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Tag: Elections

  • Ukraine bats away Lukashenko’s border threats

    Ukraine bats away Lukashenko’s border threats

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    KYIV — Ukraine is giving short shrift to increased posturing from Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who this week pledged to conduct joint deployments with Russian forces and triggered fears that Minsk could be seeking to engineer a false flag operation on the border.

    Belarus’ chief strategic significance in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine is that its territory — and importantly its airfields — are a springboard for attacks against northern Ukraine, most significantly Kyiv. Indeed, Putin used Belarus in exactly this way in the opening phases of the war.

    Crucially, however, Lukashenko has avoided sending his own forces into the conflict, sensing it would be a political disaster.

    Just two years ago, Lukashenko survived massive street protests against his rule by using brutal force, and the heavy casualties that the Belarusian army would probably sustain in the war against Ukraine could reignite popular anger against his rule. His direct involvement in the war would also mean more Western sanctions against a nation that has already been seriously hit by restrictions over the rigged 2020 presidential election.

    Law enforcement officers respond to a protest against President Lukashenko’s rule in 2020 | AFP via Getty Images

    Attention swung back to Lukashenko’s motives this week when he said on Monday that he had agreed with Putin to deploy a joint regional military group. He added that this order had been given two days before, apparently after the explosion of the Russia-Crimea bridge, which Moscow blamed on Ukraine. Lukashenko said that the Belarusian army would form the base of this group.

    Lukashenko also made fake claims about a potential Ukrainian attack against Belarus. He issued a warning to the Ukrainian leadership in the light of supposed information on “strikes on Belarus from the territory of Ukraine.” Think tankers and independent Belarusian journalists considered this to be Minsk laying the ground for a possible false-flag operation.

    “This information was immediately brought to my attention. My answer was simple: Tell the president of Ukraine and other insane people … that the Crimea bridge will be just the thin end of the wedge to them, if only they touch a single meter of our territory with their dirty hands.”

    He made his statement as Russia was hitting Ukraine with barrages of missiles on Monday, and Lukashenko’s reference to the Crimea bridge was most likely a hint at Moscow’s retaliation.

    Despite this escalation in rhetoric, Ukraine’s military is remaining cool-headed about potential risks from Belarus.

    “The units of the Defence Forces are monitoring the situation, there are no signs of the formation of offensive groups on the territory of Belarus,” the general staff said in a statement on Tuesday.

    The Ukrainian political leadership also played down Lukashenko’s provocative talk of the past days. 

    “Lukashenko continues to sell [Belarus’] sovereignty to Russia. The request to deploy Russian contingent in Belarus under false pretenses is the formalization of occupation,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, tweeted on Monday.

    Ukraine assesses risks and is ready for any threat from the Belarusian territory, he added. “The situation is under control, currently there is no sign of repeated invasion from Belarus.”

    Ukrainian forces have also added context about how much help they think Belarus is really offering Putin.

    Belarus is “involved in the repair” of Russian military equipment damaged during the war in the Ukrainian territory, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said on Wednesday.

    Perhaps more significantly, the general staff added the first batch of 20 T-72 tanks was removed from storage in Belarus and sent to Russia’s Belgorod region, apparently with the aim of beefing up the army’s depleted reserves in eastern Ukraine.

    Meanwhile, the leader of the Belarusian opposition Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who ran against Lukashenko in 2020’s fraudulent presidential election and now lives in exile in Lithuania, urged Kyiv on Tuesday to build a joint “alliance against Russian aggression.”

    So far, the relationship between the Ukrainian authorities and Tikhanovskaya’s team has been limited. Unlike many Western leaders, Zelenskyy, as well as other senior Ukrainian officials, has never officially met Tikhanovskaya, much less recognized her as the legitimate leader of Belarus.

    Kyiv has always tried to distance itself from expressing direct sympathy for Tikhanovskaya, one of Lukashenko’s main political rivals, seeking not to provoke the authoritarian leader, who might then refrain from holding back and join Russia’s ground war in Ukraine.

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    Sergei Kuznetsov

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  • Supreme Court reverses lower court decision which allowed undated mail-in ballots to be counted in Pennsylvania

    Supreme Court reverses lower court decision which allowed undated mail-in ballots to be counted in Pennsylvania

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    Pennsylvania’s top-ranking state elections official said Tuesday a new U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding how rules for the state’s mail-in ballots had been applied in a county judge election doesn’t change her agency’s guidance about counting them.

    Acting Secretary of State Leigh M. Chapman said county elections officials should count mail-in votes that arrive in exterior envelopes with inaccurate or nonexistent handwritten dates, despite a requirement in state law.

    The U.S. Supreme Court earlier Tuesday had declared as moot a decision in May by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that had said mail-in ballots without a required date on the return envelope had to be counted in a 2021 Pennsylvania judge race.

    The justices ruled 7-2 that the 3rd Circuit must “dismiss the case as moot.”

    Chapman issued a statement saying the high court decision did not affect a separate, previous ruling by state Commonwealth Court in favor of counting ballots without properly dated exterior envelopes.

    The new decision, Chapman said, “provides no justification for counties to exclude ballots based on a minor omission, and we expect that counties will continue to comply with their obligation to count all legal votes.” Chapman works in the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat.

    The 3rd Circuit had said state election law’s requirement of a date next to the voter’s signature on the outside of return envelopes was “immaterial.” That lower court had said it found no reason to refuse counting the ballots that were set aside in the Nov. 2, 2021, election for common pleas judge in Lehigh County.

    Those votes were enough to propel the Democrat, Zac Cohen, to victory in the race. He has since been sworn in and the new U.S. Supreme Court decision is not expected to reverse the results of Cohen’s election contest.

    Joshua Voss, a lawyer who represents the losing judicial candidate in the Lehigh County race, Republican David Ritter, said in a phone call Tuesday he believes the effect of the new high court ruling is that state law goes back to where it had been.

    “The Department of State certainly should update their guidance,” Voss said. “But at the end of the day, elections are administered by counties and counties will need to assess what the state of the law was.”

    Adam Bonin, a lawyer for Cohen, said voters should not leave anything to chance.

    “Voters should still be careful to follow all of the instructions,” Bonin said, including the use of a security envelope and signing and dating the exterior return envelope.

    Voss had argued to the Supreme Court that the 3rd Circuit ruling was already being cited in other cases but should be declared moot.

    He said it’s possible that more litigation over the undated envelopes might occur if there is a close race in November and a candidate wants to seek a court review.

    “I don’t know about ‘likely’ because it would require a close race. So, possible? Yes. Likely? I don’t know. Remember, these ballots made the difference in Ritter’s race, which is why the case existed,” Voss said.

    Jason Gottesman, a spokesperson for the state House Republican Caucus, said in a statement that Pennsylvania law “is clear: ballots must be dated,” and urged the Wolf administration to work on comprehensive election law changes that will make the process more uniform, accessible, modern and secure.

    The case involves the law’s requirement for handwritten dates on return envelopes that are also logged in by county election workers and generally have been postmarked.

    Pennsylvania allowed only limited use of absentee mail-in ballots until 2019, when a state law OK’d them for voters who did not otherwise qualify from a list of acceptable excuses.

    A lawsuit by Republican lawmakers challenging the mail-in voting law is pending in state court, while in August the state Supreme Court upheld the law against a separate challenge.

    More than 2.5 million Pennsylvanians voted by mail during 2020′s presidential election, most of them Democrats, out of 6.9 million total votes. Chapman said Tuesday that more than 1.1 million absentee and mail-in ballots have been requested for the fall General Election. 

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  • Judge keeps slain Vegas reporter’s files protected, for now

    Judge keeps slain Vegas reporter’s files protected, for now

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    LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas police, prosecutors and defense attorneys must wait to access a slain investigative journalist’s cellphone and electronic devices, over concerns about revealing the reporter’s confidential sources and notes, a judge said Tuesday.

    Clark County District Court Judge Susan Johnson said the pause will last until all sides craft a way for a neutral party to screen the records.

    The judge granted a Las Vegas Review-Journal request to block immediate review of the records, which are expected to include source names and notes by reporter Jeff German.

    Police and prosecutors say they need access to German’s records for evidence that Robert “Rob” Telles, a former Democratic elected county official, fatally stabbed German on Sept. 2 in response to articles German wrote that were critical of Telles and his managerial conduct.

    The newspaper — with backing from dozens of media organizations including The Associated Press and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press — maintains that confidential information, names and unpublished material are protected from disclosure under state and federal law.

    Telles, 45, the Clark County public administrator, was arrested Sept. 7 and remains jailed without bail on a murder charge. Authorities say surveillance video, Telles’ DNA on German’s body and evidence found at Telles’ home connect him to the killing.

    Johnson acknowledged that because it is rare for U.S. journalists to be killed allegedly because of their work, there was little legal precedent that could be followed to allow investigators to search German’s files.

    German, 69, was widely respected for his tenacity and confidential contacts in 44 years of reporting on organized crime, government corruption, political scandals and mass shootings — first at the Las Vegas Sun and then at the Review-Journal.

    Attorney David Chesnoff, representing the Review-Journal, said the judge needs to balance First Amendment rights of the media with the interests of police and prosecutors. He also acknowledged Telles’ defense team’s constitutional right to access to information about German’s killing, including identities of other people who might have had a motive to attack him.

    “It will have a long-term and chilling effect on sources and journalists receiving information from sources,” Chesnoff said, “if it’s OK to kill a journalist so that then everything that journalist dedicated himself to” can be exposed. “That would be outrageous,” he said.

