Archive for the ‘Mike Pence’ Category

Mike Pence to speak at the University of Virginia amid uproar, 2024 rumors – WRIC ABC 8News

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) As speculation swirls over his potential 2024 presidential run, former Vice President Mike Pence will speak about his policy agenda for Republicans at the University of Virginia next week during an event hosted by a conservative group.

Pences speech will focus on educational freedom, free speech and his Freedom Agenda platform, according to his political advocacy organization.

The April 12 event is being hosted by the Young Americans for Freedom chapter at the University of Virginia, which is tied to the conservative group Young Americas Foundation but not affiliated with the university.

Pences appearance is part of Young Americas Foundations Ken & Janice Shengold Advancing Freedom Lecture Series, which had previous stops at Stanford University and the University of Iowa. Students and other demonstrators protested against the former vice presidents appearance on both those campuses.

The University of Virginias campus newspaper, the Cavalier Daily, published an editorial on March 17 calling out school leaders and labeling Pences views on LGBTQ individuals and their rights, immigrants and minorities as dangerous rhetoric that is not entitled a platform.

The LGBTQ+ individuals Pence has attacked, the Black lives he refuses to value and the successful stories of immigration he and the former president hope to prevent these very people are our peers, our neighbors and our community members. We refuse to condone platforming Pence, the editorial reads.

The Washington Post editorial board issued an op-ed in response, saying Pence has faced backlash from Republicans and Democrats alike and deserves to be heard. They cited the GOPs attacks on the former vice president after he refused to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.

Whatever ones views on former vice president Mike Pence ours have been critical theres no denying that efforts to silence and cancel him have been bipartisan. They are also unwarranted, The Washington Posts editorial board wrote.

Pences recently unveiled Freedom Agenda provides a framework for Republican congressional candidates for this years midterms, including proposals to cut taxes, enhance the US Navys fleet and make investments in new technology. The agenda also sticks with far-right talking points, including a goal of ending woke culture in the military.

While he has not made any announcements, the release of the policy agenda, Pences decision to distance himself from former President Donald Trump and his series of speaking events across the country has fed the speculation that Pence is planning a run in 2024.

The event starts at 7 p.m. and will be held in Old Cabell Hall.

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Mike Pence to speak at the University of Virginia amid uproar, 2024 rumors - WRIC ABC 8News

Records of foreign gifts given to Trump and Pence in 2020 are missing, State Department says – Business Insider Africa

The Trump administration did not provide information about gifts from foreign governments in 2020 received by former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, and other White House officials, the State Department said on Friday.

As a result, the department said it could not compile a complete and accurate accounting of gifts received by Trump, his family, and other officials during his final year in office.

Under federal law, government employees are required to disclose any gifts from foreign governments with a value of over $415 to prevent bribery and undue influence.

The Trump administration's failure to provide the information is the latest example of its tendency to flout rules and norms.

"It's flagrant, and it looks terrible," Richard W. Painter, the former top ethics lawyer for George W. Bush's administration, told The New York Times. "Either it was really stupid or really corrupt."

Although foreign trips were limited in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the paper noted that Trump visited Switzerland and India, where he received gifts including a bust of Gandhi, a marble sculpture of Gandhi's famous "three monkeys" metaphor, and a spinning wheel.

The White House was also visited by foreign leaders from at least a dozen countries.

The State Department's Office of Protocol made the revelation about the missing data in the footnotes of a partial list of gifts received by US officials in 2020, published on Friday. While run by a Trump appointee, the department said its Office of the Chief of Protocol did not submit the request for data, and the White House did not provide it.

The State Department said it has since attempted to collect the missing information from current authoritative sources but was told that "potentially relevant records" are not available because of "access rules for retired records."

It also noted that there had generally been a "lack of adequate record-keeping pertaining to diplomatic gifts" during Trump's time in office.

Ethics expert Richard W. Painter told The New York Times that by failing to disclose the gifts, the Trump White House violated the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution, which makes it illegal to take gifts from foreigners without permission from Congress.

However, the clause has no criminal or civil penalties, which he said makes it extremely difficult to hold former officials accountable.

