. How well that cash is spent is also a major factor – as Trump well knows. His 2020 campaign effectively lit his massive cash surpluses on fire through a series of questionable spending decisions.
This year, Trump retains his impressive ability to hoover up campaign cash, particularly from grassroots donors who typically chip in small amounts online. Trump, who hasn’t released his January fundraising numbers yet, also faces a new threat to his campaign’s finances: the staggering legal bills he racked up while defending himself in four separate criminal cases.
In order to maintain an edge in what’s widely expected to be an expensive rematch with Trump, Biden’s campaign will need to accelerate his fundraising.
This week’s trip marks Biden’s third visit to California in just over two months for political events. He’s trying to make up for lost time after largely avoiding the Democratic donor stronghold during last year’s strikes by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA.
His hosts on Tuesday weren’t in attendance; they both tested positive for COVID-19. Biden wished them a speedy recovery as he spoke to the crowd.
“We have to contrast the choice between Trump and me,” he said. “We have to make it crystal clear.”
Biden also criticized Trump for not speaking more forcefully about last week’s death of Russian political activist Alexei Navalny. Russian officials said that Navalny, Russia’s top opposition leader and President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died suddenly in prison on Friday. The circumstances surrounding Navalny’s death have not been fully determined, but Biden has said Putin is ultimately responsible.
Trump in his first comment on his social media site two days after Navalny’s death was announced appeared to compare his own legal battles to the plight of the activist who was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism.
“When Navalny died last week and the world holds Putin responsible, Trump fails to even condemn it,” Biden said. “It’s outrageous.”
Biden made a quick visit to Los Angeles earlier this month for a meeting with supporters in the city’s upscale Bel Air neighborhood. He and first lady Jill Biden also spent a weekend in December in the Los Angeles area for campaign events.
The first lady traveled Tuesday to Guilford, Connecticut, to hold a campaign fundraiser on behalf of her husband.
While the Bidens will be pursuing deep-pocketed donors this week, the campaign points to the number of smaller donations it has raised as an encouraging sign for the president.
The campaign says 97% of the 3 million donations it has received thus far were under $200 each. Biden has also received pledges from 158,000 “sustaining donors” who have committed to donating monthly. That’s more than double the amount Biden had at this point in the 2020 cycle, when his cash-strapped campaign limped out of Iowa following a fourth-place finish in the state’s February caucuses.
The new totals include donations to Biden’s political operation and to a network of joint fundraising arrangements with the national and state Democratic parties. Biden’s 2020 campaign raised over $1 billion, and could need even more in a likely Trump rematch.
Biden in recent days has seized on comments by Trump that call into question the U.S. commitment to defend NATO allies from attack as “dangerous” and “un-American.” Trump earlier this month said he once warned that he would allow Russia to do whatever it wants to NATO member nations that are “delinquent” in devoting 2% of their gross domestic product to defense.
The Biden campaign launched digital ads last week in three battleground states – Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – criticizing Trump for his threat to NATO countries. Biden has also railed against House Republicans for blocking a $95 billion foreign aid bill that includes $60 billion in funding for Ukraine’s war with Russia.
___
Associated Press writers Brian Slodysko and Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.
LOS ANGELES — President Joe Biden kicked off a three-day fundraising sprint in California, making the case to supporters to stay focused on what’s at stake in his reelection battle where he will likely again face Donald Trump in November.
In remarks at a campaign reception on the grounds of billionaire Haim Saban’s Los Angeles home, Biden told supporters that a Trump win could lead to a nationwide abortion ban, more Republican efforts to undo Obamacare and a deteriorating American reputation on the world stage. Biden also addressed head-on the concerns among his supporters and detractors alike about his age – a lingering issue that’s become a drag on his reelection hopes.
“I may not run as fast as I used to. I may not be able to play flanker back at Delaware,” Biden told the audience that included actor Jane Fonda and comedian Greg Proops. “But I tell you what … I’ve been around long enough to know what’s going on.”
The president will also make campaign stops in San Francisco and Los Altos Hills this week and will deliver a policy speech near Los Angeles on Wednesday, in an effort to collect as much cash as he can for his reelection bid.
Going into the trip, Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee announced that they had collected $42 million in contributions during January from 422,000 donors. Biden ended January with $130 million in cash on hand. Campaign officials said that is the highest total amassed by any Democratic candidate at this point in the cycle.
Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez called the haul “an indisputable show of strength to start the election year.”
