Three days before Congress was slated to certify the 2020 presidential election, a little-known Justice Department official named Jeffrey Clark rushed to meet President Donald Trump in the Oval Office to discuss a last-ditch attempt to reverse the results. Clark, an environmental lawyer by trade, had outlined a plan in a letter he wanted to send to the leaders of key states Joe Biden won. It said that the Justice Department had “identified significant concerns” about the vote and that the states should consider sending “a separate slate of electors supporting Donald J. Trump” for Congress to approve. In fact, Clark’s bosses had warned there was not evidence to overturn the election and had rejected his letter days earlier. Now they learned Clark was about to meet with Trump. Acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen tracked down his deputy, Richard Donoghue, who had been walking on the Mall in muddy jeans and an Army T-shirt. There was no time to change. They raced to the Oval Office. As Rosen and Donoghue listened, Clark told Trump that he would send the letter if the president named him attorney general. “History is calling,” Clark told the president, according to a deposition from Donoghue excerpted in a recent court filing. “This is our opportunity. We can get this done.” Donoghue urged Trump not to put Clark in charge, calling him “not competent” and warning of “mass resignations” by Justice Department officials if he became the nation’s top law enforcement official, according to Donoghue’s account.
Tennessee: Election Commission lawsuit against Shelby County withdrawn after vote on new machines | Katherine Burgess/Memphis Commercial Appeal
The Shelby County Election Commission has withdrawn its lawsuit against Shelby County Government, according to Linda Phillips, administrator of elections. The withdrawal comes after the Shelby County Board of Commissioners, whose members were sued, voted to fund new voting machines for the November election. “Effective yesterday, we mutually agreed to withdraw the lawsuit, and we all look forward to executing the November election with new voting machines,” Phillips said in a written statement. The end of the lawsuit and the upcoming purchase of new voting machines for the county ends a years-long standoff between the majority-Democrat County Commission, which prefers hand-marked paper ballots, and the majority-Republican Election Commission, which prefers ballot-marking devices. The two bodies have clashed in public and private over which method is most cost-effective, least susceptible to hacking and easier to audit.
Full Article: Election Commission lawsuit against Shelby County withdrawn after vote on new machines