OMG: Trump pulls DANGEROUS stunt in Georgia

0:00 You're watching the Legal Breakdown.

0:01 Glenn, it looks like the Trump administration has gone scorched earth

0:05 against poll workers and election officials in the state of Georgia,

0:08 which so often is ground zero for this kind of stuff.

0:11 Can you explain what just happened in Fulton County?

0:13 Yeah, Brian, it looks like the Trump administration is tripling down

0:17 on election denialism and they're trying to use a federal grand jury

0:23 and by extension the federal judiciary to back them up on this obviously

0:30 bogus attempt to get personal information from Fulton County election workers,

0:36 employees from Fulton County volunteer poll workers who,

0:42 according to the reporting, number potentially in the thousands.

0:46 And Brian, this comes this subpoena comes at a time when

0:50 early voting is already open in Georgia and in other states.

0:56 So, here is how we just learned about this.

0:59 Fulton County filed what's called a motion to quash and it is public.

1:04 Grand jury subpoenas are not public, so we knew nothing about this until Fulton

1:09 County election authorities just filed this motion to quash.

1:13 That's a fancy word for trying to convince a judge that the subpoena

1:18 that Trump's DOJ issued for all of this information is flat out unlawful.

1:24 There is no legal basis for it.

1:27 So, Brian, here's the backstory.

1:28 Some months ago somehow the DOJ convinced a magistrate judge,

1:34 a low-level federal judge in Georgia to allow them to seize

1:39 all of the Fulton County ballots and it looks like, you know,

1:43 when we learned more about what was

1:46 behind the the affidavit seeking a search warrant,

1:50 seeking permission from a judge to seize

1:53 all these Fulton County voting ballots from 2020,

1:56 it looks like it was based on, you know,

1:58 what we all know are debunked election interference claims.

2:03 So, it looks like that federal magistrate sort of had some egg on his face,

2:07 at least based on the reporting, but here we go again because now the Trump

2:12 administration officials apparently issued a grand jury subpoena.

2:16 And let me just tell our viewers exactly what they are seeking to force

2:23 the Fulton County election officials to turn

2:26 over to Trump's Department of Justice.

2:28 The names, positions, email addresses,

2:32 personal telephone numbers for 10 categories of Fulton County election workers.

2:38 And this comes at a time, according to the reporting,

2:42 when election workers fear for their personal safety

2:45 and this subpoena would also apply to volunteers,

2:49 temporary poll workers and even bus

2:52 drivers who operated a mobile voting location.

2:57 According to the motion to quash, the motion to throw out this subpoena

3:02 that was just filed by Fulton County election officials,

3:06 and now we're going to see probably some robust litigation

3:10 where DOJ will try to persuade the judge, "No, no, no.

3:13 This is all on the up and up.

3:14 We're actually investigating election interference in the 2020 election."

3:20 Put a pin in that date, 2020, that year.

3:23 We'll come back to it in a few minutes.

3:24 But and then the Fulton County election officials will argue, "No,

3:28 there is absolutely no lawful basis for the grand

3:33 jury to claim it is investigating criminal activity um based

3:38 on the the the election that occurred in 2020."

3:41 Here's the reason I said put a pin in that.

3:44 In this motion that was filed

3:45 by the Fulton County election officials, they also said,

3:48 "Oh, by the way, they can't be investigating crimes that allegedly took place,

3:54 although they didn't, allegedly took place back in 2020 because

3:58 the statute of limitations has run." So, you know,

4:01 there are like two or three layers of why a judge should quash,

4:08 should throw out this grand jury subpoena

4:11 that was issued by Donald Trump's dirty DOJ leadership.

4:15 Glenn, it's so obvious here what what

4:17 the Trump administration is trying to do by vilifying

4:20 and targeting anybody who's involved in making sure

4:23 that our elections run in a free and fair manner.

4:26 Um what do you think the the the hope

4:28 is for the Trump administration in targeting these people,

4:32 in um beginning with Fulton County in hopes

4:36 that they can export this strategy across the country?

