Exclusive: Trump-backed Michigan attorney general candidate involved in voting-system breach, docume

[demmiblue]

Source: Reuters

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The Republican nominee for Michigan attorney general led a team that gained unauthorized access to voting equipment while hunting for evidence to support former President Donald Trump’s false election-fraud claims, according to a Reuters analysis of court filings and public records.

The analysis shows that people working with Matthew DePerno - the Trump-endorsed nominee for the state’s top law-enforcement post - examined a vote tabulator from Richfield Township, a conservative stronghold of 3,600 people in northern Michigan’s Roscommon County.

The Richfield security breach is one of four similar incidents being investigated by Michigan's current attorney general, Democrat Dana Nessel. Under state law, it is a felony to seek or provide unauthorized access to voting equipment.

DePerno did not respond to a request for comment.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-trump-backed-michigan-attorney-general-candidate-involved-voting-2022-08-07/

[Leghorn21]

1. GET THESE LAWLESS SWINE, AG NESSEL

[Qutzupalotl]

2. Because that's what you want in your state attorney general.

Lawless security breaches.

[paleotn]

3. Prosecute his arse. Politics be damned.

[Mr.Bill]

4. My only question is

why hasn't he been arrested?

[Ford_Prefect]

5. They appear to be digging deep to find out who else was involved and who got to hear the details.

[RicROC]

6. arrest him, fingerprint him, book him.

Figure out the why's later, but he violated election law and that's enough for initiating criminal charges.

[James48]

7. How do they tie it to HIM?

That’s the problem.

HE didn’t go there- these people did.

How do you tie HIM to the crime? The article doesn’t make clear exactly what they have they ties him to the crime.

[SouthBayDem]

8. AG Nessel is requesting a special prosecutor, Politico reports

Michigan’s attorney general is requesting a special prosecutor be named to investigate her Trump-endorsed opponent, citing evidence tying him to a potentially criminal scheme to seize and tamper with voting machines, according to documents obtained by POLITICO.

The decision comes after a monthslong investigation by Michigan State Police and the attorney general, Dana Nessel, into voting machine breaches that took place in several Michigan counties. That investigation unexpectedly led to Kalamazoo lawyer Matthew DePerno, whom former President Donald Trump has taken an outsize interest in promoting to be Michigan’s next attorney general.

According to an Aug. 5 petition from Nessel’s office requesting a special prosecutor, DePerno, in concert with two other people, “orchestrated a coordinated plan to gain access to voting tabulators” that were illegally seized from county clerks.

The petition was formally made to the Michigan Prosecuting Attorneys Coordinating Council, an autonomous state body. In it, Nessel’s office states that DePerno — who has been a pivotal figure promoting Trump’s false allegations that the 2020 election was stolen — was present at an Oakland County hotel room sometime in early 2021, during which tabulators were tampered with. According to people involved in the investigation, this is among multiple pieces of evidence linking DePerno to the breach of several voting machines.

Full story: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/07/michigan-attorney-general-special-prosecutor-trump-00050244

DePerno is Nessel's general election challenger, so this is being done to maintain impartiality.

[Takket]

9. i'm pretty fucknig pissed right now.......

i live in the Detroit area and NEITHER of the local news websites I usually visit has ANYTHING about this!!!!!!!!

[riversedge]

12. The Detroit News has a good article. Link here.................long with lots of details..........

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2022/08/07/michigan-nessel-seeks-special-prosecutor-election-conspiracy-probe-deperno/10249508002/

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=QYMrpfu7sW21_8JOqUtUzw

[Takket]

10. Dar Leaf is also a target..........

Dar Leaf is also listed on the referral for a special prosecutor. For those not familiar he is a psychotic self described "constitutional sheriff" that believes himself the sole arbiter of what is legal and what is not in his county, State and Federal laws be damned. He has been claiming voter fraud from the beginning and if anyone was illegally accessing voting equipment you can bet he is at the epicenter and says it is legal because he believes himself to be the law.

I hope he gets locked up!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-elections-michigan-investigation/

Donald Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was rigged has been decisively debunked by local election officials, state and federal courts, and the former president’s own attorney general. All deemed his case bogus.

Here in Michigan’s rural Barry County, Sheriff Dar Leaf rejects all that.

Since late 2020, Leaf has been investigating one of Trump’s most fantastical false assertions – that vote-counting machines somehow flipped votes from Trump to Democrat Joe Biden. Working with key figures in the former president’s failed effort to overturn the election, the Republican sheriff has petitioned courts seeking to seize election equipment, assigned investigators to grill local clerks about balloting processes and made sweeping requests for their records. The sheriff is barreling ahead despite the conclusions of judges and the county’s Republican prosecutor that he lacked probable cause.

In the process, Leaf is roiling conservative Barry County, where Trump won decisively, and testing a legal theory with revolutionary implications for American democracy.

[riversedge]

11. Detroit News: Nessel's office seeks special prosecutor in election 'conspiracy' probe of DePerno,

Updated 10:18 pm Aug 7, 2022



Nessel's office seeks special prosecutor in election 'conspiracy' probe of DePerno, others
Craig Mauger



The Detroit News

Lansing — Attorney General Dana Nessel's office says a group of high-profile figures in the movement to dispute the 2020 presidential election, including the Michigan GOP's likely nominee for attorney general, engaged in a "conspiracy" to gain improper access to voting machines.

Following a months-long investigation, Nessel's office is seeking the appointment of a special prosecutor to consider an array of potential criminal charges against nine individuals, including Republican attorney general candidate Matt DePerno, state Rep. Daire Rendon, R-Lake City, and Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf.

The group's alleged activities were detailed in a Friday letter to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson authored by Christina Grossi, the chief deputy attorney general.

The group's efforts involved convincing local clerks to hand over tabulators, taking the tabulators to hotels or rental properties in Oakland County, breaking into the machines, printing "fake ballots" and performing "tests" on the equipment, according to the letter.

[twodogsbarking]

14. Does Trump endorse anyone who is honest?

My sources say no.

[Stuart G]

15. K & R

[LetMyPeopleVote]

16. The access of these machines are crimes in most states and these assholes need to be prosecuted

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

17. Georgia Opens Criminal Investigation Into Trump Campaign Stealing Voter Data

Sidney Powell needs to be disbarred and put into jail

Link to tweet

https://www.politicususa.com/2022/08/16/georgia-criminal-investigation-voter-data.html

Trump attorney Sidney Powell helped coordinate the effort, and she was billed over $26,000 by computer experts from Atlanta tech company SullivanStrickler, the records show.

The GBI confirmed Tuesday that it has opened a criminal investigation of the incident on Jan. 7, 2021, when the group flew from Atlanta to South Georgia and were given access by local election officials to equipment that was supposed to be kept secure from outsiders. Computer theft is a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The same team that was part of the voter data breach in Michigan and Nevada stole voter data in Coffee County, Georgia. The team was supervised by the Trump campaign, as Sidney Powell coordinated the effort to steal voter data as they were trying to prove voter and election fraud that would have provided Donald Trump with a pretext to carry out his coup and stay in power.

Trump is already looking at the possibility of being indicted in Georgia for election meddling. The theft of the voter data, and the nation should be honest by calling it theft, is a separate investigation.

It is possible that Trump could also be charged for stealing election data, although Sidney Powell is likely to be looking at criminal charges if the investigation uncovers wrongdoing.

[Mz Pip]

18. Completely nuts

I doubt this guy could figure out how a toaster works, much less a voter machine. I cannot understand what they thought they would find in there.