new black panthers
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">see mike roman</font><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">J. Christian Adams' accusations that President Obama's Justice Department engaged in racially charged "corruption" in the New Black Panther Party </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">case do not stand up to the evidence.</span><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
=</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/malik-zulu-shabazz">https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/malik-zulu-shabazz</a></font></div><div>
</div><div>note rob schilling less troubled by anti-sem at charlottesville</div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">117</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">R</font><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">umor has it that even though he seemed to be reacting in response to questions from the press this week, Donald Trump has wanted to launch his “voter fraud” investigation ever since he realized he lost the popular vote by a huge margin — and people inside the administration were desperately trying to talk him out of it. I have no way of knowing whether this is true, but Trump has made it clear since the election that he believes there was massive fraud in November:</span></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> Follow</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> Donald J. Trump ? @realDonaldTrump</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">12:30 PM - 27 Nov 2016</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> 53,946 53,946 Retweets 163,627 163,627 likes</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">For the record, there’s no evidence that systematic voter fraud exists. None. Nonetheless, Trump repeatedly made the claim the election was “rigged” during the campaign, eventually saying that he would accept the election results — if he won. He even lied about that. He won, but he still won’t accept the results.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">It's obvious that this obsession with voter fraud in the face of winning an election is another aspect of Trump’s bottomless narcissism. From what he said in his interview with David Muir on ABC, he believes that the problem only exists in places he didn’t win. He told Muir that every one of the alleged 2 million to 3 million illegal votes went to Hillary Clinton. But it’s important to recognize that Trump is felicitously playing into the hands of right-wing operatives who have been working to suppress the votes of Democratic constituencies for years. And they are very excited about this new “investigation.”</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">One of Trump’s advisers on immigration, <b>Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, </b>has reportedly been encouraging Trump to initiate this investigation. He told the Wichita Eagle on Wednesday:</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">I’ve advised [Trump] on the issue of voter fraud in multiple forms. I’m not the only one, but he’s been very interested in finding ways to reduce voter fraud.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">I know that he is interested in investigating the issue on a national scale, but I also know that he would like to see the Justice Department launch specific investigations where there is real serious, specific evidence of voter fraud.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">There seems to be a plan to focus this “voter fraud” investigation on the big liberal states and urban areas that do not vote for Republicans. Indeed, this is something the right wing has been trying to do for years and it was that effort that led to one of the greatest political scandals of the George W. Bush administration: the U.S. attorney scandal. You may recall that this was all about trying to force federal prosecutors to pursue phony voter fraud cases in Democratic states, often against Democratic officials. When these prosecutors refused, they were fired and replaced.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">I’ve written about Kobach for Salon before, both when he was a somewhat obscure figure in the conservative movement and again when he ascended to the highest levels of national politics. He has two missions in life, and they’re tied together. The first is to suppress the votes of Democrats and the second is to curb immigration. The Republicans see both of these goals as essential to their ability to win in the future since their base of white conservative voters is shrinking. Trump’s motives are simpler, as are his supporters': They believe immigrants and American-born people of color are cheating at the ballot box in order to gain “goodies” from the federal government, at the expense of hardworking real Americans.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But Kobach is not the only person pushing these two interconnected issues. There is an entire political industry devoted to it, from sophisticated election attorney networks like the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Republican National Lawyers Association to grassroots organizations like True the Vote.</span> And there are certain “experts” who have been around for a long while, pushing the issue whenever the opportunity presents itself.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">One of them is a man with the striking name of <b>Hans von Spakovsky. </b>Those who follow voting issues are very familiar with him from his time in the Bush administration’s Department of Justice voting section, where he<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> worked to undermine the Voting Rights Act and played fast and loose with ethical rules, </span>as amply documented in a piece by Dahlia Lithwick at Slate. Von Spakovsky was serving as a recess appointment to the Federal Election Commission at the time and up for consideration as a permanent member. The Democratic Senate refused to confirm him, and not just because of his ethical lapses. He is a zealous activist for vote suppression all over the country.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">He, too, has an attitude that often reveals his underlying motivations. He recently spoke with <b>Breitbart</b> News:</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“Their attitude towards any voter fraud prosecutions has always been: if the defendants are black, well, you must be doing it for racist reasons,” he noted. “Remember, we saw that in the <b>New Black Panther story out of Philly in 2008, when Eric Holder came in and immediately dismissed the voter intimidation case against them, despite the overwhelming evidence that the Black Panthers had been intimidating voters and poll watchers. </b>It was dismissed by the Obama Justice Department because they didn’t believe that black defendants should be prosecuted. They don’t believe in the race-neutral enforcement of the voting and election law.”</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">mirror</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The New Black Panther case was another cynical attempt by the right wing to turn the tables on Democrats and the Obama administration to show that African-Americans are the real racists.</span> It was absurd but made for good copy and continued to provide cover for conservatives who seemed to see vote fraud in every urban neighborhood where black or brown people lived.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>This week von Spakovsky wrote an op-ed for Fox News</b> with fellow voter-fraud obsessive John Fund of the National Review, lauding President Trump for his decision to investigate. They relitigated the tiresome New Black Panther story and accused the Obama-Holder Justice Department of encouraging nonexistent systematic voter fraud by refusing to force states to purge voters from the rolls,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> quoting the same Pew study that Donald Trump cites as his expert source on the subject. (The author of the study has repeatedly made it clear that he did not find evidence of voter fraud. They keep citing it anyway.)</span> In particular, they cited California as being a hive of fraudulent voter activity that requires federal intervention.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">It’s unknown at this point who will be heading Trump’s “investigation” or what form it’s likely to take. (It’s always possible that more rational White House aides can talk the president out of this foolhardy and wasteful boondoggle.) But Kobach is definitely advising him informally and you can be sure von Spakovsky stands ready to help in any way he can, along with dozens of others who have been working on this so-called issue for many years. Their calling is keeping people from voting, and Donald Trump has given these zealots a new lease on life.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Heather Digby Parton</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/16/report-fox-news-has-hyped-phony-new-black-panth/167811">http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/16/report-fox-news-has-hyped-phony-new-black-panth/167811</a>
</font><div class="item-summary">
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Six Fox News shows have discussed the phony New Black Panthers scandal during a total of 95 segments since Megyn Kelly's
June 30 interview hyping the unsubstantiated allegations of right-wing
activist J. Christian Adams.</span> In all, these Fox shows have devoted more
than eight hours of airtime to discussing the New Black Panthers.</font></p>
</div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font><div class="item-body">
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams' accusations don't stand up to the facts</font></h2><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Adams is a longtime <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/07/updated-manufactured-scandal-right-wings-phony/167340" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/research/201007070020">right-wing activist</a>
who is known for filing an ethics complaint against Hugh Rodham that
was subsequently dismissed. Adams served as a poll watcher for George W.