4:39 Brian, before I turn to what I believe is going on here, let me quote Rob Pitts.

4:45 He is the chairman of the Fulton County Election

4:48 Commission and here is what he said about this subpoena.

4:52 He said, "This is obviously designed to harass.

4:56 It's designed to intimidate and chill participation not only by voters,

5:03 but by election workers and volunteer poll workers." And he said flat out,

5:08 "This is another example of Donald Trump misusing the the powers

5:13 of the Department of Justice to go after his perceived enemies,

5:17 you know, to go after old grievances

5:19 and allegations that have long since been debunked.

5:23 I mean, our viewers will undoubtedly remember that, you know,

5:30 lawyers launched something like between 60 and 65 legal challenges,

5:35 court challenges of the results of the 2020 election and they

5:39 were all shot down by federal judges coast to coast.

5:43 Not to mention Donald Trump's own executive branch officials said

5:49 there was no fraud undermining the results of the 2020 election.

5:53 So, Brian, I I believe that what's really going on here

5:57 is an effort to keep people from going to the polls, right?

6:01 Just instill as much fear and intimidation regarding

6:05 the uncertainty of what the feds might do if I

6:08 vote or if I volunteer to work the polls

6:11 or if I am a Fulton County election worker proper, an employee of Fulton County.

6:16 This is intimidation.

6:17 This is harassment and this is an effort

6:20 to suppress and undermine the right to vote in Georgia.

6:24 Okay, so I want to talk about the remedy, the pushback here,

6:27 but before I do, just a quick note for anybody who's watching.

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6:45 Glenn, in terms of the remedy here, if you're arguing this in court,

6:49 what do the Fulton County election officials

6:52 say um to be most persuasive in convincing

6:56 a judge that what's happening here is what we all can see is happening here,

7:00 which is that the administration is trying

7:01 to target yet more election infrastructure in an effort

7:04 to ultimately be able to interfere in the election as we head toward midterms?

7:09 Brian, they point to court cases where claims

7:12 of election fraud by Trump and company were rejected.

7:17 I mean, that's that's most of them.

7:19 I mean, the the the Trump administration in 2020,

7:22 going back to that year, filed 65 lawsuits.

7:25 64 of them were won.

7:26 The only one they lost was a a case in Pennsylvania

7:29 shortening a ballot cure deadline from nine to six days.

7:32 That was ultimately overturned in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

7:34 So, they're they're basically just at a complete loss when

7:37 it comes to these bogus claims of of election denialism.

7:41 DOJ has no facts to support the lawfulness of this grand jury subpoena.

7:47 But the other thing that Fulton County election officials will undoubtedly

7:51 um argue when they're trying to get the judge to quash,

7:54 throw out this subpoena is things like,

7:57 you know, Rudy Giuliani in December 2020,

7:59 acting as Donald Trump's personal lawyer,

8:02 went before the Georgia state legislature and made misrepresentations about who?

8:08 Georgia election workers, Shay Moss and Ruby Freeman.

8:13 And these, you know, misrepresentations about what they were doing as election

8:17 workers were so egregious that they successfully

8:20 sued him for defamation and he was ordered

8:22 to pay out more than 140 million dollars.

8:25 I mean, that is some pretty strong evidence of Trump

8:30 at the time through his lawyer Rudy Giuliani engaged in, you know,

8:34 obvious lawlessness, defamation, misconduct, mischaracterization of, you know,

8:40 the the what was going on in the 2020 election.

8:43 Of course, they'll probably point to the infamous call to Brad Raffensperger,

8:47 "Just find me 11,780 votes and corruptly

8:50 declare me the winner." I paraphrase there,

8:53 but that was clearly the corrupt ask by Donald Trump.

8:57 They will have, you know, abundant evidence to argue that, you know,

9:01 this is um this is nothing more than

9:04 a transparent attempt to undermine an ongoing election,

9:08 early voting, and to continue to punish his perceived enemies.

9:13 And Brian, the other thing they're clearly going to point to, well, guess what?

