Tom Dreisbach
@TomDreisbach
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NPR Investigative Correspondent | Email: tdreisbach @npr .org or tomdreisbach @protonmail .com | Signal: TDreisbach.01
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Last Seen Profiles
Pinned Tweet
NEW:
When a
#MeToo
allegation landed at the center of Eric Garcetti’s political world, did he lie to save his career?
We have a two-part investigation with never-before-seen deposition tapes, internal emails, and documents.
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When an armed man tried to breach an FBI field office in Cincinnati, the Gab user "BlankFocus" posted, "The war is FINALLY underway."
"Kill their families and slaughter their children," he posted.
The FBI alleges the man behind those posts is Adam Bies, and just arrested him.
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New investigation:
Dozens of federal judges attended week-long seminars at luxury retreats - receiving free rooms, free meals and free money for travel worth thousands - and failed to fully disclose as required.
The judges with disclosure issues included some big names.
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Steve Bannon is currently hosting his show and talking about latino support for Trump.
Meanwhile, the television behind him features a chyron from MSNBC:"BANNON INDICTED..."
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At the purported “White Lives Matter” rally in Huntington Beach, counter-protesters have far, far outnumbered any “white lives matter” demonstrators.
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Good morning from beautiful downtown L.A., where attorney John Eastman is fighting to keep his law license.
I’m at the State Bar Court, where Eastman’s disciplinary trial kicks off today.
Eastman is on the witness list today, but we’ll see what happens.
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The publisher of
@DineshDSouza
's election conspiracy theory film and book "2,000 Mules" has issued an apology to a Georgia voter accused in the film of illegal voting in the 2020 election.
"There will be no future distribution of the film or the book by Salem."
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WATCH:
For years, Mitch McConnell has opposed nearly all campaign finance regulations on 1st Amendment grounds.
But in a speech from 1987, McConnell called for a constitutional amendment, because spending by ultra-wealthy candidates "distorts the process" and is "not fair."
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Judge Aileen Cannon, currently presiding over Trump’s classified documents case, attended two week-long seminars at a luxury resort near Yellowstone National Park.
She failed to upload a disclosure within 30 days, as required.
The court said it was an “inadvertent” omission.
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News:
▪️Dinesh D’Souza’s “2,000 Mules” election denial book was abruptly recalled. I got a copy.
▪️When told of the book’s allegations against them, one group said it was potentially “libelous.”
▪️True the Vote completely distanced itself from the book.
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The important lesson for journalists from this election:
Exhaustive investigative reporting matters.
Predicting election results...not so much.
We should all do more reporting and less punditry.
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More legal fallout from "2,000 Mules":
A federal judge ruled that the defamation and voting rights lawsuit against Dinesh D'Souza, True the Vote, Salem Media, and Regnery can move forward, albeit with some counts dismissed.
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NEW
Dinesh D'Souza's latest film "2,000 Mules" suggests that its analysis of device tracking data is so airtight it helped lead to the arrest of two murder suspects.
In response to questions from NPR, the group behind the film acknowledged that's false.
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Just in:
Salem Media pulls debunked election conspiracy theory film "2,000 Mules" from all its platforms, halts future distribution, and issues an apology to a Georgia man falsely accused of illegal voting.
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New:
We compared the official release of
@DineshDSouza
's "2,000 Mules" election denial book with the version recalled by Regnery.
All references to specific, named nonprofits that D'Souza accused of "ballot trafficking" have been removed.
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Judge Robert Conrad, Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, also failed to file disclosures for multiple events within 30 days.
In his job, he helps implement these very judiciary policies on disclosure.
A spox said the missing disclosure was inadvertent.
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BREAKING:
California State Bar recommends that John Eastman be disbarred.
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One of the biggest hosts of these judicial education events is George Mason University, and particularly its conservative-leaning Law & Economics Center.
One GMU event included a presentation from a member of the far-right Alternativ für Deutschland political party.
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The NPR reporting that identified missing donations to charities like St. Baldrick's - the children's cancer research non-profit - was sparked by
@Fahrenthold
's exhaustive investigation into the Trump Foundation in 2016.
