Isaac Arnsdorf
@iarnsdorf
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@washingtonpost national political reporter. Author of FINISH WHAT WE STARTED (@littlebrown, April 2024)
Washington, DC
Joined June 2010
“FINISH WHAT WE STARTED focuses instead on the MAGA grassroots—the ‘faces in the crowd’ who, in the aftermath of Jan. 6, cont’d to insist that the 2020 election had been stolen & are determined to never let such an outrage happen again” @jenszalai
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Secret Service agents are exempt from federal limits on hotel room spending. So Mar-a-Lago charged them twice as much as a regular gov't employee — for the same night!.
NEW: We've identified another $157,000 in payments from taxpayers to @realdonaldtrump's company, as Trump Org. charged $396/night to house Trump's own Secret Service agents. We know about it b/c @Public_Citizen won a 3-year battle for public records.
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BREAKING: We found 1000s of Trump supporters taking over local GOP positions — an unprecedented grassroots groundswell devoted to Trump’s insistence that the 2020 election was stolen & Republicans need to stop that from happening again .
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I wanted to understand who was responsible for the Trump admin’s record string of executions. I got 1000s pages of govt records & court docs. They showed officials trampling over legal & practical barriers. Here’s what I learned: .
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The Oath Keepers are known as a violent extremist group. You can see some members here in tactical gear moving up the Capitol steps on Jan. 6. We got a membership list from an anonymous hacker. It included 10 sitting state lawmakers, all GOP. THREAD.
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Kari Lake speaking in Georgia tonight says to get Trump Merrick Garland will have to go through 75 million Americans “and most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA. That’s not a threat, that’s a public service announcement.” Standing ovation.
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1. The govt is using a lethal injection drug from a secret source that failed a lab test. 2. Barr & aides picked who to execute. Reasons they gave were factually inaccurate. 3. DOJ outsourced executions to private contractors paid in CASH. More details below.
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BREAKING: The Republican campaign staffer who accused CPAC chief Matt Schlapp of sexual misconduct is coming forward today after a judge said he must use his real name to proceed with his lawsuit. W/ @bethreinhard @washingtonpost
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BREAKING: Federal judge in Indiana blocks Tuesday's execution of Lisa Montgomery, based on evidence she is "unable to rationally understand the government's rationale for her execution." . Full story on this week's executions:
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UPDATE: By popular demand, @ProPublica is publishing the #FOIA documents used in my investigation of the VA Shadow Rulers. DOCS: STORY:
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BREAKING: Trump tonight stopped at a diner, met a woman convicted in connection to Jan. 6, hugged her and signed the backpack she carried to the Capitol
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1. @MikeClampitt told me serving in the state legislature was how he participates in the Oath Keepers today. He cosponsored a bill to let elected officials carry concealed guns in courthouses/schools. Clampitt said he opposes violence but stood by his Oath Keepers affiliation.
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2. NC state assembly deputy majority whip Keith Kidwell appeared on the Oath Keepers list as an annual member in 2012. He declined to comment, calling the membership list “stolen information.”
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This movement was organized in far-right media, led by figures like Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn & Lin Wood. It spread on fringe social platforms and forums aligned with QAnon.
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“Five or six years ago, politicians wouldn’t be caught dead hanging out with Oath Keepers, you’d have to go pretty fringe,” said @jaredlholt, who researches extremism for @dfrlab. “When groups like that become emboldened, it makes them significantly more dangerous.”.
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Dozens of Trump’s biggest donors previously showed no major interest in politics. I took a hard look at newcomers who gave at least $1M and could now shape the future of the GOP and American democracy. Let's meet the MAGA Money. (THREAD).
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Most voters aren’t familiar with these precinct positions. But they have power over how elections are run: poll workers, board appointments, pressure on GOP officials.
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4. Indiana state Sen. @ScottABaldwin was listed as an annual member. His spokesman said he was unavailable to comment.
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6. AZ state Sen. @WendyRogersAZ announced her affiliation years ago. She’s leading the call to “decertify” the election based on the GOP’s “audit” of Maricopa County ballots.
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3. Alaska state Rep. @davideastmanjr, a lifetime member: “I joined Oath Keepers when it first started and will always consider it a privilege to stand with those in the military and first responders who strive to keep their oaths to the Constitution.”
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According to experts who monitor extremism, the Oath Keepers have evolved from a militia-type group into a political force in the Republican mainstream.
