President Donald Trump pressed his grievances over losing the presidential election Saturday, using a rally to spread baseless allegations of misconduct in last month’s voting in Georgia and beyond even as he pushed supporters to turn out for a pair of Republican Senate candidates in a runoff election in January.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stated that President Donald Trump should give up and “leave quietly” from the White House. The secretary of state made these comments in an interview with Atlanta Journal-Constitution published Saturday.
“When you lose an election, you should leave quietly. It’s the will of the people that has been expressed,” stated Raffensperger.
Unlike Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, the secretary of state has been vocal against his critics on social media and through the mainstream media. Earlier this week, Raffensperger published an op-ed with USA Today complaining that he and his family “are now being thrown under the bus” by Trump.
“In the days that followed, a losing presidential campaign refused to accept the facts, following a playbook written by a failed gubernatorial candidate [Stacey Abrams] two years before. A failed senate candidate [Doug Collins] with nothing to do tried to undermine the integrity of Georgia’s elections,” the op-ed says. “A self-described ‘attorney for the damned’ [Lin Wood] took up the cause. An onslaught of fake news and unrepentant disinformation threatened to tear the fabric of our country apart. People on both sides of the aisle generated controversies out of nowhere to stir up trouble.”
Since the initial audit, Trump and other Republicans have called for a review of the absentee ballot signatures. However, Raffensperger hasn’t allowed for one. In response, the president dubbed Raffensperger a “RINO,” or “Republican In Name Only” – a term reserved for individuals accused of holding values and objectives contrary to the standard Republican ideals.
Attorney Sidney Powell delivered on her promise to file massive election fraud lawsuits in Georgia and Michigan. The Georgia lawsuit was the weightier of the two, totaling 104 pages, with the Michigan lawsuit reaching 75 pages. Both lawsuits and all evidence are included on Powell’s legal defense fund website.
Thanksgiving Eve was an action-packed day for Powell – she followed up the presidential pardoning of her client, General Michael Flynn, by filing both lawsuits just before midnight.
Powell filed the Georgia lawsuit first. In her tweet announcement, she included the news that she’d filed suit in Michigan as well.
“The #Kraken was just released on #Georgia. Complaint being uploaded at DefendingTheRepublic.Org. Exhibits to follow. Also #ReleaseTheKraken in #Michigan @realDonaldTrump @jbinnall @GenFlynn @molmccann @abigailcfrye @jbinnall @Scavino45 @marklevinshow @MariaBartiromo”
The Georgia lawsuit alleged that a combined effort of hacked electronic voting systems and fraudulent absentee ballots were incorporated to rig the election in favor of Democratic candidate Joe Biden. The suit claimed that the Dominion Voting Systems (Dominion) relied on the software that was designed to keep Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez in power through vote manipulations.
Further, the suit claimed that Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger executed a reckless deal with Dominion to secure the voting systems for the state.
Concerning the absentee ballots, the suit claimed that unlawful early processing and improper auditing took place.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson apologized on Friday after a Georgia news station let him know that he had falsely claimed that a dead man voted illegally in the state.
The voter in question, Agnes Blalock, is the wife of the late James Blalock Jr., and her registered voter name is “Mrs. James Blalock, Jr.”
“He’s not voting,” she told the Atlanta-based news station 11 Alive. “He didn’t vote. It was me.”
Carlson issued an apology on-air, saying that “we’re always going to correct when we’re wrong, and we were.”
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Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Friday apologized on-air after a Georgia news station informed him that he had falsely alleged that a dead man voted illegally in the state during the November election.
During a Thursday segment of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Carlson said that a ballot had been cast for James Blalock of Covington, a World War II veteran who passed away in 2006. In reality, the ballot was cast by his widow, who is registered to vote under the name “Mrs. James R. Blalock, Jr.”
President Donald Trump’s campaign, which has issued a litany of lawsuits in a range of swing states to back up debunked claims of voter fraud, inaccurately released Blalock’s name as evidence of a dead individual who cast a ballot, which would point to voter fraud.
“No one quite embodies that story like James Blalock of Covington, Georgia. Mr. Blalock was a mailman for 33 years, until he passed away in 2006,” Carlson said on Thursday. “Fourteen years later, according to state records, he was still mailing things. James Blalock cast a ballot in last week’s election.”
—Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) November 12, 2020
Carolyn Bourdeaux and Rich McCormick
Carolyn Bourdeaux for Congress and Rich McCormick for Congress.
A supplier with one of the biggest industrial projects now underway in the U.S. auto industry — a $2.6 billion electric vehicle battery plant in north Georgia — expects a ruling from federal trade officials next week that could shut down construction.
The legal question could create dire complications for two closely watched vehicle programs: Ford Motor Co.’s planned F-150 electric pickup and Volkswagen’s upcoming global family of EVs.
The nub of the situation is whether the Georgia battery supplier, SK Innovation of South Korea, is using stolen intellectual property for the batteries it plans to make — a claim SK denies.
SK, a global producer of electronics, petrochemicals, energy and batteries, has been embroiled since last year in litigation with Korean competitor LG Chem, which claims SK’s batteries use proprietary LG Chem technology, obtained when SK hired away about 100 LG Chem employees.
