Isn't truth an ironclad defense?
Moron undercover video scam arteeste James O'Keefe claims to have finally nailed Hillary Clinton campaign workers committing serious campaign law violations in Nevada, maybe, at least if O'Keefe yells "Felony! Felony" loud enough. In his latest hit video, released initially to top-quality journalistic outfit The Daily Mail, O'Keefe claims that a Clinton worker violated Nevada election law by enticing Latinos to register to vote with a cell phone meme of Donald Trump, calling Trump a "clown" and saying that Hillary Clinton is "good." This is surely the most outrageous violation of the basic principles of democracy since a Clinton campaign booth let an American buy a Hillary t-shirt for a Canadian (incidentally, Canadians, if you want a classy Hillary t-shirt, you can buy Wonkette's Hillary Tee perfectly legally, since we're only in it for the money).
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O'Keefe's contention, which he is not overselling one single bit, is that by mentioning Trump and Hillary while registering voters in Las Vegas, Clinton campaign worker Henry Engelstein ran afoul of Nevada campaign laws. Let's watch the exciting video, even if O'Keefe isn't dressed like a pimp this time!
O'Keefe is really working on his Serious Narrator Voice here, although he's got a long way to go before he matches the vocal magnificence of the late Don Lafontaine. Maybe he could kick off his next video "exposé" by intoning "In a World..." This time out, the supposedly incriminating footage shows Engelstein making a pitch to prospective Spanish-speaking voters using what O'Keefe calls "very bizarre campaign tactics that once again seem to blatantly violate Nevada election laws." We see Engelstein -- identified in a caption as a "Fellow for Hillary in Nevada," which suggest he has a fellowship, or maybe he's just this guy, you know? -- bragging to another Hillary campaigner, "Literally just been flashing this picture, showing people" -- and the other guy laughs.
O'Keefe says solemnly over a re-creation of the picture on Engelstein's phone, "Almost everyone he was showing it to were potential Hispanic voters. Clearly the theory by the Clinton campaign is to scare Hispanic voters into supporting Hillary by illegally showing them a nasty meme of Donald Trump." We aren't quite sure how a silly picture mocking Trump is supposed to "scare" anyone -- the video mostly shows people looking at the picture and laughing, but maybe it's the laughter of terror.
The exchange between Engelstein and one woman, in Spanish with English subtitles, starts with Engelstein asking, "Do you guys like Hillary? Maybe?" She replies, "Yes, better than Donald," at which Engelstein shows her the photo. As her daughter says in English, "Wow, that's a cool phone," the woman says "I want Hillary." Englestein shows the woman and the girl the meme, and the girl giggles as Engelstein says "Un payaso muy grande, si!" (Yes, a big clown!) The woman says "We don't like it ... Do you like Donald Trump?" Engelstein replies, in extremely inflammatory language explained by the Daily Mail:
"Hillary Clinton es muy bueno. Nosotros trabajando para la campaña de Hillary aquí en Las Vegas. Necesito el apoyo de la gente en la comunidad."
In English, he is saying: "Hillary Clinton is very good. We are working for Hillary's campaign here in Las Vegas. I need the support of people in the community."
Another shot shows Engelstein on his phone, summoning another Hillary worker to come down and join in the crime spree: "Come here. Come here. There's like hundreds and hundreds of people and I just flash a picture of Donald Trump on my phone and they all sign up!"
O'Keefe contends that the entire conversation is felonious, since Nevada election law clearly states
A county clerk, field registrar, employee of a voter registration agency or person assisting a voter... shall not:
(a) Solicit a vote for or against a particular question or candidate;
(b) Speak to a voter on the subject of marking his or her ballot for or against a particular question or candidate; or
(c) Distribute any petition or other material concerning a candidate or question which will be on the ballot for the ensuing election,
while registering an elector.
He warns that violation of the law constitutes a felony, subject to a fine of up to $20,000 in fines. The Daily Mail at least points out a detail not in O'Keefe's video: it's a Class E felony -- the lowest possible class, with a scary-sounding potential sentence of 1 to 4 years in prison, although a lawyer's website notes that "Nevada law requires the court to suspend the sentence and impose probation or one year in jail and probation, except in certain circumstances."
Now, is Engelstein really breaking the law? Yr Wonkette is Not A Lawyer, but it seems questionable at least -- yes, he's talking about candidates in his pitch, but the woman has already said that she's interested in voting for Hillary and that she doesn't like Trump, which we'd guess would weaken any claim that Engelstein is coercing her. The Daily Mail asked Nevada deputy secretary of state Gail J. Anderson for comment on the legality of the interaction; she said unless someone filed a formal complaint, her office wouldn't draw a legal conclusion.
Nevada voter registration is done by mail-in form, and Anderson "confirmed that Clinton campaign staffers who help Nevadans complete mail-in voter registration forms qualify as a 'person assisting a voter' under the law's definitions," so we suppose the real question -- again, from our non-lawyer perspective as a blogger watching a video -- is whether Engelstein actually helped anyone fill in their voter registration form and kept talking about Hillary vs. Trump while doing it, which isn't on the video.
Not surprisingly, O'Keefe's Project Veritas is refusing to release the full raw video, because "it would comprise the identity of our sources and tactics," according to the group's attorney.
So, wow, that's some really incriminating video there -- Why wait for the election? May as well impeach Hillz NOW.
[ Daily Mail / Project Veritas ]
Because it's soooo hard to convince them Hillz isn't a commie thug from outer space who will declare martial law the second she gets into office. Yeah, that takes some real, shoulder-to-the-wheel work.
Ewww.