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politics·Politicsbypgm_01

[News]Rudy Giuliani may have assigned volunteer to Arizona 'audit', new emails show

Newly released emails from the Ariz. Senate show a Republican volunteer telling 'audit' leaders that Giuliani's office had contacted her about effort.
Selected excerpts below:


Phoenix Republican Linda Brickman wrote Senate "audit" leaders on April 11, 2021, and told them Giuliani's office called her and asked for her help on the recount.


"I was just asked to help on the AZ Audit starting on April 22nd for 15 days," Brickman said in her email. "This is all under the authorization of Christina Bobb, who works with Rudy."

Bobb, who serves as one of Trump's lawyer, reported on the "audit" while working for the far-right One America News Network. She also acted as a go-between for Trump and Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan, the lead contractor on the ballot review.

The email is the latest evidence of Trump's long reach into the ballot review and demonstrates how his allies instigated the deeply flawed recount of 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County and later used it to promote unproven claims of election fraud to a national audience.


Brickman's email stating Giuliani's office and Bobb authorized her work on the audit seemed to catch other officials off guard.

"Having just received a call from Rudy Giuliani's office a few moments ago, I thought I would quickly fill you in," Brickman wrote.

Officials with the ballot review pushed back and advised her only the Senate liaison could schedule volunteers: "If your information or invitation doesn't come from Ken Bennett or Julie Fisher to be an volunteer observer, please disregard it," they wrote from the Senate's "audit" email account.

It appears the response did not affect her participation in the "audit." On her LinkedIn page, she prominently notes her role "as a member of the AZ Audit team as an Observer to help secure Election Integrity in our State."

Brickman is a Republican activist who joined the Arizona Tea Party Patriots Association in 2011, worked on Ted Cruz's presidential campaign and served as an Arizona delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention in 2016.


Bobb is a former U.S. Marine who worked for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the Trump administration. She is best known as the former host of "Weekly Briefing" on One America News Network, which she joined in 2020.

Bobb became a central figure in the classified documents investigation and the federal indictment of Trump. When federal agents descended on Mar-a-Lago in an Aug. 8 search, Bobb confronted them as a senior lawyer on Trump's legal team. Bobb in 2022 had signed a document affirming that all classified material in the former president's possession was returned to federal authorities.

[News]Rudy Giuliani may have assigned volunteer to Arizona 'audit', new emails showhttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/08/01/trump-lawyer-role-in-arizona-audit/70502335007/Open linkView original on kbin.social
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politics·Politicsbypgm_01

Trump Says He’s a Target in Special Counsel’s Capitol Attack Investigation

It would be the second time the special counsel has notified the former president that he is likely to face indictment, this time in connection with the criminal investigation into the events leading up to the storming of the Capitol.

The letter is a sign that he is likely to be indicted in the case.
Former President Donald J. Trump said on Tuesday that he had received a so-called target letter from the special counsel Jack Smith in connection with the criminal investigation into his efforts to hold onto power after he lost the 2020 election, a sign that he is likely to be indicted in the case.

It would be the second time Mr. Smith has notified Mr. Trump that he is a target in a federal investigation. The first, in June, was in connection to the inquiry into Mr. Trump’s handling of national defense material after he left office and his alleged obstruction of efforts to retrieve it. Mr. Trump was charged with 37 criminal counts covering seven different violations of federal law, alone or in conjunction with one his personal aides.

“Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment,” Mr. Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, after a news inquiry into whether he had been told he is a target.

Two people close to Mr. Trump confirmed that he had received the letter. The former president is expected to decline the invitation to appear before the grand jury.

It is not clear what aspect of Mr. Smith’s investigation into the efforts to obstruct the transfer of power that Mr. Trump’s possible indictment may be related to. The investigation has examined an array of schemes that Mr. Trump and his allies had used to try to stave off defeat, and at least two grand juries have been hearing matters related to his efforts to stay in power.

Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, appeared before one of the grand juries in June, according to people familiar with his appearance. Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, had a recent interview with prosecutors.

Prosecutors have been asking witnesses about the former president’s state of mind, as well as efforts to fund-raise off his false claims of widespread voter fraud and whether he knew he had lost. They have also been scrutinizing efforts to put together slates of so-called fake electors to cast ballots in support of Mr. Trump when the electoral college tallies were certified.

Mr. Trump spent weeks after the 2020 election publicly insisting that he had won and looking for ways to remain in power, at one point considering whether to use the apparatus of government to seize voting machines.

Ultimately, he encouraged a crowd at a rally near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, to march to the Capitol as Joseph R. Biden’s electoral victory was being certified. Members of the mob stormed the building, some chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” and others hunting for Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Trump Says He’s a Target in Special Counsel’s Capitol Attack Investigationhttps://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/07/18/us/trump-jan-6-letterOpen linkView original on kbin.social
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