Trump officials had a history of poor record-keeping.

Federal authorities are investigating whether Trump aides improperly removed 15 boxes of classified documents and gifts from the White House to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

It was also previously revealed that dozens of items went missing from the State Department's gift vault during the transition from the Trump to Biden administrations, including a $5,800 bottle of whisky given to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by the Japanese government.

Trump officials also kept robes made of tiger and cheetah fur and an ivory dagger gifted by the Saudi royal family, despite a White House lawyer determining that the items most likely violated the Endangered Species Act. The furs were fake, it was eventually revealed.

Trump aides were also investigated by the State Department over allegations that they stole goodie bags meant for foreign dignitaries attending the 2020 G7 summit that was canceled due to the pandemic.

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Records of foreign gifts given to Trump and Pence in 2020 are missing, State Department says - Business Insider Africa

The Conservative College Thats Expanding to Charter Schools – The New York Times

With only 1,500 students on a small-town campus in southern Michigan, Hillsdale College is far from the power corridors of government and top-ranked universities.

But it has outsize influence in the conservative world, with strong ties to the Washington elite. Republican leaders frequently visit, and Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the 2016 commencement address, calling Hillsdale a shining city on a hill for its devotion to liberty as an antecedent of government, not a benefit from government.

Now the college is making new efforts to reach beyond its campus, this time with an even younger audience. The college is fighting what it calls progressive and leftist academics by expanding its footprint in the charter school world, pushing the boundaries on the use of taxpayer money for politically tinged education.

Hillsdale has ambitious plans to add to its network of classical public charter schools, which focus on the centrality of the Western tradition. And Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee recently invited the college to start 50 schools using public funds, including $32 million set aside for charter facilities. Hillsdales network currently includes 24 schools in 13 states.

The college has also developed the 1776 Curriculum, which sets out to portray America as an exceptionally good country. During a time when education has become inflamed by divisive cultural debates, Hillsdale has been criticized for its glossy spin on American history as well as its ideological tilt on topics like affirmative action. Educators and historians have also raised questions about other instruction at Hillsdales charter schools, citing their negative take on the New Deal and the Great Society and cursory presentation of global warming.

Mr. Lee, a Republican, sees his new charter school expansion as part of an effort to develop what he called informed patriotism in Tennessee students.

For decades, Hillsdale College has been the standard-bearer in quality curriculum and in the responsibility of preserving American liberty, Mr. Lee told lawmakers recently. I believe their efforts are a good fit for Tennessee.

Charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, have been more commonly promoted as alternatives to low-performing schools in urban centers. In Tennessee, they have been clustered in the states four biggest cities, where like other charters, they have been criticized for siphoning money and students out of more traditional public schools.

Mr. Lees plan envisions an expansion into suburban and rural areas where, like many Hillsdale charter schools, they would most likely enroll children who are whiter and more affluent than the average charter school pupil.

In that way, the Hillsdale schools could be something of a publicly funded off-ramp for conservative parents who think their local schools misinterpret history and push a socially progressive agenda on issues from race and diversity to sexuality and gender.

Ive been following charter schools over the last 25 years, and Ive never seen a governor attempting to use charters in such an overtly political way, said Bruce Fuller, a professor of education and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Youve had governors whove encouraged the growth of charters to provide more high-quality options for parents, but its highly unusual to see a governor deploy the charter mechanism for admittedly political purposes.

Hillsdale was founded in 1844 by abolitionists. In the years since, its conservative reputation has allowed the college to seed graduates throughout the political firmament. Former Trump officials like Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo have spoken there. Ginni Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of Justice Thomas, once led the colleges Washington program.

The college accepts no state or federal funding, including no student grants or loans, allowing it to avoid some government oversight, such as compliance with federal Title IX rules governing sexual discrimination.

Instead, it relies partly on donations from conservative benefactors that are fueled by aggressive fund-raising campaigns, including on Rush Limbaughs radio program before he died, and in Hillsdales widely circulated digest, Imprimis, which is known for provocative articles including a 2017 piece in which President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was called a hero to populist conservatives around the world.