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7. AZ state Rep. @RealMarkFinchem is running to be the state’s top elections official — and Trump endorsed him. Finchem was photographed outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 but said he did not engage in violence.
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5. Georgia state Rep. @SteveTarvin said he signed up at a booth in 2009, when he was running for Congress (unsuccessfully). He said he wasn’t familiar with the Oath Keepers’ involvement in Jan. 6 but stood by the pledge he signed.
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NEW: Who’s in charge at the VA? There are three guys at Mar-a-Lago who you should meet.
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Kari Lake at RNC says she’s supporting Mike Lindell for chair: “vote for change”.
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Bannon et al said Trump lost because “RINOs” sold him out. Their solution was for “deplorables” to take over the GOP from the bottom up, by taking over the lowest rung in the party organization: the precincts.
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8. Idaho state Rep. @chadforidaholists his Oath Keepers membership on his official legislative biography, in between the John Birch Society and the Idaho Farm Bureau.
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Mandatory stop-and-frisk. Deploying the military to fight street crime, break up gangs & deport immigrants. Purging the federal workforce & charging leakers. Trump is rolling out his proposed second-term agenda. “We need to take it very seriously.”.
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9. South Dakota state legislator Phil Jensen appeared on the list as an annual member in 2014, using his title (then state senator) and government email address. He did not respond to a request for comment.
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But it wasn’t just people mouthing off online. People actually went out and got elected or appointed to precinct positions — thousands of them. As one county chair said, “Those podcasts actually paid off.”
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NEW: Trump has always said controversial things. But if you look at clips from a few years ago compared to now, you'll notice something striking: he's gotten a lot more extreme. My latest w/ @jdawsey1 @AdriUsero
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We found an increase of 8,500+ new local GOP officials in 41 key counties. Key states such as AZ, NV, NC, SC, GA, FL, TX, PA, WI, MI. Interactive map in the article
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The new movement is built entirely around Trump’s insistence that the electoral system failed in 2020 & Republicans can’t let that happen again. The central goal is not merely to win elections but to reshape their machinery.
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Dozens of Oath Keepers have been charged in the Capitol riot. Several pleaded guilty. We found 3 more who prosecutors didn't ID as Oath Keepers but who were on the membership list. DOJ declined to comment. Defendants & lawyers didn’t respond to calls. They pleaded not guilty.
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Some of the state lawmakers were already publicly identified with the Oath Keepers. .
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There are hundreds of thousands of these precinct positions, and they aren’t centrally tracked. It took a ton of work to track them down. Here’s how we did it. .
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Prisoners’ lawyers: the drug floods the lungs, causing suffering akin to death by drowning. SCOTUS: it’s fine.
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10. South Dakota state Sen. @JimStalzer, whose 2015 annual membership was first reported by BuzzFeed, said he stopped supporting the Oath Keepers. . His statement to me:
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We got the membership list from an anonymous hacker thru the nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets. The list marks members as annual ($50) or lifetime ($1k), so not everyone is currently active, tho some said they viewed it as a lifelong commitment anyway.
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State lawmakers were not the only notable people we found on the membership list. There were also congressional candidates, Jan 6. riot defendants, county commissioners and more.
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I talked to the guy who decided to cut funding for the national stockpile 9 years ago. He said there was no way to predict an emergency like this. Except the cut came right after swine flu, which is why the CDC was asking for an increase.
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.@VanderbiltU Prof. Craig Lindsley wrote a two-page report saying the drug would take effect so rapidly the prisoner wouldn’t feel pain. He didn’t disclose his fee, but he was hired through a contract that DOJ paid $22k that month.
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Yes, Barr had a big role. Other key officials involved:. @MattWhitaker46 .Jeff Sessions.Mark Inch .Jeffrey Rosen .Paul Perkins .Tim Shea.
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Some of the new precinct officers marched to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Many self-identified with QAnon. Organizers have encouraged supporters to bring weapons to demonstrations. Some newcomers were so disruptive that they shut down leadership elections.
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Expecting legal challenges. DOJ said it “consulted medical professionals.” Not exactly. It consulted one doctor and one chemist. (Both declined to comment.) . Let’s look at the chemist first.
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First: DOJ needed to find a new drug it could use in lethal injections. Officials considered fentanyl but thought it would be a bad look. Instead they chose a sedative called pentobarbital.
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Check out Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and more than half Arizona’s population, where the number of Republican precinct committee members surged in recent months:
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Instead of govt employees, private contractors would perform the executions. They’re secret too. DOJ paid cash.
