Sometimes it can feel that in politics, the bad guys don’t see consequences. But this week, that was very much not the case. So let’s get into it.
Kraken Lawyers
You may recall that a bunch of Trump lawyers had a sanctions hearing earlier this summer regarding the “Kraken” lawsuit they filed in Michigan. (It was one of many lawsuits they filed after the 2020 election arguing that the election results should be thrown out.) Well, on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Linda Parker not only leveled sanctions at Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, and seven other attorneys, but she did it in a scathing 110-page opinion. She also required that they all take a number of legal education courses and she is sending her opinion to each of the state bar associations where the lawyers have a license to recommend that they be disbarred.
A key quote: The judge said the lawsuit “was never about fraud — it was about undermining the People’s faith in our democracy and debasing the judicial process to do so.” You can read the full opinion — which is a great read — here.
Whitmer Kidnapping Plot
One of the men who planned and attempted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year was sentenced this week. Ty Garbin is the only one in the group to plead guilty and he cooperated with the prosecutors, providing a lot of material evidence and information as they prepare to take the other defendants to trial. Garbin was sentenced to 75 months in prison for “providing material support for terrorist acts and felony firearms charges.” He will serve three years on probation after that and pay a fine, must seek substance abuse treatment, and cannot use computers without authorization.
North Carolina Absentee Ballot Case
If you’ve been a longtime Political Charge reader, you’ll remember me writing a number of posts following the 2018 midterms because of the absentee ballot scandal in the North Carolina 9th District election. In a nutshell, the Republican candidate had hired a sketchy guy named Leslie McCrae Dowless who hired people to tamper with over 1,000 ballots. The Republican won but election data analysts immediately called out the weird patterns in the return of absentee ballots (like one precinct having nearly 100% absentee ballots for the GOP candidate, and another precinct showing a drastically lower return rate of ballots from Black voters than neighboring precincts). An investigation was launched immediately and the election board refused to certify the results of the race. In the end, the scandal was so bad that they ordered a new election.
McCrae Dowless was supposed to be sentenced this week but the morning of his hearing, he had a massive stroke and was sent to the hospital, where he remains. All that to say, his day in court is coming.
California voters: Be sure to Vote No on your recall ballot and return it ASAP!
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Originally posted on Political Charge. Reposted with minor edits and permission.