Trump's California Golf Course used to claim they donated money to a non-profit for childhood cancer research, St. Baldrick's Foundation.
The foundation told me they had no record of a donation from Trump or his golf course.
After my calls, the golf course removed the claim.
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Just in:
Christian Secor, a former UCLA student and Groyper/follower of the extremist Nick Fuentes, has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for obstructing congress on Jan. 6.
Story coming...
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Trump's California Golf Course used to claim they donated money to a non-profit for childhood cancer research, St. Baldrick's Foundation.
The foundation told me they had no record of a donation from Trump or his golf course.
After my calls, the golf course removed the claim.
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You can see the events, attendees, agendas, the judges with disclosure issues (and their comments) all in our story:
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@mccanner
Apparently yes! "Between 2013 and 2017, there were more than 56,500 reported incidents of children 5 years old or younger ingesting, inhaling or touching the highly concentrated detergent found in single-dose laundry products."
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This particular speaker, Gunnar Beck, has made anti-immigrant and racially inflammatory posts on social media.
In multiple posts, he took photos of young Black families at train stations in Germany and criticized what he called the “Afrikanisierung” (Africanization) of Germany.
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Multiple judges talked to NPR for this story. Some expressed embarrassment or regret for the failure to disclose. Some judges’ chambers blamed technical issues. One judge’s clerk indicated they were unaware of the reporting requirement.
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And while most of the judges who attend the George Mason events at luxury resorts were Trump appointees, the disclosure issues were across the board.
We found issues with disclosure for judges appointed by every president going back to Reagan.
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Other speakers included corporate CEOs, including the CEO of a company currently suing the SEC.
GMU points out that these judicial education events are privately funded, and they list donors including Amazon, Pfizer, Facebook, and the conservative billionaire Charles Koch.
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More than a dozen other organizations listed on the "philanthropy" section of the Trump golf course website told me they could not find any record of a donation.
The full story here:
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One big-picture takeaway from John Eastman's State Bar trial:
Like Trump, Eastman does not appear to have backed away from the stolen election narrative. His witness list includes election deniers.
It'll be interesting to see how those witnesses answer questions under oath.
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Related:
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How Trump’s 2024 communications director reacted to the hack and leak of the Clinton team’s emails in 2016.
MUST WATCH: Leaked Emails from
@Wikileaks
Show What
@HillaryClinton
’s Staff and Allies Really Think.
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@Popehat
@CGasparino
Trump's own lawyer, Christina Bobb, said she was personally given a copy of the warrant as well as an attachment at the end of the search.
A couple interesting notes from Trump attorney Christina Bobb's interview with Dinesh D'Souza:
1 - Bobb said the FBI indeed gave her a copy of the warrant, along with an attachment describing what they were looking for: "presidential records or any possibly classified material."
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Expert inspectors found "barbaric" and "negligent" conditions inside ICE detention centers.
The government - under both Trump and Biden - fought to keep their findings secret.
So NPR and I filed a FOIA lawsuit, and can now make these records public.
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State Bar attorney Duncan Carling:
"We don't believe the opinion of a CPA...is relevant," and he adds that Fried "never identified any instances of fraud," so it would not inform the court's understanding of Eastman's election fraud claims.
Judge rules Fried cannot testify.
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@DineshDSouza
Some key context Salem is a co-defendant, along with Dinesh D'Souza and True the Vote, in a lawsuit filed by this voter, Mark Andrews.
He is represented by lawyers with
@protctdemocracy
, which also represented the Georgia election workers who sued Rudy Giuliani for defamation.
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@adamdavidson
The website for the Trump National Golf Club, Los Angeles claims Southland Golf magazine named it “Best golf course in the state of California".
I asked the multiple editors of the mag about it.
Turned out, the quote was from an interview, where *Trump himself* said that.
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OK, we're back in California State Bar Court waiting for John Eastman to testify as he fights to keep his law license.
We heard opening statements from both sides, and Eastman is the very first witness up.
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Judge Roland is again questioning the proposed witness's expertise, asking whether it's merely "conjecture" or "speculative."