“While Team Biden-Harris continues to build on its fundraising machine, Republicans are divided – either spending money fighting Donald Trump, or spending money in support of Donald Trump’s extreme and losing agenda,” she said.
The figures suggest Biden is cementing an early cash advantage over Trump. But the numbers still lag what Trump had amassed during a similar period in 2020, when his campaign routinely smashed fundraising records.
Raising money is only part of the equation. How well that cash is spent is also a major factor – as Trump well knows. His 2020 campaign effectively lit his massive cash surpluses on fire through a series of questionable spending decisions.
This year, Trump retains his impressive ability to hoover up campaign cash, particularly from grassroots donors who typically chip in small amounts online. Trump, who hasn’t released his January fundraising numbers yet, also faces a new threat to his campaign’s finances: the staggering legal bills he racked up while defending himself in four separate criminal cases.
In order to maintain an edge in what’s widely expected to be an expensive rematch with Trump, Biden’s campaign will need to accelerate his fundraising.
This week’s trip marks Biden’s third visit to California in just over two months for political events. He’s trying to make up for lost time after largely avoiding the Democratic donor stronghold during last year’s strikes by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA.
His hosts on Tuesday weren’t in attendance; they both tested positive for COVID-19. Biden wished them a speedy recovery as he spoke to the crowd.
“We have to contrast the choice between Trump and me,” he said. “We have to make it crystal clear.”
Biden also criticized Trump for not speaking more forcefully about last week’s death of Russian political activist Alexei Navalny. Russian officials said that Navalny, Russia’s top opposition leader and President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died suddenly in prison on Friday. The circumstances surrounding Navalny’s death have not been fully determined, but Biden has said Putin is ultimately responsible.
Trump in his first comment on his social media site two days after Navalny’s death was announced appeared to compare his own legal battles to the plight of the activist who was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism.
“When Navalny died last week and the world holds Putin responsible, Trump fails to even condemn it,” Biden said. “It’s outrageous.”
Biden made a quick visit to Los Angeles earlier this month for a meeting with supporters in the city’s upscale Bel Air neighborhood. He and first lady Jill Biden also spent a weekend in December in the Los Angeles area for campaign events.
The first lady traveled Tuesday to Guilford, Connecticut, to hold a campaign fundraiser on behalf of her husband.
While the Bidens will be pursuing deep-pocketed donors this week, the campaign points to the number of smaller donations it has raised as an encouraging sign for the president.
The campaign says 97% of the 3 million donations it has received thus far were under $200 each. Biden has also received pledges from 158,000 “sustaining donors” who have committed to donating monthly. That’s more than double the amount Biden had at this point in the 2020 cycle, when his cash-strapped campaign limped out of Iowa following a fourth-place finish in the state’s February caucuses.
The new totals include donations to Biden’s political operation and to a network of joint fundraising arrangements with the national and state Democratic parties. Biden’s 2020 campaign raised over $1 billion, and could need even more in a likely Trump rematch.
Biden in recent days has seized on comments by Trump that call into question the U.S. commitment to defend NATO allies from attack as “dangerous” and “un-American.” Trump earlier this month said he once warned that he would allow Russia to do whatever it wants to NATO member nations that are “delinquent” in devoting 2% of their gross domestic product to defense.
The Biden campaign launched digital ads last week in three battleground states – Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – criticizing Trump for his threat to NATO countries. Biden has also railed against House Republicans for blocking a $95 billion foreign aid bill that includes $60 billion in funding for Ukraine’s war with Russia.
___
Associated Press writers Brian Slodysko and Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.
A Trump-backed trio of leaders is expected to take the helm at the Republican National Committee, effectively strengthening former President Donald Trump’s iron grip on the party going into the general election.
Trump announced last week a new effort to unite the RNC and his campaign. He’s installing Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, and Chris LaCivita, a senior campaign adviser, in top leadership positions in the party as part of an effort to merge his reelection campaign and RNC into a “seamless operation,” according to a high-ranking Republican source with knowledge of the decision.
Lara Trump will stand for election as RNC co-chair, along with Michael Whaley, who’s been tapped to be the new chairman, replacing Ronna McDaniel, the current RNC chair. She’s expected to step down soon after the South Carolina GOP primary on Saturday. LaCivita’s position as chief operating officer is an appointment.
LaCivita, one of the Trump campaign’s top senior advisers, will be the key liaison between the campaign and the RNC. He is expected to split his time between the RNC and the Trump campaign, which he runs along with Susie Wiles, another top adviser.