    The Review-Journal argues that police should never have seized German’s cellphone, computers and hard drive. It cites Nevada’s so-called “news shield law” — among the strictest in the U.S. — along with federal Privacy Protection Act and First Amendment safeguards.

    “We are dealing with something unique,” the judge observed from the bench. “Everybody in this room is probably on his phone as far as a contact, right? I may be in his contact list.”

    Johnson said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department homicide detectives should have access to relevant electronic information. She said German’s files and contact lists could first be reviewed by a three-person team appointed by the court.

    “I’m leaning toward two trusted Metro officers that are higher-ups,” along with a respected former U.S. magistrate judge, Johnson said. She set an Oct. 19 date for ruling and added that she “wouldn’t be horrified” if the seven-member Nevada Supreme Court reviewed her decision to provide guidance about how to proceed.

    Chesnoff, with Ashley Kissinger also representing the Review-Journal and media, said there was no way to know who in Las Vegas police ranks had ties to the slain reporter. Chesnoff urged Johnson to enlist police investigators from outside Las Vegas for the review panel.

    Attorney Matthew Christian, representing the police department, acknowledged the issue might need state high court review.

    But Las Vegas police “have a duty to run down a complete investigation, and the victim’s devices are always part of that,” he said.

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  • Meet the 10 biggest megadonors for the 2022 midterm elections

    Meet the 10 biggest megadonors for the 2022 midterm elections

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    With four weeks until Election Day, congressional candidates are on track to break midterm fundraising records, having raised nearly $2.5 billion so far this cycle. That’s already 70% more than what was raised during the 2014 cycle and just $200 million shy of the total raised during the full 2018 cycle.

    This cycle has also seen record-shattering outside spending, topping $1 billion through the beginning of October, according to an OpenSecrets estimate.

    The increase in spending and fundraising is due in large part to the involvement of millionaire and billionaire megadonors who have sought to influence the outcome of an election in which both chambers of Congress are in play.

    “When megadonors pump millions of dollars into super PACs, they get to help call the shots,” said Michael Beckel, research director at Issue One, a nonpartisan political reform organization. “Massive spending from a megadonor can influence what issues are talked about on the campaign trail and in Congress.”

    Super PACs are independent political action committees that can raise unlimited sums of money but are not allowed to coordinate with a candidate or campaign. Due to contribution limits, such as those restricting individuals’ candidate contributions to $2,900 per election per candidate, most megadonor spending goes to super PACs.

    More context: These are the basics of campaign finance in 2020 — in two handy charts

    A MarketWatch analysis of Federal Election Commission data through the end of September shows that these 10 business moguls and philanthropists are the biggest federal-level donors this cycle.

    Read: These 3 races could determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the Senate in 2023

    And see: If this seat flips red, Republicans will have ‘probably won a relatively comfortable House majority’

    Top federal-level megadonors this cycle
    Rank

    		 Contributor

    		 Total Contributions

    		 For Republicans

    		 For Democrats

    		 Nonpartisan/Bipartisan
    1

    		 George Soros

    		 $128,782,000

    		 $0

    		 $128,782,000

    		 $0
    2

    		 Ken Griffin

    		 $50,955,800

    		 $50,955,800

    		 $0

    		 $0
    3

    		 Richard Uihlein

    		 $49,117,000

    		 $49,117,000

    		 $0

    		 $0
    4

    		 Sam Bankman-Fried

    		 $39,931,000

    		 $201,000

    		 $37,725,000

    		 $2,005,000
    5

    		 Jeff Yass

    		 $32,754,000

    		 $32,754,000

    		 $0

    		 $0
    6

    		 Peter Thiel

    		 $30,189,000

    		 $30,189,000

    		 $0

    		 $0
    7

    		 Fred Eychaner

    		 $22,343,000

    		 $0

    		 $22,343,000

    		 $0
    8

    		 Stephen Schwarzman

    		 $21,870,000

    		 $21,865,000

    		 $0

    		 $5,000
    9

    		 Larry Ellison

    		 $21,003,000

    		 $21,003,000

    		 $0

    		 $0
    10

    		 Ryan Salame

    		 $18,932,000

    		 $17,432,000

    		 $0

    		 $1,500,000
    Totals:

    		 $415,877,000

    		 $223,517,000

    		 $188,850,000

    		 $3,510,000

    Source: MarketWatch analysis of FEC data as of Sept. 30, 2022
    Note: Partisan breakdown includes non-party affiliated PACs with over 95% of their spending benefitting one party, data has been rounded to the nearest thousand

    Big spending by itself doesn’t automatically mean winning. There have been notable instances of the financially strongest candidates losing (such as crypto-backed House candidate Carrick Flynn earlier this year and billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s self-financed presidential bid) — but money can certainly help put a candidate on the right track.

    “Money alone doesn’t guarantee electoral success, but every candidate prefers to be the one with more money to spend,” Beckel said. He added: “Outside spending on behalf of a candidate isn’t a silver bullet that’s going to guarantee electoral success. But it goes a long way to boosting somebody’s name recognition, and to presenting them as a viable candidate — somebody who has the resources to run a competitive campaign.”

    Information about the spending by the top 10 donors this cycle has been compiled from MarketWatch’s analysis of FEC data and filings, super PAC websites and previously reported comments. Read on to find out who are the top 10 biggest donors this cycle.

    10. Ryan Salame — $19 million

    Ryan Salame, the co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, a subsidiary of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, founded a hybrid PAC earlier this year called American Dream Federal Action. The vast majority ($15 million) of the $19 million Salame has spent this cycle has gone into bankrolling the PAC, which has spent $2.4 million in independent expenditures supporting Illinois Republican Rep. Rodney Davis, $2 million supporting Republican Senate candidate Katie Britt from Alabama, and $1.2 million each supporting Arkansas GOP Sen. John Boozman and Brad Finstad, a GOP congressional candidate in Minnesota.

    On its website, the PAC describes itself as “organization dedicated to electing forward-looking candidates — those who want to protect America’s long term economic and national security by advancing smart policy decisions now.” A representative for Salame didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    9. Lawrence Ellison — $21 million

    The co-founder of Oracle
    ORCL,
    +0.26%
    has similarly bankrolled a PAC this election cycle — giving a total $20 million to Opportunity Matters Fund Inc. The super PAC has largely held onto its funds so far, recent FEC records show, having $17 million cash on hand as of the end of August. Of the independent expenditures it has made this cycle, it spent the most on Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker ($1.3 million), Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson ($1.3 million) and North Carolina Senate candidate and current Republican Rep. Ted Budd ($1.1 million). A representative for Ellison didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    8. Stephen Schwarzman — $22 million

    Billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of private-equity giant Blackstone
    BX,
    -2.41%    ,
    is the eighth biggest donor at the federal level this cycle. In March, Schwarzman gave $10 million to both the Senate Leadership Fund and Congressional Leadership Fund, super PACs aimed at obtaining a Republican majority in the Senate and House, respectively. A representative for Schwarzman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    7. Fred Eychaner — $22 million

    Fred Eychaner has also contributed $22 million so far this cycle, but unlike most of the spending on this list, his has been directed toward Democratic causes. The chairman of Chicago-based Newsweb Corporation has given $9 million to the House Majority PAC and $8 million to the Senate Majority PAC, as well as just under $1.5 million to the Democratic National Committee and several hundred thousands to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. A representative for Eychaner didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    6. Peter Thiel — $30 million

    Venture capitalist Peter Thiel was heavily involved in backing Ohio Republican J.D. Vance’s primary bid, giving $15 million in the spring to the Vance-aligned Protect Ohio Values PAC.

    The massive primary investment was “historic” and record-setting, according to Beckel, who added that Thiel’s involvement in the Ohio Senate primary could mark “a new chapter of how mega donors are choosing to play in politics.”

    “I think it’s become clear for a lot of megadonors that there are high stakes to a lot of primaries, and by spending in the primary, where there is typically lower turnout than in say, a statewide general election, they can get a lot of bang for their buck by investing in a primary election,” Beckel added.

    Thiel has indicated that he doesn’t intend to put any more money toward Vance’s bid as he reportedly believes the Ohio candidate is on track to win, and instead will focus his funding on Arizona Republican Blake Masters’ bid to oust Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in the final weeks leading up to the midterm election.

    Thiel, known for his roles in PayPal
    PYPL,
    -1.69%    ,
    Palantir
    PLTR,
    -0.25%
    and Facebook
    META,
    -3.92%    ,
    has also given a total $15 million to the Masters-aligned PAC, Saving Arizona, with his most recent contribution in July. Both Vance and Masters are venture capitalists, but Masters has worked with Thiel. He served as chief operating officer of Thiel Capital and president of the Thiel Foundation, and he co-authored a book on startups with Thiel in 2014. A representative for Thiel didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    5. Jeff Yass — $33 million

    Options trader Jeff Yass, who founded trading firm Susquehanna International Group, has contributed about $33 million on a federal level this cycle. Yass has given $15 million to the School Freedom Fund, or the equivalent of 97% of the PAC’s total fundraising. The group focuses on the issue of school choice, and its website states that some bureaucrats “hindered the development and education of our youth through school closures, mask mandates, critical race theory, and more.”

    Aside from the School Freedom Fund, Yass’ other biggest contributions are to the conservative Club for Action ($6.5 million), Kentucky Freedom ($5 million), Protect Freedom ($2 million) and Crypto Freedom ($1.9 million). A representative for Yass didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    4. Sam Bankman-Fried — $40 million

    Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of FTX, is the main funder behind Protect Our Future PAC, giving it $27 million of the $28 million it raised this cycle. 