Valentine will not testify.
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Eastman's attorney argues that it will put his side at a disadvantage if Yoo can't observe the testimony.
Judge Roland:
"I think the disadvantage is one that's self-created."
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The New Georgia Project (NGP) was one of the groups named in the recalled book. They called the claims "lies," and raised the possibility of legal action.
Today an NGP spox writes:
"We're always happy when someone who has been discredited takes our name out of their mouths,"
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It’s fairly clear that Twitter is making this up as they go along.
“Illegally obtained materials” could include records that are widely considered in the public interest - the WikiLeaks release of Iraq War and State Department cables, Snowden’s leaks, the Pentagon Papers...
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Eastman attorney Randy Miller says that Fried's 40-year career as a CPA and his knowledge of statistics qualifies him as an expert on elections.
Judge Roland isn't having it. "Please don't interrupt me," she tells Miller as he tries to press a case that "numbers are numbers."
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Interesting list of judges here.
Several judges here received free hotel rooms, free meals and free money towards travel for "judicial education" events held at luxury resorts, as we reported last week.
Thirteen federal judges say that absent major changes at Columbia, they won't hire anyone who chooses to go there (undergrad or law school) following this year.
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Eastman would like to call Joseph Fried as an expert witness.
Judge Roland notes that Fried is a CPA and wrote a 2022 e-book about the 2020 election
"I don't see how Mr. Fried is qualified to be an expert," says Judge Roland, who notes his lack of expertise on elections.
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We're now on to Eastman's proposed testimony from John Valentine, who has also argued that he used a data analysis to find widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
The State Bar says Valentine would not even turn over the database supporting his analysis as part of discovery.
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Cleta Mitchell's Election Integrity Network is a project of the 501c3 nonprofit Conservative Partnership Institute.
Federal law prohibits 501c3s from "intervening" in any political campaigns - like supporting/opposing candidates.
Yet they continue to (re)tweet things like this:
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UPDATE:
This "issues" page with J.D. Vance's "END ABORTION" platform has been removed and replaced with a link to donate to the Trump-Vance campaign.
Notable that "END ABORTION" remains a top issue on J.D. Vance's website, given that Trump has tried o distance himself from a national abortion ban.
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John Eastman has entered the hearing room.
His attorney notes to him "remember, you're mic'd up the whole time."
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G. Hunter Bates, a former top McConnell aide, lobbied on a Russia-backed project in KY,
@NatashaBertrand
reports.
The project has come under intense scrutiny, because McConnell supported lifting sanctions on the Russian company investing in it.
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WATCH:
In 1997, Mitch McConnell paid tribute to Sen. Strom Thurmond.
McConnell recalled fondly how his father and grandfather called Thurmond "a fine man" and both voted for his 1948 presidential campaign.
At the time, Thurmond was running on a platform of racial segregation.
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Fresh off his surrender in Fulton County, Georgia to face criminal charges, attorney John Eastman is due back in California State Bar Court today for his disciplinary case.
You can watch the Zoom link here starting around 10am Pacific Time.
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Here's the before and after of the "Philanthropy" page for
@TrumpGolfLA
.
After our questions, they removed claims of charitable giving
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One open question at the start of the hearing was whether Peter Navarro would testify. Eastman had listed him as a witness in his pre-trial statement.
Navarro will actually NOT testify, according to Eastman's attorney.
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Getting a copy of the book was a slight challenge. My online order was cancelled.
So I just started heading to bookstores all over Southern California. No luck.
Then, at the third Barnes & Noble I visited, tucked into the Current Affairs section, there it was.
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Interesting moment in John Eastman's State Bar Court hearing just now:
The State Bar asked Eastman whether he considered the effect of his speech on Jan. 6 on the crowd (some of whom would go on to riot).
Eastman:
"I did not."
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@dylan_zwick
He does. And I contacted them for comment.
One group named by D'Souza called the allegations "trash." Another raised the possibility of legal action against D'Souza for defamation.
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NEWS:
NPR has been tracking every criminal case stemming from the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
This week, the total number of cases (including federal and those in DC Superior Court) surpassed 500.
