Trump's Election Stealing Plans Were So Illegal Even Rudy Giuliani Wouldn't Touch Them

That's a spicy meatball!

This is a post in which Rudy Giuliani and Ken Cuccinelli are the good guys.

Those are words we never thought we'd find ourselves typing, but in the latest New York Times   tick tock of the events leading up to the January 6 Capitol Riot, those two idiots actually put the brakes on some of Trump's more insane attempts to overturn the election. So, uhhh, thanks, fellas!

The Times reports that Trump tried to enlist three executive branch agencies to seize the voting machines to examine them for evidence of fraud. And the National Archives gave the House January 6 Select Committee two draft executive orders that would have done just that — which is probably one of the many reasons Trump fought like hell to keep that stuff away from Congress.

The first approach took place in "mid- to late November" when Trump asked Attorney General Bill Barr if the Justice Department could get the ball rolling by seizing Dominion machines in one of the swing states. Barr refused, saying there was no evidence of a crime being committed, after which Trump moved on to the Department of Defense.

Oh, hey, remember how (acting) Defense Secretary Christopher Miller wanted to make damn sure there were no troops near the Capitol on the day of the riot, just in case Trump got any bright ideas about using the US military for coup purposes? Prolly a coincidence.

The idea to enlist the National Guard came from this rando bar owner named Phil Waldron , one of the ex-military dudes who were convinced that they'd put their secret decoder glasses on and found statistical evidence of vote manipulation. Waldron is reportedly the author of that Pepe Silvia-style PowerPoint that Mark Meadows and the rest of them were passing around proposing that the military confiscate the voting machines and do a nationwide hand-recount, after tossing out all the "fake" ballots, of course.

Sure, it sounds totally insane and illegal, but see ...

The Chinese systematically gained control over our election system constituting a national security emergency

The electronic voting machines were compromised and cannot be trusted to provide an accurate vote count

To restore confidence the “failsafe” of counting the paper ballots must be used to determine who won the election for President, Senators, Congressional Representatives

Not convinced?

Checkmate, Libs!

Naturally, the Three Stooges, AKA Mike Flynn, Sidney Powell, and the Overstock weirdo Patrick Byrne, were persuaded by Waldron's unimpeachable logic, and brought his plans, which would have included a 60-day "review" of the election extending past January 20, to the Oval Office. But they got pushback from all the "normal" lawyers like White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, who is always down to defy congressional subpoenas but draws the line at an actual coup.

Curly, Larry, and Moe showed up at the White House on December 18 with a draft executive order, possibly cooked up by Waldron, authorizing the Defense Department to seize the machines, and were waved in by one of Peter Navarro's lackeys, even though Mark Meadows had banned them. Once inside, the Krakenheads found themselves facing off against not just the Deep State lawyers, but also their erstwhile allies Rudy Giuliani and his henchman Bernie Kerik, who were adamantly opposed to using the military in the absence of hard evidence that China (or Venezuela, or Iran, or Italy, or Germany) had interfered in the election.

Money quote:

After Mr. Flynn and Ms. Powell left the Oval Office, according to a person familiar with the matter, Mr. Giuliani predicted that the plans they were proposing were going to get Mr. Trump impeached.

So the brain trust went back to Waldron, who put on his thinking cap and decided that maybe the Department of Homeland Security could put his plan into action. At which point Rudy redeemed himself somewhat (although not enough to get paid , apparently) by leaning on acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli — actually the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security — to have DHS grab up the machines to do a "recount." And Cooch may think it's legal to ban anal sex , but he knows that coups are really not on , so he told Rudy to take a hike. (Note: Axios first reported the Rudy-Cooch call, and they say it took place on December 17, before the big Oval Office showdown.)

And now every single one of the people in this story except Trump himself has received an invitation to come in and chat with the Select Committee. Guess we'll find out of these idiots want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees and risk criminal prosecution to avoid telling the committee what it already knows from reading the Times .

EL OH EL.

[ NYT ]

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