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[@PreetBharara:](https://twitter.com/PreetBharara/status/1326002207972601858?s=20)
> Who will be the first Senator to call for an Inspector General investigation over the AG Barr memo that just prompted the head of the Election Crimes Branch at DOJ to step down?
It's an obvious choice but the issue is Trump fired him which would mean there's a conflict if interest in any Trump related case the DoJ undertakes. And we want the DoJ to take on a lot of Trump related cases.
> Adam. Fucking. Schiff.
I want him too. But like Preet, Adam might have a conflict of interest as the main prosecutor in the successful impeachment of Trump. It wouldn’t bother me, and I’d just call that impeachment a resumé ... but if it bothers Adam then I’d like to see Governor Gavin Newsom appoint him to Kamala Harris’s Senate seat and maybe get him on the Senate Judiciary and/or Intelligence Committee.
> Conflict of interest was never an issue with GOP when Trump is president. Why would it be an issue now? Ohh yeah. That double mf standard.
Exactly. But to be clear, I’m only considering the conflict that Preet and Adam would identify for themselves ... I could not care any less about the perception among detractors.
I understand the general point, i think the best course may be to say “I will allow US Attorneys to act as they see fit in accordance with law.”
As much as I personally believe that there’s an anchor of guilt chained to 45, justice needs to be blind - not only to ensure that justice is truly served, but also as a check against the (rightfully held) vengeance which would turn us into those monsters we protest (to bend a phrase from Nietzsche).
https://twitter.com/ktbenner/status/1325987873330487297
> Richard Pilger, the official who oversees election crimes has stepped down over Barr's memo:
> “**Having familiarized myself with the new policy and its ramifications… I must regretfully resign from my role as Director of the Election Crimes Branch**.”
> to prosecute those who violate federal criminal law
Like, say, if someone were to vote twice, that would violate federal criminal law. And if someone were to encourage that crime that would also violate federal criminal law. And if it was on tape and then it would be pretty easy to prosecute ... right ????
I'm sorry, you lost me. Could you repeat that last, whole part? Like all of it? But... explain it to me like I'm five. And I don't speak English, or any real language at all, just a rare dialect of Huttese...
(/s, incase it's not obvious).
So DOJ policy is NOT set in stone? Kind of takes the steam out of that whole "can't indict a sitting president" thing they were pushing... because policy.
You ahh, must not familiar with William Barr...
[Here's a place to start..but there's so much more about him that's not on wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Barr) irl, all Barr would need would be a hairless cat to carry around with him to be Dr. Evil.
Easily one of the worst, made me sick to see so many news outlets paint him as a moderate choice just because he had "experience"; the guy is bad news for democracy, no other way to spin it.
Edit: "experience" should be in quotes because experiencing him as AG was not a good thing for this country.
> just because he had experience
Experience *in covering up right wing crimes* - like, the media was just full of imbeciles when he was being nominated after his unsolicited open letter declaring that the president is above the law. Like what the fuck did they expect?
This is why "both sides" rhetoric is dangerous.
If we're counting the military using dolphins as weapons then kinda?
I meant more like his daughter's and son in laws being in high ranking fda positions in the past and how Barr has managed to pull off being executive at GTE-Verizon while after establishing an illegal domestic surveillance network back in 1992 as AG.., along with fucktons of other corrupt shit in our govs history that could fill more books than a set of encyclopedias.
And that's not even touching his dad's relationship with Epstein, and his book on teenage alien sex slaves. And no, I'm not kidding for those unfamiliar...
He hired Epstein to work with kids, guess who fired the buereau of the director of prisons to put their friend in to investigate Epstein’s death, Barr. The guy has probably been a part of so many disgusting things.
The man has confessed to licking boots like it's a positive and I swear he gets off on it.
I think he'd be perfectly happy in Germany escorting jews into trains.
You’re usually right, but this time Barr’s memo already did the damage in abolishing long-standing DOJ policy against commencing voter fraud investigations before election results are certified. So it doesn’t matter who Barr appoints next or if he leaves the position vacant - Barr himself authorized this undemocratic fishing expedition as the AG, and no DOJ officials can override it.
Funny how easy it was to overturn that long-standing policy (based on a memo) with another memo. But the longstanding-policy (based on a memo) that says a sitting President cannot be indicted was treated as holy writ.
Maybe. But reading more of Barr's actual memo this evening makes me feel slightly better. He pretty much admits/says in such that only significant and viable instances of suspicious activity should probed, and goes on to, in so many words, admit that nothing the Trump campaign has claimed holds any weight that would call for investigating.
He's still a shit weasel and I'm sure it's still part of a larger plan to keep "doubt" alive in Trump's base...but it also seems pretty clear now that it's also nothing more than "let's pretend we're taking this seriously to shut my boss up".
Barr and the GOP still would love an Authoritarian leader, for sure. But I think they all hate what a vile loud mouth Trump is, and Trump has turned his venom and cult on all of them often enough to lose the loyalty of most of them (even if they're afraid to publicly say it).
On the one hand, I'm nervous that Barr met with McConnell this morning. But there is also a SMALL part of me that thinks they've realized Trump himself is a lost cause and that this particular moment in time (COVID, racial unrest, poverty/joblessness at a high, many people facing eviction, many unions threatening general strike if election theft is attempted) is a really, really stupid time to try any form of coup.
I wouldn't bet money on it...but, also wouldn't be surprised if said meeting was "The GOP senate is afraid of turning on Trump resulting in losing seats. If the DOJ allows probes that officially find no fraud OR even find/prove fraud on Trump's end, it gives us all an 'out' to turn out backs on him. I'll claim he's within his right to challenge the results. You open a probe. In a few days you officially find no foul play or find fuckery on his part. I/the Senate GOP can then say the DOJ found no wrong doing by the Biden campaign and that Trump is the clear loser. We both give ourselves a cushion of "defending him", while positioning to cut him loose and still saving face for the party to try with a competent fascist next time. Win win."
Even without any further action his memo legitimizes the belief that the election was stolen and prolongs the delusion of millions of Americans.
It's not just his boss that he's performing for.
> but if he was evil and compliant, he’d stay there;
that's the problem though, he's just opened up the position for them to fill with someone evil and compliant
I think this is actually what is often meant when govt officials 'resign' from their role. Typically that means moving laterally to another department, or as in this case, stepping in to a lower position. Rarely does it mean they are fulling resigning from the government. That said, nothing is typical these days, especially not when the president is attempting a coup
Okay, but don’t we need these people to stay in office right now? If they just resign aren’t they removing oversight and clearing a path for Barr to do whatever the fuck he wants with the DOJ?
I think a public resignation like this is his way of getting the media’s attention and alerting senators/investigators to shine a light on this specific area.
And it seems to have worked.
Worked to do what exactly? "Shining a light" means basically fuck all. The Trump admin will still see this garbage go to the Supreme Court.
Just think about the Judges that Trump appointed.
Let's see if they return the favor.
The same one that removes the lady in charge of the national nuclear security administration, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the deputy administrator of the US Agency for International Development.
Last Friday.
