Three Florida residents — all of whom are registered as Republicans in the state — have been arrested on charges of casting more than one ballot in the 2020 election. In other words, actual voter fraud has been uncovered — and it was perpetrated by Republicans. And just to be clear: there is no indication that the actions of these three individuals were in any way poised to change the election outcome. There is a sizable difference between the isolated instances of election-related fraud that sometimes occur and the systematically sweeping fraud that Trump falsely claims cost him the election.
It’s chilling that Trump turned deaf ears on pleas like “we are under siege” “they have breached the Capitol” “armed stand off at house chamber door” & “we are all helpless.” The Comm will want to know what he said & did while rejecting those pleas & why he finally came forward.
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) December 14, 2021
The newly arrested individuals are all residents of The Villages, a heavily Republican community in Central Florida that is geared towards older adults. Their names are Jay Ketcik, Joan Halstead, and John Rider, and each of them are alleged to have voted both in Florida and out-of-state — the criminal nature of which sounds pretty difficult to miss (obviously). They’ve apparently all been charged with casting more than one ballot in an election, which is a felony offense that comes with up to five years in prison as a consequence, although these individuals could presumably end up with a sentence significantly less than that if found guilty.
Remember what Trump did finally say after hours of pleas to call off Jan 6 rioters: “I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side. This was a fraudulent election.”1/
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) December 14, 2021
A local news outlet notes, referring to these three individuals, that there’s “no indication from court records that they know each other.” Although it wasn’t confirmed which candidates were supported by these individuals, their Republican registrations — and the pro-Trump slant of at least two of their apparent Facebook pages, as uncovered by that outlet — make the high likelihood of them having cast fraudulent votes for Trump pretty clear. Trump himself suggested before last year’s election that certain supporters of his (in the state of North Carolina) should send in a mail-in ballot and then try and vote in person to test the security of their local electoral process — which would have constituted an attempt to commit electoral fraud, as these Florida individuals did.
Worth remembering that Trump famously doesn’t email or text. Which is why his own son (among others) texted Meadows to relay a message to his father.
— Daniel Goldman (@danielsgoldman) December 14, 2021
At this point, it’s no doubt safe to assume that Trump is never going to abandon his false claims of a rigged election, because the evidence against his claims is overwhelming — but he doesn’t seem to care. And Republican leaders are, for the most part, sticking right by him as the party embraces delusional nonsense.
HAPPENING NOW: Rep. Cheney reading more texts from GOP lawmakers to Meadows on Jan. 6
“It is really bad up here on the hill.”
“The president needs to stop this ASAP”
“Fix this now.”
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 14, 2021
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