In a recent fund-raising appeal, Hillsdale pleaded for $17.76 to help counter leftist academics teaching a biased and distorted view of American history. The pitch cited The New York Timess 1619 project which argues that slavery and white supremacy are dominant themes in American history as an example of false teaching in schools.

Money from these pitches helps finance Hillsdales charter school operation, which began in 2010 with a grant from the Chicago-based Barney Family Foundation, endowed by Stephen M. Barney, a financial industry executive.

In addition to Hillsdales 22 member charter schools, which receive a full suite of Hillsdale curriculum and training, two other public schools are regarded as affiliates that use Hillsdales curriculum, with eight more affiliates poised to open, including one in Tennessee. Applications are filed for more schools, including three of the 50 additional schools Hillsdale has said it plans to open in Tennessee.

The Hillsdale charter schools are neither owned nor managed by Hillsdale. Instead, the schools enter agreements to use the Hillsdale curriculum and the college provides training for faculty and staff, as well as other assistance all free of charge.

By offering these services, Hillsdale seems to be trying to thread a needle creating a vast K-12 network that embraces its pedagogy and conservative philosophy, in many cases taught by its graduates, while tapping into government money to run the schools.

Hillsdales president, Larry P. Arnn, and his daughter Kathleen OToole, who runs the charter school initiative, declined interviews. But in a speech last year to Hillsdale supporters in Tennessee, Dr. Arnn outlined his vision for expansion including plans for a new masters program to train teachers in classical education, a home-school division, online students and education centers.

Its a grand adventure, he said.

At Atlanta Classical Academy, one of the member schools in Hillsdales network, the motto Virtus, Scientia, Felicitas is inscribed in the lobby, near a photograph of Frederick Douglass, the once enslaved abolitionist writer and orator, who is now lauded by American conservatives for his emphasis on self-reliance.

In its classrooms, from kindergarten to 12th grade, students are immersed in phonics, Latin, Greco-Roman culture and classic literature, all in pursuit of what Atlanta Classical calls the enduring Great Conversation of Western civilization.

In a kindergarten class in March, pupils dissected letters, like the ck at the end of the word click, reciting a rule in unison: use only after a single, short vowel.

Its a very prescriptive program, explained Matthew Kirby, the schools director, a former Navy lieutenant. Its a bit painstaking, but theyll do that every day to be explicitly taught hundreds of words in the course of a year.

Martina Svoboda, whose two children attend the school, said she applied eight years ago spurred by overcrowded schools in Atlanta and problems communicating with her sons teacher. We were frustrated through the year, she said.

Atlanta Classical has smaller classrooms, friendly teachers and direct communication, she said.

While many educators applaud the phonics and rigor, they question the infusion of conservative politics into the curriculum, particularly in history. Hillsdales 1776 Curriculum, an ambitious 2,400-page program released last year, appears to be partly an outgrowth of President Donald J. Trumps 1776 Commission which Dr. Arnn chaired.

One passage contained in the curriculum, originally from the 1776 Commission report, openly criticizes affirmative action.

The heady spirit of the original civil rights movement proved to be short lived, the passage says, giving way to programs such as affirmative action that ran counter to the lofty ideals of the Founders.

Sean Wilentz, a professor at Princeton who was one of the chief critics of The Timess 1619 Project, also criticized the 1776 Curriculum, calling it overly positive.

It talks about the enormity of slavery, but in almost every case, everything thats bad about America will be undone by what is good, Dr. Wilentz said. Almost, literally, that American ideals will overcome whatever evils may be there.

Hillsdales history curriculum also appears to take on the modern liberal state. A school curriculum guide posted in one schools charter lists the book New Deal or Raw Deal? How FDRs Economic Legacy Has Damaged America. The author, Burton Folsom Jr., is a fellow and professor emeritus at Hillsdale, and a frequent speaker at conservative conferences.

The National Center for Science Education also reviewed the 2018 science curriculum, after an unsuccessful effort by Arizona officials to adopt it in public schools.

The phrase climate change doesnt appear at all, and global warming occurs only once, at the sixth-grade level, as global warming theory, Glenn Branch, the organizations deputy director, wrote in an email.

A spokeswoman for Hillsdale said the current science curriculum included texts that discuss climate change.