Here are some things we've learned so far 👇
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@DineshDSouza
Hi Dinesh,
Here are some questions I'd still like to get answers on:
- What was the "significant error" that led to the book's recall?
- Why did you name those 7 nonprofits in the book?
- Regarding those claims, True the Vote says "We made no such allegations." Your response?
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A couple interesting notes from Trump attorney Christina Bobb's interview with Dinesh D'Souza:
1 - Bobb said the FBI indeed gave her a copy of the warrant, along with an attachment describing what they were looking for: "presidential records or any possibly classified material."
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Last night,
@hansilowang
reported on a contentious 2-1 decision on a redistricting case by the 5th Circuit.
Judge David C. Joseph, who authored the opinion, failed to disclose that he attended a seminar at a five-star hotel in London, and got a free room/meals and $ for travel.
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10 minute break.
So far, we've gotten some indication that Eastman may argue that there was widespread fraud or other irregularities in the 2020 election.
Judge Roland has not appeared receptive to that argument.
Eastman is still tentatively set to testify today
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"Cut their head off!" Nichols says. "Republican protestors are trying to enter the House right now at the Capitol is the word that I’m getting. So if that’s true, then get up in there. If you voted for treason, we’re going to drag your ass through the streets."
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Trump is wrong. Just ask the Jan. 6 rioters.
“It was not Antifa at the Capitol. It was freedom loving Patriots,” said Brandon Straka.
“Don't you dare try to tell me that people are blaming this on antifa,” said Jon Mellis. “We proudly take responsibility for storming the Castle."
Trump says the FBI and Antifa were “leading the charge” into the Capitol on J6.
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Carling:
"Dr. Eastman and President Trump conspired to disrupt the electoral count on Jan. 6."
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I’m looking into reports of current members of law enforcement who may have taken part in the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol last week.
If you have any information on that, I’d welcome your tips.
My email: tdreisbach
@npr
.org
DMs also open
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Until this week, I had rarely heard about the federal law that makes it a crime to picket outside a judge's home (18 USC § 1507).
I was curious about its origins.
It turns out it was passed as part of the "Internal Security Act of 1950" - a controversial McCarthy-era law.
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NEW:
The Patriot Freedom Project says it is raising money for Jan. 6 defendants and their families.
Steve Bannon promoted the nonprofit group. So did JD Vance.
In just months, the group said it raised nearly $900k.
Then I started reporting
🧵
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@mollyesque
OK, we are stopping for the day.
We'll be back tomorrow at 10am PT/1pm ET.
I'll be talking about the Eastman case on
@MorningEdition
@upfirst
bright and early tomorrow AM!
Thanks so much for following along.
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The reality of holding a hearing over Zoom:
Judge Roland tells people in the Zoom please do not use the "raise hand" feature.
No one's going to call on you.
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Carling says the evidence will show “All of Dr. Eastman’s conduct was fundamentally dishonest.”
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Carling:
"Dr. Eastman’s legal theory…was baseless, completely unsupported by historical precedent or law, and contrary to our values as a nation."
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The hearing is not supposed to get started until about 10am PT. I’m with a handful of other journalists waiting to enter the hearing room.
Unfortunately, there’s no recording or photography allowed, but apparently we can live tweet!
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The proceedings are also supposed to be streamed via Zoom here:
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"I'm telling you, if Pence caved, we're gonna drag motherfuckers through the streets."
Newly released video evidence shows Jan. 6 riot defendant Ryan Nichols as he marched towards the U.S. Capitol that day.
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Since Eastman was indicted in Georgia, the CA State Bar's website has added a "CONSUMER ALERT" when you look up his law license online.
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The source of the claim that 60,000+ underage voters voted in 2020 was a man named Brian Geels.
Carling is going over Geels' education. He's a licensed CPA.
Carling: Did you note that he didn't have a degree in statistics?
Eastman: I don't recall
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@DineshDSouza
The film version of "2,000 Mules" alleged that left-wing nonprofits acted as "stash houses" for a "ballot trafficking" operation by the so-called ballot "mules."