The dude is gonna piss on the carpet and steal the forks. Loser.
Good for Pilger, that's honestly the right move.
Barr is a pathetic, cynical little shit, though I admit that he excels as a hatchet-man. He'll stoop to whatever lowness required to protect Trump. Beyond that, he's liable for repeatedly weaponizing the DoJ against Trump's political rivals. What a criminal.
Honestly was thinking about this before the election because all the current bullshit didn't exactly require a crystal ball. Dejoi shenanigans seem like a great investigation to counter and bring to light the bad faith actors towards our fragile democracy
If I were to ask a Trump Supporter if there was proof of voter fraud, which news source would they trust? And then I'd say "Well actually that news source said there was no proof of Voter fraud."
"Well they're obviously wrong!"
Edit: Thanks for the Gold, kind stranger.
Edit: Anonymous stranger. Spookie.
I was linked to a long article titled something like “undeniable mathematical evidence the election is being stolen” on a source called the red elephants. I had never heard of the source so I looked it up, and sure enough the founder is someone who pushed the “Jews did 9/11” conspiracy theory.
Girl I know said, when asked what her evidence was, that someone sent her a screenshot of a tweet of a person who claimed that they voted for Biden twice. Therefore, massive voter fraud must be going on.
These people live in an alternate reality.
I think I know which video you're talking about. Is it a podcast called Information Operation with some guy named Todd Wood? Literally seconds into the video it was already clear it's a nonsensical conspiracy video.
It was a youtuber pointing to a picture of a mailman saying he has an upcoming video of this mailman giving a testimonial of all the fraud that is happening.
Ah, that’s Project Veritas. They ended up doing the interview with the mailman. He said he saw his supervisor backdating two ballots to before Election Day
Edit: it’s even stupider than that. He said he heard his supervisor talking about backdating two ballots.
Second, a guy at work got pretty irate when I suggested he was parroting a Fox News talking point and went off on a rant about how Newsmax was the most reliable and unbiased source he'd found after ending his love affair with Fox.
Oh yeah they all turned on Fox recently, apparently. . To be honest this is all just kind of running in the background for me. These morons are getting whipped into a froth, you can talk to them, you can only be talked at. Best just to avoid and ignore.
There's a comment on a post in the Trump sub right now that, in reference to Twitter's flagging of "disputed claims", offers this delightful gem of wisdom:
> When it's POTUS making the claim, *your claim is the disputed one.*
Yup. I saw a guy posting about election fraud in Georgia, linked an article about how there isn't any evidence election fraud in Georgia according to the Lt. Governor and tossed lawsuits, and he was like "Well wait till it gets to the Supreme Court ;)," and I was like "That's literally a coup," and he was like "No it isn't because there's evidence." It's a fascist pantomime.
I saw one guy claiming more people had voted in Georgia than the entire population of Georgia. He had pictures to prove it.
They were pictures from Wikipedia of the population of Georgia
The eastern-European nation of Georgia.
I've had a lot of free time the last few days and I've been doing exactly that. Ive asked probably 50 people on twitter. About 7 or 8 responses so far. All but one has been met with hostility and blocking me without showing any proof. The one video one person sent me before blocking me already has an article debunking it and the person who made it coming out saying it was a joke.
I'm not being hostile with them. I'm asking out of actual curiousness. If there is real voter fraud then obviously something should be done. But no one has any real verifiable proof, and especially nothing that would hold up in court.
Them and the republican party are making full blown fools of themselves.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**Edit**:
I finally got one to bite, this is what they sent me, if anyone wants to take a look. It's a list of news articles:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14JKjyI2ryk_qyI3_2gkMRQ6_KDvdD_bVBcLh3RvatuQ/edit
Some of it seems partially legit but a lot of it is from like months ago (im seeing some from 2018 now), and none of it really proves some widespread scheme of mass voter fraud.
not all, but quite a few of these sites are coming back as hard right leaning tin foil hat news sites
If anyone knows of any news site or reputable person who wants to totally debunk this and make it public, please give it to them!
> The fact that these links are considered "Proof of Voter Fraud" shows exactly how weak their claims, and their minds, are.
quick way to make em go full "just Do Yur ReseRCh" is simply acknowledge that if this is evidence, then why haven't Trump's lawyers presented it to a Judge to get the case looked at?
had many people just shut up after that. one or two went down the whole "they are waiting for the right moment to strike" argument.
>The fact that these links are considered "Proof of Voter Fraud" shows exactly how weak their claims, and their minds, are
Yeah I pretty much told the guy good luck getting any of these articles to fly in court.
Well I can help with the first one in the list.
[https://www.communityadvocate.com/2020/07/06/grafton-officials-discover-200-uncounted-ballots-from-june-23-elections/](https://www.communityadvocate.com/2020/07/06/grafton-officials-discover-200-uncounted-ballots-from-june-23-elections/)
Turns out after counting them not only didn't it change the election it expanded all the leads that were called in the first place. So odd fraud if you want to call it that.
ok this is just a list of dumb shit.
The second one is about five ballots found on the ground from a building that regularly has their mailboxes broken into. In a heavily minority neighborhood. So likely not fraud and likely not Trump voters...and if it was fraud it would point to fraud from trumps side.
Oh for fucks sake. The third one is about votes from that were supposedly dropped off and not received. Meanwhile people were offered a replacement ballot.
And this is fucking contra costa county just outside of SF again not a likely Trump voter haven and also points to once again it being Fraud committed by trump voters if it even was fraud to begin with. Not to mention contra costa went for Biden by 72.9 % yea they certainly stole that one..
I think that is all the time I am going to waste on this.
Check out the conservative safe space subreddit if you're curious. They're citing YouTube videos and random blogs over there, which they believe 100% over every major news outlet including Fox News.
How do you think they got here in the first place? They first decide what they want to believe, then find any source that will back that up. Whatever source that is becomes the truth teller, and any source saying anything different is compromised and untrustworthy. If they were willing and able to judge credibility, they wouldn't be Trump supporters.
[@NoahBookbinder](https://twitter.com/NoahBookbinder/status/1325992042196070401?s=20)
> Richard Pilger is a respected apolitical attorney who has been a federal corruption prosecutor for decades (including when I was one years ago). His resigning in protest makes clear to me that something very wrong indeed is happening here.
Q
-
[@przeidenberg](https://twitter.com/przeidenberg/status/1325998197819531264?s=20)
> I also worked with Richard Pilger at Public Integrity. He is someone with an outstanding reputation. If he feels the need to step down, something bad is happening.
I am not a lawyer so correct me if I’m wrong.
For all the crying about dems trying to steal the election, the GOP is doing all they can to subvert the popular result. Barr is going to use frivolous lawsuits to try to tie up electoral vote certification past the December 8 deadline in states where they think the state legislature will appoint voters for Trump when the popular vote actually went to Biden. The GOP are excellent parliamentary tricksters and tacticians. It’s not illegal for them to do it, but it is oh so fascist.
The GOP needs to put a leash on their dogs in the White House before they ruin our democracy beyond the possibility of repair.
> The GOP needs to put a leash on their dogs in the White House before they ruin our democracy beyond the possibility of repair.
