Below is an expanded version of my Hill column on the Georgia call at the center of the recent indictment and the attack in the Washington Post by columnist Philip Bump, someone I have repeatedly criticized in the past for false and misleading stories. The column attacked me for suggesting that the Georgia call was not strong evidence of a crime and that Trump was seeking another recount or investigation. While I disagreed with Trump’s claims and supported the decisions of the Georgia officials (and still do), many campaigns have sought such investigations or launched challenges based on flimsy evidence. I have covered such challenges for years as a legal analyst for CBS, NBC, BBC, and Fox. Unsupported legal claims may be sanctionable in court, but they have not been treated as crimes.
Here is the column:
The processing of former President Donald Trump in the Fulton County jail followed a familiar pattern. First came the mugshot, then the merchandise. Both the left and the right immediately started selling mugs and t-shirts featuring the scowling image of Inmate P01135809.
Snap, scowl, sell and spin. Our legal and political dialogue has now been reduced to the substance of a Benetton catalogue.
Politicians and pundits continue to assure the public that this indictment is not just the criminalization of political speech or election challenges. Much of that spin returns to a familiar point of reference: Trump’s call to Georgia officials. Indeed, I have been criticized for even suggesting that “the call” is not evidence of a crime, even though I continue to support the actions of the Georgia officials who resisted Trump’s requests, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
I previously wrote that the strength of any Georgia indictment could be measured on the weight given to “the call,” a highly debatable claim that Trump expressly called for fraud. But my doubts about this call (which Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis cited as the impetus of her investigation) do not stem from any refusal to accept that Trump could be charged or convicted.
When the Mar-a-Lago indictment came down, I was one of the first to say that I considered it a strong case. I have since noted that the case seems to be strengthening with time. But that is not the case in Georgia.
Although there are strong criminal allegations against some of the defendants on individual acts in the Georgia indictment, the effort to prosecute Trump is based on loose alleged conspiracies and little new evidence involving his own actions.
For that reason, it is telling that pundits have again made “the call” the focus of this sprawling racketeering theory.
First, a brief reminder of what “the call” is. This was not some back-room, smoke-filled political wheel-and-deal call. It was similar to a settlement discussion between largely antagonistic figures and their opposing teams. State officials and the Trump team were seeing if they could resolve their differences without further litigation. The Trump team wanted a new statewide recount. Trump had lost the state by less than 12,000 votes and was making the case that he could still show that he had won the state. He stated, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.”
If you are going to argue for another recount or continued investigation, the obvious argument is that it would not take statistically many votes to make a difference.
I have long disagreed with Trump over his claim of systemic voting fraud. I criticized Trump’s Jan. 6 speech while he was giving it. I supported Vice President Mike Pence and his certification of the election of Joe Biden. I have also regularly criticized Trump when I felt that such criticism was warranted. This does not change my view of whether the call is compelling evidence of a crime.
When the Washington Post first reported this call, I posted a critical tweet based on its initial, erroneous account that Trump had ordered Georgia officials to just “find” the needed votes. I noted that such a demand would be breathtaking and further noted that, even if they did so, it would not stop Biden from winning the presidency.
But a few hours later, the actual transcript of the call was released, showing a strikingly different context for the “find” comment than the Post had reported. Trump was clearly referring to his objective in finding votes and the threshold he needed to meet. That is a predictable argument for a candidate in pushing for a continued investigation.
The Post also ran a misleading story on a separate, related call that left the same false impression. By the initial account, Trump had supposedly told investigator Frances Watson to “find the fraud” and promised that she would be “a national hero.” In fact, Trump had stated that, if the officials did a neutral investigation, “you’re going to find things” including “dishonesty.” The Post had to issue a correction at the top of this second story after the Wall Street Journal found a recording of the call. “The recording revealed that The Post misquoted Trump’s comments on the call, based on information provided by a source,” the paper acknowledged.
Philip Bump’s recent Washington Post column continues to cite the paper’s original, skewed account of that call in order to criticize my commentary on it. Yet even in doing so, Bump inadvertently demonstrates the danger of using this call to prosecute Trump.
As a threshold matter, Bump suggests (and many have repeated) that Trump was not seeking another recount because the recount had already occurred and Trump never uses the word “recount” in the first call. The argument shows the lack of good faith in the criticism. Obviously, Trump was seeking another recount or investigation. We all know that Georgia completed the recount. I wrote about it at the time and considered that recount to end reasonable doubts over the election. Trump, however, was making the case for another investigation or recount. That was the subject of the call. He wanted the state to take another look. That is further born out in the second call when he again asks them to take another look.
Trump’s demand is as simple and obvious as it was wrong. He wanted to maintain a challenge to the election in the courts and in Congress. Just a couple days after the election, I wrote a column predicting this strategy based on what the Democrats had done in prior years. I called it the Death Star strategy. To make it work, Trump needed to find evidence of fraud and delay or undermine state certifications. A new recount or continued investigation would achieve that purpose.
So, yes, Trump was seeking a recounting or continued investigation. Bump and others continue to push the original flawed account that Trump was ordering them to simply declare the existence of the votes as the only possible interpretation despite the fact that these were antagonistic parties and Trump was pushing them to look at various areas for possible votes. The call can clearly be read different ways by different people. The question is whether it is a crime.
Bump maintains that the call was criminal because Trump had already been assured that another recount would not produce the votes and that there was no evidence of widespread fraud. “Trump’s entreaties” are deemed criminal because he had refused to accept “the truth” over the arguments of his advisers. Bump argues further that it does not matter if Trump actually intended to engage in fraud in the call, because the meeting was part of a general pattern of spreading “false statements and writings.”