Hillsdale is also quick to note that its schools have done well pointing to higher-than-average SAT scores among its students nationally. Atlanta Classicals students have some of the highest scores among schools in Georgia and a bulletin board in the schools hallway attests to its students prestigious college admissions, including Harvard and Morehouse.

The students are selected through a citywide lottery, but the schools location in affluent Buckhead may deter some applicants. In a city where 73 percent of public school students are Black and 17 percent white, Atlanta Classical Academy is the mirror image: 17 percent Black and 71 percent white, according to a 2020 state report.

Overall, Hillsdales charter school racial demographics are close to that of the Atlanta Classical students. That is a departure from charter schools nationally, which are about 30 percent white.

Theyre catering to white families and affluent families, said Charisse Gulosino, an associate professor of leadership and policy studies at the University of Memphis, whose research has found that students in suburban charter schools do not outperform their public school counterparts.

Not all of Hillsdales charter school collaborations have been successful. Hillsdale recently announced it is ending ties with Tallahassee Classical School in Florida.

The school, approved by the state despite local opposition, set out to serve a diverse student body. But two teachers interviewed by The Times said they suspected that the school was trying to jettison low-performing students, a tactic that charter schools have been accused of as a way to increase test scores.

One of the teachers, Katie Butler, who is no longer employed by Tallahassee Classical, described how a dozen students, almost all Black, were dismissed last spring, just before state assessment tests were administered.

Tallahassee Classical said in a statement that the dismissals followed excessive absences; Hillsdale said it was unaware of the dismissals until being contacted by a reporter.

Sonja Moore, the mother of two of the dismissed children, said her family had not recovered, even though a year had gone by.

Its still very much affecting our everyday lives, Ms. Moore said. I went to that school because it was a Hillsdale school. Im a conservative registered Republican, which hurt all the more.

But Hillsdale, and Republicans, sees the need to expand, and fast.

Richard Corcoran, Floridas departing secretary of education, appeared at Hillsdale last year, where he applauded efforts to move quickly in Tennessee by placing students in seats before a liberal governor could take over.

Once thats accomplished, Mr. Corcoran said, You cant put the animals back in the barn.

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The Conservative College Thats Expanding to Charter Schools - The New York Times

Federal Judge Finds Trump Most Likely Committed Crimes Over 2020 Election – The New York Times

WASHINGTON A federal judge ruled on Monday that former President Donald J. Trump and a lawyer who had advised him on how to overturn the 2020 election most likely had committed felonies, including obstructing the work of Congress and conspiring to defraud the United States.

The judges comments in the civil case of the lawyer, John Eastman, marked a significant breakthrough for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The committee, which is weighing making a criminal referral to the Justice Department, had used a filing in the case to lay out the crimes it believed Mr. Trump might have committed.

Mr. Trump has not been charged with any crime, and the judges ruling had no immediate, practical legal effect on him. But it essentially ratified the committees argument that Mr. Trumps efforts to block Congress from certifying Joseph R. Biden Jr.s Electoral College victory could well rise to the level of a criminal conspiracy.

The illegality of the plan was obvious, wrote Judge David O. Carter of the Central District of California. Our nation was founded on the peaceful transition of power, epitomized by George Washington laying down his sword to make way for democratic elections. Ignoring this history, President Trump vigorously campaigned for the vice president to single-handedly determine the results of the 2020 election.

The actions taken by Mr. Trump and Mr. Eastman, Judge Carter found, amounted to a coup in search of a legal theory.

The Justice Department has been conducting a wide-ranging investigation of the Capitol assault but has given no public indication that it is considering a criminal case against Mr. Trump. A criminal referral from the House committee could increase pressure on Attorney General Merrick B. Garland to do so.

The judges ruling came as the committee was barreling ahead with its investigation. This week alone, people familiar with the investigation said, the panel has lined up testimony from four top Trump White House officials, including Jared Kushner, the former presidents son-in-law and adviser, whose interview was scheduled for Thursday.

