Russia Holds Sham Referendums in Ukraine – ‘Voting’ held by Russia in parts of four eastern and southeastern regions of Ukraine began Friday and continues through Tuesday, NPR reports. The “referendums” to hand parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia over to Russia are illegal under Ukrainian and international law. President Biden has called the referendums a “sham,” and locals, many of whom are reported leaving ahead of the “voting” have described to Morning Editionthe same sort of “voting” in Crimea eight years ago by armed soldiers going door-to-door with paper ballots.
Thread of anti-democratic threats: Voter suppression can come in many forms, whether door-to-door balloting by armed soldiers or false claims of a “stolen election”
and legislation that could allow state legislators to overturn the popular vote.
Note: No reaction, yet, from Donald J. Trump, the former president who last February called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “genius” and “savvy.” … “He used the word ‘independent’ and “we’re gonna go in and we’re gonna help keep peace.’”
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Preventing a Shutdown? – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) took preliminary steps Thursday toward passing a continuing resolution (CR) to prevent a partial shutdown of the federal government when the fiscal year ends next Friday, September 30, CQ Roll Call reports. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters the House is ready to take up consideration of the CR next week under its “same-day rule” authority. The CR would kick that funding can down to December 16.
--Edited by Todd Lassa
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(THU 9/22/22)
Go, DOJ – It’s back on, the Justice Department’s review of more than 100 classified documents among 11,000 federal government papers seized by the FBI from Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and private club. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling for the appointment of a special master, NPR’s Morning Editionreports. The higher court did not buy Trump’s argument that he de-classified the documents – either verbally or non-verbally, a point his attorneys have not argued – and instead ruled that the law should not give Trump special treatment.
Trump’s court score: 1-3. Cannon, appointed by Trump after he lost the 2020 election, granted the former president’s request for a special master. That special master, Judge Raymond Dearie, was favored by Trump’s attorneys for the role, but indicated earlier this week he would allow DOJ to resume reviewing the records. Two of the three judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals also were Trump appointees and ruled unanimously in favor of the Justice Department (the third was appointed by President Obama), NPR says.
Dearie’s not done: The special master will continue to review documents seized that are not marked “confidential.”
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1/6 Panel to Interview Ginni Thomas – Conservative activist, Trump supporter and wife of a Supreme Court justice, Virginia Thomas has agreed to sit for an interview with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, CNN reported late Wednesday (hat tip to Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay, who has suggested the House panel’s full name should be repeated often).
“I can confirm that Ginni Thomas has agreed to participate in a voluntary interview with the committee,” her attorney, Mark Paoletta, said in a statement (per The New York Times).
The House committee requested an interview with Thomas in June, after texts between the wife of SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas and Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and especially conservative attorney John Eastman came to light. The texts were exchanged on and around January 6, 2021.
The House Select Committee is scheduled to hold its final public hearing Wednesday, September 28.
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DOJ Investigates MyPillow Guy – The pillow company CEO’s name, Mike Lindell, will become better-known. The Hillreports that the Justice Department is investigating Lindell over potential identity theft and damage to a protected computer in connection with a breach of Mesa County, Colorado’s voting system. The FBI seized the MyPillow Guy’s – er, Lindell’s – mobile phone last week at a Hardee’s drive-through in Mankato, Minnesota.
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To Prevent Another 1/6 – The House Wednesday passed the Presidential Election Reform Act, 229-203, written to update the 1887 Electoral Count Act that allowed challenges to the 2020 presidential election in Congress on January 6, 2021, NPR reports. The House bill was written by 1/6 Select Committee members Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). Nine Republicans joined all Democrats to pass the bill.
The 38-page bill would make it more difficult for members of Congress to stop the otherwise ceremonial Electoral College count, according to NPR’s Morning Edition. A “similar but not identical” bill that a bipartisan group of senators, led Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Susan Collins (R-ME), have been working on this year.
--Edited by Todd Lassa