Category Archives: US elections 2020

Former US town clerk and her lawyer charged for allegedly accessing 2020 voter data in hunt for fraud

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Stephanie Scott and Stefanie Lambert charged for promoting ‘baseless conspiracies’ and showing ‘disregard for voter privacy’

Michigan’s attorney general announced charges against a former township clerk and a lawyer who had supported attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, alleging they accessed voting systems without authorization in a search of fraud.

Stephanie Scott and her attorney, Stefanie Lambert, were charged on Wednesday with multiple felonies, including unauthorized access to a computer and using a computer to commit a crime.

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Liz Cheney: controversial NBC hire Ronna McDaniel enabled Trump ‘depravity’

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McDaniel ‘facilitated Trump’s corrupt fake elector plot’, says ex-congresswoman as NBC hosts and union group protest

The Republican National Committee chair turned NBC politics analyst Ronna McDaniel “enabled criminality and depravity” in her support for Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, the former congresswoman Liz Cheney said as controversy swirled over McDaniel’s media role.

“Ronna facilitated Trump’s corrupt fake elector plot and his effort to pressure Michigan officials not to certify the legitimate election outcome,” Cheney, a Republican who was vice-chair of the House January 6 committee, wrote on social media.

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Texts reveal Trump co-defendant Chesebro’s role in ‘fake electors’ plot

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Scheme was critical part of anti-democratic effort to overturn 2020 election and is now at center of two criminal cases against Trump

Kenneth Chesebro was eager to help.

It was five days after the 2020 presidential election and Joe Biden was projected to defeat Donald Trump and win Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes. Trump’s campaign was requesting a recount. Chesebro, a little-known Harvard-educated lawyer, believed there were abnormalities in the election and emailed Jim Troupis, a friend and former Wisconsin judge, to offer to help with any of the campaign’s legal efforts.

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Six out of 10 South Carolina Republican primary voters think Biden wasn’t legitimately elected

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Exit polls show election denialism has become mainstream among Republicans despite studies finding no widespread fraud in 2020

More than 60% of South Carolina Republican primary voters said they don’t believe Joe Biden was legitimately elected, according to exit polls, the latest data point that underscores how election denialism has become a mainstream belief in the Republican party.

Eighty-seven percent of those who don’t believe the US president was legitimately elected supported Donald Trump, according to a CNN exit poll of South Carolina primary voters. Just 12% supported Nikki Haley. Among those who believe Biden legitimately won in 2020, the results were nearly flipped 81% supported Haley, while 19% supported the former president.

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‘I’m not on trial’: Fani Willis denies wrongdoing over relationship with Trump prosecutor

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Fulton county DA rejects accusations that relationship with Nathan Wade should lead to disqualification from election case

Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney, vehemently denied wrongdoing while testifying at a court hearing on Thursday as she rebutted accusations that her romantic relationship with a deputy prosecutor on the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump meant she should be disqualified from the case.

The district attorney testified that her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade started months after he was retained to work on the case, charging Trump over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the state, and ended in summer 2023.

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Trump seeks to disqualify Fani Willis from prosecuting him in Georgia

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Motion comes after Fulton county district attorney made remarks decrying allegations of affair with one of her deputies

Donald Trump accused on Thursday the Fulton county district attorney of inflaming racial animus to distract from allegations relating to an an affair with one of her deputies, as he joined a motion seeking to disqualify her from prosecuting him for 2020 election interference in Georgia.

The filing, submitted to Fulton county superior judge Scott McAfee, adopted and added to an earlier motion to have the district attorney Fani Willis and her entire office thrown off bringing the case.

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Judge hints that Trump’s election interference trial might be delayed

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The case was automatically frozen after the ex-president appealed judge’s decision to reject his motion to toss criminal charges

The federal judge overseeing the criminal case against Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results indicated on Thursday that the scheduled trial date would not hold as a result of the case being frozen while the former US president appeals to have the charges dismissed.