The committee also voted 9 to 0 on Monday night to recommend criminal contempt of Congress charges against two other allies of Mr. Trump Peter Navarro, a former White House adviser, and Dan Scavino Jr., a former deputy chief of staff for their participation in efforts to overturn the 2020 election and their subsequent refusal to comply with the panels subpoenas. The matter now moves to the Rules Committee, then the full House. If it passes there, the Justice Department will decide whether to charge the men. A contempt of Congress charge carries a penalty of up to a year in jail.

But Judge Carters decision was perhaps the investigations biggest development to date, suggesting its investigators have built a case strong enough to convince a federal judge of Mr. Trumps culpability and laying out a road map for a potential criminal referral.

Judge Carters decision came in an order for Mr. Eastman, a conservative lawyer who had written a memo that members of both parties have likened to a blueprint for a coup, to turn over more than 100 emails to the committee.

A lawyer for Mr. Eastman said in a statement on Monday that he respectfully disagrees with Judge Carters findings but would comply with the order to turn over documents.

In a statement hailing the judges decision, the chairman of the House committee, Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, and its vice chair, Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, said the nation must not allow what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, to be minimized and cannot accept as normal these threats to our democracy. Mr. Trump made no public statement about the ruling.

Many of the documents the committee will now receive relate to a legal strategy proposed by Mr. Eastman to pressure Vice President Mike Pence not to certify electors from several key swing states when Congress convened on Jan. 6, 2021. The true animating force behind these emails was advancing a political strategy: to persuade Vice President Pence to take unilateral action on Jan. 6, Judge Carter wrote.

One of the documents, according to the ruling, is an email containing the draft of a memo written for another one of Mr. Trumps lawyers, Rudolph W. Giuliani, recommending that Mr. Pence reject electors from contested states.

This may have been the first time members of President Trumps team transformed a legal interpretation of the Electoral Count Act into a day-by-day plan of action, Judge Carter wrote.

Mr. Eastman had filed suit against the panel, trying to persuade a judge to block the committees subpoena for documents in his possession. As part of the suit, Mr. Eastman sought to shield from release documents he said were covered by attorney-client privilege.

In response, the committee argued under the legal theory known as the crime-fraud exception that the privilege did not cover information conveyed from a client to a lawyer if it was part of furthering or concealing a crime.

The panel said its investigators had accumulated evidence demonstrating that Mr. Trump, Mr. Eastman and other allies could be charged with criminal violations including obstructing an official proceeding of Congress and conspiracy to defraud the American people.

Judge Carter, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, agreed, writing that he believed it was likely that the men not only had conspired to defraud the United States but dishonestly conspired to obstruct the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.

Dr. Eastman and President Trump launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American history, he wrote.

In deciding that Mr. Trump and Mr. Eastman had more likely than not broken the law the legal standard for determining whether Mr. Eastman could claim attorney-client privilege Judge Carter noted that the former president had facilitated two meetings in the days before Jan. 6 that were explicitly tied to persuading Vice President Pence to disrupt the joint session of Congress.

Justice Department widens inquiry. Federal prosecutors are said to have substantially widened their Jan. 6 investigationto examine the possible culpability of a broad range of pro-Trump figures involved in efforts to overturn the election. The investigation was initially focused on the rioters who had entered the Capitol.

Investigating Trump's actions. Evidence gathered by the Justice Department and House committee show how former President Donald J. Trumps Be there, willbe wild! tweetincited far-right militants ahead of Jan. 6, while call logsreveal how personally involved Mr. Trump was in his attempt to stay in office before and during the attack.

Judge says Trump likely committed crimes. In a court filing in a civil case, the Jan. 6 House committee laid out the crimes it believed Mr. Trump might have committed. The federal judge assigned to the case ruled that Mr. Trump most likely committed feloniesin trying to overturn the 2020 election.

Virginia Thomass text messages. In the weeks before the Capitol riot, Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sent several textsimploring Mark Meadows, President Trumps chief of staff, to take steps to overturn the election.The Jan. 6 House committee is likely to seek an interview with Ms. Thomas, said those familiar with the matter.

At the first meeting, on Jan. 4, Mr. Trump and Mr. Eastman invited Mr. Pence and two of his top aides, Greg Jacob and Marc Short, to the Oval Office. There, Judge Carter wrote, Mr. Eastman presented his plan to Vice President Pence, focusing on either rejecting electors or delaying the count.