    The organization says on its website that it focuses on promoting Democratic candidates championing pandemic preparedness and prevention “so this is the last time in our lifetime, and our children’s lifetimes, that we will face the devastation that has gripped communities across the U.S. since 2020.”

    The group spent more than $10 million supporting Democrat Carrick Flynn’s House bid in Oregon. Flynn lost his primary in May by 18 points despite his massive outside spending advantage. In addition to Flynn, the group has made over $1 million in independent expenditures each supporting Democratic congressional candidates Lucy McBath, a current representative from Georgia; Jasmine Crockett of Texas, Adam Hollier of Michigan, Valerie Foushee of North Carolina and Shontel Brown, a current representative from Ohio.

    Most of the other $10 million Bankman-Fried spent this cycle has gone to the House Majority PAC ($6 million) and the crypto PAC GMI ($2 million).

    While the vast majority of his spending has supported Democratic candidates and causes, Bankman-Fried does not classify himself as an exclusively Democratic donor — for instance he gave $105,000 to the Alabama Conservatives Fund in June and $45,000 to the NRCC in July. 

    He told Politico in August that he is “legitimately worried about doing things that will make people view me as partisan when it’s not how I feel … because I think it both misses what I’m trying to do and makes it harder for me to act constructively.” A representative for the FTX boss didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    3. Richard Uihlein — $49 million

    Richard Uihlein is the founder of the shipping and business supply company Uline, and is a longtime conservative donor. This cycle has seen nearly $50 million in political spending by him, with just over half of it going to Club for Growth Action. Uihlein has also given about $14 million to Restoration PAC, an organization that says it is “dedicated to strengthening the foundations that made America the greatest nation in the world: God, family, education, and community.”

    Uihlein’s next largest contributions are to the conservative Team PAC ($2.5 million) and the Arkansas Patriots Fund ($2.2 million), which earlier this year made ad buys favoring Republican Sen. John Boozman’s primary opponent. A representative for Uihlein didn’t respond to a request for comment.

    2. Ken Griffin — $51 million

    With $51 million in federal-level political spending, Ken Griffin, CEO of hedge fund Citadel, is the second most prolific donor this cycle.

    The biggest beneficiaries are the Republican-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund with $18.5 million in contributions, the Senate Leadership Fund with $10 million and Honor Pennsylvania, a super PAC that backed Republican Dave McCormick’s Senate bid. McCormick lost in the primary to Mehmet Oz by less than a thousand votes. 

    While Griffin spent about $64 million during the last cycle, his $51 million figure this year marks by far the most he has spent during a midterm cycle. During the 2018 cycle, his contributions totaled less than $8 million.

    A spokesperson for Griffin told MarketWatch that Griffin “supports leaders who are committed to protecting the American Dream and pursuing policies that will create a better future for the United States.”

    “The right policies will focus on creating rewarding jobs, prioritizing public safety, and investing in a strong national defense,” his spokesperson said. “Preserving the American Dream will require that every child is well educated, can access great healthcare, and has the opportunity to succeed.”

    1. George Soros — $129 million

    Not one donor comes close to matching the sum that billionaire philanthropist George Soros has contributed this cycle: $129 million. However, much of that money hasn’t actually been put to work this cycle.

    The majority of those on this list have focused their funding on Republican causes, but Soros’ money has gone to Democratic groups — specifically Democracy PAC II, whose $125 million in contributions comprises 99% of its fundraising. The super PAC spent more than $80 million on Democratic groups and candidates during the 2020 election.

    A representative for Soros pointed MarketWatch to a Politico article from January, in which Soros said the $125 million is aimed at supporting pro-democracy “causes and candidates, regardless of political party” who are invested in “strengthening the infrastructure of American democracy: voting rights and civic participation, civil rights and liberties, and the rule of law” and called his contribution a “long-term investment” that will  support political work beyond this year.

    So far this cycle, Democracy PAC has spent very little and holds $113 million in available cash. Contributions the PAC has made this cycle include $5 million to the Senate Majority PAC, $2.5 million to One Georgia and $1 million to both Care in Action and House Majority PAC.

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  • Venezuela, SKorea, Afghanistan lose vote for UN rights body

    Venezuela, SKorea, Afghanistan lose vote for UN rights body

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    UNITED NATIONS — Venezuela, South Korea and Afghanistan lost contested races for seats on the top U.N. human rights body in Tuesday by the General Assembly, which faced criticism for electing countries like Vietnam and Sudan, which have been accused of having abysmal human rights records.

    The 193-member assembly voted by secret ballot to fill 14 seats on the 47-member Human Rights Council. Seats are allocated to regions to ensure geographical representation, a rule that has regularly led to many regions putting forward uncontested slates — as Africa, Eastern Europe and Western nations did this year.

    Human rights groups have long criticized this practice, saying it denies U.N. member nations any choice of countries on the council and virtually guarantees seats for some countries with poor rights records.

    In this year’s election, the most hotly watched race was in the Latin America and Caribbean regional group, where Chile, Costa Rica and Venezuela were vying for two seats. The result saw Chile get 144 votes, Costa Rica 134 and Venezuela 88.

    Venezuela narrowly won a seat on the Human Rights Council in 2019. Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director for Human Rights Watch, welcomed Tuesday’s result, saying the General Assembly “rightly closed the door” on Venezuela’s attempt to remain on the council.

    “U.N. investigators have found evidence that (President Nicolas) Maduro and other officials may have been responsible for crimes against humanity against their own people,” Charbonneau said.

    “A government facing these kinds of allegations has no business sitting on the U.N.’s top rights body. Now U.N. member states should seek ways to hold accountable those Venezuelan officials responsible for grave human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and torture.”

    The other closely watched race was in the Asia-Pacific region, where Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, South Korea and Vietnam contested four seats. Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives and Vietnam were declared the winners.

    Charbonneau said that “electing abusive governments like Vietnam to the council only undermines its credibility.”

    In the uncontested regions, the assembly elected Africa’s slate of Algeria, Morocco, South Africa and Sudan, Eastern Europe’s candidates of Georgia and Romania, and the Western nations’ candidates of Belgium and Germany.

    The 14 newly elected countries will take their seats Jan. 1 and serve until Dec. 31, 2025

    The Human Rights Council was created in 2006 to replace a commission discredited because of some members’ poor rights records. But the new council soon came to face similar criticism, including that rights abusers sought seats to protect themselves and their allies.

    On April 7, the General Assembly approved a U.S.-initiated resolution to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council because of the rights violations it committed in invading and taking control of parts of Ukraine.

    The vote, 93-24 with 58 abstentions, was significantly lower than on two resolutions the assembly adopted in March demanding an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine, withdrawal of all Russian troops and protection for civilians.

    The assembly voted overwhelmingly on May 10 for the Czech Republic to replace Russia on the council.

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  • Malaysia’s Mahathir, 97, to run in general elections

    Malaysia’s Mahathir, 97, to run in general elections

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    PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia — Malaysia’s 97-year-old former leader Mahathir Mohamad announced Tuesday he will defend his seat in the general elections expected next month, though he wouldn’t say whether he would be prime minister a third time if his political alliance wins.

    “We have not decided who will be prime minister because the prime minister candidate is only relevant if we win,” Mahathir told a news conference.

    Though unlikely, he would be the oldest ever candidate for the post, which has a five-year term.

    Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved Parliament on Monday for snap polls, caving in to pressure from his United Malays National Organization party, which is hoping for a big win on its own amid feuds with allies in the ruling coalition. The Election Commission will meet on Oct. 20 to fix a date for the vote, which must be held within 60 days of Parliament’s dissolution.

    Despite his age and a health scare this year, Mahathir said he will defend his parliamentary seat in Langkawi island. He also warned that a win by the ruling UMNO party could see imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak pardoned and let off the hook.

    Mahathir was a UMNO premier for 22 years until his retirement in 2003. Then, in 2016, he was inspired to return to politics by the massive looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund during Najib’s term in office and rode a wave of public anger to lead the opposition to a historic victory in 2018 polls that ousted UMNO, which had ruled since the country’s independence from Britain in 1957.

    Mahathir became the world’s oldest head of government at 93, and oversaw graft charges against Najib and other UMNO leaders. But his reformist alliance collapsed in less than two years due to defections, returning UMNO to power under a new coalition government.

    After his government’s collapse in 2020, Mahathir formed the Pejuang party and a new alliance with several small parties.

    Mahathir, echoing both the opposition and UMNO allies, slammed UMNO on Tuesday for putting its own interest first in rushing elections during the annual monsoon season in November that brings major floods. He said UMNO aims to win big by offering bribes and money to the people.

    He said UMNO’s main objective is to free Najib, who began his 12-year jail term in August after losing his final appeal in a corruption case linked to the 1MDB scandal. Najib also faces several other trials linked to 1MDB that could lengthen his jail term if he is found guilty. UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is also on trial for dozens of graft charges unrelated to the 1MDB case.

    “If they win this election, their first move would be to ask (Malaysia’s king) to pardon Najib. At this moment, they have made a request but has not been pardoned,” Mahathir said. “Should they be able to win and form the government, that is their first objective, not about the welfare of the people.”

    Mahathir said his political alliance hasn’t been approved by the government and that some 120 candidates will run under Pejuang’s banner in Malay-dominated parliamentary seats.

