News Roundup: Voting Machine Breaches, Jan. 6 Investigations, and Trump Administration Middle East Trips
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We’re still learning more about the plot to overturn the 2020 election, and about the wide-ranging efforts to undermine democratic processes in the months that followed.

CNN’s Zachary Cohen reported that in early 2021 ([link removed]) , operatives of former President Trump — including Doug Logan of Cyber Ninjas fame — discussed the possibility of using data from a breached Georgia voting machine to decertify the state’s Senate runoff results.
* Some background: Logan and Trump allies had just worked with the company Allied Security Operations Group to use voting data from Michigan to produce a widely debunked report on supposed voter fraud in that state.
* Early on, Phil Waldron of ASOG ([link removed]) — a key player in the plot to overturn the presidential election — had been considered to run the Arizona Senate’s bogus election “audit,” as revealed through our litigation for related records.
* According to CNN, Logan and Trump ally Jim Penrose planned to create a Georgia report similar to the Michigan one with the help of ASOG lawyer Charles Bundren.
* CNN’s story cites documents we obtained through our Arizona litigation showing that even after ASOG had been dropped in favor of Cyber Ninjas, Bundren and other ASOG employees remained involved in the “audit.”


The story is yet another summary of evidence of how election deniers ([link removed]) worked across multiple states — including Pennsylvania ([link removed]) , Wisconsin ([link removed]) , and elsewhere ([link removed]) — not only to hunt for evidence of voter fraud, but also to overturn democracy. You can read more about our investigation into this network of anti-democracy activists here ([link removed]) .
* The Detroit News ([link removed]) reported that a secret grand jury in Michigan has been looking into the improper examination of voting machines there after the 2020 election. Logan ([link removed]) was named in the investigation announced last summer by Michigan AG Dana Nessel.
* The Pennsylvania Supreme Court sanctioned Fulton County ([link removed]) and its lawyer “for engaging in what it referred to as ‘bad faith conduct’ and disobeying a court order, in a legal dispute over the county granting access to its voting machines for an audit.”


Meanwhile, in Georgia’s Fulton County, District Attorney Fani Willis has said that she plans to announce by mid-July ([link removed]) any indictments in the investigation of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election in Georgia.
* Former Vice President Pence appeared before the federal grand jury ([link removed]) investigating Jan. 6 and Trump’s attempt to stay in power.
* A recording revealed Sen. Ted Cruz having outlined a plan to challenge the election’s results. “The Jan. 2, 2021, recording … sheds new light on the scope of Cruz’s scheming to assist Donald Trump in overturning Biden’s victory,” reported the Washington Post ([link removed]) .
* A second firm hired by Trump’s campaign after the 2020 election also found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. According to the Washington Post ([link removed]) , the firm “studied more than a dozen voter fraud theories and allegations … and found they were ‘all false.’”


Here are other headlines related to election denial and threats to democracy:
* ‘A dangerous trend’: Florida Republicans poised to pass more voter restrictions (Guardian ([link removed]) )
* Cochise County hires elections director who has spread misinformation (Votebeat ([link removed]) )
* Youngkin’s top election official attended Heritage Foundation conference (Virginia Public Media ([link removed]) )
* ‘Get cancer’: How election lies morphed into a plague of hate in Arizona (Guardian ([link removed]) )
* Arizona’s self-styled ‘American Sheriff’ wants to go to Washington (Bolts ([link removed]) )
* Both Republicans tapped to replace Liz Harris are closely aligned with her (Arizona Mirror ([link removed]) )
* Recall efforts to oust Cochise County supervisor met with harassment, threats (Arizona Republic ([link removed]) )
* Massive turnover in local election officials likely before 2024, says new survey (NBC News ([link removed]) )
* Tarrant County likely will struggle to find new elections administrator (Texas Tribune ([link removed]) )


On the Records

Kushner’s and Mnuchin’s Middle East Trips
During the final weeks of the Trump administration, Jared Kushner and Steven Mnuchin took trips to the Middle East, touting a U.S. government-sponsored fund purportedly intended to raise $3 billion for projects in the region.
* When Trump left office, the fund vanished — but Kushner and Mnuchin each launched private equity funds that within months received billion-dollar investments from Persian Gulf nations.
* The investments brought renewed scrutiny ([link removed]) on the trips, raising serious questions about whether they had used their officials positions to set up lucrative business dealings for their return to the private sector.
* Last July, we sued the Treasury Department and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation for records from the trips, and recently obtained flight itineraries, travel authorizations, and expense records. According to the documents, Mnuchin’s January 2021 trip cost more than $287,000 — read more about the records we uncovered here ([link removed]) .