A long-time Republican operative and former U.S. Marine, LaCivita has worked on a number of state and federal campaigns, including Sen. Rand Paul’s 2016 presidential run. He was a senior strategist at the pro-Trump super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. before moving to Trump’s reelection campaign in late 2022.
Several former Trump officials told CBS News that LaCivita is seen as a “go-getter” with a sharp focus on winning races, rather than on the internal politics that can sometimes bog down the party. Trump campaign leaders are looking to him to bring structure to RNC spending and fundraising, which has been lackluster in the last several election cycles under McDaniel.
In 2023, the RNC had its worst fundraising year in a decade, and it entered 2024 with just $8 million, its lowest cash on hand since 2014, according to FEC reports.
Sources tell CBS News that one of LaCivita’s key goals will be unifying the different factions in the party, including some who may have been at odds with McDaniel.
McDaniel often feuded publicly with Charlie Kirk, a conservative media figure who leads the well-funded group Turning Point USA and tried to oust McDaniel from her post last year. Kirk and Turning Point USA built a conservative grassroots activist network focused on driving youth turnout.
“Reaching out to independent organizations that are involved in getting out the vote and advocating on behalf of Republican candidates is something that new leadership in the RNC is very interested in pursuing,” a high-ranking Republican source with knowledge of the move said.
Sources also tell CBS News that the Trump-backed leaders are eyeing the RNC’s early voting initiative, called “Bank Your Vote” and launched last June, as a potential area for change.
This is a nationwide GOP campaign to boost mail and early in-person voting and ballot harvesting in this year’s presidential race. These are all voting initiatives that have traditionally been dominated by Democrats. The Republican strategy included launching websites in all 50 states and in several different languages to increase voter outreach.
For years, Trump has railed against early voting and ballot harvesting as tools of election rigging. At campaign events, he still expresses distrust of them, calling for only in-person voting on Election Day and paper ballots.
“We have to get rid of mail-in ballots because once you have mail-in ballots, you have crooked elections,” Trump said in his victory speech after winning the Iowa caucuses in January.
Privately, Republicans say the current initiative is flawed because it relies on old voter registration data and does nothing to bring in new voters to the party.
“They’re getting people to vote that are going to vote, and then they count that as a success,” a high-ranking Republican source with knowledge said. “When you don’t have electoral success, you’ve got to look at the tactics that you’re using.”
But other Republicans have embraced early voting, like Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin. In 2023, ahead of crucial state elections, Youngkin invested heavily in an effort called “Secure Your Vote,” which encouraged Republicans to take advantage of Virginia’s early voting system.
Although Republicans still lost the Virginia House of Delegates and state Senate, they were still able to cut down early voting deficits significantly, due in part to Youngkin’s effort. In a state President Biden won by double digits in 2020, Republicans were able to come within a few thousand votes of taking control of both legislative chambers.
Republicans hope that LaCivita’s move to the RNC will force the party to expand early voting efforts that would build upon the Virginia Republicans’ approach.
“Chris LaCivita knows how to run an operation,” said Zack Roday, a former spokesperson for Youngkin’s political action committee Spirit of Virginia. “He will make this a major focus. He’s going to bring immense discipline to this effort and plenty of fundraising.”
DETROIT—Drawing ire from the costumed fandom at the item’s price and political implications, former president Donald Trump was reportedly booed Tuesday at a local furry convention while hawking his new $399 Never Surrender Trump Tail. “Folks, this is a tremendous tail, really tremendous—perfect for bringing your fursona to life like never before,” said Trump, who turned to show that he was wearing his own fake fur-based tail while ignoring incensed cries of “He’s a Steve!” and several dog-paw-shaped gloves thrown his way by the increasingly enraged crowd. “Some of you don’t like me. That’s okay. I like you. You’re all fur heads, right? Some fluffies. Some musclefurs. See? I get it. And this tail, my God, this tail is fantastic for murrsuits. Well-made. High-quality design. You get a whole furpile where everyone’s wearing this tail? It’ll have you saying ‘Yiff!’ in no time at all.” At press time, reports confirmed the Never Surrender Trump Tail was being resold on eBay for several thousand dollars above retail price.
Donald Trump is polling ahead of Nikki Haley by double digits in South Carolina, but Haley, the former governor of the state, is back on the ground there trying to make a dent with just days remaining until the Republican primary. CBS News campaign reporter Olivia Rinaldi has more on the race in South Carolina and the Trump campaign’s look ahead to the general election.