    Analysts said Mahathir’s pull may no longer appeal to ethnic Malay voters who supported him in 2018. UMNO, which had only 36 out of 222 lawmakers in the just-dissolved Parliament, believes many Malays have returned to its fold following its landslide victory in recent byelections.

    The Alliance of Hope, which Mahathir led to victory in 2018 polls, remains the key contender with 90 lawmakers. Its prime minister candidate is Anwar Ibrahim, who was originally due to succeed Mahathir before their government collapsed.

    While Mahathir competes head-on with UMNO and others for votes of Malays, who account for two-thirds of Malaysia’s 33 million people, Anwar’s alliance remains on a multi-racial platform. Ethnic Chinese and Indians form large minorities in the country.

    Anwar said Monday that the election will be a time for the people to vote out traitors who led to the collapse of his alliance government in 2020.

    “Did you think we could reverse 60 years of entrenched corruption and kleptocracy with just one election? Did you think these conniving robbers and thieves would just give up?” Anwar said in a statement. “We don’t give up, either. We don’t give up, ever.”

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  • Harris in late-night TV gig pushes voting, laments no emojis

    Harris in late-night TV gig pushes voting, laments no emojis

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    WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris used her first late-night network TV appearance since becoming vice president to reflect on how her life has changed since she got the job — including a shortage of emojis — and to talk up the need to vote in the midterm elections.

    Harris, appearing early Tuesday on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” in a taped appearance, promoted Biden administration efforts to fight climate change, restore abortion rights and pardon people with federal convictions for marijuana possession as she urged people to “speak with your vote” in the midterms.

    “Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed, right?” she said, adding that governors and states should follow the president’s lead in offering pardons for state convictions.

    Asked by Meyers how life had changed for her since she became vice president, Harris referenced “high-class problems” like security restrictions that alter day-to-day dynamics. She said taking a walk with her husband, Doug Emhoff, is no longer a one-on-one affair and that family chats via group text are “no longer a thing.”

    As for her digital conversations, Harris said: “I have not received directly an emoji in a year and a half.”

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  • CBS News polling shows impact of crime on voters

    CBS News polling shows impact of crime on voters

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    CBS News polling shows impact of crime on voters – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    New CBS News polling dives into how the issue of crime is resonating with voters. CBS News executive director of elections and surveys Anthony Salvanto, CBS News political correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns and CBS News reporter Sarah Ewall-Wice discuss the issue and the latest on important races on “Red and Blue.”

    Be the first to know

    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.


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  • New York Rep. Lee Zeldin says 2 people shot in front of his Long Island home while daughters inside

    New York Rep. Lee Zeldin says 2 people shot in front of his Long Island home while daughters inside

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    New York congressman and Republican candidate for governor Lee Zeldin says his family is safe after two strangers were shot outside his Long Island home on Sunday.

    Zeldin said in a statement that he does not know the identities of the two people who were shot but that they were found under his porch and in the bushes in front of his home in Shirley, New York. The congressman and his wife were not at home at the time of the shooting but their teenage daughters were in the home and heard gunshots and screaming, he said in the statement released by his office.

    Zeldin said his 16-year-old daughters locked themselves in a bathroom and called 911. The family is shaken but OK, he said. Zeldin and his wife were returning from a parade in the Bronx when the shooting occurred.

    He said police officers were at his home investigating Sunday evening and were looking over the home’s security cameras. The two people who were shot were taken to local hospitals, he said.

    “My daughters are shaken, but ok,” he said. “Like so many New Yorkers, crime has literally made its way to our front door. My family is grateful to all who have reached out and we will provide another update when we can.”

    Zeldin planned to hold a news conference outside his home Sunday night.

    The Suffolk County Police Department issued a brief statement saying it was investigating the shooting. Police had no information to release about who fired the shots or who first found the two people shot, a spokeswoman said.

    Zeldin, who is running against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, has made rising crime rates and violent crime a focus of his campaign. He has called for the state’s bail laws to be toughened, among other measures.

    Hochul said she was briefed on the shooting and was “relieved” the Zeldin family was unharmed.

    “I’ve been briefed on the shooting outside of Congressman Zeldin’s home,” she tweeted. “As we await more details, I’m relieved to hear the Zeldin family is safe and grateful for law enforcement’s quick response.”

    It’s the second scare he’s had in several months. In July, he was assaulted while campaigning in upstate New York when a man approached him onstage and thrust a sharp object near his head and neck. He was uninjured and the man was arrested.

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  • NY Rep. Lee Zeldin says 2 people shot in front of his home

    NY Rep. Lee Zeldin says 2 people shot in front of his home

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    NEW YORK — New York congressman and Republican candidate for governor Lee Zeldin says his family is safe after two strangers were shot outside his Long Island home on Sunday.

    Zeldin said in a statement that he does not know the identities of the two people who were shot but that they were found under his porch and in the bushes in front of his home in Shirley, New York. The congressman and his wife were not at home at the time of the shooting but their teenage daughters were in the home and heard gunshots and screaming, he said in the statement released by his office.

    Zeldin said his 16-year-old daughters locked themselves in a bathroom and called 911. The family is shaken but OK, he said. Zeldin and his wife were returning from a parade in the Bronx when the shooting occurred.

    He said police officers were at his home investigating Sunday evening and were looking over the home’s security cameras. The two people who were shot were taken to local hospitals, he said.

    Zeldin planned to hold a news conference outside his home Sunday night to address the shooting.

    The Suffolk County Police Department issued a brief statement saying it was investigating the shooting, which appeared to have no connection to Zeldin’s family. Police had no information to release about who fired the shots or who first found the two people shot, a spokeswoman said.

    Zeldin, who is running against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, has made rising crime rates and violent crime a focus of his campaign. He has called for the state’s bail laws to be toughened, among other measures.

    “Like so many New Yorkers, crime has literally made its way to our front door,” Zeldin said Sunday.

    He said later in a post on Twitter that his daughters were at the kitchen table when the shooting occurred and that one of the bullets was found 30 feet away from them.

    It’s the second scare he’s had in several months. In July, he was assaulted while campaigning in upstate New York when a man approached him onstage and thrust a sharp object near his head and neck. He was uninjured and the man was arrested.

    Hochul said in a statement posted on Twitter that she had been briefed on the shooting.

    “As we await more details, I’m relieved to hear the Zeldin family is safe and grateful for law enforcement’s quick response,” the governor said.

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  • Domestic violence charge casts shadow over judge’s race

    Domestic violence charge casts shadow over judge’s race

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    MUSKEGON, Mich — A Michigan judicial candidate is facing domestic assault charges partly based on video footage suggesting he hit his girlfriend repeatedly with a belt, prompting local domestic violence advocates to actively speak out against his candidacy.

    The candidate’s girlfriend and his attorney deny that he actually struck her.

    According to the Detroit Free Press, Jason Kolkema was arraigned on the misdemeanor charges in mid-September. Kolkema, a 51-year-old attorney running for Muskegon County’s 14th Circuit Court judicial seat, contends he was striking a chair with a belt and not his girlfriend as suggested by the video shot by an office worker in a building neighboring Kolkema’s apartment.

    “I understand that the optics are bad. I understand the anger and disappointment, especially from the people who voted for me and supported me … All of the facts will be revealed in due time,” Kolkema wrote on Facebook in response to a comment.

    Kolkema has declined to comment to the newspaper, instead referring questions to his girlfriend. His attorney, Terry Nolan, told WOOD-TV in September that Kolkema did not strike his girlfriend and said the incident shouldn’t disqualify him from seeking a seat on the bench.

    The woman, who is not identified in the Free Press reporting, told the newspaper she was wearing a headset and that Kolkema struck the chair’s armrest to get her attention. The woman said she took some blame for the incident, writing to the Free Press that “it was rude of me to ignore him.”

    The newspaper found court and police records describing earlier violent confrontations involving Kolkema and his girlfriend.

    One incident came two days before the videotaped belt strikes. According to Ottawa County court records, Kolkema allegedly spit at the woman’s 12-year-old daughter, threw water on them followed by a Gatorade bottle which missed them but hit a lamp.

    Three months earlier, the woman reported to Fruitport police that Kolkema had slapped her. When officers arrived, the girlfriend recanted and Kolkema told police that she “gets like this when she is drunk … and makes things up.”

    The woman told the Free Press that Kolkema has never hurt her or her daughter.

    “He never beat me,” she wrote. “He’s not scary or threatening as a person … Just boisterous, animated.”

    Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson, whose office charged Kolkema with misdemeanor domestic assault in the filmed Aug. 18 incident, said it doesn’t matter if Kolkema actually struck his girlfriend that day.

    “Domestic violence includes violence that can either be physical, or threatened,” he told the newspaper. “Contact is not required.”

    Kolkema’s trial is not scheduled to begin until nearly two weeks after the Nov. 8 election. The footage and subsequent media attention have triggered intense debate in western Michigan.

    “I cannot imagine a victim sitting in front of a ‘Jason Kolkema’ and asking him to protect her from an assailant,” said Muskegon resident Heather Fry, who is a domestic abuse survivor and victim’s advocate.

    Whatever happened, the scene that unfolded on the video shows “a violent act meant to instill fear,” Fry said.

    Supporters on Kolkema’s social media pages have offered support, saying that he deserves the presumption of innocence and that his life should not be destroyed for “one mistake.”