There is no self-awareness at all in Bump’s argument. Bump has repeatedly spread false stories and then refused to accept the falsity of his own earlier claims, even after most of the media have admitted the errors. But more importantly, the standard that Bump sets forth for prosecution — imputing criminality to a politician’s refusal to accept inconvenient facts — could just as easily be used to prosecute any number of others, such as Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who baselessly sought to block certification of Trump’s 2016 victory by disenfranchising the voters of Florida.
Was Hillary Clinton guilty of criminal “false statements” when she claimed that her defeat was the result of a “stolen” election and called Trump an “illegitimate president”? How about Stacey Abrams in Georgia, who refused to accept her own defeat for governor in 2018? Then there are Democratic lawyers such as Marc Elias, who filed challenges to overturn a New York election of a Republican on the basis of machines changing the outcome. Elias has been sanctioned in other litigation on different grounds and was behind the hiding of the funding of the Steele Dossier by the Clinton campaign, but no one suggested that he or others challenging elections were criminal actors. Despite my long criticism of Elias’ record and practices, I would be the first to oppose similar charges for the same reason.
Mediaite (a site founded by ABC legal analyst Dan Abrams) has called it “crazy” to make any comparison between what Trump did and Democrats challenging prior certifications. This convenient dismissal is based on the fact that, “by the time Trump unsuccessfully leaned on” Raffensperger, recounts had already been carried out. He must have known that it was false, the argument goes, and as I (and many others) stated at the time, a further investigation was unlikely to produce enough votes. However, there was never any credible evidence to support Democratic challenges such as those brought by Raskin and others in 2016. Nor was there ever any evidence that the election was “stolen” as Clinton claimed, nor that Abrams was robbed.
Critics have long denounced Trump as a megalomaniac who could not accept that he lost. Ironically, their criticism could now prove a defense for Trump. There is a vast difference between making unfounded election claims and committing a crime. This call, in my view, cannot be viewed as a crime beyond a reasonable doubt any more than the Democratic challenge to machines in New York or the 2016 certification challenge were criminal acts due to the lack of supporting evidence.
What is clear is that this is a dangerous path for the country to take in criminalizing election challenges. For many, this looks like a Democratic prosecutor seeking prison sentences for those who challenged a Democratic victory. It could just as easily be replicated by Republican prosecutors.
Just as Trump was blind to the realities of the election, these prosecutors and pundits are blind to the implications of this indictment.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University.
What Turley fails to mention is that Trump has a lot of sway in Republican primaries. Secretary of State Raffensberger was up for re-election, and Trump strongly backed his primary challenger. Trump also strongly backed a challenge to the Ga Gov who refused to “find” more votes for him. Trump strongly backed challengers to other Republicans in other states who refused to “find” more votes for him.
Everyone on that call knew exactly what Trump meant. If Raffensberger did not find the votes, Trump would strongly back a primary challenger in the next election. And that is exactly what Trump did – it was not an idle threat – even if Turley here pretends not to know what was going on.
Booger: thank you. Trump’s call was so typical of how he works to get what he wants–working behind the scenes, off the record, sneaking around, threatening people, lying, bullying. It always worked in the past, but Raffensberger is a patriot–loyal to the citizens of Georgia, and he taped the call because he knew who the sort of person he was dealing with. Did you ever hear any of Michale Cohen’s calls he placed when he was Trump’s “fixer”? Profane threats, attempts at intimidation. Trump has gotten away with this behavior in the past, but it didn’t work with China, so he imposed tariffs. It didn’t work with Raffensberger, so he got fake Electors to falsify Electoral College documents, and tried to get Pence to refuse the certified vote totals.
The “illegal” call to Raffensberger where Trump DEMANDS fake votes shall be ginned up for his win or else you’re dead !
““We have at least 2 or 3 — anywhere from 250-300,000 ballots were dropped mysteriously into the rolls. Much of that had to do with Fulton County, which hasn’t been checked. We think that if you check the signatures — a real check of the signatures going back in Fulton County you’ll find at least a couple of hundred thousand of forged signatures of people who have been forged. ”
LOL 300,000 fraud votes in one county – the biden crime count ahead by less than one twenty-fifth of that.
Yeah, Trump was demanding criminal malfeasance for his advantage… clearly TRUMP KNEW HE LOST.
( /sarc)
Vivek Ramaswamy says that voters should have to pass a civics test, but he wouldn’t be able to pass one himself. Today he claimed that Mike Pence should’ve used the opportunity on January 6, 2021, to unilaterally implement universal single-day voting and voter ID.
Get your quotes right.
It was a legal grey area on and before 1/6/2021 if a VP had constitutional authority to reject a state certified electoral vote. The democrat majority made the amendment to remove the grey area afterwards.
Yesterday, another Nazi-admiring white nationalist mass murderer killed several Black people in FL.
Mass murderer
several
pick one
“Yesterday, another Nazi-admiring white nationalist mass murderer killed several Black people in FL and if I virtue signal enough maybe I won’t be lumped in with them.”
Fixed that for ya.
Every weekend for the past several decades, black supremacist nationaists murdered other blacks in Chicago Illinois under the not watchful at all eyes of the demoncrats in charge.
The black on black murder capitol is called the armpit of the midwest, and the demoncrat racists enjoy the ongoing murder sprees by their black plantationists where handguns are banned but used all the time, every weekend for decades.
So, you have one.
Compare that to the weekend shootings in Chicago of criminal gang gun related violence.
Both are not good.
But one is how many a percent of shootings compared to the other?
Turley…
You say not systemic voter fraud.
I’d disagree. There were systematic changes implemented that opened the door to fraud.
Instead of a single cut that causes death… think of this as death by a thousand cuts.
You may find a single cut and decide that by itself its not enough evidence of systematic voting fraud, but taken as a whole, you have your fraud.
Zuckerbucks is an example.
Allowing mail in ballots that are deficient to be counted another.
Allowing real time monitoring of the vote and then selectively curing ballots… a third.
Removing Republican monitors from observing the count.