Bush in Florida in 2004, and he reportedly volunteered for a Republican
group that trains lawyers to fight "racially tinged battles over voting
rights.</span>"</font></li></ul><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Adams was hired at the Justice Department in 2005 by
Bradley Schlozman,</b> who was found by the Justice Department's inspector
general and Office of Professional Responsibility to have improperly
considered political affiliation when hiring career attorneys -- the
former head of the DOJ voting rights section reportedly said that Adams
was "exhibit A of the type of people hired by Schlozman."</font></li></ul><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams has admitted that he does not have firsthand
knowledge of the events, conversations, and decisions that he is citing
to advance his accusations.</font></li></ul><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Bush administration's Justice Department -- not the
Obama administration -- made the decision not to pursue criminal charges
against members of the New Black Panther Party for alleged voter
intimidation at a polling center in Philadelphia in 2008.</font></li></ul><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Obama administration successfully obtained default
judgment against King Samir Shabazz, a member of the New Black Panther
Party who was carrying a nightstick outside the Philadelphia polling
center.</font></li></ul><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>The Bush administration DOJ chose not to pursue similar
charges against members of the Minutemen, one of whom allegedly carried a
weapon while harassing Hispanic voters in Arizona in 2006.</b></font></li></ul><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>No voters have come forward to claim that they were
intimidated and did not vote because of the New Black Panthers' presence
outside the polling center.</b></font></li></ul><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Republican vice chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on
Civil Rights, which is currently investigating the Justice Department's
decision, has said that the case is "very small potatoes" and that it
has been surrounded by "overheated rhetoric filled with insinuations and
unsubstantiated charges." She has further stated that the investigation
has not "served the interests of the Commission" and that the DOJ has
given a "plausible argument" for not pursuing additional charges in the
case.</font></li></ul><h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox News has discussed phony scandal during at least 95 segments</font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Media Matters reviewed Fox News' coverage of the phony New Black Panther Party scandal on America Live and Fox News' evening shows available in Nexis from June 30 through July 14:</font></p>
<ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">America Live has discussed the phony scandal during 45 segments totaling more than 3.5 hours since Kelly's June 30 interview with Adams.</font></li></ul><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The O'Reilly Factor has discussed the phony scandal during 18 segments totaling more than 1 hour since Kelly's interview.</font></li></ul><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Glenn Beck has discussed the phony scandal during 15 segments totaling more than 2 hours since Kelly's interview.</font></li></ul><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Hannity has discussed the phony scandal during 10 segments totaling more than 42 minutes since Kelly's interview.</font></li></ul><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Special Report with Bret Baier has discussed the phony scandal during 6 segments totaling more than 14 minutes since Kelly's interview.</font></li></ul><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On the Record with Greta Van Susteren has discussed the phony scandal during 1 segment totaling more than 7 minutes since Kelly's interview.</font></li></ul><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><img src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/obsessionhrs2.jpg" alt="segments" style="border: 0px initial initial;" border="0" height="403" width="463" /><img src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/nbpphours.jpg" alt="hours" border="0" height="403" width="463" /></font></p>
</div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">===<br />http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/07/updated-manufactured-scandal-right-wings-phony/167340<br /><br /></font><div class="item-summary">
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">J. Christian Adams' accusations that President Obama's Justice Department engaged in racially charged "corruption" in
the New Black Panther Party case do not stand up to the evidence. Adams
is a right-wing activist tied to the Bush-era politicization of the
Justice Department who has admitted he lacks first-hand knowledge of the
events he is discussing, and his claims fall apart given the fact that
the Obama DOJ obtained judgment against one defendant, while the Bush
DOJ declined to pursue similar allegations in 2006.</font></p>
</div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font><div class="item-body">
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Adams</strong>: DOJ's action in New Black Panther case shows unprecedented, racially charged corruption </font></h2><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>Adams: DOJ decision not to pursue charges in New Black Panthers case demonstrates unprecedented, racially charged corruption.</strong> </strong>GOP activist J. Christian Adams penned a <em><em>Washington Times</em> </em><a href="http://www.mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtontimes.com%2Fnews%2F2010%2Fjun%2F25%2Finside-the-black-panther-case-anger-ignorance-and-%2F" title="blocked::http://www.mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/25/inside-the-black-panther-case-anger-ignorance-and-/ blocked::http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/25/inside-the-black-panther-case-anger-ignorance-and-/">column</a> leveling accusations of a "corrupt" and racially charged dismissal of the <a href="http://www.mediamatters.org/research/201007020021" title="blocked::http://www.mediamatters.org/research/201007020021 blocked::http://mediamatters.org/research/201007020021">New Black Panther Party case</a> and appeared in a <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/06/30/fox-hypes-gop-activists-explosive-new-allegatio/167064" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/research/201006300064">two-part</a> <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/02/foxs-kelly-deceptively-cites-doj-testimony-to-f/167164" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/research/201007020021">interview</a>
with Fox News' Megyn Kelly. During the interview, Adams accused the
Justice Department of "a hostility in the voting section and in the
civil rights division to bringing cases on behalf of white victims for
the benefit of national racial minorities." Adams further said that "the
decision to dismiss this case was corrupt," adding, "to abandon
law-abiding citizens and abet wrongdoers constitutes corruption." In a
Pajamas Media post, Adams <a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/j-christian-adams-you-deserve-to-know-%E2%80%94-unequal-law-enforcement-reigns-at-obamas-doj-pjm-exclusive/?singlepage=true" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/j-christian-adams-you-deserve-to-know-%E2%80%94-unequal-law-enforcement-reigns-at-obamas-doj-pjm-exclusive/?singlepage=true">wrote</a>:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">If we had that frank, truthful discussion about race,
we'd learn that the Obama administration doesn't believe some civil
rights laws protect every American. The Bush Civil Rights Division was
willing to protect all Americans from racial discrimination; during the
Obama years, the Holder years, only some Americans will be protected.
Americans have a right to know and judge the racial policies of the
administration they elected in 2008.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams' unsubstantiated story spread throughout other right-wing media. Kelly <a href="http://www.mediamatters.org/blog/201007010001" title="blocked::http://www.mediamatters.org/blog/201007010001 blocked::http://mediamatters.org/blog/201007010001">brought</a> the story to <em><em>Hannity</em></em>, and it was picked up by <a href="http://www.mediamatters.org/blog/201007010055" title="blocked::http://www.mediamatters.org/blog/201007010055 blocked::http://mediamatters.org/blog/201007010055">Rush Limbaugh</a>, <a href="http://www.mediamatters.org/mmtv/201007010069" title="blocked::http://www.mediamatters.org/mmtv/201007010069 blocked::http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201007010069">Laura Ingraham</a>, radio host <a href="http://www.mediamatters.org/mmtv/201007020037" title="blocked::http://www.mediamatters.org/mmtv/201007020037 blocked::http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201007020037">Jay Severin</a>, the blogs <a href="http://www.mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fhotair.com%2Farchives%2F2010%2F06%2F30%2Fvideo-doj-lawyer-who-quit-over-voter-intimidation-case-speaks%2F" title="blocked::http://www.mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://hotair.com/archives/2010/06/30/video-doj-lawyer-who-quit-over-voter-intimidation-case-speaks/ blocked::http://hotair.com/archives/2010/06/30/video-doj-lawyer-who-quit-over-voter-intimidation-case-speaks/">Hot Air</a>, <a href="http://www.mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fatlasshrugs2000.typepad.com%2Fatlas_shrugs%2F2010%2F07%2Fobama-has-violated-his-oath-of-office-in-racist-dept-of-justice-decision-to-drop-new-black-panther-p.html" title="blocked::http://www.mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/07/obama-has-violated-his-oath-of-office-in-racist-dept-of-justice-decision-to-drop-new-black-panther-p.html blocked::http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas">Atlas Shrugs</a>, <a href="http://www.mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fminx.cc%2F%3Fpost%3D303206" title="blocked::http://www.mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://minx.cc/?post=303206 blocked::http://minx.cc/?post=303206">Ace of Spades</a>, Andrew Breitbart's <a href="http://biggovernment.com/jdunetz/2010/07/01/former-doj-official-charges-racism-drove-doj-to-kill-black-panther-voter-intimidation-case/" title="blocked::http://biggovernment.com/jdunetz/2010/07/01/former-doj-official-charges-racism-drove-doj-to-kill-black-panther-voter-intimidation-case/ blocked::http://www.mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://minx.cc/?post=303206 blocked::http://biggovernment.com/jdunetz/2010/07/01/former-doj-official-charges-racism-drove-doj-to-kill-black-panther-voter-intimidation-case/">Big Government</a>, and the Fox website <a href="http://www.mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thefoxnation.com%2Fjustice%2F2010%2F06%2F30%2Fexclusive-race-was-reason-holder-dropped-black-panther-case" title="blocked::http://www.mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.thefoxnation.com/justice/2010/06/30/exclusive-race-was-reason-holder-dropped-black-panther-case blocked::http://www.thefoxnation.com/justice/2010/06/30/exclusive-race-was-reason-holder-dropped-black-p">Fox Nation</a>.</font></p>
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Reality: Adams' accusations don't stand up to the facts</strong></font></h2>
<ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams is a long-time right-wing activist, who is known for
filing an ethics complaint against Hugh Rodham that was subsequently
dismissed, served as a Bush poll watcher in Florida 2004, and reportedly
volunteered for a Republican group that trains lawyers to fight
"racially tinged battles over voting rights";</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams was hired to the Justice Department in 2005 by Bradley
Schlozman, who was found by the Department of Justice Inspector General
and Office of Professional Responsibility to have improperly considered
political affiliation when hiring career attorneys -- the former head of
the DOJ voting rights section reportedly said that Adams was "exhibit A
of the type of people hired by Schlozman";</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams has admitted that he does not have first-hand knowledge of the
events, conversations, and decisions that he is citing to advance his
accusations;</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Bush administration's Justice Department -- not the Obama
administration -- made the decision not to pursue criminal charges
against members of the New Black Panther Party for alleged voter
intimidation at a polling center in Philadelphia in 2008;</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Obama administration successfully obtained default judgment
against Samir Shabazz, a member of the New Black Panther Party carrying a
nightstick outside the Philadelphia polling center on Election Day
2008;</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Bush administration DOJ chose not to pursue similar charges