That meeting was followed by another, Judge Carter wrote, on Jan. 5, during which Mr. Eastman sought again to persuade Mr. Jacob to go along with the scheme.

Mr. Trump continued to pressure Mr. Pence even on Jan. 6, Judge Carter wrote, noting that the former president had made several last-minute appeals to Mr. Pence on Twitter. Mr. Trump called Mr. Pence by phone, Judge Carter wrote, and once again urged him to make the call and enact the plan.

While the House committee has no authority to directly bring charges against Mr. Trump, and Mr. Trump was not a party to the Eastman civil case, Judge Carters ruling on Monday underscored the persistent questions of whether Mr. Trump could face criminal culpability for both his business dealings and his efforts to reverse the outcome of the election.

Last week, The New York Times reported that a prosecutor in New York City who was investigating Mr. Trumps financial dealings believed the former president was guilty of numerous felonies in how he handled his real-estate and business transaction before taking office. The assessment of Mr. Trump by the prosecutor, Mark F. Pomerantz, came in a letter last month in which Mr. Pomerantz announced he was resigning from the Manhattan district attorneys office, which had stopped pursuing an indictment of Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump is also facing investigation from the district attorney in Atlanta who recently convened a special grand jury to help probe the former presidents attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

That inquiry centers on Mr. Trumps actions in the two months between his election loss and Congresss certification of the results, including a call he made to Brad Raffensperger, Georgias secretary of state, to pressure him to find 11,780 votes the margin by which Mr. Trump lost the state.

The House committee has been seeking to assemble a definitive account of Mr. Trumps efforts to hold on to the White House and how they led to the assault on the Capitol. Among the documents the committee will now receive from Mr. Eastman is an email that sketched a series of events for the days leading up to and following Jan. 6, if Vice President Pence were to delay counting or reject electoral votes, Judge Carter wrote.

The email maps out potential Supreme Court suits and the impact of different judicial outcomes were Mr. Pence to enact the plan.

The committee will also get documents related to state legislators who were involved in the effort to persuade Mr. Pence not to certify some electoral votes. One of them, Judge Carter wrote, is a letter from the Republican members of the Arizona legislature to Mr. Pence. Two others are letters from a Georgia state senator to Mr. Trump.

The committee has already heard from more than 750 witnesses. John McEntee, the former presidents personnel chief, testified Monday; Anthony Ornato, the former White House chief of operations, was scheduled to testify Tuesday; and Matthew Pottinger, former deputy national security adviser, will do so at a later date, those familiar with the investigation said.

Both Mr. Navarro and Mr. Scavino have argued they are prevented from testifying by Mr. Trumps assertions of executive privilege, and that President Biden who waived executive privilege for both men does not have the authority to waive executive privilege over the testimony of a former presidents senior aide.

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Federal Judge Finds Trump Most Likely Committed Crimes Over 2020 Election - The New York Times

Flipped tells the inside story of how Georgia Republicans lost their dominance – The Atlanta Journal Constitution

We have the no crying in politics rule in the Kemp house. But this is stuff that, if I said it, I would be taken to the woodshed and would never see the light of day, he said. I can assure you I can handle myself. And if theyre brave enough to come out from underneath that keyboard or behind it, we can have a little conversation if they would like to.

Georgia Republican leaders were now beyond hoping that President Donald Trump would tire of his obsession with Georgia.

Greg Bluestein with U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.

Credit: File

Greg Bluestein with U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.

Credit: File

Credit: File

This is the first time Trump has gone for more than a few days on message. We thought hed change the subject, but he didnt, said a Kemp confidant. As they watched the GOP civil war intensify, the Democratic campaigns couldnt deny a wash of optimism that the stars were aligning in their favor.

Im nervous. Im feeling almost too good about our chances. Which means something must be off, one Warnock aide texted fellow Democratic strategists. Loefflers advisers were growing increasingly pessimistic about her chances. In a December 29 text, one wrote: Its going to be real close. Real close. And if we lose, we know who to blame.