Mysterious ballot drops?
Ballot Harvesting in states that don’t allow it?
Padding the rolls.
There are many ways where each would potentially move the needle just by a little.
And enough movement… you flip a close race.
Now did this happen? Maybe, maybe not.
There were many reported inconsistencies that were shot down in court or by the DoJ/FBI including one in Michigan it seems the FBI was burying.
-G
Well, get a good lawyer and prove it. You say the FBI buried it, prove it in court. Ballot drops, prove it.
2,000 MULES proved it, go watch it, low information
Read the articles in the Gateway Pundit in Michigan scenario.
Watch the videos of the ballot boxes… there’s more but its not my issue to litigate.
The point is that the evidence is there.
And it was shut down. Which leaves one questioning. Along w the latest news about the FBI and DOJ… more questions arise.
If you actually read my post, the point is that its a death by a thousand cuts.
-G
All Trump, all the time.
The attitude and the manner in which elections are managed must change.
No longer can results be trusted without mechanisms to ensure accuracy that include going back through the record to prove each and every vote.
What does “prove each and every vote” mean?
” Data (such as that below)[vi] expressing outrageous statistical oddities (e.g., strings of thousands of sequential Biden votes that occur with quadrillion-to-1 improbability, ballot processing velocity spikes that were physically impossible given available site equipment) that coincide with windows of intense intimidation of and interference with those observing the voting and counting. ”
A QUADRILLION TO ONE.
https://www.deepcapture.com/2020/11/election-2020-was-rigged-the-evidence/
Too bad 90% of the American populace are math flunkies.
It’s lot simpler than statistical probabilities.
*if the gov. can ‘prove’ people pay taxes or have a drivers license .. . surely than prove ‘each and every vote’.
What does “prove each and every vote” mean? Prove WHAT about each and every vote?
What they really mean is they want “some people” to prove their vote. Oldest play in the books, that “some people” should not vote. “Some people” don’t have rights to vote.
“What they really mean is they want “some people” to prove their vote. Oldest play in the books, that “some people” should not vote. “Some people” don’t have rights to vote.”
“Just because I don’t have a working mind doesn’t mean I can’t read them”
—-Fishlips
What they really mean is all American citizens have the right to vote. There should be a method to ensure the integrity of an election. What they mean is this should involve some kind of voter identification for inperson voting. What they mean is this should involve some kind of voter identification for mail in ballots. This should involve some kind of ballot verification like a water mark or some other like method.
Some people who should not vote: The dead. Non-citizens.
To prevent voter fraud like showing up on election day to vote and being told you already have, a person should have to be required to ask for a mail in ballot.
Voting machines should not be internet enabled. They should have strict access logs that register whenever a election official access that machine, what they did and a time stamp of when they did it. Same goes for whenever there is a digital transfer of total results via USB with a blockchain verification between the machine and the USB.
All elections from the local, to the state should be audited at any time by a third party and fully transparent.
Election data/records that show Citizen with SS#12345678 cast a ballot X day for candidate Y .. . and be able to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
*is that too much to ask for?
We have a Secret Ballot in the USA, so no you cannot match persons with candidates votes after the fact.
I quite understand millions of American blasbber out who they vote for and the public screeding sick msm press demands to know, BUT WE HAVE WHAT IS CALLED A SECRET BALLOT IN THE USA.
I understand. You’re correct, the gov. cannot match voter with candidate voted for .. . after the fact.
Wow.
Yes, that’s absolutely too much.
It’s totally unAmerican to link a vote for Candidate X to a specific voter’s identity. One reason is that it enables vote-selling. Who someone votes for is none of anyone else’s business.
Take it easy. Never said I know everything .. . just the important things.
*probably was confusing voting data with Privacy Act requirements viz medical records. .. or redaction of personal information wrt ‘classified information’.
Unfortunately that’s where we are in this country. And even that won’t eliminate another kind of rigging we saw in the 2020 election – with massive governmental censorship of news stories unfavorable to the swamp (see Twitter Files, Facebook Files), and 51 security agency specialists fraudulently stating that the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation, and state supreme courts making up new rules on voting after the legislature had enacted laws to regulate it. And in 2022 with the entire election apparatus in Arizona shutting down in-person voting in Republican-leaning districts, and altering the outcome in that state.
Can we ever again in our lifetimes trust the official results of a major election? No. Can we ever again in our lifetimes trust our once-revered institutions such as the FBI or DOJ? No. What about public health authorities? No. Not in our lifetimes. Not in our kids’ lifetimes. It will take 100 years to repair the damage that the current regime has done to our nation. And by “current regime” I’m also talking about the elements of the swamp active during Trump’s tenure that Trump was unable to get under control.
Blockchain based Voter Registration Immutability.
Election Blockchain Record (1 Blockchain per Election)
Very easy to do and would make Dominion Voting Machines Obsolete and Out-of-Business.
Vote from Home/PC/Phone
Nope.
My county requires an auditable paper ballot for every vote, and we’re not giving it up.
I get the idea.
However, we I live, we are given a paper ballot. We fill in the bubble for whom we are voting for. And then insert it into a scantron like device that electronically tallys the vote.
I do like the idea of a blockchain between the machine and the data transfer.
But I also like the idea of a, if needed i.e. close race, of there being a paper back up to verify the votes.
Blockchain would do nothing.
Once you separate the ballot from the envelope… the vote is anonymous.
There’s more to it… but its an idea that’s DOA.
