Investigations Update: Voting Rights in Georgia, Trump Loyalists at the Pentagon, and Giuliani's Dubious Investigations
In this email:
* Keeping Voting Rights in Focus in Georgia
* Trump Loyalists at the Pentagon
* Information Provided by Giuliani to U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh

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Here’s a look at the investigations our team has been pursuing through public records requests in the last week:

Keeping Voting Rights in Focus in Georgia. All eyes are on Georgia as the state approaches dual run-off Senate elections that will determine who controls the upper chamber of Congress. And our eyes are on exposing efforts that may suppress ([link removed]) the vote in the state. We recently filed the following requests in Georgia for records concerning the political influence of voting-restriction groups and activists ahead of the Jan. 5 elections:
* Voting-Restriction Group Influence and Interference: On Monday, we filed 46 records requests ([link removed]) with state and county officials in Georgia for any communications they’ve had with True the Vote, a Texas-based voting-restriction group that has partnered with local activists in an attempt to challenge the registration statuses ([link removed]) of more than 350,000 Georgia voters.
* Raffensperger Investigates Voter-Advocacy Groups: Late last month, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced investigations ([link removed]) into four voter-advocacy groups for allegedly attempting ([link removed]) to register ineligible, out-of-state, or deceased voters ahead of the upcoming Senate runoff election. We partnered with the All Voting is Local campaign and filed records requests with the secretary’s office and with election officials in multiple counties for records ([link removed]) reflecting any evidence supporting Raffensperger’s allegations, as well as his office’s communications with county officials
([link removed]) and state legislators ([link removed]) regarding investigations into election fraud.
* State Supreme Court Justice Vacancy: Earlier this month, Gov. Brian Kemp announced ([link removed]) his intention to appoint Fulton County Superior Judge Shawn LaGrua to the Georgia Supreme Court to fill the now-vacant ([link removed]) seat of former Justice Keith Blackwell. Back in May, Kemp and Raffensperger canceled ([link removed]) the statewide election to pick the next justice, enabling ([link removed]) Kemp to appoint a successor instead. LaGrua would be the second ([link removed]) justice Kemp has appointed to the Georgia Supreme Court. We sent records requests to
the governor’s office seeking communications ([link removed]) regarding LaGrua’s nomination, as well as communications ([link removed]) with Leonard Leo, the co-chairman and former executive vice president of the Federalist Society.



Trump Loyalists at the Pentagon
On Nov. 9, 2020, President Donald Trump announced on Twitter ([link removed]) that he had fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, exacerbating concerns ([link removed]) that the White House has been replacing top officials in powerful positions with people perceived as loyal to Trump and willing to help bend the Pentagon to his will. Earlier this month, the White House fired ([link removed];) nine members of the Defense Business Board, replacing them with well-known Trump allies ([link removed]) such as former Trump campaign officials Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie. We filed FOIA requests
([link removed]) with the Defense Department for records regarding Esper’s departure from the agency, including top officials’ related memos and communications.

White House Pressure on FDA
According to the Washington Post ([link removed]) , on Dec. 11, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told FDA ([link removed]) Commissioner Stephen Hahn ([link removed]) that he would have to resign ([link removed]) if the FDA failed to grant emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the day. (Both Meadows and Hahn have disputed that report ([link removed]) .) The FDA had reportedly already been planning ([link removed]) to grant authorization on Dec. 12; it ended up granting it on Dec. 11.
We filed FOIA requests ([link removed]) with the FDA for related communications between Hahn and Meadows.

Information Provided by Giuliani to U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh
On Tuesday, we sued ([link removed]) the Department of Justice for orders, directives, and communications regarding the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania’s process for receiving and evaluating information from Rudy Giuliani, including any information concerning President-elect Joe Biden. We also filed ([link removed]) more ([link removed]) records ([link removed]) requests
([link removed]) with the DOJ for related records.
To find out more about our work, you can follow us on Twitter at @WeAreOversight ([link removed]) and @ojocorrupcion ([link removed]) , or like us on Facebook ([link removed]) . If you are able, please consider supporting our work with a contribution here ([link removed]) .

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Thank you again for following our latest news. We are grateful for your support and for helping us hold the administration accountable.

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