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  • Trump super PAC reserves millions in airtime in key states

    Trump super PAC reserves millions in airtime in key states

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is finally opening his checkbook, reserving millions of dollars in airtime for ads to bolster his endorsed candidates in key midterm races just one month before Election Day.

    Trump’s newly-formed MAGA Inc. super PAC will begin airing ads Saturday in Nevada, Georgia and Arizona, according to Medium Buying, an ad tracking firm. The group is already airing ads in Pennsylvania and Ohio, home to two of the most consequential and competitive Senate races in the country.

    The Georgia spending is particularly notable, coming as Trump’s hand-picked Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s campaign has been rocked by reports alleging he encouraged and paid for an ex-girlfriend’s 2009 abortion. Walker, a longtime football icon, backed a national ban on abortion during his primary, and has said he does not believe in exceptions even in cases of rape, incest or when the health of a pregnant woman is at risk.

    The Trump ad set to air in Georgia, which was shared with The Associated Press, does not include any mention of Walker. Instead it focuses on his rival, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, and tries to cast Warnock and his party as too extreme.

    “From D-Day to drag queen story time, America has lost its way,” its narrator says. “Chaos at the border. Crime in our neighborhoods. A collapsing economy. Biden and Warnock did that,” it claims.

    In total, the super PAC appears to have spent close to $5 million on its initial investment. That includes $954,000 in Georgia, $512,000 in Nevada and $1.16 million in Arizona, according to Medium Buying, in addition to $1.34 million in Ohio and $829,000 in Pennsylvania, according to AdImpact, another ad tracking firm.

    MAGA Inc. spokesman Steven Cheung declined to say how much additional spending Trump had planned beyond the initial reservations. “We’re not going to telegraph our spending but it’s a significant buy,” he said.

    The super PAC’s first wave of ads are all negative spots aimed at turning voters off the Democratic rivals of Trump-endorsed candidates. The first attacked Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman, who is running against Republican nominee Mehmet Oz, by portraying Fetterman as soft on crime.

    “John Fetterman wants ruthless killers, muggers and rapists back on our streets,” it charges, labeling the lieutenant governor “dangerous.”

    The second targeted Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Tim Ryan for voting with his party as a member of Congress, using footage from a speech in which he joked that he would “suck up a little bit” to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, “his future boss.” Ryan, who is running against Trump-endorsed Republican JD Vance, has run as centrist trying to win back the Rust Belt voters who have soured on the party in recent years.

    The ads released so far notably do not feature or even mention Trump, who remains a deeply divisive figure, but one who is extremely popular with the Republican base.

    Trump had been under growing pressure to finally start spending on midterm races after playing an outsize role in the primaries and pushing his favored candidates. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in particular, had urged candidates with Trump’s support to ask him to open his checkbook heading into the race’s final stretch.

    The notoriously thrifty former president’s Save America PAC, his main fundraising vehicle since leaving office, ended August with more than $90 million in the bank. Trump aides have discussed transferring a portion of that money to MAGA Inc., which could later be used to support a presidential campaign should Trump decide to run again, though campaign finance experts are divided on the legality of such a move.

    Trump has continued to tease another presidential run, telling supporters at a rally in Warren, Michigan, last weekend, “We’ll be talking about great things hopefully in the not so distant future.”

    “Oh I think you’re going to be happy,” he went on to say. “But first we have to win a historic victory for the Republican Party this November.”

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  • Johnson, Barnes polished in 1st Wisconsin Senate debate

    Johnson, Barnes polished in 1st Wisconsin Senate debate

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    MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican Sen. Ron Johnson and his Democratic challenger Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes stuck to their scripts — and their time limits — as they met for a debate Friday evening in a hotly contested race that could determine party control of the U.S. Senate.

    In battleground Wisconsin, it was a welcome chance for both candidates to clarify their positions on a variety of issues, and though they disagreed on most subjects, their comments were similar to those they’ve made on the campaign trail. Here are the key takeaways:

    THE ECONOMY

    Inflation is one of the issues most felt by voters this midterm, with noticeable increases in the prices of everyday expenses like groceries, rent and utilities. It’s also among the top issues Wisconsin voters are concerned about, recent polling has shown.

    Johnson was hesitant to commit to supporting increases in the minimum wage, saying he would “possibly consider it.” The incumbent also blamed Democrats for inflation, saying jobs and the economy were better under former President Donald Trump.

    Barnes reiterated his support for a $15 minimum wage as well as an approach to job creation that includes technical and trade education. Johnson questioned several references Barnes made to his working-class background, saying he was unaware of what experience the lieutenant governor has in the private sector other than his parents’ jobs as a schoolteacher and a factory worker.

    ABORTION

    Barnes, who has made support for abortion rights central to his campaign, said he would “absolutely vote to codify Roe v. Wade” into federal law as a senator.

    Johnson again voiced support for a statewide referendum on abortion — an option that seems unlikely after the state Legislature quickly ended a special session called by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers earlier this week to consider allowing ballot measures. Barnes accused Johnson of running from his record of supporting anti-abortion legislation, saying the senator knows a referendum won’t happen.

    A 173-year-old law bans abortions in Wisconsin except to save the life of the mother. Doctors stopped providing abortions after the Supreme Court handed down its decision overturning Roe v. Wade in June. Polling has shown that a majority of people in Wisconsin support abortion rights.

    CRIME

    A flurry of attack ads have from Johnson and other Republicans have branded Barnes as “dangerous” and displayed the lieutenant governor against footage of violent crime. Such ads are a likely reason the lead Barnes held over Johnson in midsummer has since eroded. Barnes supports ending cash bail, but he was clear Friday night that his plan would not allow dangerous offenders out of jail.

    “Senator Johnson may not have encountered a problem he can’t buy his way out of, but that’s not the case for the majority of people in Wisconsin,” said Barnes, sneaking a jab in at the incumbent, who is also a multimillionaire and former businessman.

    Johnson hit back by highlighting Barnes’ statements on police funding and accusing him of inciting riots during protests against racism in 2020. “He says it pains him to see fully funded police budgets,” said Johnson. Barnes doesn’t support defunding the police, but he has expressed support for redirecting police funding towards alternative community safety programs.

    The candidates also addressed gun control. “If gun control were the solution, it would’ve already been solved,” said Johnson, who pinned the blame for gun violence on a lack of social and religious values. Barnes, a Milwaukee native, took the opportunity to decry gun violence and talk about his personal connections to victims.

    CLIMATE CHANGE

    “The climate has always changed, always will change,” said Johnson, denying that climate change is an issue. The senator also said the federal government should worry less about carbon emissions and more about “real pollution” like the state’s ongoing issues with a group of chemicals known as PFAS.

    Barnes accused Johnson of protecting special interests in the fossil fuel industry and referenced his conversations with local farmers. Rural voters are a key group in Wisconsin that Barnes has been struggling to gain the support of.

    When speaking about renewable energy, Johnson said wind and solar energy “make our grid very unreliable” and instead suggested, “If you’re concerned about climate change, you should be supporting nuclear power.”

    JAN. 6 ATTACK

    The incumbent senator has downplayed the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, saying it “didn’t seem like an insurrection to me.” On Friday, Johnson also downplayed his role in attempting to deliver a slate of false electors to former Vice President Mike Pence after the 2020 election.

    “From my standpoint, this is a non-issue,” Johnson said, claiming he had no knowledge of an alternate slate of electors. Both candidates said they believed Pence did the right thing while certifying the results of the 2020 election.

    ____

    Harm Venhuizen is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Venhuizen on Twitter.

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  • GOP steps up crime message in midterm’s final stretch

    GOP steps up crime message in midterm’s final stretch

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    NEW YORK (AP) — The graphic surveillance video shows a man on a sidewalk suddenly punching someone in the head, knocking them to the ground.

    With muted screams and gunshots in the background, the video stitches together other surveillance clips of shootings and punching on streets and subway trains as a voiceover says, “You’re looking at actual violent crimes caught on camera in Kathy Hochul’s New York.”

    That’s not exactly true.

    The ad from Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican challenging New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in next month’s election, included video of an assault in California. Some of the footage depicted crimes that took place before Hochul took office last year. While acknowledging a mistake, Zeldin’s campaign defended the ad and said the message was clear: violent crime is out of control.

    That’s a theme GOP candidates across the U.S. are sounding in the final month of the critical midterm elections. The issue of crime is dominating advertising in some of the most competitive Senate races, including those in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Nevada, along with scores of House and governors campaigns such as the one in New York.

    The rhetoric is sometimes alarmist or of questionable veracity, closely echoing the language of former President Donald Trump, who honed a late-stage argument during the 2020 campaign that Democratic-led cities were out of control. That didn’t help Trump avoid defeat, but experts say Democrats would be wrong to ignore the potency of the attacks.

    “When violence is going up, people are concerned, and that’s when we tend to see it gain some traction as a political issue,” said Lisa L. Miller, professor of political science at Rutgers University, who focuses on crime as a political issue in countries across the world.

    The FBI released annual data this week that found violent crime rates didn’t increase substantially last year, though they remained above pre-pandemic levels. The report presents an incomplete picture, in part because it doesn’t include some of the nation’s largest police departments.

    More broadly, rates of violent crime and killings have increased around the U.S. since the pandemic, in some places spiking after hitting historic lows. Non-violent crime decreased during the pandemic, but the murder rate grew nearly 30% in 2020, rising in cities and rural areas alike, according to an analysis of crime data by The Brennan Center for Justice. The rate of assaults went up 10%, the analysis found.