-G
Ok you Win,
Lets all go back to the mammoth machines where you pull a big-lever to close the curtain behind you, then turn the switch-levers to pick your choice, then trow the Big-lever back to open the curtain and exit. Your right, those No.#2 Pencil fill in the Dot, or Pouch out the Dot, or Scanner systems are mighty worse. I mean, We never used to have the problems we have now … because of the damn Computers. That pesky Bill Gates and his whirly-gig hard-drive operating system, and fancy gizmos got us all screwed up. We should just Outlaw Computers, then only Outlaws will Have Them. I don’t think that violates the 2nd Amendment. Does the 2nd Amendment mention Computer – Hell No Sonny. Computer Control Laws are what we need in this Country. That show’em in Washington. Block Chain – Ha! Next thing You’ll tell me they will replace the Horse!
It’s OK Grand Papa, settle down, the Nurse is bringing you a nice big orange Thorazine pill.
I know you have lived through a lot Gramp Pa but you should know that things change and this is where We are heading.
We’re heading into Society 5.0. It follows the hunting society (Society 1.0), agricultural society (Society 2.0), industrial society (Society 3.0), and information society (Society 4.0), into “A human-centered society that balances economic advancement with the resolution of social problems by a system that highly integrates cyberspace and physical space (Society 5.0)”. So don’t worry so much Grand Pa, We will be living in 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝟓.𝟎 soon.
https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/english/society5_0/index.html
You’re lucky to get a curtain or a private vote area nowadays.
People at the machine feeder area want to grab your ballot.
Often they do not provide a privacy cover for your vote.
Recently the voting booths, completely private, have been dismantled. They might have a tiny divider, and you’re often wide open to the entire room. IT’S A CRIMINAL JOKE MOST PLACES.
You speak of the Trump campaign and the Republican Secretary of State as “antagonistic parties.”
Really? That is like saying the Philadelphia Eagles and the refs calling the Super Bowl are antagonistic parties. So the Eagles could meet with the ref who happens to be from Philly a week after the Super Bowl without the other team and ask the ref to find more points for their team. Turley would see nothing wrong with that.
That is a silly analogy.
I find it to be a decent analogy. But need to add a part of the Eagles saying that if the Ref does not find the points then he might be out of a job.
Refs make mistakes, and are challenged, all the time. Lets go to the replay.
The U.S. gov. is responsible for ensuring free and fair elections. .. and, short of civil war, only the courts can end challenges (see Fl 2020).
I’m watching my new favorite sport – PBR Professional Bull Riding. There are no rules (for the bull). You can’t argue or reason with the Bulls! The Bulls do not feel pity or remorse. .. and they will absolutely mess you up if don’t hang on for dear life!
Politics is like that. If the left don’t get you, the right will.
*the U.S. government is like a mad bull in a China shop .. . and, clearly, neither Biden or Trump are bull riders.
Or, you could have the SCOTUS decide in a 5-4 vote, it’s been done before.
Didn’t agree with the ardent ‘state righters’ on the SCOTUS, especially Scalia and Thomas, ending the Fl State Supreme Courts jurisdiction .. . but politics is a dirty business.
Al Gore decided it himself when he tried to scam the state and just re-count corrupt demoncrat counties over and over and over again until they could crime up enough votes to steal it.
And media organizations did five independent recounts, all of which Bush won. So of the official recounts, and the unofficial recounts, Bush won every single one. Yet years later Al Gore still refuses to concede that.
At SCOTUS it was a 7-2 vote that what Florida was doing was unconstitutional, thus overturning the Florida Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision. All seven Justices on the Florida Supreme Court were Dems, and even three of those recognized the absurdity of the decision, but the other four were political hacks.
Back to SCOTUS, of the 7 in the majority, 2 wanted to send it back to Florida, and five disagreed because practically speaking there wasn’t enough time. So the 5-4 vote idea is misleading, although it predictably has been repeated ever since by the Dems.
Ugly People Rejoice Over Return Of Mask Mandates
https://babylonbee.com/news/ugly-people-rejoice-over-return-of-mask-mandates
Guess who of our (ahem) friends does that include!
Spot On re: The Call. Thank You. Annotations: 1.) IF Ben Bradlee were still around, the likes of Bump would not even be allowed near the Washington Post (WAPO) , let alone writing for it… 2.) Curious no mention of AL GORE’s FL ordeal after Prof. Dershowitz (who was on his team) clearly explained the exact likenesses to Trump’s GA ordeal.. except no political persecution indictments then….. 3.) Unless one can finally take the time to meet with the forensics IT specialists who claim to have evidence of machine fraud, how can one keep glossing over this possibility/ probability? ..not to mention the Boxes of votes that mysteriously turned up or disappeared after the GA Election.. so many openings for fraud….
For one to accept the concept of this prosecution, they must first accept that the words “find” and “create” are identical in meaning. They are not.
Additionally, at no point (yet identified) did Trump say anything that would amount to equating that he wanted election officials in any jurisdiction to create additional votes for his benefit. One can only find votes that were already cast and may have been omitted from counting. This is not the same as creating additional votes for any candidate. There were also no instructions for these election officials to find these additional votes in the trunk of a car belonging to one of their operatives, as happened during the 2010 election of Al Franken in Minnesota, where the number of votes found in a car trunk just happened to be enough to overcome a deficit in that election.
There is one other pattern that usually happens in cases about vote-count disputes that did not happen here. Usually, the person with enough votes will initiate court proceedings to certify their victory when election officials refuse to do so, meaning that they have the higher tally when initiating the case. Trump did not have the higher tally, which made his case more difficult to win, because courts have generally refused to allow evidence that alleges counting irregularities. This was the climb that his campaign would have failed.
“For one to accept the concept of this prosecution, they must first accept that the words “find” and “create” are identical in meaning. They are not.”
And four years earlier the braindead Democrats were convinced that “find” and “hack” were identical in meaning.
“Honey, I can’t hack my sunglasses.” A court issues its “Hackings of Fact and Conclusions of Law”. Right?
Look at the bright side: at least the Jackonsville shooter didn’t take their money or property after he shot them.