against members of the Minutemen, one of whom allegedly carried a weapon
while harassing Hispanic voters in Arizona in 2006;</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">No voters have come forward to claim that they were intimidated from
voting on account of the New Black Panthers standing outside the
polling center in 2008;</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Republican vice chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights, which is currently investigating the Justice Department's
decision, reportedly said that the other conservatives on the Civil
Rights Commission were trying to use New Black Panther case "to topple"
the Obama administration. Thernston has also called the case "very small
potatoes" and criticized the "overheated rhetoric filled with
insinuations and unsubstantiated charges" surrounding it, and said that
rhetoric has not "served the interests of the commission"; she further
said that DOJ has given a "plausible argument" for not pursuing
additional charges in the case;</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The United States Commission on Civil Rights has been integral to
the phony New Black Panthers scandal. Although the media have emphasized
the fact that the commission is technically bipartisan, thanks to a
"controversial maneuver" by the Bush administration, the commission is
dominated by conservative activists;</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams himself testified that he had no "indication" that the
decision involved anyone "higher up" than an acting assistant attorney
general;</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Obama Justice Department requested additional judgment against
black leaders in Mississippi who were found to have discriminated
against white voters;</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The existence of emails between political and career attorneys in
the Justice Department does not contradict DOJ statements that career
attorneys made the decision not to pursue additional charges -- DOJ
officials have said repeatedly that political appointees were made aware
of the decision-making process.</font></li></ul><h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams is a long-time GOP activist</font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>Kelly: A source "close to the case" said "Christian
Adams is a conservative who has made willful misstatements in this
interview."</strong></strong> After airing a portion of her <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/06/30/fox-hypes-gop-activists-explosive-new-allegatio/167064" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/research/201006300064">interview</a> with Adams on the June 30 edition of <em><em>America Live</em></em>,
Kelly reported the Justice Department's reaction to Adams' allegations
and then noted, "Another source close to the case telling one of our
producers that Christian Adams is a conservative who has made willful
misstatements in this interview."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>Adams</strong> <strong>reportedly filed ethics complaint against Hugh Rodham that was dismissed.</strong> </strong>In a February 26, 2001, <em>Washington Times </em>column
(accessed via Nexis) John McCaslin cited a formal ethics complaint
filed by Adams against Hugh Rodham, brother of then-Sen. Hillary
Clinton. On February 24, 2001, <em>The Washington Times </em>had
reported (accessed via Nexis) that "Adams said Mr. Rodham put his
Florida law license 'in jeopardy' with an admission that he accepted a
contingency fee in obtaining the commutation for Carlos Vignali, the
convicted drug dealer released from prison after serving six years of a
15-year sentence." A July 22, 2001, <em>New York Times </em>article (accessed via Nexis) reported, "The Florida bar has cleared Hugh Rodham of violating legal ethics."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Adams reportedly volunteered with GOP group that "trains
lawyers to fight on the front lines of often racially tinged battles
over voting rights."</strong> A December 2, 2009, <a href="http://www.mainjustice.com/2009/12/02/doj-attorney-fights-to-testify-about-black-panthers/" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.mainjustice.com/2009/12/02/doj-attorney-fights-to-testify-about-black-panthers/ blocked::http://www.mainjustice.com/2009/12/02/doj-attorney-fights-to-testify-about-black-panthers/">article</a> on the legal news website Main Justice reported:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Before coming to the Justice Department, Adams
volunteered with the National Republican Lawyers Association, an
offshoot of the Republican National Committee that trains lawyers to
fight on the front lines of often racially tinged battles over voting
rights.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>Adams reportedly was a Bush campaign poll watcher in Florida.</strong> </strong>The December 2, 2009, Main Justice article further <a href="http://www.mainjustice.com/2009/12/02/doj-attorney-fights-to-testify-about-black-panthers/" title="blocked::http://www.mainjustice.com/2009/12/02/doj-attorney-fights-to-testify-about-black-panthers/">reported</a>:
"In 2004, Adams served as a Bush campaign poll watcher in Florida,
where he was critical of a black couple for not accepting a provisional
ballot in early voting after officials said they had no record of the
couple's change of address forms, <a href="http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20670001&sid=asehsMvigqmI" title="blocked::http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20670001&sid=asehsMvigqmI">according</a>
to Bloomberg News. Democratic poll watchers had advised voters not to
accept provisional ballots because of the risk they could be discounted
under Florida law, Bloomberg reported."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>Adams</strong> <strong>likened Obama to appeasers who caused "carnage" of WWII.</strong></strong> In an October 30, 2009, <em><em>American Spectator</em></em> <a href="http://spectator.org/archives/2009/10/30/the-precedented-peace-prize" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://spectator.org/archives/2009/10/30/the-precedented-peace-prize blocked::http://spectator.org/archives/2009/10/30/the-precedented-peace-prize">piece</a>,
Adams wrote: "President Obama's received his Peace Prize, according to
the Nobel Committee, for his 'efforts to strengthen international
diplomacy and cooperation between nations.' Norman Angell's Nobel was
awarded for similar reasons." Adams went on to blame Angell's ideas for
World War II:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The 1933 Peace Prize winner profoundly influenced British
policy in ways that led directly to German tanks rolling into Poland in
September 1939. War did not break out because nations ignored Angell's
advice; instead, the ensuing carnage in Europe happened because European
democracies made Angell's ideas government policy.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams concluded: "Churchill, responding directly to Angell, asked
'who is the man vain enough to suppose that the long antagonisms of
history and of time can in all circumstances be adjusted by the smooth
and superficial conventions of politicians and ambassadors?' The Nobel
Committee may have answered Sir Winston's query for the 21st century."</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams is deeply tied to Bush-era politicization of DOJ</font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Former Voting Rights section chief: Adams is "exhibit A of the type of people hired by Schlozman." </strong>A July 6 article on Main Justice <a href="http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/07/06/adams-hired-for-conservative-credentials-former-doj-official-says/" title="blocked::http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/07/06/adams-hired-for-conservative-credentials-former-doj-official-says/">reported</a>
that Joseph Rich, former head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights
Division Voting Section, said that Adams "was hired in the Civil Rights
Division Voting Section under a process the DOJ Inspector General later
determined was improperly influenced by politics," by Schlozman. Main
Justice further reported:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Rich said Schlozman asked him to attend an interview with
J. Christian Adams, a solo practitioner from Alexandria, Va., who had
worked for the Secretary of State in South Carolina. Adams had also
volunteered for the <a href="http://www.rnla.org/" title="blocked::http://www.rnla.org/">Republican National Lawyers Association</a>, a GOP-funded group that sought to draw attention to voting fraud.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams did not have an extensive background in civil rights, Rich
said, but may have had limited voting rights experience from his time in
South Carolina. "He is exhibit A of the type of people hired by
Schlozman," Rich said.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Rich said he sat in on the interview, but Schlozman asked most of the
questions. There was no discussion of Adams' political background at
the meeting, according to Rich. Adams was offered the position shortly
thereafter, and Rich said he doesn't believe anyone else was interviewed
for the job.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"I was invited to the interview but was never asked for a
recommendation," Rich said. "This was an example of the way things were
being done. There's no evidence that this was a normal hiring process."
As a supervisor, Rich said, he normally would have been involved in
hiring decisions.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Schlozman's politicization wrought havoc on Civil Rights Division</strong></font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>DOJ IG "found that Schlozman considered political and
ideological affiliations when hiring and taking other personnel actions
relating to career attorneys, in violation of Department policy and
federal law."</strong></strong> A July 2008 report from the Department of Justice Inspector General's Office and the Office of Professional Responsibility <a href="http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=68" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=68 blocked::http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=68 blocked::http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=67">concluded</a>
that Schlozman "considered political and ideological affiliations when
hiring and taking other personnel actions relating to career attorneys
in violation of Department policy and federal law." The report <a href="http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=67" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=67 blocked::http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=67">concluded</a>:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The evidence in our investigation showed that Schlozman,
first as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General and subsequently as
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Acting Assistant
Attorney General, considered political and ideological affiliations in
hiring career attorneys and in other personnel actions affecting career
attorneys in the Civil Rights Division. In doing so, he violated federal
law -- the <em><em>Civil Service Reform Act</em></em> -- and Department
policy that prohibit discrimination in federal employment based on
political and ideological affiliations, and committed misconduct. The
evidence also showed that Division managers failed to exercise
sufficient oversight to ensure that Schlozman did not engage in
inappropriate hiring and personnel practices. Moreover, Schlozman made
false statements about whether he considered political and ideological
affiliations when he gave sworn testimony to the Senate Judiciary
Committee and in his written responses to supplemental questions from
the Committee.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>Schlozman is said to have picked attorneys who
"lacked relevant experience" and "rarely expressed any interest in civil
rights enforcement."</strong> </strong>The IG/OPR report <a href="http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=19" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=19 blocked::http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=19">stated</a>
that Special Litigation Section Chief Shanetta Cutlar "said that the
applicants whose résumés she reviewed after they had been culled from
the applicant pool by Schlozman or others in the front office typically
reflected membership in conservative organizations. She also said the
most striking thing she noticed about the résumés was that the
applicants generally lacked relevant experience. She said Schlozman
minimized the importance of prior civil rights or human rights work
experience." In addition, the report states:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Former Criminal Section Chief [Albert] Moskowitz also
said the candidates for career positions chosen by Schlozman had
conservative political or ideological affiliations and rarely had any
civil rights background, rarely expressed any interest in civil rights