The Trump effect on the GOP electorate was so profound that Republicans had drafted an entire data set titled GOP NOT VOTING detailing seemingly reliable conservative voters who were deemed unlikely to cast ballots in the runoff.

It haunted us. I wanted to hit my head against the wall, said Chris Allen, one of Georgia U.S. Sen. Kelly Loefflers deputies.

While the senator was dreaming up new ways to prove her loyalty to Trump to keep his voters on board, she was beset by distractions from the president and his allies.

A week before the runoff, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani called a meeting with the Georgia Senate Republicans and their top operatives to level the latest in a string of phony claims. He had just weeks earlier starred in the second of two legislative hearings in the state to air false charges of fraud on Trumps behalf, at one point insisting that every single vote should be taken away from Biden.

At this private conference call, Giuliani told the senators that they didnt even need a special session they could unilaterally overturn the election.

Greg Bluestein with Gov. Brian Kemp

Greg Bluestein with Gov. Brian Kemp

As he droned on, Loeffler invented a reason to duck out after twenty minutes, citing a nonexistent media interview. A few minutes later, Georgia U.S. Sen. David Perdue also got off the line. Every day we were putting out fires, said one of Loefflers advisers. We were a hostage with every limb taped, a gun to our head, and a hairpin trigger.

The day before the runoff, Vice President Mike Pence was imploring Republicans to vote in the two runoff elections at a megachurch in the tiny town of Milner when he was interrupted by Trump supporters shouting at the vice president to do the right thing and stop the steal on January 6.

It feels like Im inside a tornado with all kinds of facts and falsehoods swirling around me, said Cade Parian, a west Georgia Republican. I dont know where the tornado is going to spit me out, but I hope like hell its with a majority in the US Senate.

Trumps trip to Dalton gave voters like Parian little relief. For weeks, just about every time Loeffler took questions from the media, she was asked whether she would join the GOP movement to block Bidens victory in Congress by challenging Electoral College certification. As she waffled on the issue, her aides privately warned allies that a pledge by the senator to contest the Electoral College results should be taken as a signal that her campaign had hit a new level of desperation.

As Trump traveled to Georgia, and Loefflers internal polling showed she continued to struggle with the partys base, that moment came in a six-sentence statement issued around 6:00 p.m. on the eve of the runoff.

Greg Bluestein with Stacey Abrams

Credit: file

Greg Bluestein with Stacey Abrams

Credit: file

Credit: file

Saying she had real concerns about the way the November election was conducted, Loeffler promised to vote to give President Trump and the American people the fair hearing they deserve.

Taking the stage a few minutes later, Loeffler announced the decision to an overjoyed audience. Thats right, she said, her voice straining to cut through the clamor. Were going to get this done.

Once again, and to no ones surprise, the Trump rally was more focused on the phony claims of election fraud than control of the U.S. Senate.

On giant TV screens draped by a towering American flag, the thousands bundled up at the Dalton airport were treated to videos touting more unsubstantiated claims of fraud.

Even the password for the balky WiFi signaled the true purpose of Trumps mission: SeeYouJan6! it read.

As Trump flew to Georgia, Perdue was still in quarantine at his Atlanta townhouse, watching anxiously from afar. He was given a chance to edit the presidents prepared remarks as Trumps jet neared, but he still couldnt look the president in the eye and tell him, point-blank, that he had to call on his supporters to set aside their misgivings about the November election and show up in force on Tuesday.

Trump triumphantly descended from the Marine One helicopter, which touched down behind a row of yellow school buses along the tarmac. Taking the stage with a smile, he warmed the crowd up with a lie. Hello, Georgia. By the way, there is no way we lost Georgia. Theres no way, he said immediately. That was a rigged election. But we are still fighting it.

BOOK EVENT

Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta Book Festival presents Greg Bluestein, author of Flipped: How Georgia Turned Purple and Broke the Monopoly on Republican Power in conversation with Bill Nigut, host and executive producer of Political Rewind on Georgia Public Broadcasting. 7:30 p.m. March 24. 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody.

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Flipped tells the inside story of how Georgia Republicans lost their dominance - The Atlanta Journal Constitution