Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday called for Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign as the head of the Democratic National Committee.
"I asked and demanded Debbie Wasserman Schultz resignation many, many months ago -- and I state that again," Sanders said on CNN. "I don't think she is qualified to be the chair of the DNC, not only for these awful emails which revealed the prejudice of the DNC, but also because we need a party who reaches out to working young people and I don't think her leadership style is doing that."
Emails released by WikiLeaks this week showed that some officials in the DNC were intent on undermining Sanders' presidential campaign. One official even floated the idea of questioning his faith. "My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist," DNC CFO Brad Marshall wrote in an email.
Sanders reiterated his position on ABC News, saying the Democrats need a "new chair who is going to lead us in a very different direction, and that is taking on the billionaire class and fighting for an agenda that works for working families."
Conservative activist and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza told a conservative podcast that “2000 Mules,” his film making flawed and faulty claims about election fraud in 2020, directly led the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office to open up an investigation — but the sheriff says that’s simply not true.
“The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office has been working jointly with the Yuma County Recorder’s Office and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office extensively regarding allegations of voter misconduct for over a year,” Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot said in an emailed statement to the Arizona Mirror.
“These ongoing investigations are not related to or inspired by any movie or celebrity figure, but rather facts and evidence regarding violation of Arizona statute,” Wilmot added. “I am not familiar with, nor have I ever communicated with, any individuals who may now be claiming I am investigating on their behalf or because of any supposed inspiration from a documentary film.”
Wilmot was responding to the Mirror’s questions about comments D’Souza made on Jason Whitlock’s “Fearless” podcast. The far-right provocateur said that Wilmot saw a screening of the movie “2000 Mules” and “went berserk” afterward.
“The Sheriff of Yuma saw our movie, went berserk and has opened up an investigation in Yuma, Arizona and I believe there will be arrests very soon,” D’Souza said on the podcast, which is produced and distributed by conservative media company Blaze Media.
D’Souza did not respond to a request for comment.
The film alleges that by using geolocation data purchased by the filmmakers they were able to track “ballot mules” to drop boxes where they falsely allege the “mules” were paid to stuff the boxes with completed ballots. The practice, pejoratively referred to as ballot harvesting, is illegal in Arizona and many other states.
Wilmot announced last week that his office and the county recorder’s office are investigating voting fraud cases from 2020, but there is no indication that any of the cases involve the movie’s claims. Instead, YCSO said the cases include impersonation fraud, false registrations, duplicate voting and fraudulent use of absentee ballots.
In a video posted to Rumble, a video streaming service favored by the far-right, Byrne said the Yuma investigation was in direct response to the film. Byrne’s organization was the largest funder of the Arizona Senate’s “audit” of the presidential election.
Byrne has also been a leading voice in 2020 election fraud claims and has railed against the so-called deep state. Byrne attended an hour-long meeting at the White House during the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency in which he, attorney Sidney Powell and disgraced retired Gen. Michael Flynn urged the president to overturn the election and impose martial law.
I am not familiar with, nor have I ever communicated with, any individuals who may now be claiming I am investigating on their behalf or because of any supposed inspiration from a documentary film.
– Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot
D’Souza’s film has been criticized for many of its false claims, including that the geolocation data used is so accurate that it helped solve a murder. The film is based on one whistleblower from San Luis, Ariz., who claimed to have seen people getting paid for ballot collection. The film contains no evidence of these payments.
An analysis of the film’s claims by the Associated Press found numerous problems with the data analysis that D’Souza and True the Vote, a conservative advocacy group, performed to reach their conclusions. For instance, there is no accounting for people with multiple mobile devices that could create pings in the geolocation data or people who are elections or campaign workers who would drive by areas where drop boxes are located on a regular basis. Other fact-checkers have also done independent analysis of the claims and found them to be flawed.
D’Souza has a history of making controversial films.
His first film, “2016: Obama’s America,” made more money at the box office than any political documentary since “Fahrenheit 9/11,” garnering him the nickname the “conservative Michael Moore.”
“2000 Mules” has gained an ardent following among Arizona Republicans and within the broader right-wing ecosystem.
“Have you seen #2000Mules yet?” Secretary of State candidate and Oro Valley Republican Mark Finchem posted on Twitter.
Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake hosted a screening of the film earlier this month with election fraud promoter and pillow salesman Mike Lindell, charging up to $2,000 to attend. Prescott Republican Congressman Paul Gosar, state Sen. Sonny Borrelli, Rep. Leo Biasucci, Finchem and former State Sen. David Farnsworth was also in attendance.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich in 2020 announced two Yuma County women were charged under the ballot harvesting statute. D’Souza has hyped those prosecutions on social media in an attempt to buttress his movie’s claims, but has spread false information about those cases in doing so. He claimed the case was “busted by the FBI,” but it was investigated by local law enforcement and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.
Republicans Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick are "preparing for a drawn-out vote-counting process marked by hand-to-hand combat behind the scenes" according to a new report by Politico.
The television doctor's lead has shrunk to 1,083 votes in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, which is one-tenth of a percentage point.
"Despite essentially being tied, the Oz and McCormick teams are both publicly projecting confidence that they will be on top once all the ballots are counted. By state law, an automatic recount will be triggered if the race comes down to half of one percent or less — unless the runner-up backs down and officially declines a recount," Politico explained. "But at this juncture, neither camp is signaling that they’ll throw in the towel. Instead, Pennsylvania Republicans are predicting trench warfare that could drag out for weeks — and be fought in the media, as well as potentially in the courts — in the state’s closely watched primary."
An extended primary could exacerbate GOP delusions of vote fraud and depress Republican turnout in the general election, Dave Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Reporter explained on MSNBC.
"Both Oz and McCormick have enlisted alumni from former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign to gird themselves for a potential recount," Politico explained. "Mike Roman, the director of Trump’s Election Day operations, is helping the McCormick team, according to a source familiar with his efforts. The Oz campaign has brought onboard James Fitzpatrick, who led Pennsylvania’s Election Day operations for Trump. Wally Zimolong, a Pennsylvania-based attorney, is also working for McCormick."
A recount must be completed by June 7.
NBC Philadelphia reported on the next steps in the process:
On Thursday's edition of CNN's "The Situation Room," former federal prosecutor Elie Honig broke down the significance of the new allegations from the January 6 Committee against Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA).
Specifically, the committee alleges that Loudermilk led tours in the Capitol that may have helped the January 6 attackers do "reconnaissance" — and that they have evidence that contradicts his denials.
"Let me get your thoughts on this tour of the U.S. Capitol given by a Republican member of Congress right on the eve of the insurrection," said anchor Wolf Blitzer. "Why is it so important for the Select Committee to get to the bottom of this?"
"There's a pointed and very high-stakes dispute going on here," said Honig. "Certain House Democrats dating back have accused certain House Republicans of giving these tours on January 5th designed to facilitate the attack. If that's true, that's remarkably serious, potentially even criminal. Republicans have strenuously denied this. We have not seen any evidence in public to support this allegation."
"But the most interesting thing in the letter that the committee sent to Representative Loudermilk today is that committee says they have evidence that, quote, 'directly contradicts those denials,'" continued Honig. "So we will see that evidence if they have the evidence, and if it is as the committee describes, that is an enormously big deal."
The allegations against Loudermilk come after Democrats have long made similar claims against Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who allegedly offered "large" group tours of the Capitol in the runup to the attack.
