Two leaders of True the Vote jailed by federal judge for contempt of court

[TexasTowelie]

Source: Texas Tribune

Federal marshals escorted the leaders of True the Vote out of a Houston courtroom on Monday morning and into a holding cell. Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips have been held in contempt of court for refusing to release the name of a person of interest in the defamation and computer hacking case against them, who they claim, without proof, is a confidential FBI informant.

They will remain in jail until they release the name of the man.

It is the latest surprise development in the strange story, which concerns — depending on who’s describing it — a right-wing elections group allegedly defaming a small technology company, or a small technology company whose alleged security flaws were exposed by a right-wing elections group.

Konnech, the election management software company at the center of those claims, filed a federal lawsuit in September alleging that True the Vote’s viral social media campaign targeting the company’s founder and CEO, Eugene Yu, led to personal threats to him and his family and damaged his company’s business.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/10/31/true-the-vote-leaders-jailed/

[SheltieLover]

1. Is Parscale involved?

[TexasTowelie]

2. I don't see any mention of him in the article. nt

[SheltieLover]

28. I'd love to see him behind bars.

[Bev54]

15. Don't think so but Engelbrecht is a friend and fellow Qanon supporter of Ginni Thomas

[emulatorloo]

23. Additionally, They both appear in D'Souza's big lie movie, 2000 Mules. They are the chief liars

he used as sources to back up the Big Lie. No wonder Ginna is a fan.

[SheltieLover]

29. Interesting!

[msfiddlestix]

41. Well that sort of puts this weird story in some measure of context, albeit loosely

some might say that was a bit of a stretch, and yeah. But still...worth looking into a bit more I'd say.

on the other hand, there are so many mountains of shite connected ginny as it is, why bother with one more.

[Martin68]

3. We need more of this kind of legal action against election fraudsters.

[SlimJimmy]

5. Slippery slope. If they can do it to rethugs, they can also do this to Dems.

I hope you see that.

[ancianita]

6. Are you saying that both sides are election fraudsters?

[SlimJimmy]

7. Wow, did you even read my reply?

I said, those that have sources, should not be held in contempt to force them to reveal them. This can happen to both sides.

[ancianita]

9. I see. So you're referring to the article more than the post above you? Okay. But how would

Dems put themselves in the same position that True the Vote did? True the Vote are journalists? And re Martin68, what's wrong with saying we need more legal action against election fraudsters? I'm not getting that, either, if you're referring him/her to in the OP.

And you can chill; stop taking offense where none is intended, just a clarification.

[SlimJimmy]

11. We do need more action against election fraudsters. We certainly agree.

But holding them in contempt and forcing them to reveal sources is not the best way to go about it. That's the slippery slope.

[ancianita]

13. Cool. Then you are claiming some person is a source, when this case applies to a monitoring org, not

to investigative journalism. Not being journalists -- in which case, the law you think applies really doesn't apply -- they have to be transparent with the court. Their source could be who they say, or just some coder they hired. But they haven't the protections of journalists in this case.

Dems wouldn't even put themselves in this position. They fight election fraud while respecting the discovery process, which this court found not to be the case with True the Vote.

[SlimJimmy]

16. Have a nice day.

[Sucha NastyWoman]

24. I read it and had the exact same reaction.

As I reread it, I can see it the way you describe, but that was not my first impression.

[Martin68]

8. So you really think Democrats are engaging in election fraud? That's not what the courts decided

after the 2020 election. Republicans, on the other hand, have engaged in frivolous lawsuits charging Democrats with fraud, and this kind of fraudulent activity (falsely accusing Democrats of election fraud) needs to be stopped. I hope you see that...

[SlimJimmy]

10. Not what I said. Did you even read my reply?

I said courts should not put folks in jail to force them to reveal sources. It's a slippery slope and can happen to both sides.

[Martin68]

19. Umm, did you even read the OP? They were jailed for contempt of court because

they won't back up their frivolous claims in court with evidence. In this case the evidence is whether their source of information is even in the FBI. I hope you can see this is not the same as a reporter refusing to reveal the name of a whistle blower.

[azureblue]

33. it's called

derailing

[SlimJimmy]

35. Have a nice day.

[Martin68]

37. May you have the same.

[in2herbs]

17. If I remember correctly it has been done to dems under Bush. A journalist was jailed for

18 months because she wouldn't disclose her source. So maybe we should demand justice without a thought to political party retribution.

[emulatorloo]

22. These are the jackass "experts" who appear in the D'Souza' 2000 Mules big lie movie. Not "journalis

They aren’t “journalists” by any stretch of the imagination.

This is a civil suit. Konnech is suing them for defamation and lying.

Are you aware of that?

[SlimJimmy]

4. If this is the case, then why are they being held in contempt?

A court, generally, cannot force a person to give up sources. The only exception is if the source was engaged in a criminal conspiracy with them. I haven't seen that in this case.

release the name of a person of interest in the defamation and computer hacking case against them, who they claim, without proof, is a confidential FBI informant.

[James48]

12. You are missing the whole point.

“True the vote” isn’t a news organization protecting legitimate news sources. It’s a rouge right-wing corporation engaged in anti-democratic criminal conspiracy to defraud voters.