Note that in the Jacksonville case the motive derived from the shooter’s manifesto is an important part of the story. I imagine we will soon see the manifestos themselves. We have still to learn anything about motive in the Tennessee school shooting where the manifestos of the transgender shooter are being buried.
In Tennessee the manifesto would embarrass trans activists. That’s why they’re not releasing it even in a redacted form. The grooming and mutilation of little kids is the holy grail of the Left, and nothing will stand in their way in their pursuit of it.
If I were going from Ga into Fla in the I 95 area, I would not even stop to gas up in Jacksonville. It is that bad.
You want buried stories and sick and incriminating facts about sick people?
It isn’t much, but at least this guy gave himself the same treatment.
Read about the heinous acts of savages and inhuman animals, if you can make it through, who actually deserve Drawing and Quartering with an exponent.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom
Murders
The four men who committed the crime. From left to right, Davidson, Cobbins, Thomas, and Boyd
On Saturday, January 6, 2007, Christian and Newsom planned to go for dinner together and attend a friend’s party. That afternoon, Christian went to a friend’s apartment to get ready. At around 8:00 pm, Christian’s friend went to the party, and Christian stayed behind and waited for Newsom to pick her up. Newsom arrived, and he and Christian went to the apartment complex parking lot.[citation needed]
The assailants observed Christian and Newsom standing close to Christian’s vehicle in an embrace.[37] They then decided to attack the couple. Both were forced into the backseat of Christian’s SUV at gunpoint, had their hands tied behind their backs, and were taken to Davidson’s house at 2316 Chipman Street.[3][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][excessive citations]
Both Christian and Newsom were raped. Newsom is believed to have been raped inside Davidson’s house. According to the testimony of the Knox County Acting Medical Examiner, Newsom was sodomized with an object and raped by a minimum of one of the perpetrators.[47][48][49][50] He was then taken to a set of railroad tracks where he was forced to walk barefoot to the location where he was murdered. Prosecutors believe a mangled dog leash found on a hillside leading up to the railroad tracks was used to force Newsom to walk to his death.[47] When Newsom was murdered, his hands were bound behind his back, and his feet were bound together. He was blindfolded with a bandana and gagged with a sock. He wore only a shirt and underwear. Newsom was shot in his neck and the back. Newsom survived this shooting initially, but later was shot again in the head. The fatal shot was fired with the gun’s muzzle against his head above his right ear, and it severed his brain stem. After killing Newsom, the assailants poured gasoline on the comforter and Newsom then set his body on fire.[49][50][51][52][53][54][excessive citations]
Christian was held prisoner inside Davidson’s house, mostly in the north bedroom.[3][49][55] Prosecutors believe that Coleman held Christian captive while the male offenders were murdering Newsom.[56] After murdering Newsom, the assailants returned to Davidson’s house where they beat and repeatedly raped Christian.[40] The medical examiner testified that Christian died after hours of sexual torture, sustaining severe head injuries and suffering severe injuries to her vagina, anus, and mouth due to sexual assaults.[48][53][54][57] Her injuries were consistent with being raped with an object.[53][58] According to the medical examiner, the sexual attack Christian endured was “extreme” and “much more than a simple sexual assault.”[53] Prosecutors believe that Christian was tied to a chair and orally raped by Davidson and Cobbins.[47][48][49] Christian was also anally and vaginally raped. She was also beaten, kicked in her groin, and beaten on the head. Christian suffered extensive hemorrhaging to her head and groin. Additionally, Christian suffered bruises and carpet burns on much of her body.[47][48][49][50][59][60][excessive citations] According to Davidson’s confession, during Christian’s captivity, she said she “didn’t want to die.”[61]
While Christian was still alive, in order to remove DNA evidence, Christian’s attackers poured bleach down her throat and scrubbed her body, including her bleeding and battered genital area with it. Christian was bound in a hog-tied fashion with curtains and strips of bedding. Her face was tightly covered with a small trash bag, and her body was stashed in five large trash bags.[45][53][62] Christian, who was naked except for her camisole and sweater, was tied in a fetal position, placed inside a residential waste disposal unit inside the kitchen of the home, and covered with sheets. The medical examiner testified at trial that there was evidence that Christian slowly suffocated to death.[45][53][63] Christian died between the afternoon of January 7 and the afternoon of January 8.[42] As Christian was suffocating to death, Davidson left to spend time with his girlfriend and gave her Christian’s personal items. Davidson also used Newsom’s cellphone and was seen wearing Newsom’s shoes.[40]
Investigation
After Christian and Newsom did not show up at the party, the couple’s friends began calling and texting them and received no response. Later, at around 11:00 pm, two of Newsom’s friends went to the apartment where the couple had been kidnapped and found Newsom’s truck in the parking lot. They were unable to locate Christian’s SUV.[39][43]
A witness, who worked as a driver for Waste Connections, arrived at work on Chipman Street at around 12:30 am on January 7. He noticed that the lights in 2316 Chipman Street were on and that the house seemed busy for the time of night. He saw a 4Runner in front of the house with its porch lights on. The witness later observed the 4Runner drive slowly by him. The car slowed down for about 20 seconds as if the occupants were “checking him out”. He saw four black men in the car. Another witness who lived around one block from 2316 Chipman Street heard three pops from the direction of the train tracks at about 1:45 am.[64][65][66]
Newsom’s body was discovered near a set of nearby railroad tracks on January 7 at 12:20 pm by a Norfolk Southern Railroad employee.[10][51] Though there was semen inside of Newsom’s body, DNA in the semen had been destroyed by the fire.[50][54] A comforter was wrapped around Newsom’s body, and a sweatshirt was wrapped around his head. His bare and muddy feet indicated that he had walked barefoot to the area where he was killed.[51][53][54]