enforcement, and had very little or no federal criminal experience.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>Schlozman testified that he "probably ha[d]" boasted about hiring Republicans or conservatives.</strong> </strong>From a June 5, 2007, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on politicized hiring and firing in the DOJ (from the Nexis database):</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER: Did you ever boast to anyone that
you hired a certain number of Republicans or conservatives for any
division or section at the Justice Department?</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">MR. SCHLOZMAN: I mean, I probably have made statements like that.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In addition, the IG/OPR report <a href="http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=29" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=29 blocked::http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=29">cited</a>
a January 2004 email in which Schlozman wrote to an attorney he had
hired: "Just between you and me, we hired another member of 'the team'
yesterday. And still another ideological comrade will be starting in one
month. So we are making progress."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>IG/OPR documented Schlozman discussing the removal of "disloyal" "liberals" and hiring of conservative "real Americans."</strong></strong> The same report <a href="http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=23" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=23 blocked::http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=23">outlined</a>
statements from Justice Department officials who said that Schlozman
attempted to remove Democrats and liberals and hire "real Americans" or
"right-thinking Americans," which the report determined to mean
conservatives. From the report:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Several attorneys in the Division also told us that
Schlozman was open about his disdain for and lack of trust in the
attorney staff of the Division. Appellate Section Chief Diana Flynn told
us that in conversations with her, Schlozman alternately referred to
the Appellate Section lawyers hired during prior administrations as
"Democrats" and "liberals," and said they were "disloyal," could not be
trusted, and were not "on the team." Flynn said Schlozman pledged to
move as many of them out of the Division as he could to make room for
the "real Americans" and "right-thinking Americans" he wanted to hire.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Accounts from numerous other Division employees and officials,
including former AAG Wan Kim and Section Chiefs Cutlar and Flynn, as
well as the context of Schlozman's e-mails, indicate that his use of
terms such as "real American," "right-thinking American," being "on the
team," and similar terms were Schlozman's way of referring to
politically conservative applicants and attorneys. For example, an
e-mail dated July 17, 2006, from Schlozman to Monica Goodling, who at
the time was Senior Counsel to the Attorney General and White House
Liaison, sheds light on the meaning of Schlozman's terms. In that
e-mail, Schlozman recommended a friend who had interviewed with Goodling
for a political position. Schlozman wrote, "I can assure you that [the
applicant] is a good American. [The applicant] and Sheldon Bradshaw and I
(and [one] other person) made up a four-member Vast Right-Wing
Conspiracy at my former law firm." In another e-mail sent to Goodling on
December 4, 2006, in which Schlozman recommended a different friend for
an Immigration Judge position, Schlozman wrote, "[D]on't be dissuaded
by his ACLU work on voting matters from years ago. This is a very
different man, and particularly on immigration issues, he is a true
member of the team."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">A May 9, 2003, e-mail provides additional evidence of the meaning of
Schlozman's phrases. Luis Reyes, then Counsel to the AAG for the Civil
Division, sent an e-mail to Schlozman in connection with a legal matter,
endorsing an attorney in the Department's Office of Legal Policy as a
"right thinking american [sic] to say the least." In an e-mail response,
Schlozman wrote that he "just spoke with [the attorney] to verify his
political leanings and it is clear he is a member of the team."</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>IG/OPR: Schlozman cut section managers out of the hiring process.</strong> </strong>As <a href="http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=14" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=14 blocked::http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=14">explained</a>
in the IG/OPR report, a memorandum on hiring procedures sent out by
Ralph F. Boyd Jr., then the Civil Rights Division assistant attorney
general, indicated that section chiefs were supposed to interview and
provide hiring recommendations. However, the report <a href="http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=18" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=18 blocked::http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=18">states</a>
that Schlozman "prevented many career section chiefs from reviewing
résumés of the complete applicant pool, and he only provided to them
résumés of applicants he interviewed. Five of the six section chiefs
whom Schlozman supervised while [deputy assistant attorney general],
from May 2003 to June 2005, told us that Schlozman further minimized
their roles in the hiring process by providing little advance notice of
applicant interviews, discouraging their asking questions during the
interviews, and ignoring their assessments and recommendations regarding
attorney applicants." In sections of the Civil Rights Division where
Schlozman was not responsible for hiring, <a href="http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=17" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=17 blocked::http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=17">by contrast</a>, "[c]areer section managers and attorneys in these sections had greater roles in the process for hiring experienced attorneys."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>IG/OPR: Schlozman forwarded "inappropriate jokes," such as calling former Civil Rights Commission chairwoman "black and bitter."</strong> According to the IG/OPR report, Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta <a href="http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=50" title="http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=50">said</a>
that Schlozman was "very loose with his language" and made
"inappropriate jokes" during his tenure at the Justice Department. In an
example provided to the inspector general, Acosta described as
inappropriate an email Schlozman <a href="http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0901/final.pdf#page=50">forwarded</a> around the office:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> In that incident in August 2004, Voting Section Chief
John Tanner sent an e-mail to Schlozman asking Schlozman to bring coffee
for him to a meeting both were scheduled to attend. Schlozman replied
asking Tanner how he liked his coffee. Tanner's response was, "Mary
Frances Berry style -- black and bitter." Berry is an African-American
who was the Chairperson of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from
November 1993 until late 2004. Schlozman forwarded the e-mail chain to
several Department officials (including Principal DAAG Bradshaw) but not
Acosta, with the comment, "Y'all will appreciate Tanner's response."
Acosta said that when he was made aware of the incident, he required
Schlozman to make a written apology to him for his role in forwarding
the e-mail and that Schlozman did so. Acosta said that he believed
Schlozman wrote him the apology in an e-mail, but we were unable to
retrieve Acosta's e-mails and did not find such an e-mail among
Schlozman's recovered e-mail messages.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams admits he lacks first-hand knowledge to support his accusations</font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Adams: "I don't know. I wasn't there." </strong>During the June 30 edition of <em>America Live</em>,<em> </em>Kelly hyped what she called Adams' "explosive new allegations." But during the interview, Adams <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/06/30/fox-hypes-gop-activists-explosive-new-allegatio/167064" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/research/201006300064">relied</a>
on hearsay and things that others said to support his allegations. For
example, after claiming that a Justice Department attorney "threw [a]
memo at" another attorney, Kelly asked, "What was the response? I mean,
that's an extraordinary story," and Adams replied, "I don't know. I
wasn't there."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Adams admits he did not talk to the attorneys he said made the decision not to pursue additional charges. </strong>During
the interview, Kelly asked Adams, "So, what happened at the Department
of Justice to get you to the point where you literally snatched defeat
from the jaws of victory?" Adams said: "[W]hat happened was -- and it's
been -- there's been testimony -- we were ordered to dismiss the case.
We were told, 'Drop the charges against the New Black Panther Party.' "
Kelly asked, "Who told you that?" Adams responded, "Well, <em><em>the testimony's been</em></em>
that Steve Rosenbaum and Loretta King, two political officers at the
department, ordered the dismissal of the case [emphasis added]." Kelly
then asked Adams, "Did you, personally, speak with Mr. Rosenbaum and Ms.
King about the dismissal of this case?" Adams responded: "No. Chris
Coates and Bob Popper did. Two other attorneys."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>Adams: "[T]here are some things I'm not going to reveal as far as who they are. They know who they are."</strong></strong>
During the interview, Adams suggested his allegations about the
decisions surrounding the case were evidence of "a pervasive hostility
to bringing these sorts of civil rights cases." Kelly asked Adams
whether the DOJ has "a policy now of not pursuing cases if the defendant
is black and the victim is white." At one point, Kelly also asked, "Who
specifically has issued that mandate?" Adams responded, "[T]here are
some things I'm not going to reveal as far as who they are. They know
who they are."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Republican Civil Rights commissioner: Adams "doesn't know why the decision was made." </strong>Abigail Thernstrom, the Republican vice chairwoman of the Civil Rights Commission, <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/04-23-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page=72" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/04-23-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page=72">said</a> during an April 23 hearing into the case:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">I know Chris Adams very well, and he doesn't know why the
decision was made, which was the question before -- that we were
supposed to be addressing at this Commission.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Decision not to pursue criminal charges was made by Bush DOJ, not Obama</font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Bush DOJ, not Obama, made decision not to pursue criminal charges. </strong>Before President Bush left office, the Department of Justice filed a <a href="http://www.justice.gov/crt/voting/misc/philadelphia_bpp_comp.php" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.justice.gov/crt/voting/misc/philadelphia_bpp_comp.php http://www.justice.gov/crt/voting/misc/philadelphia_bpp_comp.php">civil complaint</a> asking for an injunction against the New Black Panther Party and some of its members. In<strong> </strong>his May 14 <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf" title="blocked::http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf">testimony</a>
before the Commission on Civil Rights, Assistant Attorney General
Thomas Perez explained that the Bush administration's Justice Department
"determined that the facts did not constitute a prosecutable violation
of the criminal statutes" but did "file a civil action on January 7th,
2009." From Perez's <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page=18" title="blocked::http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page=18">testimony</a>:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">PEREZ: Moving to the matter at hand, the events occurred
on November 4th, 2008. The Department became aware of these events on
Election Day and decided to conduct further inquiry.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">After reviewing the matter, the Civil Rights Division determined that
the facts did not constitute a prosecutable violation of the criminal
statutes. The Department did, however, file a civil action on January
7th, 2009, seeking injunctive and declaratory relief under 11(b) against