[calimary]

14. Yep. They're hiding their true intentions behind the "True the Vote" label

Trying to sound legitimate or harmless, or both.

DON’T BE FOOLED!!!

ALWAYS look behind the curtain.

[ShazzieB]

18. What you're talking about applies to JOURNALISTS.

A journalist cannot be forced to give up the identity of a confidential source who provided info used in their reporting. In fact, revealing confidential sources who asked that their identity be protected is a breach of journalistic ethics.

This principle not apply to anyone and everyone in any and every set of circumstances, and it clearly does not apply here.

[James48]

40. You are referring to a shield law.

I live in Michigan. There is not a journalist shield law on the books here that would be applicable in this case.
Nor is there a federal shield law.

Here is what Michigan says: Michigan has two statutory provisions or shield laws which limit the use of subpoenas on journalists. One is for grand jury proceedings, and the other concerns subpoenas issued by prosecutors. MCL 767.5a; MCL 767A.6.

This is neither a grand jury case, nor a prosecutor’s case. It’s a civil proceeding. Let them rot in jail.

[Martin68]

21. In this case the court doesn't even have evidence the person actually exists.

If they can't produce the witness, how can the court verify their claim? They made this "FBI agent" up to try to wriggle out of their criminal charges.

[SlimJimmy]

36. Have a nice day.

[azureblue]

32. You are forgetting

Susan MacDougal -

[Martin68]

38. I remember her well. Some seem to have forgotten. Or they are too young to know.

[cutroot]

20. I believe that this is a civil trial not a criminal one

The judge can demand sources without violating anyones rights. The righties are trying to claim that these people are heroes because their rights are being violated but they are not

[emulatorloo]

25. +1. They are being sued by Konnech for outright lies they told about the company.

They are promoters of ‘The Big Lie,” and I am glad they’re being exposed for who they are.

[GarColga]

26. This is a .pdf from Arizona's AG Criminal Division (download)

Last edited Mon Oct 31, 2022, 06:18 PM - Edit history (1)

which is pretty interesting.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi_3Mrwtov7AhXqJDQIHb4RAJEQFnoECD0QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.azag.gov%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2F2022-10%2F202210141445.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2PtXMq6T-ZYFrg03U6Ess_

[Sucha NastyWoman]

27. I love this story

And The Texas Tribune for bringing us news like this.

[republianmushroom]

30. LIKE IT

[Fla Dem]

31. Not sure Catherine expected to be spending several nights in the local jail.

Well, she's become a martyr now.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

34. Enjoy the food guys

[James48]

39. More from Michigan

Election conspiracy theorists jailed in Texas lawsuit

by JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press
Monday, October 31st 2022

Source: upnorthlive.Com

HOUSTON (AP) — The leaders of a Texas-based group that promotes election conspiracy theories were jailed Monday for not complying with a court order to provide information in a defamation lawsuit over some of their claims.

Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips, who run True the Vote, were ordered detained by U.S. Marshals, according to an order signed by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt in Houston. They will be held for at least one day or “until they fully comply with the Court's Order,” Hoyt wrote.

Houston-based True the Vote provided research for a debunked documentary that alleged widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. Engelbrecht, Phillips and their nonprofit organization are being sued by Michigan-based election software provider Konnech Inc. over True the Vote's claims of a Chinese-related conspiracy involving U.S. poll workers’ information.

More:
https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/election-conspiracy-theorists-jailed-in-texas-lawsuit#

May they rot in jail.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

42. Juanita Jean-Catherine Engelbrecht Is In Jail Today

Juanita Jean is very happy. She has been dealing with Catherine Engelbrecht and the true the vote assholes for a long time.
https://juanitajean.com/catherine-engelbrecht-is-in-jail-today/

For the past decade, I have followed the antics of Catherine Engelbrecht, a woman who began her career as a voting critic right here in my neck of the woods. We were neighbors in a small rural community that shared a county commissioner when she appeared on the wings of Lady Vote Hack to lead something she called True the Vote and I called Screw the Vote.



We butted heads many times over the years as she made it clear that her purpose was to become an election denier and make a poop load of money doing it. She is pretty, blonde, and plenty terrified of anyone who isn’t, and can lie convincingly with a straight face. So, she soared in Republican circles.

Here’s pretty much a semi- complete breakdown of the years of coverage I gave Ms. Engelbrecht over the years, including when she called my editor and told her that she would never interview with our newspaper again. My favorite was when we were able to prove that her favored Republican candidate for local county commissioner voted twice – once in Texas and once in Pennsylvania – in three elections.

Recently she’s was hired and paid $2 million to prove there was voter fraud in the 2020 election. She took the money and did diddle squat. She got sued for that.

And now she’s up to her eyebrows in a civil suit, resulting in her being hauled off to the pokey in federal court for refusing to identify a source in a defamation suit. Most rational people believe the source does not exist. She’s using it to raise money.

She was sent to jail by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt, a Ronald Reagan appointee.

And yeah, I’m feeling pretty prissy about it.

[TexasTowelie]

43. It's nice to hear that Juanita Jean read the news with satisfaction.

Delayed karma for Engelbrecht, but we will take what we can get around here.