    The rise defies easy explanation. Experts have pointed to a number of potential causes from worries about the economy and historically high inflation rates to intense stress and the pandemic that has killed more than 1 million people in the U.S.

    There is a history of candidates relying on racist tropes when warning of rising crime rates. During the 1988 presidential campaign, supporters of George H.W. Bush released the so-called Willie Horton ad that has become one of the most prominent examples of race-baiting in politics.

    In this year’s elections, Republicans often blame crime on criminal justice reforms adopted after George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police, including changes to bail laws that critics had long contended disproportionately impacted communities of color, along with accusations that Democrats have not been sufficiently supportive of law enforcement.

    Some GOP candidates are trying to make their case in communities of color. Zeldin, for instance, has delivered his anti-crime message while speaking at buildings and bodegas in diverse New York City neighborhoods.

    In Pennsylvania, the Republican nominee for Senate, heart surgeon-turned-TV talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz, has toured the state holding “safe streets” forums in Black communities.

    Asked by a reporter about his focus on crime, Oz pointed to a conversation he had with Black Republican ward leaders in Philadelphia that turned from economic issues to struggling Black-owned businesses.

    “The African Americans in the group said, ’Well, the deep problem is … people don’t feel safe,” Oz said in an interview.

    Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democratic state lawmaker from Philadelphia, said Oz is using crime victims to get votes but rejects steps like limiting the availability of firearms that would reduce gun violence.

    “Oz does not live in a community that is struggling with this kind of crime and nobody, nobody believes that he actually cares and would actively advance policy solutions that would help deal with this problem,” Kenyatta said.

    Despite the GOP messaging, it’s not clear that crime is a top priority for voters.

    In an AP-NORC poll conducted in June that allowed U.S. adults to name up to five issues they consider most important for the government to be working on in the next year, 11% named crime or violence, unchanged since December and well below the percentage naming many of the other top issues for Americans. A September Fox News poll asking people to name one issue motivating them to vote this year found just 1% named crime, even as most said they were very concerned about crime when asked directly.

    Still, Democrats are responding to Republican efforts to portray them as soft on crime.

    Hochul in recent days announced the endorsement of several law enforcement unions and released her own ad with a public safety message titled, “Focused on it,” to remind voters that she toughened the state’s gun laws.

    During a debate last week in Colorado, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis responded to his Republican opponent Heidi Ganahl, who has repeatedly portrayed him as soft on crime, by suggesting her plan to cut taxes would “defund the police” by cutting prison and police budgets.

    Ganahl denied that, calling herself a “law-and-order girl,” and blamed Polis for rising crime rates.

    In Oregon, the Republican candidate for governor is making crime a top issue in a three-person race, where an independent candidate who is a former Democratic state lawmaker could take enough votes from the Democratic nominee to help the GOP win the top office in a blue state.

    Democrat Tina Kotek has joined her opponents in pledging to increase police funding but has also backed tougher gun laws as part of a plan to tackle crime.

    That approach is one embraced by gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund, which is spending $2.4 million combined on ads in Wisconsin and Georgia to convince voters that Republicans who don’t support tougher gun laws are actually the ones “soft” on crime.

    “We can reset this narrative and neutralize the GOP’s, what I would call, artificial advantage on the issue,” said Charlie Kelly, a senior political advisor to Everytown.

    In some states, candidates are raising alarm about crime rates that remain relatively low or have even fallen.

    Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, said in a recent debate as he runs for reelection that the state’s crime is “going down despite some of the fearmongering you hear.”

    State data shows violent crime rates in Connecticut dropped 9% in 2021 from 2020, which Lamont pointed out in a recent debate with his Republican challenger, Bob Stefanowski, who has made “out of control” crime a central plank of his campaign.

    When asked how he can keep making the argument that crime is on the rise when the numbers tell a different story, Stefanowski said people are afraid of rising crime, but he denied stoking those fears.

    “If we weren’t highlighting this, we wouldn’t be doing our job. I can tell you when we’re out there, people are afraid. I’m not trying to make them afraid,” he said. “They’re coming to me afraid and saying, ‘What are you going to do about it?’”

    ___

    Bedayn reported from Denver, Colorado. Associated Press writers Sara Burnett in Chicago, Gabe Stern in Reno, Nevada, Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

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  • Flynn, Gingrich testimony sought in Georgia election probe

    Flynn, Gingrich testimony sought in Georgia election probe

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    ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 election filed paperwork Friday seeking to compel testimony from a new batch of Trump allies, including former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

    Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed petitions in court seeking to have Gingrich and Flynn, as well as former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann and others, testify next month before a special grand jury that’s been seated to aid her investigation.

    They join a string of other high-profile Trump allies and advisers who have been called to testify in the probe. Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Trump attorney who’s been told he could face criminal charges in the probe, testified in August. Attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro have also appeared before the panel. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s attempt to fight his subpoena is pending in a federal appeals court. And paperwork has been filed seeking testimony from others, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

    Flynn didn’t immediately respond to email and phone messages seeking comment, and his lawyer also didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment. Gingrich referred questions to his attorney, who declined to comment. Herschmann could not immediately be reached.

    Willis has said she plans to take a monthlong break from public activity in the case leading up to the November midterm election, which is one month from Saturday.

    Each of the petitions filed Friday seeks to have the potential witnesses appear in November after the election. But the process for securing testimony from out-of-state witnesses sometimes takes a while, so it appears Willis is putting the wheels in motion for activity to resume after her self-imposed pause.

    Compelling testimony from witnesses who don’t live in Georgia requires Willis to use a process that involves getting judges in the states where they live to order them to appear. The petitions she filed Friday are essentially precursors to subpoenas.

    Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury, signed off on the petitions, certifying that each person whose testimony is sought is a “necessary and material” witness for the investigation.

    The petition for Gingrich’s testimony relies on “information made publicly available” by the U.S. House committee that’s investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

    It says he was involved along with others associated with the Trump campaign in a plan to run television ads that “repeated and relied upon false claims about fraud in the 2020 election” and encouraged members of the public to contact state officials to push them to challenge and overturn the election results based on those claims.

    Gingrich was also involved in a plan to have Republican fake electors sign certificates falsely stating that Trump had won the state and that they were the state’s official electors even though Democrat Joe Biden had won, the petition says.

    The petition seeking Flynn’s testimony says he appeared in an interview on conservative cable news channel Newsmax and said Trump “could take military capabilities” and place them in swing states and “basically re-run an election in each of those states.”

    He also met with Trump, attorney Sidney Powell and others at the White House on Dec. 18, 2020, for a meeting that, according to news reports, “focused on topics including invoking martial law, seizing voting machines, and appointing Powell as special counsel to investigate the 2020 election,” Willis wrote.

    Willis in August filed a petition seeking testimony from Powell.

    Herschmann, who featured prominently in the House committee hearings on the Capitol attack, was a senior adviser to Trump from August 2020 through the end of his term and “was present for multiple meetings between former President Trump and others related to the 2020 election,” Willis wrote in the petition seeking his testimony.

    She wrote that the House committee also revealed that Herschmann had “multiple conversations” with Eastman, Giuliani, Powell “and others known to be associated with the Trump Campaign, related to their efforts to influence the results of the November 2020 elections in Georgia and elsewhere.” Specifically, he had a “heated conversation” with Eastman “concerning efforts in Georgia,” she added.

    Willis also filed petitions Friday to compel testimony from Jim Penrose and Stephen Cliffgard Lee.

    She identified Penrose as “a cyber investigations, operations and forensics consultant” who worked with Powell and others known to be associated with the Trump campaign in late 2020 and early 2021.

    He also communicated with Powell and others regarding an agreement to hire data solutions firm SullivanStrickler to copy data and software from voting system equipment in Coffee County, about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta, as well as in Michigan and Nevada, Willis wrote. Penrose did not immediately respond to an email and phone message seeking comment.

    Willis wrote in a petition seeking Lee’s testimony that he was part of an effort to pressure elections worker Ruby Freeman, who was the subject of false claims about election fraud in Fulton County. He could not immediately be reached for comment.

    Special grand juries are impaneled in Georgia to investigate complex cases with large numbers of witnesses and potential logistical concerns. They can compel evidence and subpoena witnesses for questioning and, unlike regular grand juries, can also subpoena the target of an investigation to appear before it.

    When its investigation is complete, the special grand jury issues a final report and can recommend action. It’s then up to the district attorney to decide whether to ask a regular grand jury for an indictment.

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  • Arizona woman pleads guilty in ballot collection operation

    Arizona woman pleads guilty in ballot collection operation

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    An Arizona woman accused of illegally collecting early ballots in the 2020 primary election pleaded guilty Thursday in an agreement with state prosecutors that saw the more serious forgery and conspiracy charges dismissed and limited any potential for a lengthy prison sentence.

    Guillermina Fuentes, 66, could get probation for running what Arizona attorney general’s office investigators said was a sophisticated operation using her status as a well-known Democratic operative in the border city of San Luis to persuade voters to let her gather and in some cases fill out their ballots.

    Prosecutors were apparently unable to prove the most serious charges, dropping three felony counts alleging that Fuentes filled out one voter’s ballot and forged signatures on some of the four ballots she illegally returned for people who were not family members.

    Republicans who have rallied around the possibility of widespread voting fraud in the 2020 election where former President Trump was defeated have pointed to the charges against Fuentes as part of a broader pattern in battleground states. But there’s no sign her illegal ballot collection went beyond the small-town politics Fuentes was involved in.