On January 7, Christian failed to answer calls from her mother and friend. Christian also did not attend work. The couple’s friends and families tried to find them, checking local hospitals and filing missing person reports. Christian’s parents requested help from law enforcement but were told that they would have to search themselves. They then sought help from Christian’s mobile phone provider and learned that her phone had last pinged at a Cherry Street phone tower. Christian and Newsom’s families and friends searched the Cherry Street area and found Christian’s abandoned Toyota 4Runner between 1:30 am and 2:00 am on Monday, January 8.[3][51]
Several items were missing from Christian’s vehicle, including a teddy bear and photographs Christian kept there and her phone charger and iPod. The front seats were pushed back, and Christian could not have reached the pedals. The floorboard was covered with mud, inconsistent with how Christian maintained her vehicle. Stickers Christian kept on the outside windows had been removed. Inside the vehicle was a pack of Newport cigarettes, even though neither Christian nor Newsom smoked them. Police also recovered an envelope from the vehicle that yielded fingerprint evidence leading them to LeMaricus Davidson of 2316 Chipman Street, an address two blocks from Christian’s car.[43][44][51][67][68][69][70][excessive citations]
When police went to 2316 Chipman Street on Tuesday, January 9, they found the house unoccupied and Christian’s body in a trash can in the kitchen.[71][72] Christian’s body was stashed in five large trash bags. The bags had Davidson’s prints. Davidson’s prints were also found on a box of garbage bags.[43][47][53][55] Davidson’s sperm was found in Christian’s vagina and anus while Cobbins’ sperm was found in her mouth.[50][72] Also inside the house were several items that belonged to Christian and Newsom, including Christian’s purse, clothing she had in her vehicle, Christian’s shoes, camera, photographs (which were ripped and burned), and iPod and Newsom’s baseball caps and driver’s license. Several of the victims’ belongings had Davidson’s prints. The items from Christian’s SUV were shoved into trash bags.[46][47][72] In addition to the sperm found on Christian’s body, Davidson’s sperm was found on Christian’s jeans while Cobbins’ sperm was found on her camisole, sweater, and jeans.[72] Shell casings found at Davidson’s house matched the bullets used to kill Newsom.[47]
After finding Christian’s body and discovering the presence of Davidson’s semen on her clothing and in her body cavities, police undertook a manhunt for Davidson. After receiving phone calls between Davidson and Boyd, they asked Boyd for information regarding Davidson’s whereabouts. Boyd directed them to a vacant house.[73] On January 11, Davidson was arrested in the vacant house. There, police found Newsom’s size 9½ Nike Shox athletic shoes and a .22-caliber High Standard revolver. Davidson was then interrogated about the murders. He told five different stories, first claiming that he had left the house on Friday and knew nothing of the crimes.[74] He later told police that Cobbins and Thomas arrived at his house at around 10:00 pm on Friday or Saturday and informed him that they had carjacked some people who were in the vehicle. Davidson claimed he saw the victims tied up in the back seat, did not want any part of it, and left to smoke marijuana. He said he returned to the house about 20 minutes later to find Christian, who told him she did not want to die. He then used Christian’s vehicle to deal drugs and wiped it clean. Davidson claimed that he did not go past the living room and that he never raped Christian.[61]
On January 11, Thomas, Cobbins, and Coleman were arrested in Lebanon, Kentucky. Police seized a computer on which Thomas and Cobbins had been viewing news coverage of the murders. Police also seized a purse that contained several of Christian’s belongings, including her cosmetic bag and change purse. Additionally, police found Christian’s overnight bag.[61][75] Cobbins gave a statement to investigators claiming that he, Davidson, and Boyd drove to an apartment complex for someone to meet a girl. When they arrived, they saw an SUV with a female in the driver’s seat. She was speaking to a male. Davidson and Boyd “basically carjacked them” and ordered Cobbins to drive back to Chipman Street. According to Cobbins, Davidson took the woman into a bedroom once they arrived at the residence, and Boyd drove away with the man. Boyd later returned without the male victim. Cobbins denied having any sexual intercourse with the female victim.[76] Coleman admitted to being present in the house during the crimes, claiming that she had been held hostage by the other defendants.[77]
A journal was recovered after the arrests of Thomas, Cobbins, and Coleman. An entry from January 9 read:
Last night was one of a kind. We stayed w/a crackhead that is cool as hell. It snowed a lil bit but it’s already melted. Let’s talk about adventures! I had one HELL OF AN ADVENTURE since I’ve been in the big T.N. [I]t’s a crazy world these days! But I love the fun adventures [and] lessons that I’ve learned. It[‘]s going to be a long interesting year![78]
A forensic document examiner verified that the handwriting in the entry matched Coleman’s handwriting.[78]
– Wikipedia
last defendant tried in 2020. Crickets from media.
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gxh7JGhyE2c/T29gv4_C5aI/AAAAAAAABSY/0t3JJ0KyFks/s1600/535388_3671383187595_1365336380_3515534_915926862_n.jpg
Trump’s phone call ask is brazen with self-serving corruption….he asks Raffensberger to go find 11,780 votes “…because we won the state”.
By giving the number 11,780 as the number of vote he wants Raffensberger to “find” (“one more than we have”), he is asking Brad R. to cheat on his behalf. Trump is asking to have done for his benefit the thing he always accuses Democrats of doing (finding more votes after losing on the first count).
He is asking Brad R. to break his oath of office to the advantage of himself. Everyone knows that it is illegal and corrupt what Trump asked to be done. Trump knows this too (if you can get past his double-standard), because he’s the first to demonize Dems (when and if) they do the same thing.
But, laws and rules are for suckers to follow, and for “winners” to game. If you’re in favor of Trump getting off from this outrageous attempt to overturn an election, then you deserve that kind of nation going forward. And that will lead to civil war, the endpoint societies reach when laws are seen as breakable if the “cause is just”.
Dear ‘pbinCA’ you deserve a Big BUMP on the head for your self-serving political persecution far-fetched Radical Left woke interpretation of The Call asking for a look at the contested votes.. which were app. 200K as reported at the time of The Call. Nice try.