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The Supreme Court could issue rulings related to Donald Trump’s immunity claim in a federal case and his ballot eligibility case in Colorado as soon as this week. Attorney and CBS News campaign reporter Katrina Kaufman has more on how the high court may be approaching the two decisions.
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Donald Trump will likely appeal the ruling made in his civil fraud case last Friday that would force him to pay over $354 million in fines. Attorney and CBS News campaign reporter Katrina Kaufman has more on where things stand with some of the former president’s legal cases.
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The month after the presidential election in 2020, Democratic and Republican electors representing the candidate who won the popular vote in their states gathered across the country to formally cast electoral votes for president.
But in seven states that Joe Biden won, Republican electors got together anyway and cast phony votes for Donald Trump. They’ve become known as fake electors. And according to federal prosecutors, they were part of a plan to overturn the election, orchestrated by pro-Trump attorneys with Trump’s support. State criminal charges have been filed against fake electors in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada.
Wisconsin’s fake electors haven’t been charged, and several weeks ago, one of them, Andrew Hitt, an attorney and former chairman of the state Republican Party, agreed to sit down with us to explain how he says he and Wisconsin’s other GOP electors were tricked by the Trump campaign.
Anderson Cooper: You were head of the Republican Party in Wisconsin. Were you a big Trump supporter?
Andrew Hitt: I worked tirelessly for him. I, you know, day and night–
Andrew Hitt
60 Minutes
ANDREW HITT: Let’s put it together for the president of the United States one more time!
Andrew Hitt: — oftentimes phone calls would start by 6:00 in the morning, and wouldn’t end until 10:30 at night. I did everything I possibly could.
DONALD TRUMP: The Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Andrew Hitt.
Andrew Hitt was often singled out by President Trump at rallies in Wisconsin.
DONALD TRUMP: Andrew Hitt!
DONALD TRUMP: Andrew Hitt!
DONALD TRUMP: How we doing, Andrew? Gonna win this state? We gotta win it.
But Trump didn’t win in Wisconsin. He lost to Joe Biden by some 20,700 votes. The Trump campaign appealed, challenging more than 200,000 absentee ballots on technical grounds in two Democratic counties.
RUDY GIULIANI: If you count the lawful votes, Trump won Wisconsin by a good margin.
Andrew Hitt: That was false. What he said was false.
Anderson Cooper: The Trump campaign wanted the votes in Dane County and Milwaukee County tossed. Did you support that idea?
Andrew Hitt: – it wasn’t something that I was comfortable with.
Anderson Cooper: Dane County and Milwaukee County in Wisconsin– are the most liberal counties.The majority of the Black population in Wisconsin live in those two counties.
Andrew Hitt: Correct. Correct.
Anderson Cooper: Personally, you did not believe all those absentee ballots should be thrown out?
Andrew Hitt: Well, I voted that way, you know. I voted that way.
Anderson Cooper: You didn’t think your own vote should be thrown out?
Andrew Hitt: No.
On Nov. 30, Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers certified Joe Biden’s victory — authorizing the state’s Democratic electors to gather at the state capitol on Dec. 14 to cast their electoral votes for Biden.
But days earlier Andrew Hitt says he received a call from the Republican National Committee.
Anderson Cooper: What was the reach out to you?
Andrew Hitt: “Can we get a list of the Wisconsin Republican electors?”
Anderson Cooper: That made you suspicious?
Andrew Hitt: It did.
Andrew Hitt: I was already concerned that they were gonna try to say that the Democratic electors were not proper in Wisconsin because of fraud.
Anderson Cooper: You didn’t believe there was any widespread fraud–
Andrew Hitt: No, and I was very involved, obviously, in the election.
Hitt was one of 10 republicans nominated to be an elector if Trump won in Wisconsin. On Dec. 4, he says, he was advised by the state GOP’s outside legal counsel to gather the other Republican electors on Dec. 14 at the Capitol and as a contingency, sign a document claiming Trump won the state in case a court overturned the election in Wisconsin.
Anderson Cooper: In case the legal arguments that the Trump team is making actually win in court?
Andrew Hitt: Right. And I remember asking, “How– how can this be? That a court overturns the election and, just because we don’t meet and fill out this paperwork on the 14th, that Trump would forfeit Wisconsin?” And the– legal analysis back was, “The statute’s very clear: The electors have to meet at noon at the Capitol in Wisconsin on December 14th.”
