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For some odd reason, this little tidbit has been sticking in my craw. Ever since we’ve learned about the fact that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was recommended for indictment by the GA grand jury, I can’t seem to dismiss that.
Even though DA Willis, in her discretion, has found the wisdom to do so — I just can’t seem to let it go ...
[...]
While the [special grand jury] report does not reference specific charges for certain high profile players, Sen. Graham and former Sens. Perdue and Loeffler are listed along with 23 total people the special grand jury recommended for indictment "with respect to the national effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election."
[...]
In addition to the Trump-Raffensperger call, the special jury recommended charges stemming from "persistent, repeated communications directed to multiple Georgia officials and employees;" [...]
www.npr.org
September 8, 2023 [yesterday]
What sort of incriminating evidence might the grand jury have had, that made them think South Carolina Senator Graham was part of the conspiracy to interfere with and overturn the Georgia Election?
Well if the public record at the time is any guide — they probably had a LOT.
Dialing in the Way-back Machine, to almost 3 years ago:
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Monday that U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham asked him whether he had the power to reject certain absentee ballots, a question he interpreted as a suggestion to toss out legally cast votes.
[...]
When Georgia voters return an absentee ballot, they have to sign an oath on an outer envelope. County election office workers are required to ensure the signature matches the one on the absentee ballot application and the one in the voter registration system, Raffensperger said in a statement over the weekend.
[...]
apnews.com — November 16, 2020
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stood firm Monday on his account that Sen. Lindsey Graham had hinted that he should try to discard some ballots in Georgia, where a recount is underway after the state went for President-elect Joe Biden in the presidential election.
“He asked if the ballots could be matched back to the voters,” Raffensperger told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” Monday evening. “And then he, I got the sense it implied that then you could throw those out for any, if you look at the counties with the highest frequent error of signatures. So that’s the impression that I got.”
He later added, “It was just an implication of, ‘Look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out.’ ”
Raffensperger’s comments come after he told The Washington Post on Monday that Graham had cast doubt on Georgia’s signature-matching law in a conversation on Friday, and had also floated the possibility that biased poll workers could have counted ballots with inconsistent signatures.
[...]
www.cnn.com — November 17, 2020
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Monday that he has come under increasing pressure in recent days from fellow Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), who he said questioned the validity of legally cast absentee ballots, in an effort to reverse President Trump’s narrow loss in the state.
[...]
The atmosphere has grown so contentious, Raffensperger said, that he and his wife, Tricia, have received death threats in recent days, including a text to him that read: “You better not botch this recount. Your life depends on it.”
“Other than getting you angry, it’s also very disillusioning,” Raffensperger said of the threats, “particularly when it comes from people on my side of the aisle. Everyone that is working on this needs to elevate their speech. We need to be thoughtful and careful about what we say.” He said he reported the threats to state authorities.
[...]
In their conversation, Graham questioned Raffensperger about the state’s signature-matching law and whether political bias could have prompted poll workers to accept ballots with nonmatching signatures, according to Raffensperger. Graham also asked whether Raffensperger had the power to toss all mail ballots in counties found to have higher rates of nonmatching signatures, Raffensperger said.
[...]
www.washingtonpost.com — November 16, 2020 [no paywall]
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Don’t let Lindsey’s “ah shucks, concerned citizen” act fool you, as he tries to feign innocence now. The meddling Senator crossed state lines to stick his nose directly into Georgia’s vote counting business.
Lindsey made additional disturbing calls, directly to the Georgia Secretary of State. Calls that Raffensperger described as menacing “increasing pressure.” Calls that Raffensperger felt were so inappropriate, that he spoke out to national media, to try to ‘raise the discourse’ to his fellow Republicans.
When that outreach failed to quell the GOP interference, and the direct MAGA threats against Georgia election workers themselves, this Georgia Election Manager (who worked for Raffensperger) made this very memorable public statement to the Press.
It was a public call for reason — that immediately echoed around the country, if not the world ...