    Fuentes and a second woman were indicted in December 2020 on one count of ballot abuse, a practice commonly known as “ballot harvesting” that was made illegal under a 2016 state law. The conspiracy, forgery and an additional ballot abuse charge against Fuentes were added last October.

    Fuentes said little during a change of plea hearing in southwestern Arizona’s Yuma County on Thursday, just acknowledging the judge’s questions with “yes” as he asked whether she had read and understood the plea agreement.

    Fuentes, a former San Luis mayor who serves as an elected board member of the Gadsden Elementary School District in San Luis, could be sentenced to up to two years in prison, but that would require a judge to find aggravating circumstances. The plea agreement leaves the actual sentence up to a judge, who could give her probation, home confinement and a hefty fine for her admission to illegally collecting and returning four voted ballots.

    Sentencing was set for June 30. She will lose her voting rights and must give up elected office.

    Attorney Anne Chapman said in an email Thursday that she had no comment on the charges against her client.

    But she slammed Arizona’s ballot collection law, saying it impedes minority voters who have historically relied on others to help them vote. She said “this prosecution shows that the law is part of ongoing anti-democratic, state-wide, and national voter suppression efforts.”

    Attorney general’s office investigation records obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request show that fewer than a dozen ballots could be linked to Fuentes, not enough to make a difference in all but the tightest local races.

    The office of Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican seeking his party’s U.S. Senate nomination, provided the records after delays of more than 15 months.

    It is the only case ever brought by the attorney general under the 2016 “ballot harvesting” law, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.

    Investigators wrote that it appeared Fuentes used her position as a powerful figure in the heavily Mexican-American community to get people to give her or others their ballots to return to the polls. Fuentes and her co-defendant were seen with several mail-in envelopes outside a cultural center in San Luis on the day of the 2020 primary election, the reports show. The ballots were taken inside and dropped in a ballot box.

    She was videotaped by a write-in candidate who called the Yuma County sheriff. The reports said the video showed her marking at least one ballot, but that charge was among those dropped.

    An investigation was launched that day, and about 50 ballots checked for fingerprints, which were inconclusive. The investigation was taken over by the attorney general’s office within days, with investigators collaborating with sheriff’s deputies to interview voters, Fuentes and others.

    Although Fuentes was charged only with actions that appear on the videotape and involve just a handful of ballots, investigators believe the effort went much farther.

    Attorney general’s office investigator William Kluth wrote in one report that there was some evidence suggesting Fuentes actively canvassed San Luis neighborhoods and collected ballots, in some cases paying for them.

    Collecting ballots in that manner was a common get-out-the-vote tactic used by both political parties before Arizona passed the 2016 law. Paying for ballots has never been legal.

    There’s no sign she or anyone else in Yuma County collected ballots in the general election, but investigators from the attorney general’s office are still active in the community.

    The Arizona Republic reported Tuesday that search warrants were served last month at a nonprofit in San Luis. The group’s executive director is chair of the Yuma County board of supervisors and said the warrant sought the cell phone of a San Luis councilwoman who may have been involved in illegal ballot collection.

    And at a legislative hearing Tuesday where election conspiracy theorists testified, the Yuma primary election case was again a highlight.

    “It’s all about corruption in San Luis and skewing a city council election,” Yuma Republican Rep. Tim Dunn said. “This has been going on for a long time, that you can’t have free and fair elections in south county, for decades. And its spreading across the country.”

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  • Arizona prosecutors want 66-year-old grandmother to go to prison for collecting 4 ballots in 2020

    Arizona prosecutors want 66-year-old grandmother to go to prison for collecting 4 ballots in 2020

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    A parade of character witnesses provided a judge Thursday with glowing reports about a southern Arizona woman who admitted to collecting four early ballots in the 2020 primary election as her lawyer seeks leniency and prosecutors urge him to send her to prison for a year. Testimony in Yuma County Superior Court painted a picture of Guillermina Fuentes as filled with remorse and a pillar of small border community of San Luis.

    The 66-year-old mother and grandmother, witnesses said, has spent her life helping others while raising her children, caring for her aging mother and building a business.

    Prison or jail time, they said, would hurt the community and serve no purpose.

    Fuentes is a school board member and former mayor in San Luis who has pleaded guilty to a felony violation of Arizona’s “ballot harvesting” law, which bars anyone but a person’s relative, housemate or caregiver from returning ballots for them. Her codefendant, Alma Juarez, pleaded guilty to the same charge, but it was designated as a misdemeanor after she agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

    Her agreement calls for a sentence of probation. She carried four ballots Fuentes gave her into a polling place and dropped them off.

    Republicans have seized on the case as a sign of widespread voting fraud, but it is the only “ballot harvesting” case ever prosecuted under Arizona’s 2016 law banning the practice, and fewer than a dozen cases from the 2020 election have been filed in a state where more than 3.1 million votes were cast.

    Guillermina Fuentes is seen in an undated photo released by the Arizona attorney general's office.
    Guillermina Fuentes

    Arizona attorney general’s office via AP


    In states where the practice is legal, volunteers or campaign workers can go directly to the homes of voters, collect the completed ballots, and drop them off en masse at polling places or election offices. In some states, ballot harvesters can be paid hourly for their work collecting ballots.

    Sherri Castillo, a defense mitigation expert who interviewed Fuentes and others in the community, told the court Thursday that her community involvement and volunteer work are hard to adequately describe.

    “She puts me to shame, I can tell you that,” Castillo said. “I’ve never come across someone who gives back more to the community than Ms. Fuentes does.”

    “Ms. Fuentes not being in the community would be a detriment to the community,” she added.

    Others who testified before Judge Roger Nelson included the county probation officer who recommended no jail time in her report, a Yuma County supervisor and former state senator who has known Fuentes for years, and a retired San Luis police officer who has known her since 1971 when both were growing up in the then-tiny border community and serves with her now on a local school board.

    “I think that in our community a lot of us look up to her,” retired police officer Luis Marquez said.

    Assistant Attorney General Todd Lawson is seeking a year in prison for Fuentes, telling Nelson that the case is about the security of elections and the 2016 Arizona law barring “ballot harvesting.” This is the first prosecution under that law, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.

    He said that while Fuentes and Juarez were captured on video by a political rival outside a vote center examining four voted ballots, the question remains what they were doing.

    “The question is, why does (Fuentes) feel the need to exert pressure over people in her community and control the flow of their ballot to the ballot box,” Lawson told the judge. “That’s the issue of public integrity here.”

    Prosecutors alleged in court papers that Fuentes ran a sophisticated operation using her status in Democratic politics in San Luis to persuade voters to let her gather and, in some cases, fill out their ballots. But they dropped more serious charges of conspiracy and forgery and both pleaded guilty to a single count of ballot abuse.

    A defense expert who researched election law cases in Arizona testified that no one with a clean record has ever been sentenced to jail or prison in the past 20 years. Anne Chapman, Fuentes’ lawyer, told Nelson that doing so would be a miscarriage of justice.

    “She entered a plea of guilty to ballot abuse — that is, delivering four lawfully voted, signature-verified ballots,” Chapman said. “The rest of the allegations against Ms. Fuentes are untrue, unfounded, untested and largely made-up by election-denying political opponents who have a political ax to grind.”

    Nelson’s court assistant previously told attorneys in the case in an email that he intends “to give them 30 days in jail.” He set sentencing for both women for next week.

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  • Citadel’s billionaire CEO Ken Griffin becomes GOP $100 million midterm megadonor

    Citadel’s billionaire CEO Ken Griffin becomes GOP $100 million midterm megadonor

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    Ken Griffin, Citadel at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha, Sept. 28, 2022.

    Scott Mlyn | CNBC

    Citadel’s billionaire CEO, Ken Griffin, is one of Wall Street’s biggest political donors in the 2022 midterms, giving more than $100 million toward state and federal candidates across the country since April 2021, campaign finance records show.

    The $50 million Griffin has donated to Republicans running in federal races alone make him the party’s single biggest individual donor from the finance industry and the third-biggest political donor to federal candidates in this election cycle, according to data tracked by campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets.

    Only Soros Fund Management founder George Soros and shipping magnate Richard Uihlein have given more to candidates running for the U.S. House or Senate. Soros has donated over $128 million to Democrats while Uihlein has given $53 million to Republicans, according to OpenSecrets.

    Griffin, however, has spent another $50 million during this election cycle — which runs from Jan. 1, 2021 through the end of this year — on the failed Illinois gubernatorial campaign of Aurora, Ill., Mayor Richard Irvin, who lost in the Republican primary, according to state campaign finance records.

    Citadel announced plans this summer to move its headquarters from Chicago to Miami, as the Windy City struggles to stop a rise in crime. Griffin has previously said part of his feud with Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker is over the Democratic leader’s record on crime. Griffin said at a DealBook conference last year that when he brought up the crime issue to Pritzker, “he took the moment to call me a liar.”

    Zia Ahmed, a spokesman for Griffin, told CNBC in a statement that the Citadel CEO is aiming to “broaden the tent of the Republican Party.”

    “Ken wants to elevate talented candidates and broaden the tent of the Republican Party to make it more representative of our country,” Ahmed said. “He supports leaders who will focus on education, job creation, public safety and a strong national defense so that every individual has access to the American dream.”

    Democratic political operatives have taken aim at Griffin, especially as he’s tried to make an impact on elections.