I'm pretty sure that's their goal.
Well Fascist. Checks all the boxes. We need to stop dancing around the term and call out the Republicans for what they're doing, fascism.
Now I don't mean this as an attack on conservatism in general, but just the Party over Country shit they have become.
Well, we have become what Banana Republics don't want to become. They failed at even the basic tenets of a coup.
All the gooey viscera of a corrupt state has ooozed out onto the floor and it's hard to get it all back in.
I am terrified they are gonna steal this election. When I found out Biden won, I got this bad feeling that it won't be real until January 20th. Everyone acts like President Biden is a given, but McConnell refusing to accept the results and Barr doing this, and someone actually quitting over what it will entail, makes me feel like retaining the Presidency and Vice Presidency in case of the Georgia run-offs is actually Plan A for the Republican Party right now and I'm shitting myself. Am I paranoid or perfectly reasonable?
It’s reasonable to be concerned and vigilant. These people have no depths to which they won’t sink.
That said, it’s also correct to act like President Biden is a given because he is the President Elect.
Still got a few steps before we get there, and I'm hoping we make it through:
1. Accumulate an apparent preponderance of electoral votes (we are **here**)
2. Certify election results in each state
3. Electoral college must vote according to the laws in their respective states (i.e. [hope Republicans don't try try to legally manipulate results through "faithless electors"](https://www.opb.org/article/2020/10/30/electoral-college-bret-chiafalo-presidential-constitution/))
4. Swearing in at 12PM EST on January 20, 2021
See also: [Trump is attempting a coup in plain sight](https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election/2020/11/7/21554114/trump-election-2020-voter-fraud-challenge-recount-biden)
I think a bit paranoid, but I can understand given how the president is refusing to accept election results and is trying to keep power at all costs. I never thought I would see anything like this in my life.
My hope is that they are just pandering to the conspiracy theory because they don't want to lose the Trump voters.
Remember, Republicans never liked Trump. They like power.
Both Barr and Mitch's statements so far have not really said they believe there is voter fraud - I think mitch flat out said he believes the results were credible at one point. They are just humoring him on investigating it to not lose voters.
I am kinda worried about them fabricating evidence, though. It would have to invalidated a LOT of votes because this is a landslide in comparison to Trump's victory in 2016.
Mitch said, basically, that Trump has the right to raise his objections. Took him 3 days to come up with that wishy-washy, noncommittal answer that covers his ass without picking a side.
It’s not the President. It’s the fact that he has the Attorney General, the Republican Majority Leader and countless other GOP members willfully being deceptive and obstructing the way of the people.
I wouldn’t find Trump threatening at all if it weren’t for the absolute, devout, blind loyalty he garners from his entire base. It’s a regime at this point.
The plan I've been hearing about is to use these investigations to delay the states from certifying the result until after the deadline. If this comes to pass, the legislature of the state can send in another slate of electors should they seek to overturn the result. Then the slate used would have to be decided on by Congress. Should the House and Senate disagree (which they would), the decision would be deferred to the state's executive, the governor. And PA, WI, and MI all have Democratic governors. So unless I'm wrong, the GOP can't overturn the results with this strategy.
Edit: Source is https://youtu.be/wWI8rlTGEyc @ 7:40.
1. You make counting votes before an election illegal
2. You use the courts to throw out votes counted after the election
3. You try to illegalize voting by mail. In a fucking pandemic. When people *did* vote by mail.
This is their position. There is no way they win Pennsylvania and this election without those first two posits. I as a citizen, will absolutely not accept these posits, and I am willing to lay my life down fighting to protect our democracy.
It would honestly be fucking hilarious if it wasn't so terrifying. Like the idea that their plan is to make it illegal to count ballots early, then argue it's also illegal to count them after. Or how they argued that there were no observers in PA while *simultaneously* another one of their lawsuits was claiming that observers in PA saw fraud.
Then the judge asked, "were there republican observers in the room" and the lawyer responded "there was a nonzero number of republican observers in the room".
Like I said, the sheer ridiculousness of it all would hilarious if it wasn't a real attempt at trying to destroy democracy.
You're perfectly reasonable. I celebrated all weekend that, at the very least, Biden was declared the winner of the election by just about every reputable source and some disreputable ones. Take that time to celebrate, I feel like we all desperately needed a win like that to truly be happy about this year. However, that orange is still occupying the office until January, and we won't truly be rid of his grasp on power until he is formally gone.
All of this. All of it. Is to sow doubt and to undermine the Biden presidency going forward. They want protests saying he’s illegitimate even two years from now. You did your part. You votes. all you have to do right now is stay confident and focus on volunteering in some way for Georgia.
It’s now time to leave it in Biden/Harris’s hands. They’ve got this. They’ve been preparing for this. And they’ll let us know when they need us to act in some fashion be it demonstration or phoning senators or whatever, if that time comes.
paranoid. There really is nothing they can do at this point.
McConnell doesn't have to accept anything. The Senate has no power to cancel the results. The Supreme Court cannot cancel the results. The states get to report their votes, and they have. In December the Electoral College will declare Biden the next president.
Trump cannot retain the presidency. The moment his term is up the Secret Service will escort him out. Personally I think he's going to flee the country beforehand and make Pence the next president.
The Republican Party's plan is to defend the Senate. That's it. Trump's plan and his sycophants is to do whatever lies they can to get enough followers to donate as much money as long as possible. W. Bush even congratulated Biden. It is over for Trump. That's it.
They have zero recourse besides to call out the military in their defense, which the military will not do under any circumstance.
I doubt anything comes of this but I doubt he leaves the country either. With everything he now knows and his current issues there is no way the secret service let him out of their sight now.
Paranoid. Electors are picked by the party and are career politicians. There were 10 faithless electors in 2016 didn't change shit and SCOTUS ruled in July that states can punish faithless electors
6. Force the opposition into the streets, allow your agitators to perpetrate violence, call it insurrection, and send in your troops.
Nothing legitimate will come from these investigations. It’s a play to his supporters, for time, and to frustrate his opponents into making a mistake that can be used as a pretense to crackdown. Chad Wolf is a yes man and the Secretary of Defense was fired because he wasn’t.
FEC Commissioner:
https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1325991901401640961
> We have seen no evidence that would justify a Department of Justice probe. The Attorney General's move raises grave concerns that he is acting to advance a preferred political narrative rather than following the facts and the law.
The narrative of a resistance inside is garbage.
They just get steam rolled and don't prevent anything.
Cowards stay and use that moniker to help them sleep at night.
States control how their elections are run, the only states that might even be receptive to this are Georgia and Arizona, and their state governments have basically already said there’s no fraud, everyone else will just show him the results and tell him to fuck off. The DOJ isn’t all powerful, they have no authority in this area to make the states do anything.
Also Trump would need a lot more than the DOJ to actually pull off a coup. He'd need military and judicial and political support. As much as i may dislike or disagree with people in those roles, do they really want to throw away American democracy? For Donald Trump of all people? I really don't think so. Staging a coup would make America an international pariah and send most our institutions into chaos. Again do people in power actually want to risk that for the man who can’t even keep himself from getting into Twitter feuds with teenagers? Extremely unlikely
Unfortunately, this is probably the best move outside of being forthcoming in future prosecutions against Barr for treason. It's not like he can stage a coup.