four defendants.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Obama DOJ actually obtained judgment against individual carrying weapon at polling place</font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>May 2009: DOJ obtained default judgment against Shabazz for carrying weapon outside polling station. </strong>On May 18, 2009, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/LegalDocs/findlaw-voting-rights-new-black-panther-party-figure-shabazzs-weapons-order" title="blocked::http://www.slideshare.net/LegalDocs/findlaw-voting-rights-new-black-panther-party-figure-shabazzs-weapons-order">entered</a> default judgment against Samir Shabazz. In<strong> </strong>his May 14 <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf" title="blocked::http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf">testimony</a>
before the Commission on Civil Rights, Perez stated that the Justice
Department had obtained "sufficient evidence to sustain the charge" of
voter intimidation against Shabazz, identified by Perez as "the
defendant who had the nightstick," and that "the default judgment was
sought and obtained as it related to him." Perez <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page-19" title="blocked::http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page-19">testified</a>:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">PEREZ: Based on the careful review of the evidence, the
Department concluded that the evidence collected supported the
allegations in the complaint against Minister King Samir Shabazz. The
Department, therefore, obtained an injunction against defendant King
Samir Shabazz, prohibiting him from displaying a weapon within 100 feet
of an open polling place on any Election Day in the City of Philadelphia
or from otherwise violating Section 11(b).</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Department considers this injunction to be tailored appropriately
to the scope of the violation and the constitutional requirements and
will fully enforce the injunction's terms.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">No voter has alleged intimidation stemming from incident</font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>Civil Rights commissioner: "[N]o citizen has even alleged that he or she was intimidated from voting."</strong> </strong>In an April 23 hearing on the DOJ's decision in the case, Civil Rights Commissioner Arlan Melendez <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/04-23-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page=18" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/04-23-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page=18 blocked::http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/04-23-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page=18">stated</a>
that "no citizen has even alleged that he or she was intimidated from
voting," which "was clear to the Justice Department last spring, which
is why they took the course of action that they did." From the April 23
Civil Rights Commission hearing:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">MELENDEZ: My remarks are going to be brief because I
think far too much of our time has been consumed on this seemingly
unnecessary investigation. Citizens should be able to vote without
intimidation, and it is our Commission's duty to investigate complaints
from citizens that their voting rights have been infringed.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In this case, however, no citizen has even alleged that he or she was
intimidated from voting at the Fairmount Avenue Polling Station in
- This absence of voter intimidation was clear to the Justice
Department last spring, which is why they took the course of action that
they did.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">This absence of voter intimidation was clear to the members of this
Commission as well, or at least it should've been. Our investigation has
been going on now for the better part of a year. We have wasted a good
deal of our staff's time, and the taxpayers' money.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>Main Justice: "[N]o voters at all in the Philadelphia precinct have come forward to allege intimidation."</strong> </strong>A July 2 Main Justice article <a href="http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/07/02/on-fox-news-ex-civil-rights-division-lawyer-blasts-doj/" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/07/02/on-fox-news-ex-civil-rights-division-lawyer-blasts-doj/ blocked::http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/07/02/on-fox-news-ex-civil-rights-division-lawyer-blasts-doj/">reported</a>
that "no voters at all in the Philadelphia precinct have come forward
to allege intimidation," adding, "The complaints have come from white
Republican poll watchers, who have given no evidence they were
registered to vote in the majority black precinct."</font></p>
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Bush-era DOJ chose not to pursue similar allegations against Minutemen -- one of whom carried a gun</font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>DOJ did not pursue allegations that Minutemen intimidated Hispanic voters with a gun in 2006.</strong> Perez <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page=17" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page=17 blocked::http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page=17">testified</a>
that in 2006, the Justice Department "declined to bring any action for
alleged voter intimidation" "when three well-known anti-immigrant
advocates affiliated with the Minutemen, one of whom was carrying a gun,
allegedly intimidated Latino voters at a polling place by approaching
several persons, filming them, and advocating and printing voting
materials in Spanish." [U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf blocked::http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf">5/14/10</a>]</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>Anti-immigrant activist in 2006 case reportedly had "9mm Glock strapped to his side" at polling place.</strong> </strong>A November 8, 2006, <em><em>Austin American-Statesman</em> </em>article
reported (from the Nexis database): "In Arizona, Roy Warden, an
anti-immigration activist with the Minutemen, and a handful of
supporters staked out a Tucson precinct and questioned Hispanic voters
at the polls to determine whether they spoke English." The article
continued:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Armed with a 9mm Glock automatic strapped to his side,
Warden said he planned to photograph Hispanic voters entering polls in
an effort to identify illegal immigrants and felons.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><em><strong><em>Arizona</em></strong></em><strong><em> </em></strong><em><strong><em>Daily Star</em></strong></em><strong><strong>: "[A]nti-immigrant activist" "stood by with a firearm in a holster."</strong> </strong>A November 8, 2006, <em><em>Arizona Daily Star</em></em> article reported (from Nexis):</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">A crew of anti-immigrant activists, meanwhile, visited
several South Side polling places in what one poll-watch group called a
blatant attempt to intimidate Hispanic voters.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Anti-immigrant crusader Russ Dove circulated an English-only
petition, while a cameraman filmed the voters he approached and Roy
Warden stood by with a firearm in a holster.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Diego Bernal, a staff attorney with the Mexican American Legal
Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), said the trio was trying to
intimidate Hispanic voters. "A gun, a camera, a clipboard before you
even get to the polls -- if that's not voter intimidation, what is?" he
asked.</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Bernal said his group encountered the men at the Precinct 49 polling
place at South 12th Avenue and West Michigan Street and began
documenting the scene with their cameras. "There was an interesting
period where they were taking pictures of us taking pictures of them."</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><em><strong><em>Tucson Citizen</em></strong></em><strong><strong>: Incident "reported to the FBI."</strong></strong> A November 8, 2006, <em><em>Tucson Citizen</em></em>
article (from Nexis) reported that Bernal "said he reported the
incident to the FBI." The article also reported that Pima County
elections director Brad Nelson said: "If intimidation or coercion was
going on out there, even though it might have been outside the 75-foot
limit, it's something we take very seriously, and we'll be looking into
it."</font></p>
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Conservative Civil Rights Commission vice chairwoman ridicules investigation</font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Thernsrtom reportedly said Civil Rights Commission's conservatives trying to use New Black Panther case "to topple" Obama admin.</strong> A July 16 <em>Politico</em> <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39861.html" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39861.html">article</a> <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2010/07/16/gop-commissioner-civil-rights-commissions-conse/167824" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/blog/201007160050">reported</a>
that Abigail Thernstrom, a Republican who serves as co-chairwoman of
the Civil Rights Commission and who is an adjunct scholar at the
American Enterprise Institute, "has made a dramatic break from her usual
allies" on the Civil Rights Commission. <em>Politico</em> reported,
"'This doesn't have to do with the Black Panthers, this has to do with
their fantasies about how they could use this issue to topple the
[Obama] administration,' said Thernstrom, who said members of the
commission voiced their political aims 'in the initial discussions' of
the Panther case last year. 'My fellow conservatives on the commission
had this wild notion they could bring Eric Holder down and really damage
the president,' Thernstrom said in an interview with POLITICO."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Thernstrom: "Forget about the New Black Panther Party case." </strong>Thernstrom <a href="http://article.nationalreview.com/437619/the-new-black-panther-casebr-a-conservative-dissent/abigail-thernstrom" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://article.nationalreview.com/437619/the-new-black-panther-casebr-a-conservative-dissent/abigail-thernstrom">wrote</a>
a July 6 National Review Online blog post criticizing the "overheated
rhetoric filled with insinuations and unsubstantiated charges"
surrounding the case. Thernstrom wrote, "Forget about the New Black
Panther Party case; it is very small potatoes."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Thernstrom: Perez "makes a perfectly plausible argument" for DOJ's decision not to pursue additional charges. </strong>Thernstrom also <a href="http://article.nationalreview.com/437619/the-new-black-panther-casebr-a-conservative-dissent/abigail-thernstrom" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://article.nationalreview.com/437619/the-new-black-panther-casebr-a-conservative-dissent/abigail-thernstrom">wrote</a>:
"Thomas Perez, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, makes a
perfectly plausible argument: Different lawyers read this barely
litigated statutory provision differently. It happens all the time,
especially when administrations change in the middle of litigation."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Thernstrom: "I do not think that this inquiry has served the interests of the Commission." </strong>During an April 23 hearing into the DOJ's decision, Thernstrom also <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/04-23-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page=12" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/04-23-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page=12">said</a>,
"I do not think that this inquiry has served the interests of the
Commission as being a bipartisan watchdog for important civil rights
violations, and I do not believe it has served well the party to which I
belong."</font></p>
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is dominated by conservative activists</font></h2>
<ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"Independent" commissioner Gail Heriot is a long-time GOP activist and member of the conservative Federalist Society who <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/07/updated-manufactured-scandal-right-wings-phony/became">became</a>
an independent seven months before her appointment. Heriot was an
alternative delegate to the 2000 Republican National Convention,
previously served as counsel to GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch, and has been an
activist for statewide initiatives to outlaw affirmative action.</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"Independent" commissioner Todd Gaziano is director for the Center
for Legal & Judicial Studies at the right-wing Heritage Foundation.
He has called "so-called hate crimes laws" "counterproductive," and once
compared Bill Clinton and federal civil rights officials to
segregationists.</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Chairman Gerald A. Reynolds was appointed by President Bush in 2004.