Andrew Hitt and Anderson Cooper
60 Minutes
That morning the state Supreme Court — in a 4-3 ruling — rejected the Trump campaign’s attempt to throw out more than 200,000 votes. But Andrew Hitt says he and the other Republican electors met anyway to cast fake votes because he’d been told the Trump campaign would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kenneth Chesebro, a pro-Trump attorney — who was an alleged architect of the fake electors plan — showed up to watch.
Andrew Hitt: We got specific advice from our lawyers that these documents were meaningless unless a court said they had meaning.
Anderson Cooper: You are deciding to sign this document as an elector, and getting the other electors to sign this document based on a court challenge that you yourself don’t believe has legitimacy.
Andrew Hitt: I wouldn’t say it doesn’t have legitimacy– that’s different than not personally agreeing with it.
Anderson Cooper: You personally don’t believe that legitimate votes by Wisconsin residents should be tossed out. And yet, you are signing a document in support of a lawsuit which is alleging just that.
Andrew Hitt: And if I didn’t do that, and the court did throw out those votes, it would have been solely my fault that Trump wouldn’t have won Wisconsin.
DONALD TRUMP: Ah, beautiful kids Andrew. Good. Good. I’m going to blame you Andrew if they don’t do it.
Andrew Hitt:Can you imagine the repercussions on myself, my family, if it was me, Andrew Hitt, who prevented Donald Trump from winning Wisconsin.
Anderson Cooper: You’re saying you were scared?
Andrew Hitt: Absolutely.
Anderson Cooper: Scared of Trump supporters in your state?
Andrew Hitt: It was not a safe time. If my lawyer is right, and the whole reason Trump loses Wisconsin is because of me, I would be scared to death.
Anderson Cooper: Signing legal documents of such consequence that you don’t believe in and you don’t believe the underlying reason for the documents, it’s– I mean, it’s not exactly a profile in courage.
Andrew Hitt: No.
Anderson Cooper: How do you feel about that now?
Andrew Hitt: I mean, terrible. If I knew what I knew now, I wouldn’t have done it. It was kept from us that there was this alternate scheme, alternate motive.
That alleged alternate scheme is a prominent part of special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of the former president.
JACK SMITH: …charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States.
According to Smith, what began as a legal strategy in Wisconsin evolved into “a corrupt plan” involving six other states as well.
ARIZONA GOP ELECTORS: Donald J. Trump, of the state of Florida. Number of votes, 11.
Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
POLICE: The electors are already here – they’ve been checked in.
Where some of the fake electors couldn’t convince police to let them into the Capitol.
Jack Smith cites this Dec. 6 memo written by Ken Chesebro detailing ways “the Trump campaign can prevent Biden from amassing 270 electoral votes on January 6…”
Smith alleges the multistate scheme was designed to “create a fake controversy” and “position the vice president… to supplant legitimate electors with [Trump’s] fake electors and certify [him] as president.”
By Jan. 4, according to internal emails, some in the Trump campaign were panicking. They believed the fake electors’ documents from Michigan and Wisconsin hadn’t arrived in Vice President Mike Pence’s Senate office.
Anderson Cooper: Your colleague texted you, “Freakin’ Trump idiots want someone to fly original elector papers to the Senate president.” You wrote, “This is just nuts.” What was nuts about it?
Andrew Hitt: I mean, we have the certification coming on the 6th. Um, how– how do you not have the paperwork?
Anderson Cooper: I mean you’ve said that you only went along with this plan to preserve Trump’s candidacy in the event of a court ruling. January 4th, just two days before January 6th, did you really think that was still possible?
Andrew Hitt: Well, remember, the Wisconsin Supreme Court had been appealed. And so January 4th, it seemed like, yeah, it’s possible that a much more conservative United States Supreme Court could overturn a four-three decision.
To get the paperwork to Washington, they picked Alesha Guenther, then a 23-year-old law school student working part time for Wisconsin’s Republican Party.
Alesha Guenther
60 Minutes
Alesha Guenther: I was on break from law school, um– and wanted to make some extra money (laugh) for– to pay for books and worked for the party for my month off of school. So on January 4th, I got a call from the Executive Director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, since I was helping out at the time–
Anderson Cooper: What did you think when you got the text?
Alesha Guenther: At first, I didn’t know what it was. And then, he followed up and asked, you know, that the Trump campaign wanted these papers flown out to DC because they had gotten lost in the mail.