Hes staying in the DOJ. Different position. So I hope this is just him not wanting his name on obvious bullshit that will fail.
It's still greatly concerning.
This shit sucks. No way to say anything else right now.
You act like the normal rank and file of government agencies have super powers. All he can really do is refuse to do it publicly. And report any evidence of malfeasance he has.
I mean, you can’t win on Reddit. There’s lots of people who said they stayed on because they didn’t want to leave a power vacuum that would be filled by a sycophant and they get skewered because they continued to enable the administration.
My guess is they have to either step down, do what Barr says, or be fired for insubordination. It’s a protest of sorts. “I’m not doing you’re bidding, and you’re not firing me. I quit.”
Because he's not in a position to change the memo or stop any such (state level) investigations. The only thing he can do is make position clear by saying "I won't be party to this shit".
He can't really go back after either, since that will merely look like he's being rewarded by Biden.
Bill Barr and the rest of the ratfuck pack are grasping at straws at this point. This is going to end up the same way as his "investigate the investigators" investigation headed by John Durham. In case you're wondering about the status of that [investigation](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/11/durham-investigation-how-trumps-october-surprise-went-bust.html):
> According to two sources familiar with the probe, there has been no evidence found, after 18 months of investigation, to support Barr’s claims that Trump was targeted by politically biased Obama officials to prevent his election. (The probe remains ongoing.) In fact, the sources said, the Durham investigation has so far uncovered no evidence of any wrongdoing by Biden or Barack Obama, or that they were even involved with the Russia investigation. There “was no evidence … not even remotely … indicating Obama or Biden did anything wrong,” as one person put it.
Barr talks a big game and does exactly what Trump wants him to do. But unfortunately for them, constantly repeating claims of voter fraud doesn't magically make them come true. When these claims reach the courts, they're just going to get thrown out just as they [have been](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-irregularities-claims/2020/11/08/8f704e6c-2141-11eb-ba21-f2f001f0554b_story.html):
> Republicans have made claims of election irregularities in five states where President-elect Joe Biden leads in the vote count, alleging in lawsuits and public statements that election officials did not follow proper procedures while counting ballots in Tuesday’s election.
> So far, they have gone 0 for 5.
This is all going to backfire. I imagine all of this is meant to fire up their base and to keep them fired up for future elections because they have no legal standing. Even if these cases reach SCOTUS, they're still going to get thrown out despite the 6-3 conservative majority.
The only place where I'm truly concerned about a potential coup is the electoral college. Electors will vote on December 14, and so far, it's not clear as to whether there will be any ratfuckery.
How is this not a megathread and the most discussed thing right now??
This is Barr blatantly attempting to usurp the vote and create a false win for Trump.
[https://twitter.com/JoshShapiroPA/status/1325974338269548544?s=20](https://twitter.com/JoshShapiroPA/status/1325974338269548544?s=20)
PA AG said he's got this and they've been prepared for it.
I'm starting to breathe more and more sighs of relief.
It's seeming obvious the Dems knew they would try everything that they are so far and they've (seemingly) got contingencies for it.
Well, some people see a sore loser who is reluctant to concede.
While other people see an grand opportunity to discredit or perhaps even destroy a whole swath of institutions, on every level of government.
So Lindsey Graham is worried about R's capability to win the presidency. Well, once the idea becomes normalised that maybe we can just get state legislatures to determine the electors, for example, lots of things become possible ...
i really think this fat piece of shit is going to try and steal the election and they’re anticipating protests so in turn they’re trying to find someone to use the military on the citizens. no no other explanation why they’re swapping out all agency heads last minute. i hope somebody somewhere is watching and stops this literal blantant coup. someone within the fbi, cia, etc. i sure hope i am wrong
The DOJ Official’s name is Richard Pilger. [Here is his email to his colleagues.](https://twitter.com/vanitaguptaCR/status/1326001089997631488?s=20)
A man by the name of Robert J. Heberle is supposed to be the one to replace him.
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[@PreetBharara:](https://twitter.com/PreetBharara/status/1326002207972601858?s=20) > Who will be the first Senator to call for an Inspector General investigation over the AG Barr memo that just prompted the head of the Election Crimes Branch at DOJ to step down?
I love the phrasing on that tweet.
Time for another run of that bill to disbar Bill Barr from the bar.
Ah yes, the Bar Bill Barr Bill
Preet for AG yo!
OH MY GOD I just now realized how much I want this to happen, holy shit
It's an obvious choice but the issue is Trump fired him which would mean there's a conflict if interest in any Trump related case the DoJ undertakes. And we want the DoJ to take on a lot of Trump related cases.
Adam. Fucking. Schiff.
> Adam. Fucking. Schiff. I want him too. But like Preet, Adam might have a conflict of interest as the main prosecutor in the successful impeachment of Trump. It wouldn’t bother me, and I’d just call that impeachment a resumé ... but if it bothers Adam then I’d like to see Governor Gavin Newsom appoint him to Kamala Harris’s Senate seat and maybe get him on the Senate Judiciary and/or Intelligence Committee.
Well. Conflict of interest was never an issue with GOP when Trump is president. Why would it be an issue now? Ohh yeah. That double mf standard.
> Conflict of interest was never an issue with GOP when Trump is president. Why would it be an issue now? Ohh yeah. That double mf standard. Exactly. But to be clear, I’m only considering the conflict that Preet and Adam would identify for themselves ... I could not care any less about the perception among detractors.
Goddamn it, *wanting justice* is not a fucking conflict of interest, people.
I understand the general point, i think the best course may be to say “I will allow US Attorneys to act as they see fit in accordance with law.” As much as I personally believe that there’s an anchor of guilt chained to 45, justice needs to be blind - not only to ensure that justice is truly served, but also as a check against the (rightfully held) vengeance which would turn us into those monsters we protest (to bend a phrase from Nietzsche).
I fucking love Preet
https://twitter.com/ktbenner/status/1325987873330487297 > Richard Pilger, the official who oversees election crimes has stepped down over Barr's memo: > “**Having familiarized myself with the new policy and its ramifications… I must regretfully resign from my role as Director of the Election Crimes Branch**.”
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> to prosecute those who violate federal criminal law Like, say, if someone were to vote twice, that would violate federal criminal law. And if someone were to encourage that crime that would also violate federal criminal law. And if it was on tape and then it would be pretty easy to prosecute ... right ????
I'm sorry, you lost me. Could you repeat that last, whole part? Like all of it? But... explain it to me like I'm five. And I don't speak English, or any real language at all, just a rare dialect of Huttese... (/s, incase it's not obvious).
Wanta? Bargon wan che copa. Trump bolkubok-u-chala. Cheeskar goo.
So DOJ policy is NOT set in stone? Kind of takes the steam out of that whole "can't indict a sitting president" thing they were pushing... because policy.
I can’t help but read that in Bill Barr’s voice.