The US district judge Tanya Chutkan last summer scheduled the trial in Washington DC to start on 4 March – allowing Trump and his team seven months to prepare his defense – and has taken pains to ensure that date would not be delayed.

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Federal court to decide if Trump can be prosecuted for efforts to overturn 2020 election

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Former president expected to attend Friday hearing on whether his efforts can be criminally prosecuted on federal charges

A federal appeals court is expected to consider Friday morning whether Donald Trump can be criminally prosecuted on federal charges over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election because it involved actions related to his office that he undertook while still president.

The decision that the appeals court in Washington reaches after the hearing – which the former president said on his Truth Social platform he will attend – and how long it takes to issue a ruling, could carry profound consequences for the scheduled March trial.

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Trump avoids mention of US Capitol attack on 6 January anniversary

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Three years after insurrection, Trump was in Newton, Iowa, currying support before the 15 January Republican caucus

Donald Trump largely ducked speaking about the January 6 attack on the US Capitol during a campaign speech Saturday, which he delivered on the third anniversary of the insurrection, reflecting the degree to which Republican voters have absolved the former president of responsibility for that day’s deadly consequences.

Trump’s remarks came a day after Joe Biden appeared in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and spoke about how his presidential predecessor had urged his supporters to “fight like hell” shortly before they staged the Capitol attack.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting

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Trump asks appeals court to throw out 2020 election subversion charges

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Lawyers argue Trump cannot be prosecuted for actions taken while serving as president in latest battle with special counsel

Donald Trump has asked an appeals court in Washington DC to throw out charges that he sought to subvert the 2020 election, in the latest of a series of high-stakes legal maneuvers between the former president’s lawyers and the US department of justice.

In a filing late on Saturday lawyers for Trump argued to the DC circuit court of appeals that he is legally cloaked from liability for actions he took while serving as president.

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Trump pressured Michigan election officers not to certify 2020 vote – report

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Recording shows Trump asked canvassers not to sign official document confirming Biden had won, Detroit News says

Donald Trump made a phone call in November 2020 in which he put pressure on two Republican election officers in Michigan not to sign the official document from the state confirming that Joe Biden had won the presidential election there, according to an exclusive report by The Detroit News late on Thursday.

The Detroit News outlet has obtained recordings of the call, made on 17 November 2020, where Trump, who was refusing to accept that he had just lost the White House to Joe Biden, and Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel talked to Wayne county election officials Monica Palmer and William Hartmann and told them they would look “terrible” if they signed to endorse Trump’s defeat in the crucial swing state, according to the report.

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Trump lawyers urge supreme court to reject fast-tracking immunity decision

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Federal 2020 election interference trial is currently set for 4 March, the day before Super Tuesday

Lawyers for Donald Trump on Wednesday urged the US supreme court to reject a request from the special counsel to expeditiously decide whether he was immune from prosecution over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, contending prosecutors lacked standing to bring the petition.

The argument from the ex-president was that prosecutors had no basis to appeal a lower court ruling that was favorable to them, and should instead defer intervening in the case until a federal appeals court issued its own judgment first.

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Rudy Giuliani dismisses $148m damages verdict as ‘absurd’ as former election workers praise decision – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. You can read the latest report here:

Moss went on to thank the court and jury for listening to her and her mother’s experience in the aftermath of Giuliani’s defamatory statements.

Her voice broke slightly when she added: “I know I won’t be able to retire from my job with the county like my grandma did, but I hope having taken these very big steps towards justice, I can make her proud.”

The lies Rudy Giuliani told about me and my mommy after the 2020 presidential election have changed our lives and the past few years has been devastating.

The flame that Giuliani lit with those lies and passed to so many others to keep that flame blazing changed every aspect of our lives – our homes, our family, our work, our sense of safety, our mental health. And we’re still working to rebuild.

