One man’s stand against Donald Trump’s election conspiracies
After Trump claimed the 2020 Presidential election was “rigged,” a short documentary shows the effect of election conspiracies in the crucial jurisdiction of Maricopa County, Arizona, through the experience of one elected official.
Donald J. Trump’s escalating calls to investigate and prosecute election officials he sees as “corrupt” are sounding alarms among democracy experts and the local and state workers preparing to run elections and tally millions of votes across the country.
In recent social media posts, Mr. Trump has said that election officials “involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.” The November election, he added, “will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again.”
On its face, the statements are promises to enforce the law. But coming from Mr. Trump, a politician who has repeatedly claimed to see corruption and fraud where there is no evidence of either and who as president pressured law enforcement officials to act on his complaints, the words raise the prospect that government officials could be investigated and prosecuted for conducting a fair election. [Continue reading…]
The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on Tuesday were investigating the origin of suspicious packages that have been sent to or received by elections officials in more than 15 states, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or that any of the packages contained hazardous material.
The latest packages were sent to elections officials in Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York and Rhode Island. Mississippi authorities reported a package was delivered there Monday, and the Connecticut Secretary of State’s office said the FBI alerted it of a package that was intercepted.
The FBI is collecting the packages, some of which contained “an unknown substance,” agency spokesperson Kristen Setera in Boston said in a statement. [Continue reading…]