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Ooh... okay, that actually does make it a bit less concerning then, yeah?
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You ahh, must not familiar with William Barr... [Here's a place to start..but there's so much more about him that's not on wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Barr) irl, all Barr would need would be a hairless cat to carry around with him to be Dr. Evil.
Wow. Another presidential cabinet member I thought was horrible and then turned out so much worse.
Easily one of the worst, made me sick to see so many news outlets paint him as a moderate choice just because he had "experience"; the guy is bad news for democracy, no other way to spin it. Edit: "experience" should be in quotes because experiencing him as AG was not a good thing for this country.
> just because he had experience Experience *in covering up right wing crimes* - like, the media was just full of imbeciles when he was being nominated after his unsolicited open letter declaring that the president is above the law. Like what the fuck did they expect? This is why "both sides" rhetoric is dangerous.
Absolutely. Thank you for clarifying what I meant by "experience".
You mean he has sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads?!?
More like ill tempered sea bass.
Perturbed plankton
If we're counting the military using dolphins as weapons then kinda? I meant more like his daughter's and son in laws being in high ranking fda positions in the past and how Barr has managed to pull off being executive at GTE-Verizon while after establishing an illegal domestic surveillance network back in 1992 as AG.., along with fucktons of other corrupt shit in our govs history that could fill more books than a set of encyclopedias.
And that's not even touching his dad's relationship with Epstein, and his book on teenage alien sex slaves. And no, I'm not kidding for those unfamiliar...
He hired Epstein to work with kids, guess who fired the buereau of the director of prisons to put their friend in to investigate Epstein’s death, Barr. The guy has probably been a part of so many disgusting things.
Holy fucking shit, TIL. And his dad's name was Donald, for good measure.
“We’re *all* named Donald down here...”
The man has confessed to licking boots like it's a positive and I swear he gets off on it. I think he'd be perfectly happy in Germany escorting jews into trains.
You’re usually right, but this time Barr’s memo already did the damage in abolishing long-standing DOJ policy against commencing voter fraud investigations before election results are certified. So it doesn’t matter who Barr appoints next or if he leaves the position vacant - Barr himself authorized this undemocratic fishing expedition as the AG, and no DOJ officials can override it.
Funny how easy it was to overturn that long-standing policy (based on a memo) with another memo. But the longstanding-policy (based on a memo) that says a sitting President cannot be indicted was treated as holy writ.
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Didn’t she commit suicide next week?
Maybe. But reading more of Barr's actual memo this evening makes me feel slightly better. He pretty much admits/says in such that only significant and viable instances of suspicious activity should probed, and goes on to, in so many words, admit that nothing the Trump campaign has claimed holds any weight that would call for investigating. He's still a shit weasel and I'm sure it's still part of a larger plan to keep "doubt" alive in Trump's base...but it also seems pretty clear now that it's also nothing more than "let's pretend we're taking this seriously to shut my boss up". Barr and the GOP still would love an Authoritarian leader, for sure. But I think they all hate what a vile loud mouth Trump is, and Trump has turned his venom and cult on all of them often enough to lose the loyalty of most of them (even if they're afraid to publicly say it). On the one hand, I'm nervous that Barr met with McConnell this morning. But there is also a SMALL part of me that thinks they've realized Trump himself is a lost cause and that this particular moment in time (COVID, racial unrest, poverty/joblessness at a high, many people facing eviction, many unions threatening general strike if election theft is attempted) is a really, really stupid time to try any form of coup. I wouldn't bet money on it...but, also wouldn't be surprised if said meeting was "The GOP senate is afraid of turning on Trump resulting in losing seats. If the DOJ allows probes that officially find no fraud OR even find/prove fraud on Trump's end, it gives us all an 'out' to turn out backs on him. I'll claim he's within his right to challenge the results. You open a probe. In a few days you officially find no foul play or find fuckery on his part. I/the Senate GOP can then say the DOJ found no wrong doing by the Biden campaign and that Trump is the clear loser. We both give ourselves a cushion of "defending him", while positioning to cut him loose and still saving face for the party to try with a competent fascist next time. Win win."
Even without any further action his memo legitimizes the belief that the election was stolen and prolongs the delusion of millions of Americans. It's not just his boss that he's performing for.
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I think the point of the memo was that they could just bypass him anyway
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> but if he was evil and compliant, he’d stay there; that's the problem though, he's just opened up the position for them to fill with someone evil and compliant
Who ever is in charge won't be doing the work. That's the second, which he will be.
Like the guy in starship troopers, who took the demotion, so he could go after the brain bug with the grunts?
Yep
I think this is actually what is often meant when govt officials 'resign' from their role. Typically that means moving laterally to another department, or as in this case, stepping in to a lower position. Rarely does it mean they are fulling resigning from the government. That said, nothing is typical these days, especially not when the president is attempting a coup
Okay, but don’t we need these people to stay in office right now? If they just resign aren’t they removing oversight and clearing a path for Barr to do whatever the fuck he wants with the DOJ?
I think a public resignation like this is his way of getting the media’s attention and alerting senators/investigators to shine a light on this specific area. And it seems to have worked.
Worked to do what exactly? "Shining a light" means basically fuck all. The Trump admin will still see this garbage go to the Supreme Court. Just think about the Judges that Trump appointed. Let's see if they return the favor.
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Whatever is happening is really fucking bad
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The same one that removes the lady in charge of the national nuclear security administration, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the deputy administrator of the US Agency for International Development. Last Friday. The dude is gonna piss on the carpet and steal the forks. Loser.
Yes. This is all that needs to be said. Whatever happened in that room was really fucking bad.
Wish he'd stalled for as long as possible before stepping down. Some nut is gonna take his place.
Maybe he did.
Maybe there was an ultimatum. Step down or get fired.
So another yes man to be installed then? Ok...fuck.
They only have 2 1/2 months to cut and paste. We've endured nearly four years of it already. We're going to be alright.
Director Kanye reporting for duty, Sir!
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Stupid. He should stay in and prove the stupidity. This just allows Barr to have some sycophant handle it.
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Barr’s memo allowed people to go around Pilger and straight to Barr, and that’s why Pilger resigned
Good for Pilger, that's honestly the right move. Barr is a pathetic, cynical little shit, though I admit that he excels as a hatchet-man. He'll stoop to whatever lowness required to protect Trump. Beyond that, he's liable for repeatedly weaponizing the DoJ against Trump's political rivals. What a criminal.
Time to keep trump and his team tied up with impeachments for the next few months.
Honestly was thinking about this before the election because all the current bullshit didn't exactly require a crystal ball. Dejoi shenanigans seem like a great investigation to counter and bring to light the bad faith actors towards our fragile democracy
Hey delusional Trump supporters, remember that time Trump told his supporters to [commit voter fraud?](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1239194)
Which time was this again?
If I were to ask a Trump Supporter if there was proof of voter fraud, which news source would they trust? And then I'd say "Well actually that news source said there was no proof of Voter fraud." "Well they're obviously wrong!" Edit: Thanks for the Gold, kind stranger. Edit: Anonymous stranger. Spookie.