D'Souza said the film did not name them for legal reasons, but promised the book would name names.
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Decision from Judge Yvette Roland recommending Eastman be disbarred
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More potential problems.
I just discovered that the audiobook version of
@DineshDSouza
's "2,000 Mules" still contains references to ACLED, even though they've been removed from the print copy.
@Regnery
CEO Thomas Spence just told me by email "we are working on that."
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Notably, Eastman repeatedly asserted his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination called to testify before the Jan. 6 Select Committee in Congress.
I've been wondering about his plans for this case, given that Jan. 6 remains under criminal investigation.
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For about a year, students at UCLA raised concerns about their classmate's extremism, and his support for a far-right podcaster known for holocaust denial.
Then, in the days after Jan. 6, they recognized him in footage from the storming of the Capitol.
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Salem Media's settlement with Georgia voter Mark Andrews over allegations of illegal voting in the conspiracy film "2,000 Mules" has officially hit the docket.
Salem apologized to Andrews and retracted the film from its platforms.
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@DineshDSouza
@protctdemocracy
@TrueTheVote
Also notable:
Salem is currently suing their media insurer for allegedly failing to pay for the costs associated with Andrews' "2,000 Mules" lawsuit.
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"The State Bar will call Dr. John Eastman," says Duncan Carling.
Eastman takes the stand and is now under oath.
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Carling ends with the request for disbarment.
Now Randy Miller is up for Eastman.
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Notably, the Judge's order describes the alleged conduct of D'Souza and True the Vote - making claims "based solely on conjecture and speculation" - as "disturbing."
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Notably, you can hear a dramatic change in the tone of voice between Eastman in Dec. 2020 (assertive, forceful) and Eastman in court today (more muted, uncertain on some issues).
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BREAKING:
Oath Keeper Joshua James is agreeing to plead guilty to one count of Seditious Conspiracy and one count of Obstruction of an Official Proceeding in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
James was charged alongside Oath Keeper founder Stewart Rhodes.
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Before we get to the meat of the proceedings, Judge Roland is addressing motions brought by the State Bar to exclude testimony by witnesses put forward by Eastman as experts.
Judge Roland granted the majority, though not all, of the State Bar's motions.
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Today's ruling is arguably also arguably a blow to John Eastman in the fight over his law license.
He has cited Moore v. Harper to the State Bar Court as an indication that his theories in support of overturning the 2020 the election were valid.
From his response to the Bar:
Third (and *last*) ruling is Moore v. Harper.
For a 6-3 majority (Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissenting), Chief Justice Roberts reaches the merits and *rejects* the "independent state legislature" theory:
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Carling notes that Geels had no experience in elections.
Carling: When did you learn that Mr. Geels had corrected his estimate from 66,000 to around 2,000?
Eastman: Sometime well after January 7
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@DineshDSouza
@protctdemocracy
@TrueTheVote
For our previous coverage debunking some of the film and book's claims:
When D'Souza had to abruptly recall the book, but I got a copy anyway
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I first read about this proposal in
@AlecMacGillis
's book.
Then we went to the Library Of Congress to get the video of McConnell's actual speech, and I dug through the old Congressional Record to find the text of his constitutional amendment.
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In his written remarks, McConnell said:
"Members on both sides of the aisle have decried the ease with which wealthy candidates can virtually purchase congressional seats".
He said his proposed constitutional amendment could fix the problem.
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State Bar attorney Duncan Carling is bringing the court's attention to a December 3, 2020 presentation by Eastman to Georgia legislators.
Carling asks about Eastman's claim that tens of thousands of underaged people voted in 2020.
Eastman says he relied on an "expert."
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Good morning.
It's Day 2 of the California State Bar trial of attorney John Eastman over his work to overturn the 2020 election.
Eastman is expected to continue his testimony.
I'm not in the courtroom today, but will be following via the public Zoom:
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Separately, in response to a correction request, the book removed all references to
@ACLEDINFO
.
D'Souza had claimed in the film and the recalled book that ACLED's data showed connections between the "mules," antifa, and BLM.
ACLED said that was false. Those claims are now gone.
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