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Pro-Trump activist Scott Presler is at the Trump rally in NC today collecting signatures to get Cornel West on the ballot, which he says will take away votes from Biden
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Some more politicians on the membership list. Virginia Fuller, a 2018 Florida congressional candidate, on Jan. 6: “There was nothing wrong with that. The Capitol belongs to the people.”
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We focused on politically competitive states. We looked for signs of activity in far-right media. Then we contacted 100s of party officials & activists to find out how many new people were showing up. All-star team @DougBockClark @AlexandraBerzon @AnjeanetteDamon @mrsimon22.
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Now the doctor: retired anesthesiologist Joseph F. Antognini. He’s the go-to gov’t witness in death penalty cases because most doctors say it’s unethical to participate in executions:.
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Dr. Antognini: Unconscious people can’t feel pain. Also Antognini: We don’t really know how unconsciousness works.
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SCOOP: Saudi lobbyists bought a Trump hotel room -- FIRST verified foreign emolument since inauguration
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Full story here: Is more stuff like this happening in your community? We want to hear from you! Contact info in bio.
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Here’s how retired NYPD cop Joe Marmorato identified himself when he signed up for an Oath Keepers annual membership in 2013. And what he told me about Jan. 6:
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NEW: The Oath Keepers have evolved from a militia-type group into a political force within the GOP. We found 40+ state & local govt officials on the group’s roster: state legislators, county commissioners, party leaders, congressional candidates.
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Full story here: And please consider subscribing to our newsletter for more investigations like this one:
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DOJ has 3 more executions scheduled before the inauguration of @JoeBiden on Jan, 20. Biden opposes the death penalty. Full story here:
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The drug was hard to get because manufacturers don’t want anything to do with executions. DOJ keeps its vendors secret so they don’t bow to public pressure.
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It’s only been a few months, and we can’t see the future. But these up-and-coming party officers are already putting their powers to use on voting restrictions, audits and more.
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Next: In July 2019, Barr got a list of 14 possible prisoners to execute. He and aides chose 5. Barr said the reason was they all killed children or the elderly. Not true.
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In Michigan, one of the main organizers recruiting new precinct officers pushed for the ouster of the state party’s executive director, who contradicted Trump’s claim that the election was stolen and who later resigned.
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SCOOP: Trump team considers delaying his “very big announcement” in moment of uncertainty for his dominance over GOP. W @jdawsey1 @isaacstanbecker
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“The most recent time we saw this type of thing was the Tea Party, and this is way beyond it," said the GOP chairman in Polk County, FL. But there's one key difference between the 2010 Tea Party and the new movement. .
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Stan Vaughan, a repeat candidate for NV state house, said he wouldn’t join the Oath Keepers today. It’s not their ideology that bothers him or their involvement in the Jan. 6 riot. Rather, he said he has concerns about how the group’s leaders spend its money.
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“Being motivated by conspiracy theories is no way to go through life, and no way for us to build a high-functioning party,” said Kathy Petsas, an Arizona party official who screens precinct-level applicants. “That attitude can’t prevail.”.
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Ed Durfee is running for state assembly in NJ. That’s him on the far right on Jan. 6. “For whatever reason, I didn’t go in” to the Capitol, he told me. Those who did were “caught up in the melee, what else can I say?”
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1. A congressional aide said she was sexually assaulted in a VA hospital. 2. @SecWilkie looked for info to discredit her. 3. Wilke called her allegation “unsubstantiated” even tho an independent investigation found it was not.
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In Las Vegas, a handful of Proud Boys, part of the extremist group whose members have been charged in attacking the Capitol, supported a bid to topple moderates controlling the county party — a dispute that’s now in court.
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DOJ: Using firing squads instead of lethal injection would be a “regressive change.”. Also DOJ: Authorize firing squads.
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Prison officials were concerned about scheduling the first three executions in one week. But Barr wanted it that way, according to a BOP lawyer’s deposition. (DOJ denies this.)
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One guy who joined the Oath Keepers in 2016 is now a Democratic precinct committee member in Maricopa County, AZ. “They were anti-government,” Bob Haran said of the GOP, “but now they’re being anti-democracy.”.
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Next day, similar story. SCOTUS gave go-ahead to execute Wesley Purkey. Death warrant expired, but DOJ went ahead & issued new same-day notice. Execution started while a final court challenge was still going. Court said appeal was "moot" because Purkey was already dead.
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BOP started the execution of Daniel Lee while there was still an outstanding court order. Guards left him *on the gurney* while gov’t lawyers got the order lifted.