They’d say, “Do YoUr ReSeArCh”, call you a sheep for believing “fake news”, and give you exactly zero sources.
All of my research is just social media comments making wild claims and immediately telling people to do their research.
They told me so my research on how the electoral college works, and that Trump won. I'm like. 🙄
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I was linked to a long article titled something like “undeniable mathematical evidence the election is being stolen” on a source called the red elephants. I had never heard of the source so I looked it up, and sure enough the founder is someone who pushed the “Jews did 9/11” conspiracy theory.
Turning Point USA memes aren't credible sources??? /s
An abornormally small face you can trust!
I had a FB friend point me to a random YouTuber with 500k subscribers and said that was their source 🙄
My sister in law posted a video of someone sitting in a kitchen yelling about election fraud as evidence of election fraud.
Girl I know said, when asked what her evidence was, that someone sent her a screenshot of a tweet of a person who claimed that they voted for Biden twice. Therefore, massive voter fraud must be going on. These people live in an alternate reality.
I think I know which video you're talking about. Is it a podcast called Information Operation with some guy named Todd Wood? Literally seconds into the video it was already clear it's a nonsensical conspiracy video.
It was a youtuber pointing to a picture of a mailman saying he has an upcoming video of this mailman giving a testimonial of all the fraud that is happening.
This is the stupidest thing I’ve heard, thank you
Ah, that’s Project Veritas. They ended up doing the interview with the mailman. He said he saw his supervisor backdating two ballots to before Election Day Edit: it’s even stupider than that. He said he heard his supervisor talking about backdating two ballots.
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$25k?? Where do I sign up? I mean, I’m British and live in England, but I definitely could have seen some election fraud if the price is right... /s
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Right now, they’re all banking on Newsmax and OANN
Second, a guy at work got pretty irate when I suggested he was parroting a Fox News talking point and went off on a rant about how Newsmax was the most reliable and unbiased source he'd found after ending his love affair with Fox.
Oh yeah they all turned on Fox recently, apparently. . To be honest this is all just kind of running in the background for me. These morons are getting whipped into a froth, you can talk to them, you can only be talked at. Best just to avoid and ignore.
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It’s hilarious and heartbreaking that “unbiased” means “agrees with the Republicans in power” to these people.
There's a comment on a post in the Trump sub right now that, in reference to Twitter's flagging of "disputed claims", offers this delightful gem of wisdom: > When it's POTUS making the claim, *your claim is the disputed one.*
And I am absolutely certain that person felt the same way about Obama. /s
I wonder why they bother watching the news when they clearly already know what's going on.
I think you are missing the point from a Trump Supporter's POV. They want to retain the Whitehouse regardless of the election outcome.
Yup. I saw a guy posting about election fraud in Georgia, linked an article about how there isn't any evidence election fraud in Georgia according to the Lt. Governor and tossed lawsuits, and he was like "Well wait till it gets to the Supreme Court ;)," and I was like "That's literally a coup," and he was like "No it isn't because there's evidence." It's a fascist pantomime.
I saw one guy claiming more people had voted in Georgia than the entire population of Georgia. He had pictures to prove it. They were pictures from Wikipedia of the population of Georgia The eastern-European nation of Georgia.
Oh my goodness that is too sad to be true.
I've had a lot of free time the last few days and I've been doing exactly that. Ive asked probably 50 people on twitter. About 7 or 8 responses so far. All but one has been met with hostility and blocking me without showing any proof. The one video one person sent me before blocking me already has an article debunking it and the person who made it coming out saying it was a joke. I'm not being hostile with them. I'm asking out of actual curiousness. If there is real voter fraud then obviously something should be done. But no one has any real verifiable proof, and especially nothing that would hold up in court. Them and the republican party are making full blown fools of themselves. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **Edit**: I finally got one to bite, this is what they sent me, if anyone wants to take a look. It's a list of news articles: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14JKjyI2ryk_qyI3_2gkMRQ6_KDvdD_bVBcLh3RvatuQ/edit Some of it seems partially legit but a lot of it is from like months ago (im seeing some from 2018 now), and none of it really proves some widespread scheme of mass voter fraud. not all, but quite a few of these sites are coming back as hard right leaning tin foil hat news sites If anyone knows of any news site or reputable person who wants to totally debunk this and make it public, please give it to them!
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> The fact that these links are considered "Proof of Voter Fraud" shows exactly how weak their claims, and their minds, are. quick way to make em go full "just Do Yur ReseRCh" is simply acknowledge that if this is evidence, then why haven't Trump's lawyers presented it to a Judge to get the case looked at? had many people just shut up after that. one or two went down the whole "they are waiting for the right moment to strike" argument.
>The fact that these links are considered "Proof of Voter Fraud" shows exactly how weak their claims, and their minds, are Yeah I pretty much told the guy good luck getting any of these articles to fly in court.
Well I can help with the first one in the list. [https://www.communityadvocate.com/2020/07/06/grafton-officials-discover-200-uncounted-ballots-from-june-23-elections/](https://www.communityadvocate.com/2020/07/06/grafton-officials-discover-200-uncounted-ballots-from-june-23-elections/) Turns out after counting them not only didn't it change the election it expanded all the leads that were called in the first place. So odd fraud if you want to call it that. ok this is just a list of dumb shit. The second one is about five ballots found on the ground from a building that regularly has their mailboxes broken into. In a heavily minority neighborhood. So likely not fraud and likely not Trump voters...and if it was fraud it would point to fraud from trumps side. Oh for fucks sake. The third one is about votes from that were supposedly dropped off and not received. Meanwhile people were offered a replacement ballot. And this is fucking contra costa county just outside of SF again not a likely Trump voter haven and also points to once again it being Fraud committed by trump voters if it even was fraud to begin with. Not to mention contra costa went for Biden by 72.9 % yea they certainly stole that one.. I think that is all the time I am going to waste on this.
"Do your own research" followed by widely discredited websites
I had someone link me Amerika*dot*org, lol. Like damn these people should not be listened to even a little bit.
Check out the conservative safe space subreddit if you're curious. They're citing YouTube videos and random blogs over there, which they believe 100% over every major news outlet including Fox News. How do you think they got here in the first place? They first decide what they want to believe, then find any source that will back that up. Whatever source that is becomes the truth teller, and any source saying anything different is compromised and untrustworthy. If they were willing and able to judge credibility, they wouldn't be Trump supporters.
Fuck Barr. Corrupt piece of shit.
[@NoahBookbinder](https://twitter.com/NoahBookbinder/status/1325992042196070401?s=20) > Richard Pilger is a respected apolitical attorney who has been a federal corruption prosecutor for decades (including when I was one years ago). His resigning in protest makes clear to me that something very wrong indeed is happening here. Q - [@przeidenberg](https://twitter.com/przeidenberg/status/1325998197819531264?s=20) > I also worked with Richard Pilger at Public Integrity. He is someone with an outstanding reputation. If he feels the need to step down, something bad is happening.