The feud is now in the hands of the U.S. International Trade Commission, which is due to issue a final ruling Oct. 26.
SK officials have stated that the plant, under construction and preparing to begin hiring employees in Commerce, Ga., about 70 miles northeast of Atlanta, will go forward regardless of the ruling.
Sources familiar with SK’s situation say the company has a limited number of options if LG Chem’s allegations are upheld.
A Georgia State Patrol trooper has been arrested and charged with felony murder after fatally shooting a Black man during an attempted traffic stop.
Jacob Gordon Thompson, 27, was arrested on Friday in connection with the fatal officer involved shooting in Screven County that occurred on August 7, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said in a news release.
Thompson attempted to stop Julian Edward Roosevelt Lewis, 60, for a traffic-related offense. When he refused to stop, Thompson gave a brief chase before using a “precision Intervention technique,” sending the car to a stop in a ditch, according to the GBI.
Thompson then fired one shot, striking Lewis in the face. He was pronounced dead on the scene. An autopsy is being conducted at the GBI Crime Lab, according to the release.
Thompson will be booked into the Screven County Jail, the GBI release said. He has been charged with felony murder and aggravated assault and was terminated from the Department of Public Safety.
CNN has not been able to determine if Thompson has an attorney.
FBI Atlanta public affairs specialist Kevin Rowson told CNN in an emailed statement Saturday that they are in contact with local and state authorities.
“The FBI is aware of the Screven County matter and we have been in contact with local and state authorities. The FBI is always prepared to investigate whenever information comes to light of a potential federal violation,” Rowson said.
Francys Johnson, the attorney representing the Lewis family, issued a statement Friday.
As the remembrances poured in Saturday for John Lewis, the 5th Congressional District in Georgia he served for decades is left without a representative in Congress.
In June, Lewis, who ran unopposed for his 17th term in 2018, won the Democratic nomination for his seat by a resounding 87% of the vote over challenger Barrington Martin II.
But his death leaves the Georgia Democratic Party with the task of naming a nominee to face off against Republican Angela Stanton-King, a criminal justice reform advocate and former reality star, in the general election for this overwhelmingly Democratic seat.
Under Georgia law, the state executive committee of the Democratic Party can appoint a replacement nominee, according to Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs.
The party will have to inform the Georgia secretary of state’s office whether they intend to appoint a replacement by Monday, and then inform the office who their replacement nominee is shortly thereafter, Fuchs told CNN in a statement.
The Democratic Party of Georgia confirmed Saturday that its executive committee will meet on Monday at noon to consider a nominee.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Congressman John Lewis, and wish very much that we were not in this position today. The Democratic Party of Georgia takes our legal responsibility of naming a nominee to this seat seriously, and we are making every effort to honor Congressman Lewis’ legacy and the people of the Fifth District throughout this process, while working within the applicable legal framework,” said Sachin Varghese, an attorney for the party, in a Saturday night news release.
ATLANTA — Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp is explicitly banning Georgia’s cities and counties from ordering people to wear masks in public places. He voided orders on Wednesday that at least 15 local governments across the state had adopted even though Kemp had earlier said cities and counties had no power to order masks.
An increasing number of other states order residents to wear masks in public, including Alabama, which announced such a ban Wednesday.
The Republican governor has instead been trying to encourage voluntary mask wearing, including telling fans that reduced infections from mask-wearing would make college football season possible.
Kemp’s move is likely to infuriate local officials in communities that had acted, including Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah, Rome and the governor’s hometown of Athens-Clarke County. Overall, mask orders by Wednesday were covering 1.4 million of Georgia’s more than 10 million residents.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson was the first local official to defy Kemp and order masks, and had said police would start writing $500 citations to businesses that didn’t enforce the law.
“It is officially official. Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us,” Johnson wrote on Twitter Wednesday night. “Every man and woman for himself/herself. Ignore the science and survive the best you can.”
Kemp’s new order also bans local governments from requiring masks on public property, which void requirements that some governments have imposed for citizens to wear masks inside city and county buildings.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday declared a state of emergency and activated as many as 1,000 National Guard members.
Kemp, a Republican, said the executive order follows “weeks of dramatically increased violent crime and property destruction in the City of Atlanta.”
The governor’s statement says more than 30 Georgians were wounded by gunfire over the extended holiday weekend, including five people who died.
One of the five deaths was that of an 8-year-old girl who was shot while riding in a car with her mother and another person. Secoriea Turner was killed Saturday night as the car tried to enter a parking lot that had illegal barricades, police said.
The shooting was near the scene where a now-fired Atlanta police officer fatally shot Rayshard Brooks after he fought with officers and tried to run away with a stolen Taser.
“We’ve had over 75 shootings in the city over the past several weeks,” Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said when talking about the 8-year-old’s death on Sunday. “You can’t blame that on APD (Atlanta Police Department).”
After the death of George Floyd in late May there were protests in downtown Atlanta, several of which were followed by looting and vandalism.
“Peaceful protests were hijacked by criminals with a dangerous, destructive agenda. Now, innocent Georgians are being targeted, shot, and left for dead,” Kemp said in a statement. “This lawlessness must be stopped and order restored in our capital city.”
The governor’s statement says the National Guard will “provide support” at state buildings like the Capitol and the Governor’s Mansion so state police can increase patrols.
