All posts tagged "georgia"

MAGA candidate 'gonna get smashed' if Trump keeps showing up: report

A MAGA Senate candidate is in danger of sinking in the polls if President Donald Trump keeps showing up to support him, according to NOTUS.

NOTUS reported Friday that Republicans are worried that Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) will suffer from Trump coming out in support of him against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) ahead of the midterms. Sources told NOTUS that the problem is that Trump is tanking in the polls, and his endorsement could pull Collins down with him.

"We're already seeing Ossoff at every turn trying to tie Collins to Trump," an anonymous GOP operative, who has an active campaign role, told NOTUS.

The operative noted that Trump's approval rating sits below 40 percent.

"There's headwinds there," the operative said. "But Collins is going to wear the negative of it."

The operative added that the Trump administration's focus on Georgia for voter fraud is hurting Collins.

"Those issues are definitely net negatives for Republicans in the state," the operative said. "A general election electorate doesn't have much patience for that."

"Collins is gonna get smashed," GOP pollster Eamon Keegan told NOTUS. Keegan said that Trump's approval ratings and the ongoing war in Iran will continue to erode Collins' chances, according to NOTUS. Another operative told NOTUS they believe "one-hundred percent" that Trump will hinder Collins.

During an event in Marietta, Georgia, earlier this week, Trump praised Collins and tried to take a swipe at Ossoff.

"Maybe the most important man in this room right now is not here. His name is Mike Collins, and he's going to beat Pee-wee Herman," Trump said.

"If they could bring back Trump every week, we'd love it," David Brand, a Georgia Democratic operative supporting Ossoff, told NOTUS.

Trump 'mocked ruthlessly' by attendee at his own rally: journalist

A journalist flagged how President Donald Trump was "mocked ruthlessly" at his own rally in Georgia.

On Wednesday, Trump held a rally at a high school in Marietta, Georgia, in a "gymnasium named after a Confederate soldier," noted journalist Aaron Parnas in an episode of The Parnas Perspective. However, Parnas' focus was more on a tall man dressed in a black suit who mimicked Trump's movements during the speech.

The rally attendee could be seen behind Trump, holding his hands up, swinging them back and forth, and rocking his head side to side the way Trump does.

"That's the president right there being mocked incessantly by an attendee at his own rally who's not too happy," Parnas explained. "He's not too happy, the president, about having this guy right behind him on stage."

Parnas suggested that White House officials failed by letting the impersonator slip by and explained that someone messed up the task of "advance," which is checking the optics around the president.

"If you know anything about advance and working at the White House, a key part of advance is making sure that the stage looks prim and proper," Parnas said. "That the people you put behind the principal, in this case the president of the United States, that they don't make any faces, that they don't essentially embarrass the White House."

Parnas also noted that Trump "repeatedly struggled to get through his speech" as speculation swirls about his health. Parnas played a clip of Trump later in the speech where he was sweaty and running out of breath.

"The president of the United States had a pretty rough night," Parnas said.

'Staggering' DOJ demand hits major snag thanks to Trump's own appointee

A Trump-appointed judge dealt the Justice Department a major setback after finding the scope of its request "staggering" in a court order.

According to a court order filed on Tuesday, federal judge William M. Ray II quashed a DOJ grand jury subpoena that prosecutors had issued in April.

The subpoena sought a "staggering" amount of personal information about thousands of election workers in Fulton County, Georgia, who took part in the count and recount of the 2020 vote, Ray wrote. The rejection comes a week after the FBI sent hundreds of analysts to the Atlanta Field Office to review seized election materials.

"These records, even if they lead to the DOJ finding individuals who worked for Fulton County in the 2020 Election who support the theory that the 2020 Election was not fair, would not lead to information that could be used to charge anyone with anything," Ray wrote. "That is because the statute of limitations for any possible crime arising from the 2020 Election has long expired."

Ray described the DOJ as engaged in an "arbitrary fishing expedition" that would lead to "a dead-end prosecution," and decided "the Subpoena is unreasonable and must be quashed." Although a grand jury issued the subpoena, "that does not give the DOJ the right to use the Grand Jury to do whatever the DOJ wants," the judge added.

"Everyone, whether you support the President or you do not, or whether you believe the 2020 Election was fair or believe that it was not, should be concerned about the DOJ's ability to utilize the power of the Grand Jury to appropriate your private information without a legitimate purpose," Ray, a Trump appointee, warned.

"Anyone in power (perhaps the next administration of a different party) could use the Grand Jury process similarly to subpoena personal information of citizens (perhaps that of their political opponents) with no legitimate law enforcement purpose."

'Chilling': Security expert sounds the alarm as Trump DOJ ramps up election probe

A security expert warned about the impact of Trump's latest move to send hundreds of FBI analysts to Georgia.

