News Roundup: Election Deniers Gear Up for Midterms

As the November elections get closer, the number of candidates on the ballot beholden to the Big Lie remains alarmingly high.

Immigration

Trump administration accountability

Voting rights

Federal

Inquiriespress@americanoversight.org

Election Deniers and the Jan. 6 Investigation
As the November elections get closer, the number of candidates on the ballot beholden to the Big Lie remains alarmingly high.

A recent analysis from the New York Times put the figure at more than 370 — including candidates for Congress, governor, secretary of state, and other offices, all of whom “represent a sentiment that is spreading in the Republican Party, rupturing a bedrock principle of democracy: that voters decide elections and candidates accept results.”
The Associated Press took a look at the election deniers in Arizona whose candidacies raise “questions about what they might do regarding elections and certification of results once in office, especially in regard to the 2024 presidential race.”
The FBI has also identified Arizona as a top state for threats against election workers. Election officials across the country have been facing harassment from pro-Trump conspiracy theorists, some even being driven out of office.
Meanwhile, the Times reports, right-wing activists “mobilized by some of the same people who tried to overturn Mr. Trump’s defeat in 2020” are engaged in a “broad and aggressive effort to monitor voting in search of evidence that confirms their theories.” Read more here and here.

On Wednesday, a federal judge said that more emails from Trump attorney John Eastman needed to be turned over to the select committee investigating Jan. 6. According to the judge, the emails show that Trump had signed legal documents containing purported evidence of election fraud that he knew to be false. Here are other headlines related to the Jan. 6 and election-subversion investigations:

January 6 committee member says panel will ask former Secret Service agent to testify again (CNN)
Congress asks Secret Service for an account of all contacts between agency, Oath Keepers up to and on Jan. 6, 2021 (NBC News)
Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, former Sen. Kelly Loeffler testify to grand jury in Georgia investigating 2020 election interference (CNN)
Texts from Loeffler’s phone shed light on activities ahead of Jan. 6 and 2021 runoff (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
Lindsey Graham must testify in 2020 election investigation, court rules (Washington Post)

Trump Administration Accountability
The Washington Post reported this week that the Trump Organization had charged the U.S. Secret Service five and six times the government rate to stay at Trump’s properties when he and his family were visiting — in one case charging agents $1,185 a night to stay at the Trump International Hotel in D.C.

“The records contradict the repeated claim made by Eric Trump … that the family’s company often gave the Secret Service agents the hotel rooms ‘at cost’ or sometimes free.”
Records we previously obtained showed that during Eric Trump’s four trips to the Turnberry resort in Scotland between late 2016 and July 2017, Turnberry charged taxpayers $32,742 for agents’ hotel costs.

On the Records

DeSantis’ Migrant Flights
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office appears to have been in contact with the office of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott regarding DeSantis’ controversial migrant flight program, according to documents we obtained, reported on by the Miami Herald.

The records from the Texas governor’s office include a text message sent in September by DeSantis’ chief of staff, sharing Keefe’s contact information with Abbott’s chief of staff.
Other documents publicly released in response to requests from the Florida Center for Government Accountability revealed that top DeSantis aides, including “public safety czar” Larry Keefe, played a key role in planning for the flights. We also filed requests for those documents, which indicate that other flights to Delaware and Illinois were potentially being planned; those responses are available here,

The Trump Administration’s Hatch Act Violations
Days before the 2020 election, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt tweeted a video praising Donald Trump — yet another instance of a Trump administration official engaging in what critics said was partisan political activity prohibited by federal law. The tweet praised the efforts of Trump and his administration that had been taken close to the election.

In 2020, we filed a FOIA request with Interior for records related to the creation of the video; emails we obtained show a department videographer was concerned the video violated federal law: “I don’t see how this request is anything but a Hatch Act violation.”
In November 2021, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, citing this video and several other incidents, found that Bernhardt had violated the Hatch Act. The OSC also found that more than a dozen other Trump officials had violated the act.

USPS Redacts Costs of DeJoy’s Office Renovations
In response to our request for information about costs of any renovations to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s office suites, the U.S. Postal Service sent us documents in which every item related to actual costs was redacted.

This level of secrecy is not typical — we’ve routinely obtained office renovation expenses from federal agencies, such as this invoice for former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s secret phone booth.
The records do indicate that the scope of work included demolition and new cabinets and doors, as well as two paintings of Ben Franklin and some rugs.

News Roundup: Election Deniers Gear Up for Midterms

On the Records

Other Stories We’re Following

Threats to Democracy and Election Denial

Trump Administration Accountability

In the States

Voting Rights

National News

The Coronavirus Pandemic