BOMBSHELL: Trump was recorded pressuring Michigan election officials

by STEPHANIE BAZZLE

Donald Trump has been caught on an audio recording contacting two election canvassers in Michigan, and directing them to refuse to sign documents certifying the 2020 election outcome. The recording took place only days after the election, but is only now being revealed publicly.

Trump, along with RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, had contacted Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, both of whom were Republicans and serving as canvassers for Wayne County, Michigan.

Wayne County, which encompasses Detroit, Dearborn, Westland, and other cities, has a total population around 1.8 million, and while the state chose Joe Biden by only about 150k votes, that county alone preferred Biden by over 330k votes, voting more than 2 to 1 for him over Trump.

Preventing certification of the Wayne County votes would have disenfranchised nearly 900k voters, and given the state’s electors to Trump, effectively silencing the state’s majority.

Even throwing out a fraction of the county’s votes could have flipped the outcome. Detroit News reports:

“We’ve got to fight for our country,” said Trump on the recordings, made by a person who was present for the call with Palmer and Hartmann. “We can’t let these people take our country away from us.”

The two Republicans had initially voted to reject certification of the votes, and Trump reportedly told them they would look “terrible” if they signed certification documents after rejecting them.

McDaniel told the canvassers that they should refuse to sign and that if they wnt [sic] home that night without completing the process, attorneys would be provided for them.

Trump backed the offer up, saying he would “take care of that.”

Afterwards, Palmer admitted publicly that Trump had contacted her, but the pressure she complained of was pressure to complete her task and certify the election — not pressure from Trump, according to Bridge Michigan.

In fact, she later told the January 6th Committee that she couldn’t remember what Trump had said on that call, and wasn’t even sure if he had discussed matters relating to the election outcome, Politico reported last year.

Hartmann passed away after a battle with COVID-19 in 2021, according to the New York Times.

Trump’s spokesperson, Steven Cheung, responded with a statement about the recorded call. NBC News reports:

“All of President Trump’s actions were taken in furtherance of his duty as President of the United States to faithfully take care of the laws and ensure election integrity, including investigating the rigged and stolen 2020 Presidential Election,: Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, said in a statement.

The reported audio recording of Trump’s conversation is expected to be of particular interest to Special Counsel Jack Smith in his Washington DC election interference prosecution of the former president.

Steph Bazzle covers politics and theocracy, always aiming for a world free from extremism and authoritarianism. Follow Steph on Twitter @imjustasteph.

https://washingtonpress.com/2023/12/22/bombshell-trump-was-recorded-pressuring-michigan-election-officials/ 

RSN: FOCUS: Charles Pierce | The President Is an Arsonist and He's on the Loose

 

27 November 20

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FOCUS: Charles Pierce | The President Is an Arsonist and He's on the Loose

Charles Pierce, Esquire
Pierce writes: "Sooner or later, he's going to find a powder keg and blow the whole thing to hell."

 don't know about the rest of my fellow citizens, but I'll be happy when I don't have to concern myself with the internal politics of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers anymore. The Detroit Free Press, alas, doesn't have that luxury.

Monica Palmer, the Republican chairwoman of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers who initially voted on Tuesday against certifying the county's election results, then reversed her vote, said Thursday she received a phone call from President Donald Trump Tuesday evening after the meeting ended. Palmer said she did not know how long the call lasted, saying there was a lot of stress and adrenaline that night. "He was checking to make sure I was safe after seeing/hearing about the threats and doxxing," Palmer wrote in a text message, referring to a firestorm of information released about her on social media.

Palmer, and her colleague, noted Facebook crazy person William Hartmann, both heard from El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago and subsequently sought to "rescind" their votes to certify the county's results, which were the result of their having reversed themselves in the first place. (Palmer and Hartmann originally voted against certifying the Wayne County results, touching off the original firestorm that resulted in a second vote on which the two assented to the certification.) This probably won't happen.

The Secretary of State's office said there is no legal mechanism for them to rescind their vote. The next step in the process is for the Board of State Canvassers to meet and certify. After the two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers initially caused a deadlock Tuesday, they eventually agreed to certify the county's vote on the condition of an audit. The motion to hold another vote came following hours of public comments condemning Republican canvassers' decisions to vote against the certification. Both Palmer and Hartmann claim they were pressured into agreeing to certify the results after being subject to harsh comments during the lengthy public hearing.

Of course, the piquant je ne sais quoi of this fiasco is the fact that, with a quarter-million Americans dead of a pandemic, the president* seems to be occupying himself with watching TV and sending "Hang Tough, Tiger" greetings to his supporters who are still attempting to ratfck the results of an election in which he was pretty much freight-trained. Neither Palmer nor Hartmann should have been doxxed, and anyone harassing them should be subject to prosecution. But the president* is the primary arsonist loose on the land these days. Sooner or later, he's going to find a powder magazine and blow the whole thing to hell.

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