USA 2020 Elections: Thread

[grarpamp]

> Note also that wannabe VAGOV Terry McAuliffe (D) just hired
> the most fraudulent corrupt political dirtbag lawyer he could
> find to try to steal the VA election too.


https://jonathanturley.org/2021/10/28/terry-mcauliffe-hires-controversial-ex-clinton-lawyer-marc-elias/

Terry McAuliffe Hires Controversial Ex-Clinton Lawyer Marc Elias

As a long-standing associate of the Clintons, Virginia Democratic
gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe has long ties with the
Democratic establishment. That history was placed into sharp relief
this week when he made a hefty down payment on the services of former
Clinton counsel Marc Elias.  Elias is a critical figure in the ongoing
Durham investigation and has been accused of lying to the media to
hide the role of the Clinton campaign in funding the Steele dossier.
His former law partner Michael Sussmann at Perkins Coie was recently
indicted by Durham.  Elias has also led efforts to challenge
Democratic losses, even as he denounces Republicans for such election
challenges.  Elias has been sanctioned in past litigation.

Like Sussmann, Elias has left Perkins Coie.  He ironically created a
law firm specializing in campaign ethics. McAuliffe may be preparing
to challenge any win by Republican Glenn Youngkin. He has given
$53,680 to the Elias Law Group.  McAuliffe does not appear disturbed
by Elias’ highly controversial career or his possible exposure in the
Durham investigation.

I previously described news accounts linking the firm and Elias to the
dossier scandal:

    Throughout the campaign, the Clinton campaign denied any
involvement in the creation of the so-called Steele dossier’s
allegations of Trump-Russia connections. However, weeks after the
election, journalists discovered that the Clinton campaign hid
payments for the dossier made to a research firm, Fusion GPS, as
“legal fees” among the $5.6 million paid to the campaign’s law firm.
New York Times reporter Ken Vogel said at the time that Clinton lawyer
Marc Elias, with the law firm of Perkins Coie, denied involvement in
the anti-Trump dossier. When Vogel tried to report the story, he said,
Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are
wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman declared, “Folks involved in
funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.”

    It was not just reporters who asked the Clinton campaign about its
role in the Steele dossier. John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman,
was questioned by Congress and denied categorically any contractual
agreement with Fusion GPS. Sitting beside him was Elias, who
reportedly said nothing to correct the misleading information given to
Congress.

The Washington Post also reported that “Elias drew from funds that
both the Clinton campaign and the DNC were paying Perkins Coie.”

That makes the choice of counsel astonishing given these allegations
from reporters and McAuliffe’s previous assertion that “someone who
lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.”

Elias also was the subject of intense criticism after a tweet that
some have called inherently racist. Democrats used the recent Georgia
election law as a rallying cry for federalizing elections by labelling
the law, as described by President Biden, “Jim Crow on steroids.”
Biden has been repeatedly called out for demonstrably false statements
about the law.  Elias argued that Georgia voters could not be expected
to be able to read their driver’s licenses correctly — a statement
that seemed to refer to minority voters who would be
disproportionately impacted by such a requirement.

Elias’ work embodies the inherent hypocrisy of some advocates and some
in the media on election challenges. He often solicits contributions
to challenge election results while denouncing Republicans for
challenging election results.

That contradiction has been readily apparent in the Virginia election.
McAuliffe brought in Stacey Abrams to campaign for him. She has
repeatedly declared that the Republicans stole the election when she
ran in Georgia. (Abrams was criticized for not conceding after the
election).  At one rally, McAuliffe repeated the claim that “she
[Abrams] would be the governor of Georgia today had the governor of
Georgia [Republican Brian Kemp] not disenfranchised 1.4 million
Georgia voters before the election! That’s what happened to Stacey
Abrams. They took the votes away.”

Elias, McAuliffe, and others the media have denounced Republican
challenges as advancing “the Big Lie” of stolen or rigged voting in
the last election. Yet, Abrams’ defeat is being attributed to a rigged
system in Georgia.

Elias has not been criminally charged in his actions related to the
2020 election. Yet, bringing Elias into the Virginia race in the midst
of the Durham investigation is an astonishing decision by McAuliffe.
There are a host of election lawyers but McAuliffe selected an
attorney accused of lying to the media, advancing rejected conspiracy
theories, and currently involved in a major federal investigation that
has already led to the indictment of his former partner.

Then again McAuliffe previously declared “You help me, I’ll help you.
That’s politics.”