Guenther says she picked up the papers here at the state party headquarters, and on Jan. 5 flew to Washington.
ALESHA GUENTHER: So this is the email-
She showed us her email chain with Ken Chesebro and the Trump campaign’s senior advisor, Mike Roman.
Alesha Guenther:-explaining that I should only give the documents to Ken Chesebro. So, um, and then, they asked me to meet up with him outside the Trump Hotel.
Anderson Cooper: I mean, it sounds very secretive.
Alesha Guenther: Yeah, I thought that that email was pretty odd and dramatic-
Anderson Cooper: And you knew what was happening on January 6th?
Anderson Cooper: -in terms of the– the certification of the vote.
Alesha Guenther: I don’t know if I was very tuned into that. Truly because I thought that a court of law would have need to– needed to overturn the election for those documents to be used.
Anderson Cooper: Did you know what Chesebro looked like?
Alesha Guenther: So he had actually sent me a selfie.
Anderson Cooper: He– he sent you a selfie–
Alesha Guenther: Yes.
Anderson Cooper: –so that you would know it was him-
Alesha Guenther: Yeah.
Anderson Cooper: Can I see it?
Alesha Guenther: Yeah.
She still has the photo saved on her phone.
Anderson Cooper: That’s– that’s Ken Chesebro.
Alesha Guenther: Uh-huh (affirm).
Anderson Cooper: What did he say to you?
Alesha Guenther: He kind of took a dramatic step back, and looked at me, and said, “You might have just made history.”
Ken Chesebro told investigators he delivered the Wisconsin documents to Capitol Hill. The next day, on Jan. 6, he can be seen in videos outside the capitol near conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
ADAM SCHIFF: I now want to look even more deeply at the fake electors scheme…
According to the January 6th Select Committee, an aide to Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson tried to arrange to get the fake electors slates to Vice President Pence.
DONALD TRUMP: And I hope Mike is gonna do the right thing, I hope so. I hope so. Because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election.
But Pence’s aide refused, texting “do not give that to him,” according to the committee.
When the Senate chamber had to be evacuated, the real electoral votes in these boxes were taken to safety. and when Congress resumed, they were returned into the House chamber.
MIKE PENCE: Pursuant to Senate concurrent resolution…
Vice President Pence announced the election results and closed the session at 3:44 a.m. Jan. 7.
The Supreme Court ultimately declined to hear the Trump campaign’s lawsuit in Wisconsin.
Anderson Cooper: What do you think about Donald Trump continuing to claim that the 2020 election was stolen?
Andrew Hitt: I mean, it wasn’t stolen. It wasn’t stolen in Wisconsin.
This past December, Andrew Hitt and Wisconsin’s other Republican electors settled a civil lawsuit against them by some of the state’s Democratic electors. They admitted they signed a document that was “used as part of an attempt to improperly overturn the 2020 presidential election results.”
Hitt resigned as chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party in August 2021.
He’s cooperated with the January 6th committee.
ANDREW HITT, SOT: -using our electors in ways that we weren’t told about, um, and we wouldn’t have supported.
And, he says, he’s also cooperated with federal prosecutors. He maintains he and the other fake electors in Wisconsin were tricked.
Andrew Hitt: Whenever anybody sees our text messages, our emails, our documents, they understand, they know they- their conclusion is we were tricked. The January 6th Committee saw it. Jack Smith specifically in his indictment refers to some of the electors were tricked. That was us.
Anderson Cooper: The former president is known to watch “60 Minutes.” If he’s watching, what would you want to say to him?
Andrew Hitt: I would say that this country needs to move forward. That we need a leader who is– tackles serious problems and serious issues that this country faces. And we need faith in our institutions again. And the next president of the United States needs to do that.
Anderson Cooper: And in your opinion, that’s not him.
Andrew Hitt: That is not him. Correct.
Produced by Sarah Koch. Associate producer, Madeleine Carlisle. Broadcast associate, Grace Conley. Edited by April Wilson.
Anderson Cooper, anchor of CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” has contributed to 60 Minutes since 2006. His exceptional reporting on big news events has earned Cooper a reputation as one of television’s pre-eminent newsmen.
This week on “Face the Nation,” former President Donald Trump faces yet another legal setback, and with the South Carolina Republican primary less than a week away, Nikki Haley is fighting for her home state. We’ll hear from both of South Carolina’s Republican senators — Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham — about their recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, and how the death of Putin critic Alexey Navalny will impact the push to aid Ukraine.
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