    The Democratic Governors Association, an outside group that backs Democrats, organized opposition research on Griffin as he was deciding who to support in the Illinois Republican primary for governor. The research, which was reviewed by CNBC, is titled “Ken Griffin Has Been Playing Kingmaker In IL Politics With No Consequences.” It’s a compilation of public documents and reporting that included a focus on Griffin’s divorces. Pritzker, who has an estimated net worth of $3.6 billion, donated $24 million to the group as Griffin moved to back Irvin, according to records filed to the IRS.

    In a statement to CNBC, the Democratic governors’ group compared Griffin’s contributions to those of Charles Koch and his brother, the late David Koch. They said that Griffin deserves scrutiny due to him becoming a major donor for Republicans.

    “Much like when the Koch Brothers were the Republican Party’s number one donor it was important for the public to understand how they were trying to use their money to further their own special interests,” a Democratic Governors Association spokesperson said after being asked about the opposition research. “Ken Griffin is now the largest donor in the GOP and deserves the same kind of scrutiny.”

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other GOP leaders have privately courted Griffin as one of their most important and lucrative donors this cycle, as Republicans try to take back both the U.S. House and Senate, according to people familiar with the conversations.

    Democrats control the House and Senate, but by slim margins. The Senate is split 50-50 with Democrats relying on Vice President Kamala Harris to break any ties. Cook Political Report labels Senate seats held by Sens. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., as toss-ups. In the House, Democrats have a nine-seat majority. But the Cook report projects that 30 of the chamber’s 435 seats are up for grabs.

    Data from AdImpact shows the general election fight for control of the Senate has cost over $1 billion with almost 30 days left to go until Election Day. In total, federal candidates and PACs have spent in excess of $6.4 billion on the 2022 midterms, putting them on track to be the most expensive ever.

    Republican leaders are turning to Griffin to take the lead after two of the GOP party’s most influential donors have died: former executive vice president of Koch Industries David Koch at 79 in August 2019 and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson at 87 in January 2021.

    CEO and chairman of casino company Las Vegas Sands Sheldon Adelson (L) listens as US President Donald Trump delivers remarks at a Keep America Great rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 21, 2020.

    Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

    “He likes being a player” in politics, a Koch political advisor told CNBC when asked about Griffin’s efforts to sway the midterms. Griffin said in a 2012 interview with the Chicago Tribune that he knew David Koch and his brother Charles for “a number of years” and regularly went to the Koch network seminars, where business leaders would huddle with the group’s donors.

    The Koch’s policy network has spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade on campaigns.

    David Koch

    Carlo Allegri | Reuters

    Griffin, 53, has “youth on his side and probably $35 billion,” the Koch advisor said. “He could step up but those are big shoes to fill.” Forbes estimates Griffin has a net worth of $30.5 billion.

    Among Wall Street executives, the next biggest GOP donors include Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman with $20 million in contributions and Paul Singer, the founder of Elliott Management, who’s donated $14 million during this election cycle. Jeffrey Yass, the co-founder of Philadelphia based trading firm Susquehanna International Group, has contributed over $30 million.

    McConnell and party officials this summer were expecting Griffin to cut a multimillion-dollar check to the Senate Leadership Fund, according to those familiar with McConnell’s thinking. Though McConnell doesn’t run the super PAC, which is dedicated to helping Republicans get elected to the Senate, it’s closely aligned with the senator and run by his former chief of staff, Steven Law.

    Griffin donated $10 million to the PAC in two evenly split checks sent in December and March, Federal Election Commission filings show. Griffin cut another check to the PAC in the third quarter, according to a person close to the billionaire, but they wouldn’t say how much and the PAC doesn’t need to disclose its most recent fundraising records to the FEC until Oct. 15.

    Griffin also recently donated to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC backing House Republican candidates, that person said, declining to say how much. FEC records show Griffin donated over $18 million to that group from Jan. 1, 2021 through June.

    A representative for McConnell did not return a request for comment.

    Griffin gave $5 million last year to a separate political action committee backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2022 reelection bid and an additional $5 million to the Republican Party of Florida in August, according to state campaign finance records.

    During CNBC’s Delivering Alpha Conference, Griffin indicated that he’s become so close to DeSantis that his team told the governor that Griffin didn’t agree with DeSantis’ decision to fly two planes of Central and South American migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.

    “I don’t agree with what he did,” Griffin said when asked at the conference about DeSantis shipping migrants to Florida. “I’m certain that my team’s communicated that to him,” he added. He also said he was open to becoming Treasury secretary if the country was experiencing an economic crisis. DeSantis hasn’t ruled out running for president in the upcoming 2024 election.

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  • Polling software CEO given bond, deadline to surrender in LA

    Polling software CEO given bond, deadline to surrender in LA

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    The founder and CEO of a Michigan software company targeted by election deniers accused of stealing data on hundreds of Los Angeles County poll workers has been ordered to report to California authorities by the end of next week.

    Konnech Corp,s Eugene Yu, 51, was arrested in Meridian Township in Michigan on Tuesday and a 55th District Court official initially ordered him to remain in jail until an extradition hearing. Judge Donald Allen on Thursday granted Yu’s request for a $1 million bond but ordered him to wear a GPS tether, give his passport to Michigan authorities and surrender to Los Angeles authorities by Oct. 14.

    The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday that Yu was being held on suspicion of theft of personal identifying information, while computer hard drives and other “digital evidence” were seized by the DA’s investigators.

    Konnech is a small company based in East Lansing, Michigan. In 2020, it won a five-year, $2.9 million contract with LA County for software to track election worker schedules, training, payroll and communications, according to the county registrar-recorder/county clerk, Dean C. Logan.

    Konnech was required to keep the data in the United States and only provide access to citizens and permanent residents but instead stored it on servers in the People’s Republic of China, the Los Angeles DA’s office said.

    The DA’s office didn’t specify what information allegedly was taken. But officials said it only involved poll workers, not voting machines or vote counts and didn’t alter election results.

    Konnech in a statement issued Tuesday said “any LA County poll worker data that Konnech may have possessed was provided to it by LA County, and therefore could not have been ‘stolen’ as suggested.” The statement also called Yu’s arrest “wrongful detention.”

    Mark Kriger, the attorney who represented Yu in court in Michigan on Thursday, said Konnech’s director of information technology has consistently said the company never stored data outside the U.S.

    The New York Times reported Monday that Konnech and Yu, who was born in China, became the target of claims by election conspiracy theorists that the company had secret ties to the Chinese Communist Party and had supplied information on 2 million poll workers.

    There wasn’t any evidence to support those claims, but Yu received threats and went into hiding, the paper said.

    Konnech has contracts with Allen County, Indiana, and DeKalb County in Georgia, the Times said.

    Kriger said Thursday that its clients also include St. Louis County and California’s Alameda County and San Francisco County. Konnech’s website said the company has 32 clients in North America.

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  • 2nd man convicted in Whitmer plot gets 4 years in prison

    2nd man convicted in Whitmer plot gets 4 years in prison

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    A man who pleaded guilty to conspiring to kidnap Michigan’s governor in 2020 was granted a major break Thursday and sentenced to four years in prison.

    Kaleb Franks was rewarded for testifying for prosecutors at two trials. His sentence was longer than the term given to another man who was the first to plead guilty but it still carried a significant benefit.

    Franks “made the right decision and came clean. That’s encouraging,” U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said.

    Franks was among six anti-government extremists who were charged in federal court with conspiracy and other crimes. Investigators said the group’s goal was to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and incite a U.S. civil war — the “boogaloo” — before the 2020 presidential election.

    “I would like to start by saying I’m sorry to the governor and her family,” Franks said in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

    “I understand that this experience had to have been very traumatizing and difficult,” he said. “I’m ashamed and embarrassed of my actions, and I regret every decision that I made.”

    The group considered Whitmer, a Democrat, and other elected officials to be tyrants who were infringing on constitutional rights, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when businesses were shut down, people were told to stay home and schools were closed.

    Franks, 28, participated in a key step in the conspiracy: a ride on a rainy night to scout Whitmer’s vacation home in northern Michigan. She was not there at the time.

    He testified that he had hoped to be killed by police if a kidnapping could be pulled off at some point. The FBI, however, had undercover agents and informants inside the group.

    “I was going to be an operator,” Franks said last spring. “I would be one of the people on the front line, so to speak, using my gun.”

    Prosecutors said Franks’ cooperation was important because it backed up critical testimony from Ty Garbin, who pleaded guilty a year earlier and was sentenced to just 2 1/2 years in prison.

    “It really was invaluable to have the testimony of an insider,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler told the judge, referring to Franks.

    When the hearing began, his sentencing guidelines suggested a minimum prison term of 12 years. But Jonker reduced the range at the government’s request and settled on a much lower figure. Franks will get credit for two years in custody.

    An email seeking comment was sent to Whitmer’s staff. In August, after the convictions of ringleaders Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., she said the plot was a “disturbing extension of radicalized domestic terrorism.” Two other men, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, were acquitted in April.

    “They didn’t just want to kidnap her,” Kessler said in court Thursday. “The plot that Mr. Fox and Mr. Croft really wanted to do was to put (Whitmer) on trial, kill her and begin a second civil war. What’s really frightening about that is just how prevalent those kind of views have become.”

    Meanwhile, 120 miles (190 kilometers) away in Jackson, Michigan, a jury heard a second day of testimony in the trial of three members of a paramilitary group who were also arrested in 2020. Joe Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar are not charged with directly participating in the plot but are accused of assisting Fox and others.

    ___

    White reported from Detroit.

    ___

    Follow Ed White at http://twitter.com/edwritez

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