CNN law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller broke down Trump's decision to send 260 intelligence officials to Georgia to investigate the 2020 election results. Miller said the move is "very concerning," especially as Trump pushes the Save America Act, a voter-proof-of-citizenship law.

"There is a through line when you combine the idea that he is pushing the SAVE Act and then, on a holiday weekend, calls in hundreds of FBI analysts," Miller said. "When law enforcement comes in and starts doing things like this...it creates this chilling effect towards election workers and others."

He explained that Trump called in "staff operations specialists and investigative operations specialists to the Atlanta field office," and "this is the kind of people where it looks like you would be dumping a ton of paperwork, maybe ballots on them."

The instructions to these hundreds of FBI analysts could even be to go through the ballots and investigate them "one at a time," Miller added. However, he cautioned that, "if they're doing a recount, that kind of usurps the election authorities of the state."

Whether or not they find anything, Miller warned, "You're creating this atmosphere that there's something wrong there, and I can't see these two things being unconnected," again referring to the Save America Act and noting that this "could have been done last week."

'Is he that dumb?' GOP lawmaker's Medicaid attack shredded by online critics

A Republican lawmaker attacked the idea of Medicaid with comments that had online critics questioning if he knew how it works.

Rep. Rich McCormick criticized Medicaid while speaking at a town hall and argued that it amounted to giving away "free money" in his full-throated speech.

"To the point of Medicaid, the worst thing I can possibly do is give you free money to stay home and do nothing," McCormick said. "That's not happiness. I'm not gonna allow you to sit home and get something for nothing."

On X, critics argued against his description of Medicaid and went after the Republican congressman, adding that he didn't seem to know how the program works.

South Dakota Democratic state Rep. Linda Duba similarly wondered, "Is he that dumb? No one gets money from Medicaid. You must use services and payments go directly to the providers."

Journalist John Harwood agreed, writing, "Health care is not 'free money.'"

Author Joyce Carol Oates slammed Congress more broadly with her post by writing, "'Staying home & doing nothing' is the point of becoming a congressman. Seems a wee bit hypocritical to scold sick & disabled person for wishing to do likewise."

Disability rights activist James Tate gave a scathing reaction to McCormick's comment by posting, "Veterans say F— YOU B—."

Legal writer and criminal defense lawyer Scott Greenfield asked in his post, "How is it possible that a congressman has no idea what Medicaid is used for?"

Meanwhile, Russell Foster, a former Democratic congressional candidate from Texas, wrote, "Republican theme seems to be 'How much can I hurt the poor, sick, and in need to give to my millionaire donors?'"

Billionaire who beat Trump's pick in Georgia faces fallout over leaked recording: analysis

A MAGA billionaire gubernatorial candidate in Georgia was under fire on Wednesday after a recording surfaced with him reportedly "agreeing that women should have to 'prove' they were raped in order to qualify for an abortion," according to a report from The Daily Beast.

Rick Jackson defeated Burt Jones — a candidate backed by President Donald Trump — in the GOP primary on Tuesday night. The shock win has rocked the Republican Party as the new audio was revealed the next day.

The recording was reviewed by The Beast and apparently made at a campaign event before Jackson's victory. In it, the healthcare executive talks about "abortion with a voter who objected to exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape."

A voter said in the recording that "if a woman is saying she was raped, she needs to prove it."

Jackson responded to that comment and agreed, The Beast reported.

“I just want to see babies born, no matter how they were conceived,” the woman said in the recording. "I mean, the whole thing about a rape exception and everything, it’s like, I mean I know it’s horrible, but two wrongs don’t make a right."

"They’ve still got a life," Jackson said, agreeing with the voter.

"Yeah, it’s still a life," the woman added, "and it seems to me if a woman is saying she was raped she needs to prove it."

"Right, got you," Jackson responded.

Jackson's campaign has disputed the characterization of the recording, and argued that critics have misrepresented his position on the topic.

DOJ moves to oust judge embroiled in sex scandal from key Trump voter rolls case

The Department of Justice is demanding that an embattled Georgia judge be taken off its case seeking to grab voter rolls, according to reporting by Reuters.

U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross in Atlanta was in the headlines earlier this week after news outlets identified her as the unnamed judge reprimanded for having sex in her chambers within earshot of clerks.

The DOJ is seeking her removal from the case because she attended a political campaign event for Fani Willis, who prosecuted Trump for alleged crimes related to the 2020 election, Reuters noted.

"A judge who attended a party celebrating the election of a Democrat best known for prosecuting a Republican President for alleged election interference cannot then preside over a case concerning that President's efforts to ensure election integrity," DOJ lawyers wrote, according to Reuters.