His appointment was said to mark "the end of the commission as an
independent voice for the protection of civil and human rights," and he
has acknowledged that conservatives "game[d] the system" by stacking the
Civil Rights Commission with conservatives.</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Commissioner Ashley J. Taylor Jr., was appointed by Bush in 2004. He
served as counsel to John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign and was a
delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention.</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Commissioner Peter N. Kirsanow is a National Review Online
contributor who has promoted false right-wing attacks on progressives. </font></li></ul><h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams testifies he had no "indication" higher-ups were involved in decision</font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>Adams: No "indication" of involvement by higher-ups.</strong></strong> As <em><em>The American Prospect</em></em>'s Adam Serwer <a href="http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/adam_serwer_archive?month=07&year=2010&base_name=j_christian_adams_debunks_the" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/adam_serwer_archive?month=07&year=2010&base_name=j_christian_adams_debunks_the blocked::http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/adam_serwer_archive?month=07&year=2010&base_name=j_christian_adams_debunks_the"><strong title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/adam_serwer_archive?month=07&year=2010&base_name=j_christian_adams_debunks_the">noted</strong></a>, during his July 6 <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/07-06-2010_NBPPhearing.doc" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/07-06-2010_NBPPhearing.doc blocked::http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/07-06-2010_NBPPhearing.doc"><strong title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/07-06-2010_NBPPhearing.doc">testimony</strong></a>
before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Adams was questioned about
who was involved in the decision to pursue a civil penalty against one
of the defendants, King Samir Shabazz, and drop other charges in the <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/07/updated-manufactured-scandal-right-wings-phony/167340" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/research/201007070020"><strong title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/research/201007070020">case</strong></a> (from Page 35): </font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">MR. [David] BLACKWOOD [general counsel, DOJ Office of
General Counsel]: Was there any indication that anyone higher up than
Loretta King [then the acting assistant attorney general for the Civil
Rights Division] or Steve Rosenbaum [then the acting deputy assistant
attorney general for the Civil Rights Division] was making the decision
to override the six career attorneys who said the case should go
forward?</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">MR. ADAMS: None that I had any indication of.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Obama Justice Department asked court to extend injunction against
black defendant found to have discriminated against white voters</font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Adams: Obama DOJ "blew an opportunity to put to rest the
issue of whether they are willing to enforce the Voting Rights Act in a
race-neutral fashion."</strong> In a July 13 Pajamas Media blog <a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/justice-department-continues-to-act-in-non-race-neutral-fashion/" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/justice-department-continues-to-act-in-non-race-neutral-fashion/">post</a>,
Adams wrote that "the Department of Justice blew an opportunity to put
to rest the issue of whether they are willing to enforce the Voting
Rights Act in a race-neutral fashion by objecting to a request by a
proven discriminator to further discriminate." Adams claimed that the
DOJ's handling of a voting rights case in Mississippi indicated that the
Justice Department "do[es] not want whites and Asians, when they are
the discriminated-against minority, to be protected under Section 5 of
the Voting Rights Act." Adams argued that a "no determination" letter
the DOJ sent was "effectively a cop-out against using Section 5 to
protect the white minority in Noxubee Countee."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Obama DOJ is seeking to extend injunction against black leaders in Mississippi who discriminated against white voters.</strong> In 2007, a federal judge <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2010/07/16/adams-case-falls-apart-even-further/167813" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/blog/201007160040">determined</a>
that Ike Brown, chairman of the Noxubee (Mississippi) County Democratic
Executive Committee, discriminated against white voters. As part of an
injunction against Brown, Judge Reuben Anderson was named
referee-administrator responsible for overseeing Democratic primaries
through 2011. But earlier this year, the Noxubee County Democratic
Executive Committee, chaired by Brown, submitted a request under Section
5 of the Voting Rights Act to create a closed Democratic primary. In a
July 12 letter T. Christian Herren, chief of the DOJ's voting section,
responded to that request and wrote that "it would be inappropriate for
the Attorney General to make a determination concerning your
submission." In addition to reaffirming that Brown has no standing to
make such requests, the Justice Department also filed a motion to extend
the 2007 injunction against Brown and the Noxubee County Democratic
Party for an additional two years, citing Brown's and the Noxubee
Democratic Party's efforts to "dictate the terms of electoral
qualifications," which "violated the Remedial Order." In seeking
additional penalties against Brown, the Justice Department explicitly
cited the potential harm to white voters.</font></p>
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Adams relied on outdated, controversial lawsuit to bolster his argument</font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>Adams: "There's actually a record" of hostility "where they dismissed a case the Bush administration brought against Missouri."</strong></strong> During an <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/08/adams-cites-outdated-and-controversial-lawsuit/167447" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/research/201007080060">appearance</a> on the July 7 edition of Fox News' <em><em>America Live</em></em>,
Adams claimed that the Justice Department had issued a mandate not to
enforce election laws that deal with voter registration maintenance,
which host Megyn Kelly claimed amounted to "sanctioning voter fraud." To
support his unsubstantiated allegation, Adams said:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">And you could look at the record. There's actually a
record on this during this administration where they dismissed a case
that the Bush administration had brought against Missouri, and they
haven't brought any new cases. </font></p>
</blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><em>NYT</em>: Lawsuit against Missouri was part of "highly suspicious case" connected to U.S. attorney scandal.</strong> A May 10, 2007, <em>New York Times</em> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/opinion/10thu1.html" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/opinion/10thu1.html blocked::http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/opinion/10thu1.html">editorial</a>
connected the lawsuit to the U.S. attorneys scandal, citing statements
made by Todd Graves, the U.S. attorney for Missouri at the time the
lawsuit was filed, that he was "pushed out in part because he refused to
support" the lawsuit. A May 10, 2007<em>, Washington Post</em> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/09/AR2007050902718_pf.html" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/09/AR2007050902718_pf.html blocked::http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/09/AR2007050902718_pf.html">article</a>
reported that Graves said he "clashed with [the Department of]
Justice's civil rights division over" the voter registration lawsuit and
that <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/02/supposed-whistleblower-adams-deeply-connected-t/167190" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/research/201007020053">Bradley Schlozman</a> "signed off on [the complaint] after [Graves] refused to do so." The <em>Post</em>
article further reported that Graves said "he was asked to step down
from his job by a senior Justice Department official in January 2006,
months before eight other federal prosecutors would be fired by the Bush
administration." </font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong><strong>DOJ sought dismissal due to outdated evidence.</strong></strong> The Bush administration <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/08/adams-cites-outdated-and-controversial-lawsuit/167447">filed</a>
a complaint against the state of Missouri in November 2005. In 2007,
Judge Nanette K. Laughrey of the U.S. District Court for the Western
District of Missouri entered judgment against the Bush DOJ. On July 29,
2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit remanded the case,
asking the district court to consider whether local election agencies
were complying with voter registration laws. In a March 4, 2009, motion
for voluntary dismissal signed by Robert Popper, deputy chief of the
civil rights division's voting section, the Justice Department noted
that discovery in the underlying lawsuit against Missouri closed July
24, 2006, and that on October 9, 2008, the court declined a request to
reopen discovery, and said that "events have overtaken this litigation"
and that "the evidence in the record at that time may have limited
applicability to current conditions in Missouri."</font></p>
<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Conservatives falsely claim existence of emails is "proof" that DOJ officials lied</font></h2>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>Right-wing media cite email index to accuse DOJ of lying.</strong> On September 20, Judicial Watch <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/09/21/right-wing-media-shocked-to-learn-that-doj-atto/170930" title="blocked::http://mediamatters.org/research/201009210025">claimed</a>
that an index of emails released by the Department of Justice
contradict "sworn testimony" that "no political leadership was involved
in the decision" not to pursue additional charges in the case. That day,
Adams claimed in a Pajamas Media <a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/proof-new-records-show-doj-lied-about-new-black-panther-dismissal/">post</a>
that the email index was "an explosive announcement" that "shows -- in a
rather dramatic way -- that the DOJ haw been untruthful. Former DOJ
official and conservative activist Hans von Spakovsky <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/247116/new-black-panther-party-case-update-e-mails-call-question-dojs-story-hans-von-spakovsk">wrote</a>
that the emails "indicate that high-level Justice Department officials
have been misleading the public and Congress." The Fox Nation linked to
Adams' post with the headline "New Records Show DOJ Lied About Black
Panther Dismissal."</font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>DOJ has repeatedly said that political appointees were made aware of the decision-making process.</strong> In his May 14 <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/05-14-2010_NBPPhearing.pdf#page=81">testimony</a>
before the Civil Rights Commission, Perez directly addressed the lines
of communications between political appointees and career attorneys,
saying: "Whenever there is a decision involving a case that has
attracted attention, we -- when the decision is made, we obviously
communicate that up the chain." In a January 11 <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/correspd/1-12-10_DOJResponse2Subpoena.pdf#page=4" title="blocked::http://www.usccr.gov/correspd/1-12-10_DOJResponse2Subpoena.pdf#page=4">response</a>
to interrogatories and document requests made by the commission, the
DOJ made clear that "[c]onsistent with the Department's practice, the
attorney serving as Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil rights
informed Department supervisors of the Division's decisions related to
the case." In an April supplemental filed with the commission, DOJ
officials further <a href="http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/LetterfromHunttoUSCCRprovidingsupplementalresponses_04-16-10.pdf#page=11" title="blocked::http://www.usccr.gov/NBPH/LetterfromHunttoUSCCRprovidingsupplementalresponses_04-16-10.pdf#page=11">explained</a>:</font></p>
<blockquote><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">As is customary with complex or potentially controversial
issues, the then-Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights
advised the Associate Attorney General that she was making a case-based
assessment of how to proceed in this case, engaged in discussions about
how to proceed with the Associate Attorney General's staff, and informed
the Associate's office of her decision before it was implemented.</font></p>
</blockquote>
</div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><br />==<br /><br /><br />===<br /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-election-fraud-mike-roman-58c0232a124e#.djcnwmicg">https://thinkprogress.org/trump-election-fraud-mike-roman-58c0232a124e#.djcnwmicg</a><br /><br /></font><div class="section-inner layoutSingleColumn"><p name="b83a" id="b83a" class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">AsDonald Trump insists to supporters that the election is about to be
stolen from him, his campaign is putting its poll-watching operation in
the hands of a man intimately tied to the racist machine that has tried
to delegitimize President Barack Obama for the past eight years.</font></p><p name="1f17" id="1f17" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The campaign has hired a man named Mike Roman to run its voting integrity efforts in November, the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs URL
