slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

By Aaron Blake

It’s been eight months since Trump lawyer Sidney Powell promised to unleash the “Kraken” — i.e. incontrovertible evidence that the 2020 e******n was s****n. It still hasn’t arrived, nor has anything even close to it. Powell, who is facing a lawsuit from a v****g-machine company, has effectively suggested in court that she was just saying stuff. And now she and other lawyers involved face potential sanction for their sloppy advocacy.

But for some reason none of that has deterred the many, many stolen-e******n true-believers in the GOP. You’d think at some point they’d resent those who promised so much and delivered so little. But it hasn’t happened.

A big reason why: They are continually served up thin gruel to keep the con going. And former president Donald Trump delivered a heaping serving of that thin gruel Monday.

Trump has over the last 10 days previewed a new angle in his long-running, quixotic quest to vindicate his v**er-fraud claims. He said at a rally in Florida on July 3 that a U.S. attorney appointed by his administration was prohibited from examining claims of v**ers fraud in Philadelphia. (“That’s a big statement,” Trump said, adding: “Could you imagine this?”) He followed that up Sunday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) by again citing the alleged stifling of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Bill McSwain, and suggesting there was a letter involved.

“This just came out in a letter,” Trump said. “We have a letter. You’ll have to get it from him. Because I want to stay out of it. Get if from the U.S. attorney. I’m sure he’d be willing to provide it.”

It turns out Trump does want to get involved in it. On Monday night, his team released the letter after all. In it, McSwain claims then-Attorney General William P. Barr directed him not to publicly disclose v**er-fraud allegations and to refer them to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. But he suggests this was bad because Shapiro, a Democrat, predicted before E******n Day that Trump would lose Pennsylvania.

“On E******n Day and afterwards, our Office received various allegations of v***r f***d and e******n irregularities,” McSwain wrote. “As part of my responsibilities as U.S. Attorney, I wanted to be t***sparent with the public and, of course, investigate fully any allegations. Attorney General Barr, however, instructed me not to make any public statements or put out any press releases regarding possible e******n irregularities. I was also given a directive to pass along serious allegations to the State Attorney General for investigation — the same State Attorney General who had already declared that you could not win.”

The letter serves a simple purpose for Trump: to suggest there was maybe actually something there but that Barr undercut him in rooting it out. Trump has upped his criticism of Barr ever since Barr was quoted last month comparing Trump’s fraud claims to bovine manure.

The idea that Barr, who took many controversial stands for Trump, was somehow part of the deep state working to ensure Trump’s loss is rich enough. But there are plenty of other reasons the letter is hardly as significant as Trump suggests.

The first reason is the timing and the man who wrote it. The letter is not a contemporaneous account from when these fraud allegations were lodged or when McSwain was allegedly stifled; rather, it’s dated June 9, months after McSwain exited as U.S. attorney.

And McSwain isn’t just a former U.S. attorney; he’s ramping up a campaign for governor of Pennsylvania. The purpose of the letter is very clear: He wants Trump’s endorsement for that campaign.

“Based on my background and experience, I am uniquely positioned to defeat Mr. Shapiro (the likely Democratic candidate) and would welcome the chance to discuss this with you in person,” McSwain says. “I would be honored to have your support.”

If there’s anything the last nine months have shown us, it’s that in order to get that all-important endorsement you have to play Trump’s game on fomenting questions about the e******n results. It’s a threshold issue for Trump. And a potential McSwain opponent in the GOP primary, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, has been very out-front on pushing for scrutiny of Pennsylvania’s 2020 e******n. McSwain, as his letter goes on, lays out many steps he would take to safeguard e******ns, which he calls “one of my first priorities” as governor.

The second reason is that McSwain has a history of being a rather political U.S. attorney. HuffPost’s Ryan J. Reilly recapped McSwain’s various controversies Monday night. Last year, he spent $75,000 in taxpayer dollars to put his face, name and Twitter handle on tough-on-crime billboards, even at a time in which it was thought he might soon run for office. He also attacked Philadelphia’s mayor and district attorney last year, comparing them to segregationists. (They’re both Democrats.) And just days before E******n Day 2020, McSwain announced arson charges against four men who allegedly targeted police during racial-justice protests last summer — arrests that played into Trump’s efforts to make that unrest into a campaign issue.

The third point is that, wh**ever concerns McSwain has had about the validity of the e******n, he’s been rather tight-lipped about them. Why only come out with this now? And why do it privately while seeking an endorsement? McSwain emphasizes in his letter that he complied with Barr’s order because he’s a former Marine who respects the chain of command. But anybody writing that letter had to know Trump would be tempted to disclose this. It just looks self-serving now.

That last key point, though, is that there’s just not a lot of there there. The policy of the Justice Department is almost always to avoid disclosing allegations and to wait until crimes can actually be charged. So that’s hardly surprising.

What’s more, McSwain offers no detail on exactly what the allegations were. There are always allegations of fraud in e******ns, and this e******n saw a bunch of them from potentially well-meaning people. They signed sworn affidavits that the Trump team used in court, but those affidavits were regularly proven to be baseless, misinformed about e******n procedures or outright false.

In other words, there is still no proof of widespread fraud in Pennsylvania or any other key state. Trump and his lawyers promised proof, and they haven’t delivered. So they’ve instead apparently been reduced to playing this kind of small-ball involving people with political motivations who aren’t even really saying all that much.

WinkyTink Loc: Hill Country, TX

You and your ilk should anticipate being jerked around on e******n f***d for at least 5 years. Can you say Russia, Russia, Russia? It’s not about t***h, it headlines and bad image.

skyrider

Warrants repeating myself wtroxell.
He and his Ilk are without exception the single greatest threat to the existence of America.
No other threat can even come close!!!!!!!

ChJoe

Those referred to here are now in discovery and are very limited in what they can now reveal. But don't get to thinking that this is done. They are NOT settling out.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

No doubt. A history of Trump reveals that he is not happy unless he's in litigation - especially if the legal fees are on someone else's tab. In these cases, likely his supporters/contributors.

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

Jlw Loc: Wisconsin

Wow you must have had some bad dreams last night posting all the anti Trump rants. Answer me this what exactly is china joe doing for the better of the country? I made extra coffee so I can wait for an answer. And don't say that he is not Trump. And what about YOUR future president camelho

skyrider

Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer JLw. And yet another great spot for my Blitzkrieg of t***h:
L*****ts ARE the single greatest threat to the survival of America that has EVER been or ever will be.
No other threat can even come close !!!!!!!

Jlw Loc: Wisconsin

YES they are