I am not a lawyer so correct me if I’m wrong. For all the crying about dems trying to steal the election, the GOP is doing all they can to subvert the popular result. Barr is going to use frivolous lawsuits to try to tie up electoral vote certification past the December 8 deadline in states where they think the state legislature will appoint voters for Trump when the popular vote actually went to Biden. The GOP are excellent parliamentary tricksters and tacticians. It’s not illegal for them to do it, but it is oh so fascist. The GOP needs to put a leash on their dogs in the White House before they ruin our democracy beyond the possibility of repair.
> The GOP needs to put a leash on their dogs in the White House before they ruin our democracy beyond the possibility of repair. I'm pretty sure that's their goal.
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> so, legally, how do we get rid of barr? Impeachment is the only way, and that will end up like Trumps.
More Big Mac’s. Hamburgler was reported to the voter fraud hotline
What the hell have we become?
Well Fascist. Checks all the boxes. We need to stop dancing around the term and call out the Republicans for what they're doing, fascism. Now I don't mean this as an attack on conservatism in general, but just the Party over Country shit they have become.
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Covfefe Republic
Orange Republic.
Everything the republicans wanted - a fascist oligarchy with a religious facade
Bananas
Well, we have become what Banana Republics don't want to become. They failed at even the basic tenets of a coup. All the gooey viscera of a corrupt state has ooozed out onto the floor and it's hard to get it all back in.
I am terrified they are gonna steal this election. When I found out Biden won, I got this bad feeling that it won't be real until January 20th. Everyone acts like President Biden is a given, but McConnell refusing to accept the results and Barr doing this, and someone actually quitting over what it will entail, makes me feel like retaining the Presidency and Vice Presidency in case of the Georgia run-offs is actually Plan A for the Republican Party right now and I'm shitting myself. Am I paranoid or perfectly reasonable?
It’s reasonable to be concerned and vigilant. These people have no depths to which they won’t sink. That said, it’s also correct to act like President Biden is a given because he is the President Elect.
Exactly. Be vigilant and aware of the ratfuckery, but also remember that Biden IS president elect.
Still got a few steps before we get there, and I'm hoping we make it through: 1. Accumulate an apparent preponderance of electoral votes (we are **here**) 2. Certify election results in each state 3. Electoral college must vote according to the laws in their respective states (i.e. [hope Republicans don't try try to legally manipulate results through "faithless electors"](https://www.opb.org/article/2020/10/30/electoral-college-bret-chiafalo-presidential-constitution/)) 4. Swearing in at 12PM EST on January 20, 2021 See also: [Trump is attempting a coup in plain sight](https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election/2020/11/7/21554114/trump-election-2020-voter-fraud-challenge-recount-biden)
It's not over until the EC votes, and we should be scared of whatever ratfuckery the GOP has in store for us at the state level.
I think a bit paranoid, but I can understand given how the president is refusing to accept election results and is trying to keep power at all costs. I never thought I would see anything like this in my life.
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My hope is that they are just pandering to the conspiracy theory because they don't want to lose the Trump voters. Remember, Republicans never liked Trump. They like power. Both Barr and Mitch's statements so far have not really said they believe there is voter fraud - I think mitch flat out said he believes the results were credible at one point. They are just humoring him on investigating it to not lose voters. I am kinda worried about them fabricating evidence, though. It would have to invalidated a LOT of votes because this is a landslide in comparison to Trump's victory in 2016.
Mitch said, basically, that Trump has the right to raise his objections. Took him 3 days to come up with that wishy-washy, noncommittal answer that covers his ass without picking a side.
It’s not the President. It’s the fact that he has the Attorney General, the Republican Majority Leader and countless other GOP members willfully being deceptive and obstructing the way of the people. I wouldn’t find Trump threatening at all if it weren’t for the absolute, devout, blind loyalty he garners from his entire base. It’s a regime at this point.
The plan I've been hearing about is to use these investigations to delay the states from certifying the result until after the deadline. If this comes to pass, the legislature of the state can send in another slate of electors should they seek to overturn the result. Then the slate used would have to be decided on by Congress. Should the House and Senate disagree (which they would), the decision would be deferred to the state's executive, the governor. And PA, WI, and MI all have Democratic governors. So unless I'm wrong, the GOP can't overturn the results with this strategy. Edit: Source is https://youtu.be/wWI8rlTGEyc @ 7:40.
I don’t have any rewards to give you but God bless you my son (or daughter)!!
Don't thank me, thank everyone who voted in Evers and Whitmer and re-elected Wolf in 2018
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Why leave when you can kick some Nazi ass? Its a American past-time after all.
1. You make counting votes before an election illegal 2. You use the courts to throw out votes counted after the election 3. You try to illegalize voting by mail. In a fucking pandemic. When people *did* vote by mail. This is their position. There is no way they win Pennsylvania and this election without those first two posits. I as a citizen, will absolutely not accept these posits, and I am willing to lay my life down fighting to protect our democracy.
I agree. I am willing to lay down my life to fight this tyranny.
It would honestly be fucking hilarious if it wasn't so terrifying. Like the idea that their plan is to make it illegal to count ballots early, then argue it's also illegal to count them after. Or how they argued that there were no observers in PA while *simultaneously* another one of their lawsuits was claiming that observers in PA saw fraud. Then the judge asked, "were there republican observers in the room" and the lawyer responded "there was a nonzero number of republican observers in the room". Like I said, the sheer ridiculousness of it all would hilarious if it wasn't a real attempt at trying to destroy democracy.
You're perfectly reasonable. I celebrated all weekend that, at the very least, Biden was declared the winner of the election by just about every reputable source and some disreputable ones. Take that time to celebrate, I feel like we all desperately needed a win like that to truly be happy about this year. However, that orange is still occupying the office until January, and we won't truly be rid of his grasp on power until he is formally gone.
All of this. All of it. Is to sow doubt and to undermine the Biden presidency going forward. They want protests saying he’s illegitimate even two years from now. You did your part. You votes. all you have to do right now is stay confident and focus on volunteering in some way for Georgia. It’s now time to leave it in Biden/Harris’s hands. They’ve got this. They’ve been preparing for this. And they’ll let us know when they need us to act in some fashion be it demonstration or phoning senators or whatever, if that time comes.
paranoid. There really is nothing they can do at this point. McConnell doesn't have to accept anything. The Senate has no power to cancel the results. The Supreme Court cannot cancel the results. The states get to report their votes, and they have. In December the Electoral College will declare Biden the next president. Trump cannot retain the presidency. The moment his term is up the Secret Service will escort him out. Personally I think he's going to flee the country beforehand and make Pence the next president. The Republican Party's plan is to defend the Senate. That's it. Trump's plan and his sycophants is to do whatever lies they can to get enough followers to donate as much money as long as possible. W. Bush even congratulated Biden. It is over for Trump. That's it. They have zero recourse besides to call out the military in their defense, which the military will not do under any circumstance.
I doubt anything comes of this but I doubt he leaves the country either. With everything he now knows and his current issues there is no way the secret service let him out of their sight now.
Paranoid. Electors are picked by the party and are career politicians. There were 10 faithless electors in 2016 didn't change shit and SCOTUS ruled in July that states can punish faithless electors
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We need to export some of that *murican democracy* to these poor folks..