</font></p><p name="8950" id="8950" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Roman’s major contribution to American public life is that his website, ElectionJournal.org, <a href="http://www.electionjournal.org/2008/11/04/ej-exclusive-security-with-weapons-preventing-entrance-to-philly-polling-place" data-href="http://www.electionjournal.org/2008/11/04/ej-exclusive-security-with-weapons-preventing-entrance-to-philly-polling-place" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor">first published video</a> of guys from the <b>New Black Panther Party </b>standing outside a Philadelphia polling place in 2008.</font></p><p name="a25a" id="a25a" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox
News quickly picked up on Roman’s video and used it in a months-long
smear of the Obama administration. It was mid-2010, and the right was
hungry for something to substantiate the notion that Barack Obama was a
white-hating racist.</span></font></p><p name="8ef4" id="8ef4" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Roman’s
video clip of would-be paramilitaries outside a Philadelphia polling
place in 2008 couldn’t slander Obama on its own. Fox News <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/16/report-fox-news-has-hyped-phony-new-black-panth/167811" data-href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/16/report-fox-news-has-hyped-phony-new-black-panth/167811" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor">turned to a longtime GOP operative</a>
named J. Christian Adams, who insisted he’d witnessed Obama officials
at the Department of Justice trying to sweep the NBPP incident under the
rug during his time at the agency.</font></p><p name="8d53" id="8d53" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Adams’
story is riddled with factual holes. The administration had in fact won
a default judgment against the guy holding the billy club in the video,
after Bush administrators opted not to pursue the case. Some members of
Fox’s own team eventually turned against the smear, though not until
the network had aired Adams’ claims and Roman’s video in roughly 100
separate segments.</span></font></p><div name="4a94" id="4a94" class="graf graf--mixtapeEmbed graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-violence-polls-c11e70242553" data-href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-violence-polls-c11e70242553" class="markup--anchor markup--mixtapeEmbed-anchor" title="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-violence-polls-c11e70242553"><strong class="markup--strong markup--mixtapeEmbed-strong">Trump’s call for election monitors could mean violence at the polls</strong>
<em class="markup--em markup--mixtapeEmbed-em">Only ten states explicitly prohibit guns at the polls.</em>thinkprogress.org</a></font></div><p name="cce1" id="cce1" class="graf graf--p graf-after--mixtapeEmbed"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The
episode captures the essence of anti-Obama derangement from those first
two years he held office. Right-wing radio figures like Glenn Beck and
Rush Limbaugh would insist the Obamas hated white America. Operatives
like Roman and Adams would furnish a sorry excuse for proof of that
charge. And the main column of the Republican Party would wake up
knowing it would be a little easier to flat-out obstruct an absurdly
popular president than it had been the day before.</font></p><p name="9189" id="9189" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Roman’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/18/controversial-republican-mike-roman-to-run-donald-trumps-election-protection" data-href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/18/controversial-republican-mike-roman-to-run-donald-trumps-election-protection" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor">elevation now to an important position in the Trump campaign’s endgame preparations</a>
is a reminder of how the cult-like Obama hatred that the GOP harnessed
for electoral gains eventually consumed the party. <b>Thanks in part to his
role in fueling the “racist Obama” narrative, the career operative got a
chance to start writing for Breitbart.</b> He penned <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/author/mike-roman/" data-href="http://www.breitbart.com/author/mike-roman/" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor">13 pieces</a>
for the site, most of them about voter fraud, while running a separate
blog covering the subject and designing a smartphone app that was
supposed to help conservatives root out election cheats at the polls.</font></p><p name="4acb" id="4acb" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Trump’s
new hire has had a litany of odd jobs in Republican politics going back
to his time with Philadelphia’s city government in the early 2000s. But
he kept a hand in the voter-fraud paranoia realm throughout his various
different stops around the right-wing infrastructure. Some of that
work, like the Breitbart posts, was intended for the red-meat
conservative public. But he also appears to have been a go-to name for
conservative operatives looking to tilt at the election-rigging
windmill.</font></p><div name="f893" id="f893" class="graf graf--mixtapeEmbed graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/donald-trumps-first-general-election-ad-pushes-election-rigging-conspiracy-65ab8593bab2" data-href="https://thinkprogress.org/donald-trumps-first-general-election-ad-pushes-election-rigging-conspiracy-65ab8593bab2" class="markup--anchor markup--mixtapeEmbed-anchor" title="https://thinkprogress.org/donald-trumps-first-general-election-ad-pushes-election-rigging-conspiracy-65ab8593bab2"><strong class="markup--strong markup--mixtapeEmbed-strong">Donald Trump’s first general election ad pushes election rigging conspiracy</strong>
<em class="markup--em markup--mixtapeEmbed-em">Republicans are pushing voter ID laws to fix an imagined problem.</em>thinkprogress.org</a></font></div><p name="bf1b" id="bf1b" class="graf graf--p graf-after--mixtapeEmbed"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>When
right-wing activist James O’Keefe tried to pull together one of his
undercover video operations in the Boston area in 2010, at the behest of
right-wing button-pushers Foster Friess and John Fund, Roman was <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/inside-the-planning-of-a-james-okeefe-sting?utm_term=.maA99jQ0Lr#.jsN33JNz1V" data-href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/inside-the-planning-of-a-james-okeefe-sting?utm_term=.maA99jQ0Lr#.jsN33JNz1V" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor">one of the people</a>
the disgraced smear merchant reached out to for tactical advice</b>. A
couple years earlier, O’Keefe had managed to destroy an organizing
collective called ACORN — which Roman himself had been targeting for
years on his election fraud website, with minimal success — with
deceptively edited videos that tricked the media into believing ACORN
had tried to help cover up child prostitution.</font></p><p name="36a2" id="36a2" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The
particulars of Roman’s resume only reinforce the sense that Trump’s
outfit is gearing up for a voter suppression effort far more explicit
and modern than the traditional GOP approach. Republicans used to rely
on a tactic called voter caging, where operatives would try to get tens
of thousands of voters tossed off the rolls because they hadn’t
responded to a sham letter generated by the party ahead of election day.</font></p><p name="40a9" id="40a9" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Old,
subtle, low-fi methods aren’t a natural fit to Trump’s brash persona,
or a campaign powered by people who roar for violence — with their
candidate’s encouragement — anytime someone protests at a rally. In
Roman, Trump’s hired a man familiar with a much louder, more
confrontational approach to keeping political opponents off the Election
Day scoresheet.</font></p><div name="a21b" id="a21b" class="graf graf--mixtapeEmbed graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/sheriff-openly-calls-for-riots-as-trump-says-election-is-rigged-dfe1a7ffc2b" data-href="https://thinkprogress.org/sheriff-openly-calls-for-riots-as-trump-says-election-is-rigged-dfe1a7ffc2b" class="markup--anchor markup--mixtapeEmbed-anchor" title="https://thinkprogress.org/sheriff-openly-calls-for-riots-as-trump-says-election-is-rigged-dfe1a7ffc2b"><strong class="markup--strong markup--mixtapeEmbed-strong">Sheriff openly calls for riots as Trump says election is ‘rigged’</strong>
<em class="markup--em markup--mixtapeEmbed-em">David Clarke tweeted that it’s “pitchforks and torches time.”</em>thinkprogress.org</a></font></div><p name="4f7a" id="4f7a" class="graf graf--p graf-after--mixtapeEmbed"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In
southern Pennsylvania in 2004, Republican poll-watchers challenged
every voter they thought looked like a Democrat. A voting line at the
University of Pittsburgh stalled out for hours as GOP operatives tried
to force provisional ballots on student-aged voters they believed were
not properly registered, and stubborn election officials called the
central office to confirm registrations one by one. With Trump urging
supporters to go police polling places around the country next month,
the confrontational tenor of that day in 2004 may end up looking
downright quaint.</span></font></p><p name="128d" id="128d" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Roman
was in charge of Election Day operations in Pennsylvania that year for
the Republican National Committee. Two years later, he ran voting day
nationwide for the party.</b></font></p><p name="ca33" id="ca33" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>His
work at the helm of the GOP’s Election Day machine must have been good,
judging by the jobs that came afterward. He was a regional political
director for Rudy Giuliani’s failed bid for the 2008 nomination. He
helped Scott Brown win a special Senate election in Massachusetts the
next year, and then guided Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) to a win in 2010.</b></font></p><p name="bd4d" id="bd4d" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">After
a year as chief of staff to a one-term Illinois Republican, Roman found
an odd niche inside the Koch political empire. The multi-billionaire
conservative tycoons hired Roman to run a sort of in-house security
operation, patrolling for leaks and keeping tabs on opponents.</font></p><p name="8b77" id="8b77" class="graf graf--p graf-after--p graf--last"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Roman
reportedly took to the job with conspiratorial zeal, Politico’s Ken
Vogel reported in 2015, running the brothers’ intelligence agency “<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/the-koch-brothers-intelligence-agency-215943" data-href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/the-koch-brothers-intelligence-agency-215943" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor">all cloak and dagger — like the CIA</a>.”</font></p></div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
===
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mike-roman-trump-election-monitor
sneed
</font><div class="_span:6" data-reactid=".1.$0.0.0.0.$1.$0.$5.$_0.0.1"><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The
Donald Trump campaign has brought on a controversial GOP operative with
ties to the Koch brothers to run the campaign's "election protection"
program, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/18/controversial-republican-mike-roman-to-run-donald-trumps-election-protection">the Guardian reported. </a></font>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mike Roman, Trump's new elections monitor, is perhaps best known for
his involvement in the New Black Panther controversy in 2008, as his
website first posted the video and he continued to ring the alarms bells
that the group was engaging in voter intimidation, even as the
Department of Justice was divided about the case. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He also led an
"intelligence agency" connected to the Koch brothers' Freedom Partners
network, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/the-koch-brothers-intelligence-agency-215943">Politico reported in 2015</a>, that sought to monitor the election-related activities of Democrat-supporting groups.</span></font></p></div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Multiple
sources confirmed with the Guardian that Roman was joining the
campaign. His involvement comes as Trump has pushed the theory that the
election is "rigged" against him, while urging his supporters to engage
in vigilante monitoring at polling places.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Roman, a GOP researcher, has a history of claiming that the left was
engaged in inappropriate activities to influence elections. His website,
<a href="http://www.electionjournal.org/2008/11/04/ej-exclusive-security-with-weapons-preventing-entrance-to-philly-polling-place/">the Election Journal,</a>
blared the 2008 video of two members of the New Black Panthers
lingering outside of a Philadelphia polling place, one of them holding a
night stick. It prompted allegations of voter intimidation that became a
conservative cause célèbre. The George W. Bush administration's
Department of Justice brought a civil case against the group that was
ultimately dropped after President Obama took office -- prompting
discord within the agency -- while Roman <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2010/11/01/flashback-houston-new-black-panther-party-protests-with-machine-guns/">continued</a> to <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2010/05/18/only-in-philly-black-panther-on-the-ballot/">publicize</a> any New Black Panther political activity, often posting to Breitbart.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Politico report on the Koch brothers' intelligence group described Roman as a below-the-radar and even secretive figure.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"There was a joke about how hardly anyone ever met Mike Roman. It was
like, if you wanted to find him, he’d be in a trench coat on the
National Mall,” one former member of the organization <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/the-koch-brothers-intelligence-agency-215943#ixzz4NRkBVwbU%20">told Politico.</a></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">According to the Guardian report, Roman will now lead the Trump
operation monitoring election sites for any signs of alleged voter
fraud. The campaign did not respond to the Guardian's request for
comment.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">==
reg gustd uk
no link
Donald Trump’s “election
protection” effort will be run by Mike Roman, a Republican operative
best known for promoting a video of apparent voter intimidation by the
New Black Panthers outside a polling place in 2008.