Other Stories We're Following

In the States
* GOP uses state capitol protests to redefine ‘insurrection’ (Associated Press)
* Disney sues Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, claiming 'government retaliation' (NPR ([link removed]) )
* DeSantis hates the media — but not this one outlet (Politico ([link removed]) )
* Florida State Guard could triple in size, gain military police-like arm (Florida Phoenix ([link removed]) )
* Florida surgeon general altered key findings in study on Covid-19 vaccine safety (Politico ([link removed]) )
* State-sponsored, campaign-style video surfaces on TV airwaves boosting Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s name recognition (KSDK St. Louis ([link removed]) )
* Texas House approves sweeping limits on local regulations in GOP’s latest jab at blue cities (Texas Tribune ([link removed]) )
* “A way to throw kids away”: Texas' troubled juvenile justice department is sending more children to adult prisons (Texas Tribune ([link removed]) )
* ‘DEI is dead’: At VMI, Youngkin’s diversity chief slams diversity, equity, inclusion (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* As GOP lawmakers target university tenure, faculty and campus leaders sound the alarm (NC Newsline ([link removed]) )


LGBTQ Rights
* Montana House votes to formally punish transgender lawmaker, Rep. Zooey Zephyr (NPR ([link removed]) )
* Judge delays Missouri’s limits on transgender care for all ages until at least Monday (St. Louis Post-Dispatch ([link removed]) )
* Transgender Texans of all ages could lose access to transition-related care under Senate bill (Texas Tribune ([link removed]) )
* Texas education board could ban textbooks that discuss gender identity under proposed bill (Texas Tribune ([link removed]) )
* Many states are trying to restrict gender treatments for adults, too (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Kansas legislators impose sweeping anti-trans bathroom law (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Health care access for trans youth is crumbling — and not just in red states (Politico ([link removed]) )
* Democrat with trans child opposes anti-trans bill — and draws ethics probe (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill gains traction in Louisiana (Louisiana Illuminator ([link removed]) )


Abortion Rights
* In Oklahoma, a woman was told to wait until she's 'crashing' for abortion care (NPR ([link removed]) )
* North Dakota governor signs law banning nearly all abortions (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Kansas Legislature overrides governor’s veto of anti-abortion bill (Kansas Reflector ([link removed]) )
* Colorado hearing on “abortion reversal” reveals nationwide chaos on reproductive health (Colorado Sun ([link removed]) )
* Details about multimillion-dollar stock holding concealed in abortion pill judge’s financials disclosures (CNN ([link removed]) )
* Six-week abortion ban dies in Nebraska Legislature (Omaha World-Herald ([link removed]) )
* Senators defeat latest push to ban nearly all abortions in SC, ending possibility for 2023 (Post and Courier ([link removed]) )


Immigration
* A cruise ship for Florida’s migrant crisis had nowhere to dock (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Immigrants report dehumanizing treatment at Aurora ICE facility (Colorado Newsline ([link removed]) )
* Texas House bill would create new security force at Texas border (KVUE ([link removed]) )


Government Transparency
* Measures to tweak Pennsylvania Right-to-Know law advance (New Castle News ([link removed]) )
* Youngkin withholds correspondence in flap over GOP nomination method (Smithfield Times ([link removed]) )
* Transparency advocates sue WA over ‘legislative privilege’ exemption (Seattle Times ([link removed]) )


National News
* Inside a private portal from GOP campaigns to local news sites (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Supreme Court on ethics issues: Not broken, no fix needed (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Law firm head bought Gorsuch-owned property (Politico ([link removed]) )
* Clarence Thomas billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow bought citizenship in island tax haven (Project on Government Oversight ([link removed]) /Intercept ([link removed]) )
* Clarence Thomas’s billionaire friend did have business before the Supreme Court (Bloomberg ([link removed]) )
* The conservative campaign to rewrite child labor laws (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* We Build The Wall founder sentenced to 4 years in prison (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Trump lawyers: Notes for calls with foreign leaders are among classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago (Politico ([link removed]) )

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