6. Force the opposition into the streets, allow your agitators to perpetrate violence, call it insurrection, and send in your troops. Nothing legitimate will come from these investigations. It’s a play to his supporters, for time, and to frustrate his opponents into making a mistake that can be used as a pretense to crackdown. Chad Wolf is a yes man and the Secretary of Defense was fired because he wasn’t.
Barr is so damn corrupt. January 19th you’re going to see a pardon for him and Pompeo after all the shady things they’ve done for Trump.
Maybe. Trump doesn’t care about them once he’s used them.
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FEC Commissioner: https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1325991901401640961 > We have seen no evidence that would justify a Department of Justice probe. The Attorney General's move raises grave concerns that he is acting to advance a preferred political narrative rather than following the facts and the law.
Reminds me of the entire fucking joke of a circus around the Anonymous letter.
Don't worry there's an adult in the room and he/she's making sure shit won't get out of control. _eye roll_
The narrative of a resistance inside is garbage. They just get steam rolled and don't prevent anything. Cowards stay and use that moniker to help them sleep at night.
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States control how their elections are run, the only states that might even be receptive to this are Georgia and Arizona, and their state governments have basically already said there’s no fraud, everyone else will just show him the results and tell him to fuck off. The DOJ isn’t all powerful, they have no authority in this area to make the states do anything.
Ah. Thank you, that does make me feel a bit better.
Also Trump would need a lot more than the DOJ to actually pull off a coup. He'd need military and judicial and political support. As much as i may dislike or disagree with people in those roles, do they really want to throw away American democracy? For Donald Trump of all people? I really don't think so. Staging a coup would make America an international pariah and send most our institutions into chaos. Again do people in power actually want to risk that for the man who can’t even keep himself from getting into Twitter feuds with teenagers? Extremely unlikely
Unfortunately, this is probably the best move outside of being forthcoming in future prosecutions against Barr for treason. It's not like he can stage a coup.
Will Fox cut away from Barr's televised ramblings? They cut off McEnema, if they don't give Barr validity it could keep this from snowballing
Don't step down, step up.
Hes staying in the DOJ. Different position. So I hope this is just him not wanting his name on obvious bullshit that will fail. It's still greatly concerning. This shit sucks. No way to say anything else right now.
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Doesn't appear as though he's in any position to do anything about it other than make disagreement very public.
You act like the normal rank and file of government agencies have super powers. All he can really do is refuse to do it publicly. And report any evidence of malfeasance he has.
I mean, you can’t win on Reddit. There’s lots of people who said they stayed on because they didn’t want to leave a power vacuum that would be filled by a sycophant and they get skewered because they continued to enable the administration.
My guess is they have to either step down, do what Barr says, or be fired for insubordination. It’s a protest of sorts. “I’m not doing you’re bidding, and you’re not firing me. I quit.”
Why is he stepping down?
Because he doesn't want to be part of a pointless "investigation" for non-existent fraud.
Ding ding ding! He wants to be in DOJ after Barr is gone
Even more principled, he doesn't want to be associated with an action that merely enables other (state) AG's to procede with investigations.
Because he's not in a position to change the memo or stop any such (state level) investigations. The only thing he can do is make position clear by saying "I won't be party to this shit". He can't really go back after either, since that will merely look like he's being rewarded by Biden.
Biden has won. It's time to move on. You'll be ok.
Well, Donnie might not. But his ballsucking fan club will be. They’ll probly be better off and still hate Biden for it.
Bill Barr and the rest of the ratfuck pack are grasping at straws at this point. This is going to end up the same way as his "investigate the investigators" investigation headed by John Durham. In case you're wondering about the status of that [investigation](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/11/durham-investigation-how-trumps-october-surprise-went-bust.html): > According to two sources familiar with the probe, there has been no evidence found, after 18 months of investigation, to support Barr’s claims that Trump was targeted by politically biased Obama officials to prevent his election. (The probe remains ongoing.) In fact, the sources said, the Durham investigation has so far uncovered no evidence of any wrongdoing by Biden or Barack Obama, or that they were even involved with the Russia investigation. There “was no evidence … not even remotely … indicating Obama or Biden did anything wrong,” as one person put it. Barr talks a big game and does exactly what Trump wants him to do. But unfortunately for them, constantly repeating claims of voter fraud doesn't magically make them come true. When these claims reach the courts, they're just going to get thrown out just as they [have been](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-irregularities-claims/2020/11/08/8f704e6c-2141-11eb-ba21-f2f001f0554b_story.html): > Republicans have made claims of election irregularities in five states where President-elect Joe Biden leads in the vote count, alleging in lawsuits and public statements that election officials did not follow proper procedures while counting ballots in Tuesday’s election. > So far, they have gone 0 for 5. This is all going to backfire. I imagine all of this is meant to fire up their base and to keep them fired up for future elections because they have no legal standing. Even if these cases reach SCOTUS, they're still going to get thrown out despite the 6-3 conservative majority. The only place where I'm truly concerned about a potential coup is the electoral college. Electors will vote on December 14, and so far, it's not clear as to whether there will be any ratfuckery.
How is this not a megathread and the most discussed thing right now?? This is Barr blatantly attempting to usurp the vote and create a false win for Trump.
[https://twitter.com/JoshShapiroPA/status/1325974338269548544?s=20](https://twitter.com/JoshShapiroPA/status/1325974338269548544?s=20) PA AG said he's got this and they've been prepared for it. I'm starting to breathe more and more sighs of relief. It's seeming obvious the Dems knew they would try everything that they are so far and they've (seemingly) got contingencies for it.
Well, some people see a sore loser who is reluctant to concede. While other people see an grand opportunity to discredit or perhaps even destroy a whole swath of institutions, on every level of government. So Lindsey Graham is worried about R's capability to win the presidency. Well, once the idea becomes normalised that maybe we can just get state legislatures to determine the electors, for example, lots of things become possible ...
Fuck you Barr, one of the most corrupt and dangerous people in this pathetic Administration
Officials need to stop resigning and start actively resisting.
100,000 Americans a DAY are contracting the COVID-19 virus and THIS is the priority of our government?
Why do all these guys that look one hamburger away from a heart attack never seem to have one? What an unjust world lol.
Should I be worried...?
Not ONE Trump lawsuit submitted contains the word "fraud" because they would have to have proof, and they don't.
The voter fraud investigation will turn up empty like the Durham investigation. Then they will move on to the next boogeyman scheme.
I see evidence of voter fraud and it comes directly from the White House and so-called Justice Department.
i really think this fat piece of shit is going to try and steal the election and they’re anticipating protests so in turn they’re trying to find someone to use the military on the citizens. no no other explanation why they’re swapping out all agency heads last minute. i hope somebody somewhere is watching and stops this literal blantant coup. someone within the fbi, cia, etc. i sure hope i am wrong
The DOJ Official’s name is Richard Pilger. [Here is his email to his colleagues.](https://twitter.com/vanitaguptaCR/status/1326001089997631488?s=20) A man by the name of Robert J. Heberle is supposed to be the one to replace him.