Roman is to
oversee poll-watching efforts as Trump undertakes an unprecedented
effort by a major party nominee by calling into question the legitimacy
of the popular vote weeks before election day.
The Republican
nominee has insisted, without evidence, that dead people and
undocumented immigrants are voting in the United States.
Donald Trump's dark warning that dead will rise to rig the election
Read more
Trump
has long claimed that the 2016 election is rigged but has amplified his
claims of voter fraud in recent days. On Monday he tweeted: “Of course
there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before election day.
Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive!” In
particular Trump claimed in an interview with Fox News that voter fraud
was rampant in cities including Philadelphia, St Louis and Chicago after
long warning vaguely about fraud in “certain communities”.
Multiple
sources have confirmed to the Guardian that Roman, who also previously
ran the Koch network’s now defunct internal intelligence agency, will
oversee the Trump campaign’s efforts to monitor polling places for any
signs of voter fraud.
Roman is best known for his role in
promoting a video that showed two members of the New Black Panthers – a
fringe group that claims descent from the 1960s radicals – standing
outside a Philadelphia polling place dressed in uniforms, with one
carrying a nightstick. Police are called and the two men leave.
A
justice department investigation into the incident – filed in the weeks
before George W Bush left office – became a political football that
divided career lawyers within the justice department. The incident was
repeatedly cited as evidence of Democrats setting out to harm the
election process.
<b>
The case was eventually dropped but not
before it became a conservative cause célèbre. As Rick Hasen, a election
law professor at the University of California, Irvine, said: “It was
one of the most retold stories on Fox News and the right for years and
took on almost mythical status as evidence of thuggery by Democrats to
harm the voting process.”</b>
Hasen, who viewed the case as a
“complete tempest in teapot”, said of Roman that he was “somebody who
has been more willing to put forth more outrageous statements about
voter fraud and election process”. Hasen added: “I don’t consider him a
very responsible voice among Republicans on this question and I’m not
surprised that Trump would be using him for polling related efforts.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
==
</font><h3 class="r"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-election-fraud-mike-roman-58c0232a124e">Meet the man Donald Trump is trusting to marshall his troops at polling ...</a></font></h3><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><cite class="Rm">https://thinkprogress.org/<b>trump</b>-<b>election</b>-<b>fraud</b>-mike-<b>roman</b>-58c0232a1...</cite></font></div></div></div><div class="g"><div class="rc" data-hveid="27"><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><div class="crc"><div class="crl" data-async-context="res:0;ri:;site:thinkprogress.org" data-async-trigger="cra-0-filled" data-ved="0ahUKEwjOlZ3ln-fPAhVLGD4KHWdbBQEQ5CsIIDAA"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ThinkProgress<span class="Bs" /></font></div></div></div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="st"><span class="f">22 hours ago - </span><em>Trump's</em>
paranoid election monitoring work will be run by a man closely tied to
anti-Obama derangement. ... The campaign has hired a man named Mike <em>Roman</em> to run its voting ... He penned 13 pieces for the site, most of them about <em>voter fraud</em>, ... <em>Roman</em> found an odd niche inside the <em>Koch</em> political empire.</span></font></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div class="rc" data-hveid="34"><h3 class="r"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mike-roman-trump-election-monitor">Report: Trump Hires New Black Panther Alarmist To Monitor Elections</a></font></h3><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><cite class="Rm">talkingpointsmemo.com/.../mike-<b>roman</b>-<b>trump</b>-<b>election</b>-monitor</cite></font></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div class="rc" data-hveid="34"><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><div class="crc"><div class="crl" data-async-context="res:1;ri:;site:talkingpointsmemo.com" data-async-trigger="cra-1-filled" data-ved="0ahUKEwjOlZ3ln-fPAhVLGD4KHWdbBQEQ5CsIJzAB"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Talking Points Memo<span class="Bs" /></font></div></div></div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="st"><span class="f">1 day ago - </span>Mike <em>Roman</em>, <em>Trump's</em> new elections monitor, is perhaps best known for his ... The Politico report on the <em>Koch</em> brothers' intelligence group described <em>Roman</em> as a ... monitoring election sites for any signs of alleged <em>voter fraud</em>. ... servers use 13-<wbr />year-old software whose manufacturer no longer issues <em>security</em>.</span></font></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div class="rc" data-hveid="41"><h3 class="r"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/11/12980/koch-spy-voter-fraud">Koch Spy Agency Led by Voter Fraud Huckster | PR Watch</a></font></h3><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><cite class="Rm">www.prwatch.org/news/2015/.../<b>koch</b>-spy-<b>voter</b>-<b>fra</b>...</cite></font></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div class="rc" data-hveid="41"><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><div class="crc"><div class="crl" data-async-context="res:2;ri:;site:prwatch.org" data-async-trigger="cra-2-filled" data-ved="0ahUKEwjOlZ3ln-fPAhVLGD4KHWdbBQEQ5CsILzAC"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Center for Media and Democracy<span class="Bs" /></font></div></div></div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="st"><span class="f">Nov 19, 2015 - </span>Mike <em>Roman</em>, the head of the <em>Kochs</em>' "intelligence gathering" operation, helped propel perhaps the most egregious case of race-baiting <em>voter</em> ...</span></font><div class="Tib"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span>Missing:</span> <s>security</s> <s>trump</s></font></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div class="rc" data-hveid="50"><h3 class="r"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/18/controversial-republican-mike-roman-to-run-donald-trumps-election-protection">Controversial Republican Mike Roman to run Donald Trump's 'election ...</a></font></h3><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv _SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><cite class="Rm bc">www.theguardian.com › US News › Donald Trump</cite></font></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div class="rc" data-hveid="50"><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><div class="crc"><div class="crl" data-async-context="res:3;ri:;site:theguardian.com" data-async-trigger="cra-3-filled" data-ved="0ahUKEwjOlZ3ln-fPAhVLGD4KHWdbBQEQ5CsIODAD"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Guardian<span class="Bs" /></font></div></div></div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="st"><span class="f">1 day ago - </span>Donald <em>Trump's</em> “election protection” effort will be run by Mike <em>Roman</em>, ... In particular <em>Trump</em> claimed in an interview with Fox News that <em>voter fraud</em> was ... the Guardian that <em>Roman</em>, who also previously ran the <em>Koch</em> network's ...</span></font><div class="Tib"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span>Missing:</span> <s>security</s></font></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g"><div class="rc" data-hveid="59"><h3 class="r"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://electionlawblog.org/">Election Law Blog | Rick Hasen's blog</a></font></h3><div class="s"><div><div class="f kv _SWb" style="white-space:nowrap"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><cite class="Rm"><b>election</b>lawblog.org/</cite></font></div></div></div></div></div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="st">Recently, Homeland <em>Security</em> Secretary Jeh Johnson commended this work and ... “<em>Trump</em> Supporters Have Been Primed For His Bogus <em>Voter Fraud</em> Claims For ..... to the Guardian that <em>Roman</em>, who also previously ran the <em>Koch</em> network's now<wbr /> ...</span>
==
</font></div></div></div>