The ‘Jan. 6 Committee’ Is A Voting Rights Issue

?? Hello readers! 
In August last year, Donald Trump said “The only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.”

We know what followed: A months-long conspiracy to subvert the will of the people. On Saturday, as new voting restrictions washed over the country, he repeated nearly the same line in Arizona, a pioneer this year in pushing a politicized “audit” of the 2020 results in order to prop up Trump’s fantasy world. “There is no way they win elections without cheating,” the former President said, bookending nearly a year of the Big Lie.  

As the Jan. 6 committee -- the “Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol” -- prepares to meet for the first time Tuesday, congressional observers I spoke to said they hoped the committee would investigate the whole story that unfolded in the months ahead of the insurrection, not just the events and failures of one day. 
 

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Alright, let’s dig in.

Trump Plays The Hits In Arizona, With A Menacing Edge

Over the course of nearly two hours in Phoenix on Saturday, the former President swaddled himself in the same comforting lies about the 2020 election that he’s clutched like a blankie in the months since. But the speech also showed the utility of politicized so-called “audits” like the one ongoing in Arizona, and another getting started in Pennsylvania: They provide fodder to keep the Big Lie going.

Tracing Trump’s latest fake stat back to the ‘audit’: Last week in this newsletter, we noted that in a press conference previewing some “findings,” chief auditor Doug Logan of Cyber Ninjas claimed, “we have 74,243 mail-in ballots where there is no clear record of them being sent.” CNN fact-checked the claim quickly: Logan had cited outdated paperwork, a result of either gross negligence or being deliberately misleading, analyst Garrett Archer observed.

But Logan had succeeded in providing ammunition for Trump. “Nobody knows where the hell are they, but we're going to count them!” the former President said of the 74,000 figure. That was one of several lies the former President told. The Associated Press has a good rundown here.

Ex-POTUS menaces election workers: As the House committee prepares to investigate Trump and the Jan. 6 mob’s effort to steal a second term on Tuesday, Trump showed no signs of changing his tone: “The cabal” had done Biden’s campaigning for him, he said in his Arizona speech.

Later, he focused on Fulton County, Georgia, and relaunched his personal attacks against two poll workers there who were featured in a video circulated in December by the Trump campaign falsely purporting to show ballot stuffing. “A woman, a political operative, we all know her name, and it should have been taken care of -- but it is now, it’s in court, and it’s a big deal,” Trump said.

He seemed to be referring to Shaye Moss, who, along with her mother Ruby Freeman, were targeted relentlessly after the Trump campaign zeroed in on them in the days following the election, including in an attempted citizens’ arrest. A civil suit from Trump supporters now seeks to compel their testimony.

‘You see all of the death and destruction that this election has caused,” Trump said at one point in the speech, adding later, referring to Jan. 6: “ I only wish that my friend Mike Pence had that additional courage to send the results back to the legislatures.”

The Latest In Audit Mania!

ARIZONA is the newsiest of the bunch this week: The state Senate’s liaison to the audit, Ken Bennett, was not allowed into the room holding the ballots on Friday, as yet another recount of the actual physical ballots takes place, the Arizona Republic reports.

Why? Well, I’d love for someone from the audit to answer my email… but the Republic report implies it may have something to do with Bennett sharing some initial numbers with outside analysts. The numbers, per the report, showed that “the results of the ongoing machine count of the ballots tracks very closely with the county's tally.” Also in Arizona, a Republican state senator who’s criticized the audit had some thoughts to share with the Senate president who authorized the review.

I reported on Barry County, MICHIGAN, where a sheriff’s deputy and a private investigator of uncertain provenance interviewed the clerks of tiny townships, pursuing a tip from… MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.

Midway through his Arizona speech, Trump voiced support for an audit in TEXAS, where one lawmaker recently introduced a measure that would audit only the largest counties in the states -- which overwhelmingly went for Joe Biden.

In PENNSYLVANIA, the victim of a previous audit drive has had its election machines decertified by the state. Facing the same possibility for participating in Sen. Doug Mastriano’s latest audit attempt, Tioga County, the most conservative of the three counties Mastriano wants to review, has said it cannot take part in the exercise. Cue the death threats.

And some non-audit-related voting rights news out of NORTH DAKOTA: The state must pay a half-million dollars in attorneys fees and court costs to plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought by members of three tribal nations over voter ID requirements.

Biden Admin’s Differences With Voting Rights Advocates Spill Into Open

The frustration of some voting rights advocates at the Biden administration’s agenda on the topic -- covered in last week’s newsletter -- has spilled into open view, in the form of a massive open letter and a public pressure campaign.

Their message: “only federal legislation can ensure that our elections are safe and free and fully protect the franchise.” How? “[B]y whatever means necessary.”

“Nothing can serve as a substitute for your direct engagement and leadership in efforts to secure the passage of these critical voting rights bills,” the letter states.

It’s an echo of more specific advice offered by Biden ally Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) earlier this month.

Biden could “pick up the phone and tell [Sen.] Joe Manchin, ‘Hey, we should do a carve out,’” Clyburn told Politico, referring to a filibuster carve out for voting rights.

“I don't care whether he does it in a microphone or on the telephone — just do it,” Clyburn said.

‘We Need Help’: A Georgia state senator told TPM’s Kate Riga last week, calling for the feds to put their legislation where their rhetoric is.

Some filibuster action, but not much: Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said Sunday that “if we have to do a small carve-out on filibuster for voting rights, that is the only area where I would allow that kind of reform.”

The political implications are clear, and bad for Democrats, Politico reports.

But there’s a human cost, as well: CNN reports on that all-too-familiar phrase for election workers: “Then the threats started.” 

Remembering Bob Moses, Who Led By Empowering Others

“[T]he quiet, philosophical Moses would be shot at, attacked, imprisoned, and beaten as he led the voter registration fight,” Peter Dreier writes. “His calm and courage inspired others to take a stand.” 

The Atlantic: How a Rising Trump Critic Lost Her Nerve

Brennan Center: Voting Laws Roundup: July 2021

PolitiFact: “Are there 28 new, restrictive voting laws? Not exactly