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DOJ considered importing the drug in powdered form and remixing it into an injectable solution. It later found a domestic source. The first batch failed a quality test. DOJ blamed the lab and got a new one.
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Previous coverage on the wave of new GOP precinct officers in SC & other states:
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Then, DOJ changed its regulations to give itself more flexibility in executions. The point person on this policy change, Laurence Rothenberg, has criticized attempts to outlaw executing juveniles and people with intellectual disabilities.
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Patsy Stewart is a GOP precinct officer in Columbia, SC, & former delegate/alternate to state convention. She didn’t respond to requests for comment. County chair @tysonagrinstead said: “Personally, I don’t think there’s a place for that in our party.”.
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In Phoenix, new precinct officers petitioned to unseat county officials who refused to cooperate with the state Senate Republicans’ “forensic audit” of 2020 ballots. Similar audits are now being pursued by new precinct officers in Michigan and the Carolinas.
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As governor-elect, DeSantis flew to Augusta on a private jet, stayed overnight in the Eisenhower cabin, and played golf at the home of the Masters. He did not disclose the travel as gifts or political contributions, and it is not clear if or how he paid.
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“They want to create mayhem,” said David Sajdak, the outgoing GOP county chair in Las Vegas.
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Joining @chrislhayes soon on @MSNBC to discuss VA shadow rulers as Democrats vow to investigate .
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NEW @VetAffairsOIG report confirms my reporting about the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act -- the administration is using it to target whistleblowers, not defend them.
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At the latest execution, Alfred Bourgeois appeared to gasp for air, as lawyers warned.
Spent some time reviewing my notes and @NPR coverage from the five most recent federal executions in Terre Haute, Indiana. The execution of Alfred Bourgeois last Friday stands apart from the others in several important ways. It didn't go well.
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Not hearing a lot of Republicans defending Trump on today's Jan. 6 committee referral to DOJ, except Mike Pence
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In Pittsburgh, Andy Maul joined Oath Keepers but let his membership lapse bc there was no local chapter. He became a GOP city council distr chair & a poll worker. Maul said he marched on 1/6 but did not reach the Capitol, & he wasn't familiar w Oath Keepers’ activities on 1/6.
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“You’re probably going to get a heavy dose of Jared and Ivanka going forward”.
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A second firm hired by the Trump campaign found no evidence of election fraud, and company's founder was recently interviewed by federal prosecutors about the findings, by @jdawsey1 .
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Lots of longtime Republicans are very concerned by what they’re seeing….
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Outside Atlanta, new local party leaders helped elect a state lawmaker who championed Georgia’s sweeping new voting restrictions.
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I asked @TheJusticeDept under #FOIA to release its legal advice on killing Soleimani, and to fast-track it. @KerriKupecDOJ said no because she thinks it’s “not a matter in which there exist possible questions about the government’s integrity.”
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. and Mark Finchem, a member of the Oath Keepers militia who is running to be Arizona’s top elections official. DePerno did not respond to calls seeking comment. Finchem asked for questions to be sent by email, then did not respond.
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And precinct organizers also hope to advance candidates like Matthew DePerno, a Michigan AG hopeful who Republican state senators said spread “misleading and irresponsible” misinformation about the election. .
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SCOOP: Trump says he doesn't know who's in charge of Project 2025. He took a private flight with Heritage's president in 2022. Here's a photo. w/ @jdawsey1 @KnowlesHannah .
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Fox News radio just reported that “Trump-endorsed” Eric Schmitt beat “scandal-ridden” Eric Greitens in the Missouri senate primary. (Trump endorsed both Eric’s.).
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Trump told people he wanted to go to the Capitol for a dramatic, made-for-TV moment that could pressure Republicans to reject the election results. Some aides didn’t think he was serious. w/ @jdawsey1 @CarolLeonnig
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I got the Trump White House policy on contacts with DOJ. Looks like Priebus broke it
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Deep into NYT blockbuster: One of the people behind the ill-fated Texas SCOTUS lawsuit was Kris Kobach, the discredited "voter fraud" crusader whom a judge once ordered to take remedial law classes cc @JessicaHuseman
JUST POSTED: The Anatomy of a Lie, a major NYT reconstruct of Trump's 77 days trying to overturn the 2020 election. History, retold. By @jimrutenberg @Jo_Becker @EricLiptonNYT @maggieNYT @jmartNYT @AllMattNYT @nytmike
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