Gabriel Sterling of Sec of State’s Office Blasts Those Threatening Election Workers
[length of this address: 4:41] — [shorter version: 1:34]
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Unfortunately for Gabe Sterling and Brad Raffensperger, their “fellow Republicans” are no longer ready to listen to reason. Neither now, nor then. Unfortunately, for better or for worse, they have un-officially become the Party of Sore Losers.
Instead of voices of reason, they’d rather blindly follow and only listen to their “dear esteemed leader” instead — now as the only voice that they will ever trust:
No matter how unreasonable; No matter how unproven; No matter how unhinged — that his neurotic rambling proclamations turn out to be. Again and again and again.
Voices of sanity need no longer apply — in the Republican-ghost party — it has been permanently co-opted by Defendant One.
AKA the Biggest Loser — by 7 million popular votes.
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Here’s looking at you Lindsey, you’ve earned this:
"Good afternoon. My name is Gabriel Sterling and I'm the voting system implementation manager for State of Georgia. And just to give you a heads up, this is going to be sort of a two-part press conference today. At the beginning of this, I'm going to do my best to keep it together.
Because it has all gone too far. All of it.
Joe diGenova today asked for Chris Krebs, a patriot who ran CISA, to be shot. A 20-something tech in Gwinnett County today has death threats and a noose put out, saying he should be hung for treason because he was transferring a report on batches from an EMS to a county computer so he could read it.
It has to stop.
Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language. Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions. This has to stop. We need you to step up. And if you take a position of leadership, show some.
My boss, Secretary Raffensperger — his address is out there. They have people doing caravans in front of their house, they've had people come onto their property. Tricia, his wife of 40 years, is getting sexualized threats through her cellphone.
It has to stop.
This is elections, this is the backbone of democracy, and all of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this. It's too much.
Yes, fight for every single vote. Go through your due process, we encourage you — use your First Amendment. That's fine. Death threats, physical threats, intimidation — it's too much. It's not right. We've lost the moral high ground to claim that it is.
I don't have all the best words to do this because I'm angry, and the straw that broke the camel's back today is, again, this 20-year-old contractor for a voting system company just trying to do his job. In fact, I talked to Dominion today and they said he's one of the better ones they got. His family is getting harassed now. There's a noose out there with his name on it. And it's not right.
I've got police protection outside my house. Fine. You know, I took a higher-profile job. I get it, Secretary ran for office, his wife knew that, too. This kid took a job. He just took a job, and it's just wrong.
I can't begin to explain the level of anger I have right now over this, and every American, every Georgian, Republican and Democrat alike, should have that same level of anger.
Mr. President, it looks like you likely lost the state of Georgia. We're investigating. There's always a possibility, I get it, and you have the rights to go through the courts. What you don't have the ability to do — and you need to step up and say this — is stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone's going to get hurt. Someone's going to get shot. Someone's going to get killed. And it's not right.
It's not right. And I don't have anything scripted — this is like I said, I will do my best to keep it together. All of this is wrong. DiGenova, who said for Chris Krebs to get shot, is a former U.S. attorney. He knows better. The people around the president know better.
Mr. President, as the secretary said yesterday, people aren't giving you the best advice on what's actually going on the ground. It's time to look forward if you want to run for reelection in four years. Fine, do it. But everything we're seeing right now, there's not a path. Be the bigger man here and stop. Step in, tell your supporters: Don't be violent, don't intimidate. All that's wrong. It's unAmerican.
I don't know what else to say on that front. I mean, these are elections. One of our goals was to make elections boring again. Well, guess what? That didn't happen. This is all wrong. It's all too much, and that's I'll leave that for there."
www.npr.org — December 1, 2020
Senator Lindsey Graham, this is the lawless cabal that you have blindly hitched your wagon to. That you continue to defend, even now, with your continued lying irrational defense.
You’re just lucky that DA Willis has no inclination to charge your sad sorry self — for now.
Give it time … toss a few more lies on that conspiracy wild-fire, and you never know.
There is no statute of limitations on insurrection and tyranny, senator.
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