“He is asking Brad R. to break his oath of office to the advantage of himself. “
What a foolish statement to make. If you read the transcript or listened to the audio you would be embarrassed at yourself if you are capable of being embarrassed. No one asked anyone to break their oath. Once can say Trump asked him to eep his oath and make sure the election results were proper. Trump showed why he thought less than 12,000 votes could easily be found giving time to look for the rest.
” If you’re in favor of Trump getting off from this outrageous attempt to overturn an election”
Better said would be if you are in favor the ignorance involved in your reply, you deserve to move to another country. Try Venezuela or Cuba. They are both in walking distance based on what we are seeing at the border.
Better said would be if you are in favor the ignorance involved in your reply, you deserve to move to another country.
I would say that if one favors his kind of ignorance, he deserves to live in a nation ruled by “Joe Biden.” That goes for everyone who voted for him. They deserve to live in poverty, high inflation, high crime, and little freedom.
Here, let me fix that for you,
“If you’re in favor of Democrats getting off from this outrageous attempt for election interference for the 2024 election, then you deserve that kind of nation going forward. And that will lead to civil war, the endpoint societies reach when laws are seen as breakable if the “cause is just”.”
Yes. That looks more accurate of what is really going on.
TRUMP ON CALL TEXT “We have at least 2 or 3 — anywhere from 250-300,000 ballots were dropped mysteriously into the rolls. Much of that had to do with Fulton County, which hasn’t been checked. We think that if you check the signatures — a real check of the signatures going back in Fulton County you’ll find at least a couple of hundred thousand of forged signatures of people who have been forged. ”
wow, so only less than 12 thou out of 300 thousands demo falsies
50,000 REPUBLICANS went to cast a ballot and were told they already cast one :
Trump on call text : “But an accurate number but its in the 50s of thousands— and that’s people that went to vote and they were told they can’t vote because they’ve already been voted for. And it’s a very sad thing. They walked out complaining. But the number’s large. We’ll have it for you. But it’s much more than the number of 11,779 that’s — The current margin is only 11,779. ”
we’re up to 350 thousand now
TRUMP STATING FACTS AGAIN ON THE CALL: ” We had, I believe it’s about 4,502 voters who voted but who weren’t on the voter registration list, so it’s 4,502 who voted but they weren’t on the voter registration roll which they had to be. You had 18,325 vacant address voters. The address was vacant and they’re not allowed to be counted. That’s 18,325. ”
There’s another 23 thousand, so 373,000 votes in question so far but we only need to find 11,779….
TRUMP ON CALL TEXT: ” They weren’t in an official voter box, but they were in what looked to be suitcases or trunks, suitcases but they weren’t in voter boxes. The minimum number it could be because we watched it and they watched it certified in slow motion instant replay if you can believe it but slow motion and it was magnified many times over and the minimum it was 18,000 ballots, all for Biden. ”
18,000 DEMONRAT VOTES PULLED FROM UNDER A TABLE AFTER THE “PIPE EXPLISION SHUT IT ALL DOWN” (but it did not, it just gave the demonrat operatives secrecy to pump in the fraud votes)
We’re up to 392,000 votes of fraud….
trump on call text : “They voted in Georgia but they were from out of state, of 4,925. You had absentee ballots sent to vacant, they were absentee ballots sent to vacant addresses. They had nothing on them about addresses, that’s 2,326.
394,000
I’m getting tired adding up all the fraud. Joetard lost 30x times already. There’s a lot more from TRUMP with direct numbers.
I’ll stop here it’s long already.
THE TARDS OF AMERICA: ” there is no evidence!!!!!!! IT’S THE MOST SECURE ELECTION IN THE HISTORY OF THE USA!!!!! !!! !!!!”
Nothing that comes out of the mouth of Trump is likely to be true. So, WHERE’S THE PROOF of any of this? Do you really believe that Georgia, which had Republicans as SoS and Governor would refuse to act if there was actual evidence of any of this? Show the proof of:
1. ” anywhere from 250-300,000 ballots were dropped mysteriously into the rolls.” What does that even mean? Don’t you think that ballots are checked by both Republicans and Democrats to make sure that there is a valid voter registration for each ballot? Don’t you know that if registered voter has cast their ballot that another ballot cannot also be cast by that voter because the system shuts it out?
2. “you’ll find at least a couple of hundred thousand of forged signatures of people who have been forged. ”. How did he come up with this number? What FACTS does he base this on? Where’s the proof? Don’t you know that when a voter comes to the polls that their signature is checked against their voter registration by BOTH Republicans and Democrats?
3. “50,000 REPUBLICANS went to cast a ballot and were told they already cast one” Where did he get this number? Again, where is the proof that they HADN’T actually voted previously? Knowing Trump and his supporters, I wouldn’t be surprised if some voters DID try to vote twice and got caught, versus someone else stealing their identity, which is what he’s trying to claim. And, just HOW could this be done–you need identification to vote–so, is your hero tryng to claim that 50,000 fake IDs were created in order to vote fraudulently? Who in their right mind would believe this?. If a voter believes an error has been made and is refused a ballot, s/he can cast a provisional ballot and then file a lawsuit to challenge the refusal. If the voter is correct, their ballot will be counted.
4. ” We had, I believe it’s about 4,502 voters who voted but who weren’t on the voter registration list, so it’s 4,502 who voted but they weren’t on the voter registration roll which they had to be.”. I know this is a lie because if you are not registered to vote, you CANNOT vote. So, when he claims that these people “voted”–he’s lying. And, where’s the proof of this?
5. “You had 18,325 vacant address voters. The address was vacant and they’re not allowed to be counted. That’s 18,325. ” Again, where’s the proof of this? Where did he get the number?