9:16 Donald Trump and his dirty DOJ leadership,

9:18 they have priors on issuing lawless subpoenas.

9:22 It was just a matter of weeks ago that they issued a bogus,

9:26 lawless series of subpoenas trying to do what?

9:30 Punish another Trump perceived enemy, Jerome Powell.

9:34 What happened?

9:35 That issue was litigated.

9:36 That motion to quash, to throw out those subpoenas was litigated in front

9:41 of the chief judge of Federal District Court in Washington,

9:44 D.C., Judge James Boasberg, and he threw them out.

9:48 He granted the motion to quash.

9:51 And what happened in pretty much the immediate

9:53 aftermath of that ruling throwing out those subpoenas?

9:57 Janine Pirro, the D.C.

9:58 U.S.

9:59 Attorney said, "Okay, okay, we're closing the criminal investigation into Jerome

10:05 Powell." I mean, what a tell there.

10:10 That's a concession.

10:11 It's a de facto admission that they had no criminal case.

10:16 They had no basis to issue criminal grand jury subpoenas looking into, you know,

10:21 cost overruns at the the renovation of the of the Fed.

10:25 So, listen, Trump and company have priors.

10:28 All of this will make for a very compelling argument

10:32 by the Fulton County election officials that this is more of the same,

10:36 and let's hope a judge, you know,

10:39 does not buy into what the claim will be from the Trump administration.

10:44 They're going to say, "Okay,

10:45 we know that the Constitution provides that the states run elections,

10:49 not the federal government.

10:50 But, but, we think there's evidence of foreign interference,

10:55 and that's a national security matter.

10:58 And, you know, the courts have said generally that the executive branch's

11:02 power and authority is at its zenith when it deals like things like,

11:07 you know, national security matters,

11:09 foreign interference in our government and our governing." So,

11:13 they're going to pull out that same old tired line,

11:16 which is nothing but but they know it's the strongest argument they have.

11:21 But, you know what?

11:22 It's not a magical incantation.

11:25 You can't say foreign interference, national security,

11:28 and then run roughshod over the rule

11:29 of law and the Constitution and states' rights.

11:33 So, you know, I am guardedly optimistic, Brian,

11:37 that the federal judge, and because this is a motion to quash,

11:40 it will probably be handled by the chief

11:43 judge in that federal jurisdiction down in Georgia,

11:46 because it is the chief judge of all of the different

11:49 federal jurisdictions that have supervisory

11:52 responsibilities over the grand jury.

11:55 So, it won't be the same magistrate judge who issued that, you know,

11:59 who who who approved that search warrant to snatch

12:02 up the Fulton County ballots in the first place.

12:05 It won't even be a full federal judge.

12:08 It is very likely to be the chief judge,

12:10 and I hope that the chief judge gets this right.

12:13 All right, last question here, Glenn.

12:15 Let's say that the chief judge does get it right.

12:18 Is there a world where you have some concern

12:20 that this thing will get appealed up to the U.S.

12:22 Supreme Court, where, you know, obviously uh talk about acting in good faith,

12:27 those judge justices are less likely to do so,

12:30 as opposed to just blindly deferring to Trump?

12:33 In the upside down world we are living in, Brian,

12:37 I always have concern that anything will end up at the Supreme Court,

12:43 a parking ticket, for gosh sakes.

12:45 And I do not trust the Supreme Court to be

12:47 an honest broker of the law or the Constitution.

12:51 And, you know, I take no, you know, glee in saying that.

12:55 I don't think a battle over a subpoena and whether it's lawful

13:00 or not is likely to make it up to the Supreme Court.

13:04 But, again, you know, the the caveat is always with this Supreme Court.

13:09 I'm not laying any money on them doing the right thing.

13:13 Well, of course, we will stay on top

13:15 of this issue as soon as we get any updates.

13:17 Again, for those who are watching, if you'd like to follow along,

13:19 and if you want to see more legal analysis,

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13:28 I'm Brian Tyler Cohen.

13:30 And I'm Glenn Kirschner.

13:31 You're watching The Legal Breakdown.

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