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Multimillion-dollar ruling against Giuliani shows cost of spreading election lies

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As the 2024 election approaches, the $148m judgment against a key Trump ally sends a message that falsehoods have consequences

The judge had already decided Rudy Giuliani defamed the two former Georgia election workers, the question was just how much that cycle of lies and ensuing harassment should cost him.

A jury declared on Friday that it was worth an eye-popping $148m, far beyond expectations and a major blow to the former New York mayor and key Donald Trump ally.

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Rudy Giuliani ordered to pay $148.1m in damages for lies about election workers

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Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, from Atlanta, received threats after Trump ally falsely accused them of trying to steal election

A Washington DC jury has ordered Rudy Giuliani to pay $148.1m to two Atlanta election workers after he spread lies about them, one of the most significant verdicts to date seeking accountability for those who attempted to overturn the 2020 election.

The verdict follows a four-day trial in which Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, her daughter, gave haunting details about the harassment and threats they faced after Giuliani falsely accused them of trying to steal the election in Georgia. The women, who are Black, described how they fled, are afraid to give their names in public, and still suffer severe emotional distress today. Their lawyers asked the jury to award them each at least $24m in damages. Giuliani’s attorney said earlier this week that awarding the plaintiffs their sought damages would be a “death penalty” and would be "the end of Mr Giuliani”.

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‘I was terrorized’: 2020 election worker testifies at Giuliani defamation trial

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Ruby Freeman’s testimony is at center of trial to determine how much in damages Giuliani will have to pay to her and her daughter

Ruby Freeman sobbed on the witness stand. The former election worker said she is afraid to tell anyone her name, has been driven from her home and was terrorized with threatening phone calls and letters after Rudy Giuliani, a key Trump ally and the former New York mayor, spread lies about her in 2020.

Freeman began her testimony in federal court on Wednesday by introducing herself to the jury as “Lady Ruby”, saying the name was “special, unique and classy”. But, she says, she’s stopped using the name because she fears what would happen if someone were to recognize her. When she goes out, she wears sunglasses and a mask.

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Giuliani caused ‘perpetual nightmare’ for 2020 election workers, jury told

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Georgians are seeking $15.5m-$43m in damages from former New York City mayor for his false statements about ballot counts

Rudy Giuliani “disgraced” the names of two Atlanta election workers as part of a call to action, causing them to suffer a “perpetual nightmare” since December 2020, attorneys representing the two women said during opening statements in a closely watched defamation trial.

“It was vicious,” Von DuBose, a lawyer representing Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, two Black election workers from Georgia, told an eight-person jury seated on Monday. “He used their names as a cornerstone of a call to action.”

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Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer tells court awarding millions of dollars in damages would be like ‘death penalty’ for his client – as it happened

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Plaintiff are seeking up to $43m in damages in defamation case and Giuliani’s lawyer tells court it would ‘be the end’ of him if he loses

Here is footage of Giuliani arriving for the defamation trial this morning:

The Department of Justice announced today that a 30-year-old New Hampshire man was arrested after threatening to kill attendees at a campaign event for Vivek Ramaswamy.

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Blow to Trump as court upholds most of gag order in election interference case

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Federal appeals court rules Trump free to speak about special counsel Jack Smith but maintains other restrictions

Donald Trump may now assail the special counsel who brought the federal criminal case against him over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, in addition to being free to criticize the judge, the justice department, the Biden administration and the case as politically motivated.

The former president remains barred, however, from attacking potential trial witnesses, court staff or the special counsel’s staff, as well as the family members of any court staff or the special counsel’s staff.

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Georgia prosecutors predict jail sentences in Trump 2020 election case

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Exclusive: Fulton county prosecutors say in emails their legal careers will continue long after defendants go to jail

Fulton county prosecutors have signaled they want prison sentences in the Georgia criminal case against Donald Trump and his top allies for allegedly violating the racketeering statute as part of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to exchanges in private emails.

“We have a long road ahead,” the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, wrote in one email. “Long after these folks are in jail, we will still be practicing law.”

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