Ross is hearing the DOJ's lawsuit seeking to force Georgia to hand over its non-public voter registration list. The DOJ filed similar lawsuits in other states, though it's been defeated in some.

MAGA frontrunner posted fake endorsements on his campaign website: report

A MAGA congressman and frontrunner for a Georgia Senate primary race lied about having high-profile campaign endorsements, according to multiple reports.

Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) lied on his campaign website about having the endorsement of Georgia sheriffs, commissioners, and other local officials, according to reporting by The Daily Beast. He even touted having the same endorsements as those of his GOP primary opponent, Derek Dooley, the Beast added.

Wayne County Sheriff Chuck Moseley had his name listed on Collins' campaign website as an endorsement. However, he says he only talked to Collins' campaign twice, and when he saw his false endorsement, he told them to take it down, according to reporting by The Daily Caller.

"They've had their opportunity to correct it, and they haven't," he told the Caller. "I wouldn't vote for [Collins] if he's the only one running."

Worth County Sheriff Don Whitaker supported Dooley, but Collins' campaign website listed him as an endorser, according to The Daily Beast.

The GOP chair for Grady County, Jeff Jolly, said that he was also falsely listed as supporting Collins, along with a Grady County commissioner and the county's sheriff, according to The Daily Beast.

"I talked to them in private, and I said, 'Look, you do what you want to do, but for my own sake, I need to know why you endorsed Mike Collins,'" Jolly said, per The Daily Beast. "Both of them looked at me funny, like, 'What are you talking about?' They didn't know anything about it."

Grady County Sheriff Earl Prince said he had "never spoken to Mike Collins or any of his people," according to reporting by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Meanwhile, Grady County Commissioner Sam Kline said he only ever sent a "generic reply" to a Collins campaign event and has actually supported Dooley, the Journal-Constitution reported.

Republican lambasted in hometown paper after ‘vile’ out-of-state attack

A Republican was criticized for racist remarks in an opinion piece published by the GOP lawmaker's hometown paper and written by Virginia's Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi Friday.

In her op-ed for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hashmi, who is a Georgia native, called out Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) for his "vile, xenophobic, and anti-Muslim attack on his X social media account targeting Virginia state Sen. Saddam Salim, D-District 37. Rhetoric such as Clyde’s is never harmless; it perpetuates violence, scapegoats entire communities and is antithetical to the core principles of our democracy."

Clyde wrote the following on May 15: "Saddam Azlan Salim, who immigrated from Bangladesh, authored Virginia’s new unconstitutional gun ban. Attempting to naturalize those who hold beliefs that are incompatible with our Constitution is a recipe for disaster—in this case, disarmament. Denaturalize. Deport. Defend 2A."

Hashmi cited why Clyde's messaging was so damaging in the wake of a fatal shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego last week where two extremist teens had attacked a mosque housing a school with children and left a security guard and two community members dead.

"Rep. Clyde is not a constitutional attorney. If he were, he might know that citizenship in the United States is not treated as conditional based on partisan politics. We are allowed to disagree with one another on matters of policy without facing threats of deportation," Hashmi wrote.

She described how Salim, who Clyde spoke about in his social post, has focused on gun violence prevention and common-sense gun laws in Virginia.

"Why do I care what Clyde has to say about one Virginia state senator? I know that Clyde would never have made such racist and bigoted comments about the other state senator who was the actual author of the law (Senate Bill 749) that finally puts basic regulations around deadly assault weapons in Virginia," she wrote.

She urged Georgia voters to take a stance against Clyde in the upcoming midterm elections.

"I care about what Rep. Clyde has to say because his efforts to target this particular Virginia state senator harm all Georgians, my fellow Virginians, and our values as Americans," Hashmi wrote. "Clyde’s ugly rhetoric attempts to divide us and to scapegoat hundreds of millions of immigrants who are devoted to America and raising their children to be proud of both their heritage and this country — just as my parents raised me."

GOP candidate touts election win despite running unopposed

A local GOP candidate is bragging about her election victory this week despite running unopposed.

The New York Post reported that Tiffany Henyard won her GOP primary race for a commissioner's seat in Fulton County, Georgia. However, as the Post noted, she ran unopposed.

"Thank you, Fulton County! We did it," Henyard wrote on Facebook. "Support the movement."

According to the Post, she's known in Georgia as the "Dolton Dictator" because she moved from Dolton, Illinois, and left the Democratic Party before running. Henyard, however, refers to herself as a "super mayor," per the Post.

Citing election results, the Post pointed out that the 1,136 votes she received on Tuesday were "more than 2,000 fewer votes than the candidate who got dead-last in the Democratic primary."

Henyard's victory came at a time when some political experts have said Democrats are carrying significant momentum into the November midterm elections. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's approval rating within the GOP continues to sink, reaching a record-low 80% as of Thursday, according to polls.