News Roundup: The Lasting Damage of Partisan Election Reviews

The Latest on Sham Election Investigations
This week, the Arizona Republic published the first installments of an in-depth look at the weeks surrounding the 2020 presidential election. The series explores how former President Trump and his allies used his supporters’ surprise at his election loss to boost lies about voter fraud — and how Senate President Karen Fann caved to pressure from Trump and conspiracy believers to set up the bungled “audit” of Maricopa County ballots. The consequences of that partisan exploit are grave: 

• Despite the Arizona election review’s biased origins and flawed execution, other states have followed suit. And elected officials continue to give credence to calls for overturning the 2020 election.
• The election, of course, cannot be overturned, but the damage is real: According to a new poll, the “audit” reinforced doubts about the election’s security — despite Fann’s professions to critics that it was undertaken to restore confidence in democracy. Similar efforts in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are no doubt doing the same damage.
• Threats against election workers, school administrators, and other public servants are intensifying. “This is beyond anything that we’ve ever seen,” one expert told Vox.
• The office of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who defended the election’s integrity last year, has launched another unnecessary investigation into the election. 
• The Republic’s series on the “audit” references emails American Oversight uncovered in our ongoing litigation against the state Senate for records — read more about our investigation and what we’ve found so far here. 
• You can also check out American Oversight executive director Austin Evers’ Reddit “Ask Me Anything,” during which he discussed the importance of open records work in bringing accountability to these sham election reviews.

Another state leader who caved to Trump’s anti-democratic demands is Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, whose partisan investigation of the 2020 election is currently being led by attorney Michael Gableman. And now Wisconsin Republicans, led by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, are targeting the bipartisan elections commission and calling for a takeover of federal elections in the state.

• Vos continues to defend Gableman’s insistence on conducting much of his taxpayer-funded work in secret. Gableman has refused to disclose the names of everyone working for him; staffers whose identities are already known include Andrew Kloster, a lawyer who worked in the Trump White House and who said in the spring that he had a “limited understanding” of election law.
• During a hearing last week, Gableman said he might widen his investigation to look at voting in long-term care facilities. 
• That issue is at the center of recent political attacks on the Wisconsin Elections Commission. This week, Vos went so far as to say the commissioners should “probably” face felony charges over pandemic-related guidance last spring allowing absentee ballots to go to nursing homes without first having poll workers visit.
• Friday is the court-ordered deadline for Vos and the State Assembly to release records from Gableman’s investigation created prior to Aug. 27 — check our website for updates.

Meanwhile, Republicans in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives have renewed a legislative push to create an office dedicated to conducting election reviews, overseen by the state auditor general, a partisan elected official. This effort is separate from the investigation initiated in the state Senate. The company conducting that investigation was identified this week: the Iowa-based Envoy Sage.

Trump Administration Accountability
Ten months after the end of Trump’s presidency, we’re still learning alarming details about his disdain for accountability and his encouragement of those who sought to overturn the election, including during the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol.

• According to Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s former press secretary, Trump encouraged officials to routinely violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from using their positions to engage in electoral politics. The news comes after the Office of Special Counsel released a report on Trump officials’ “willful disregard for the law.” 
• Grisham also said that Trump regularly had “off the books” meetings to avoid creating records for the National Archives.
• The new book from ABC News’ Jonathan Karl says that Trump looks back “fondly” on Jan. 6; Trump also defended the rioters’ threats to “hang” Vice President Pence. 

Here are some other headlines related to the Jan. 6 attack and attempts to overturn the election:

• Former Trump adviser Bannon pleads not guilty to obstructing Jan. 6 congressional probe (Reuters)
• Texts show Kimberly Guilfoyle bragged about raising millions for rally that fueled Capitol riot (ProPublica)
• Pentagon inspector general raises questions about former D.C. Guard commander’s Jan. 6 account (Washington Post)
• Jared Kushner reportedly blew off plea to defuse Trump’s ‘coup’ plotting (HuffPost)
• Trump’s legal strategy tested in fight with Congress over Jan. 6 records (Washington Post)
• How a lawyer who aided Trump’s 2020 subversion efforts was named to a federal election advisory board (CNN)

On the Records

White Supremacy in the Military
American Oversight obtained records that provide more information about how the military has handled incidents of racist extremism within its ranks. This includes the 2008 investigation of a white supremacist gang within the Marine Corps, the members of which were all “administratively separated” from the armed services, a non-punitive discharge. Read more here about our ongoing investigation, and about the lawsuit we filed this week for records from the Coast Guard and the National Guard.

Florida Gov. DeSantis and Covid
Last December, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s team drafted a press release highlighting his 2020 accomplishments. We obtained a document showing that the release was edited to remove mentions of Covid-19 safety measures, including encouragement of mask-wearing and other prevention measures. This week, DeSantis’s opposition to Covid-19 safety measures was taken a step further with the passage of four bills he had promoted that curtail vaccine and mask mandates.

Other Stories We’re Following

The Coronavirus Pandemic

• Messonnier, Birx detail political interference in last year’s coronavirus response (Washington Post)
• FDA authorizes Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna boosters for all adults (Washington Post)
• GOP opposition to vaccine mandates extends far beyond Covid-19 (STAT News)
• Biden administration to announce purchase of 10 million courses of Pfizer anti-Covid pill (Washington Post)
• Pentagon: Oklahoma Guard must comply with vaccine mandate (Politico)
• Border Patrol vaccination rates increase, but 20 percent of agency’s workforce has not gotten shots (Washington Post)
• Montana AG Knudsen leading second lawsuit challenging health-care worker vaccine mandate (KTVH)
• As GOP fights mask and vaccine mandates, Florida takes the lead (New York Times)

National News

• Biden expected to replace Ron Bloom, USPS board chair and key DeJoy ally, on postal board (Washington Post)
• U.S. curtails refugee admissions to focus on resettling Afghan evacuees (CBS News)
• DOJ finds Bureau of Prisons failed to apply earned time credits to 60,000 inmates (ABC News)
• 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 12 months during the pandemic (Washington Post)

In the States

• Florida lawmakers push records exemption to protect unvaccinated employees (Tampa Bay Times)
• White supremacist prison guards work with impunity in Florida (Associated Press)
• Daughter of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to turn in appraiser license amid continuing nepotism scrutiny (Washington Post)
• Audit: Iowa governor improperly used Covid funds for salaries (Associated Press)
• Georgia Senate GOP stalls Gwinnett government, school board changes (Associated Press)
• GOP-led petition could cause half of Michigan’s counties to lose polling places, study says (Michigan Advance)
• Cops search four Colorado locations in election security probe (Associated Press)

Redistricting

• How Utah Republicans ‘weaponized’ redistricting (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Ohio Senate Republicans approve new congressional map that favors GOP for 12-3 majority (Cleveland.com)
• Redistricting dilemma: Do legislators prioritize minority voting power or status quo (Miami Herald)
• Republicans gain heavy House edge in 2022 as gerrymandered maps emerge (New York Times)
• How a cure for gerrymandering left U.S. politics ailing in new ways (New York Times)