TRYING TO OVER-TURN THE 2020 ELECTION WAS WELL ORGANIZED

 

…The RNC Chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, names a “GOP Chairperson” as just an “Ordinary” person

 

The GOP’s continued lying is digging their hole even deeper

 

If a Republican Chairwoman from a U.S. state, sent a fake GOP electors certificate to the U.S. Senate, and to the U.S. archivist and to the chief judge of U.S. District Court for Michigan’s Western District, would you call her an, “ordinary citizen who engaged in legitimate political discourse related to January 6^th”.  Probably not.

For days, the Republicans have been intent upon accusing the Jan. 6 committee of targeting “ordinary” citizens who engaged in “legitimate political discourse”.  They have focused on a supposed case-in-point: an older woman whom the committee subpoenaed after she signed up to be an alternate [fake] elector for Donald Trump.

The reality is, the individual in this case is far more than an “ordinary citizen”.

The woman in fact appears to be a top GOP official from Michigan.  That is, at least according to new comments from Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).  It’s something that could rise to the level of criminal activity.  This is according to some experts, and at the very least, would seem relevant to a probe of just how coordinated and organized was the effort to overturn the 2020 election.

The Republican National Committee Chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, invoked the unnamed “ordinary” woman last week. She did so as the RNC took up a resolution censuring Jan. 6^th committee members Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). The censure referenced the supposed persecution of any “ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse related to Jan. 6”.

McDaniel said she was spurred to action by this one particular case.

McDaniel said she was particularly upset when an elderly, recently widowed friend of hers was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee after it was reported the friend was an alternate elector at the campaign’s behest. As expected, she declined to name the friend.

The case soon became part of the RNC’s “talking points” and was deployed widely.  A member of the committee from Illinois cited: “the ordinary people who did not riot, being targeted and terrorized by the Jan. 6^th committee.”

While McDaniel declined to name the woman, it wasn’t too difficult to figure out. A Ms. Marcy Wheeler soon noted that it appeared to be Kathy Berden, the RNC committeewoman for Michigan.  Berden is close to McDaniel, who is also from Michigan.  Berden’s husband died last year.  And she received a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee about a week before McDaniel’s comments.

In case there was any doubt, Senator Rubio effectively confirmed Sunday that it was Berden.  He did so during a CBS News interview in which he cited the case was to argue that the committee’s investigation was a “sham”.

Per the senator: “… They’re focused well beyond January 6. There are people, for example, like in an older member of the RNC whose husband just died. And she wasn’t even in Washington on January 6.  She signed some papers. She wasn’t even in Washington on January 6. She can’t afford to lawyer up. And she’s being harassed by this commission.”

In fact, Berden appears to have perhaps done more than just “sign some papers” or merely serve as an alternate elector at the Trump campaign’s behest.

She is listed on the document as the group’s “chairperson”. The Detroit News also reported last month that she took a leading role in the effort to submit the fake electors.  In fact, according to a Dec. 14, 2020, memorandum, provided to the Jan. 6 committee: “Kathy Berden, a Republican national committeewoman from Michigan, sent the GOP electors certificate to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. archivist, and Robert Jonker, the chief judge of U.S. District Court for Michigan’s Western District.”

In an interview Monday morning, Berden said she had not been contacted by the U.S. House's committee.

Asked why the group submitted the certificate, she responded, “I can’t comment on anything like that. That was a long time ago.” Isn’t that just a stonewalling comment from Ms. Berden?

The fake electors action has also come under review for potential criminal violations.

Last month, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) stated flatly that charges could “absolutely” be brought, but that she preferred to let federal prosecutors handle the matter because it raised questions about a multi-state conspiracy.

The Justice Department has also said it is investigating such matters, with Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco saying in recent weeks that the department has received such referrals. “Our prosecutors are looking at those, and I can’t say anything more on ongoing investigations,” she said.

Whether the fake-elector gambit ultimately rises to the level of criminal charges is an open question, one that could hinge on whether it’s deemed to amount to falsifying documents or a conspiracy to fraudulently overturn the election.

But it’s certainly valid to ask whether it’s okay or legal to submit a document stating that Trump won a state he actually lost by nearly three points.

What’s clear is that this was a key part of that broader effort to overturn the national election. Trump wanted Vice President Mike Pence to send the matter “back to the states” on Jan. 6 to give them more of an opportunity to review his bogus claims of massive voter fraud.  The reason was because those states hadn’t sent the alternate electors he needed yet. If they did send them, then the House, with a majority of delegations controlled by Republicans, they could vote to accept them.

Even if Berden played no role in the violence of Jan. 6, all of these things tie everything together. Understanding the fake-elector scheme gets at a key element of what was to potentially transpire that day. Failing to probe that would seem to give us an incomplete picture of just how coordinated and far-reaching this effort was.  Even McDaniel’s comment suggests Berden was asked to be an alternate elector by the Trump campaign.

It’s rather cynical to focus on this case study when your argument is about supposedly “ordinary” citizens getting wrapped up in this.  Berden signed up to play a major role in the national Republican Party as a Republican national committeewoman. She also led the effort when others like the state’s former GOP secretary of state Terri Lynn Land, who was slated to be a Trump elector, declined to sign on. With such decisions comes scrutiny, as anyone around between Election Day 2020 and Jan. 6, 2021, and especially a high-ranking party official, would well know.

And more than that, being subpoenaed doesn’t mean you’re being “harassed.”  Lots of people who are not accused of wrongdoing are called to testify in such situations; they’re people who can provide insights on key episodes.

The effort to cast people involved in Jan. 6 and related events as engaging in “legitimate political discourse” was always going to be a hard sell, both for obvious reasons and as the pushback from some prominent Republicans shows.

When will the general public, both Democrats and Republicans, finally see that what the former president was trying to do was against everything that the founding fathers were trying to avoid.

Copyright G. Ater 2022