6. “They weren’t in an official voter box, but they were in what looked to be suitcases or trunks, suitcases but they weren’t in voter boxes. The minimum number it could be because we watched it and they watched it certified in slow motion instant replay if you can believe it but slow motion and it was magnified many times over and the minimum it was 18,000 ballots, all for Biden. ” This lie was the basis for the attacks on Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shay Moss. The so-called “suitcases” were
were official ballot carrying cases. HOW does he know that all of the ballots in these containers were for Biden?
7. “18,000 DEMONRAT VOTES PULLED FROM UNDER A TABLE AFTER THE “PIPE EXPLISION SHUT IT ALL DOWN” (but it did not, it just gave the demonrat operatives secrecy to pump in the fraud votes)”. Another lie that has been debunked. There were both Republicans and Democrats at the vote tabulation location. Where did he get the number and how does he know that all of the votes were for Biden
8. “They voted in Georgia but they were from out of state, of 4,925. You had absentee ballots sent to vacant, they were absentee ballots sent to vacant addresses. They had nothing on them about addresses, that’s 2,326.” An absentee ballot sent to a vacant address will be returned as undeliverable. Where did he get this number? The only time someone can vote in Georgia but be “out of state” is if the voter is in the military service stationed outside of Georgia, is a student at an out of state college or university or someone who is out of state traveling or is on business. In each such instance, the voter is a Georgia resident and legally can vote in Georgia.
Even if you believed Trump’s lies about people who voted without being registered or used a “vacant address”–where’s the proof that they all voted for Biden?
The 60+ court cases that failed were dismissed because there is NO proof of any of this.
“Nothing that comes out of the mouth of Gigi is likely to be true.”
Fixed that
He paid me in steaks.
More must-see TV:
https://twitter.com/stclairashley/status/1693993979002634664
If this was “settlement discussions” regarding an election – why weren’t there any Democrats or anyone representing Biden on the line.
No, this is Trump thinking because the Georgia Secretary of State is a Republican he can pressure him to cheat for the Republicans. Would Trump have even tried to make the call if Georgia had a Democratic Secretary of State?
This is Republicans trying to pressure other Republicans to cheat the Democrats.
You can’t even figure out what happened or the players that were there, yet you comment dumbly.
You are mind-reading the situation. It was not R vs D, it was establishment against Trump. Do you know even in New York state, new audit found over 300,000 votes were counted more than registered voters.
No they didn’t. Not in the 2020 presidential election.
Blind, indeed, though some are simply feigning blindness, such is their hubris and madness. Appreciate your honesty and bravery, Res Ipsa folks.
Now I ain’t sayin’ she a vote rigger
But Fatty only made my lead bigger
Must-see TV:
https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1695496204409344487
Why do humans believe that God’s sense of justice coincides with their own?
Because some Humans can’t be beat, They refuse to acknowledge loss, They are never wrong, They only win, They are the Winners, because God is on Their side.
You’re referring to Al Gore, Stacy Abrams, and Hillary Clinton, right?
Your correct about that, but I was referring to issues with my Mother.
(No kidding) Mothers are not always right. Especially when they Vote Left.
I feel ya.
This would be a good article except for one thing – Turley doesn’t believe in systemic election fraud. As a matter of fact, fraud has been a part of the American election since the founding. There are repeated examples of fraudulent elections throughout American history, which is no surprise since the process is not even close to fool-proof. There is no big vote-counter in the sky. Votes are calculated in precincts and officials report them to the county, which reports them to the state, which then reports the count to the legislature to be “validated,” meaning the legislature accepts the count. There is some prevention of fraudulent reports in precincts where there are voters from each party but not in predominantly one-party precincts. A common tactic has been to hold the count until the number needed to sway the vote is recognized. People who call for paper ballots on election day have their head in the sand. Paper ballots are the EASIEST to compromise. Ever hear of ballot stuffing? In the case of Georgia, there are precincts that are one-party. This is also true in most large cities. Although Democrats cry that the courts “proved” there was no fraud, the fact is that the courts wouldn’t take cases because the plaintiffs “lacked standing.” The Supreme Court even rejected a petition by the State of Texas! The courts rejected the cases as a cop-out, they didn’t want to get involved. Now, judges are involved. They’re prosecuting Trump for exercising his First Amerndment rights.
Semc jr,
Often I don’t understand Prof Turley ie; like when he sides with CIA-AG Barr that was in on the before, during & after J6 Coup with Milly, Pelosi, McConnell, Pence, intel’s Q outfit & other assorted creeps .
(How Dare P Trump suggest citizen Peacefully & Respectfully gather to voice their concerns over a massive voting system Riggers!)
Georgia SoS Ratsnbooger (Sic), & the state were supposed to, but didn’t have an outside, independent signature verification, like from all the illegal drop boxes. (2000 Mules)
This & other issues are now coming out, but in all these corrupt courts the US Citizens/Trump will not get a fair hearing, just a “Struggle Session” default judgement from the judges just some of the cases of Infowars/Alex Jones over the Sandy Hook BS cases.
Anyway I’ve not the time to write a book but below is about 16 minutes of some more of the 2020 Election scam info.
https://www.infowars.com/posts/must-watch-powerful-report-lays-out-total-proof-democrats-rigged-2020-election/
Settlement talks are between lawyers and talk legal stuff and try to negotiate. This call was the president badgering the GA SoS to overturn an election. One has to twist yourself really badly to get anything else from the call. Also, I don’t even think there was a suit pending by Trump against the SoS for there even to be a settlement talk about.
>”badgering”
What’s the difference between badgering and challenging? In any case, I don’t believe challenging or badgering is a crime.
*as I understand it (not much!), only the SCOTUS can end badgering or challenges to elections .. . as they did in Florida 2000.
Badgering is legal, but if you actually listened to the call there is no suggestion that the Sec’y of State should do anything dishonest.