Samaa Khullar, Salon

A newly released audio recording revealed former President Donald Trump's campaign acknowledging his loss in Wisconsin while plotting to push baseless allegations of widespread fraud that were repeatedly debunked by election officials and the courts.

The audio — obtained by the Associated Press on Thursday — captured a Nov. 5, 2020 strategy session in Wisconsin, two days after the election. The political operatives in the session appear to praise the Democratic turnout in one of the state's largest counties and even joked about their opponents' efforts to engage Black voters.

Andrew Iverson, the head of the Trump campaign in Wisconsin, is heard warning the team that they may need to pull "stunts," and planning a strategy to claim Democrats stole the election....

Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., spewed conspiracy theories about an environmental plan to conserve 30% of US land and waters by 2030 ahead of her election last year.

Speaking at R-CALF, a convention for independent cattle producers, Hageman in August 2021 and 2022 baselessly claimed that conservation plans like the global initiative 30x30 are a government plot led by President Joe Biden to control Americans through starvation.

The congresswoman likened the environmental plans to African dictators starving their people to stay in power....

Former President Donald Trump's real estate company was convicted in December for giving illegal perks to executives. Allen Weisselberg, one of the top executives at the business who testified that he orchestrated the years-long scheme, pleaded guilty and testified that he received off-the-books perks during his time at the company. On Tuesday, Weisselberg was sentenced to five months at the infamous Rikers Island jail in New York.

While the financial penalty is small for a company like the Trump Organization, the verdict made it known that the company broke the law, and handed more evidence to the former president's political opponents. There is also the chance of a criminal investigation by prosecutors into Trump for his role in the financial scheme, and the former president and his family still face a $250 million civil tax fraud lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The Trump Organization's lawyers tried to argue for a smaller penalty on Friday by shifting the blame onto Weisselberg and outside accounting firm Mazars USA. However, Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor for the Manhattan district attorney's office, called the company's conduct "egregious" as they carried out "a multidimensional scheme to defraud the tax authorities."...

After a New York Times report uncovered that Santos fabricated parts of his educational and professional background, other watchdog groups like the Campaign Legal Center began to look into his personal expenses and the true sources of his campaign money. Santos also repeatedly lied about his religion and ethnicity and his parent's relationship to the Holocaust.

Nassau County GOP Chairman Joseph G. Cairo at a Long Island news conference said that Santos' campaign was made up "of deceit, lies and fabrication," and accused him of deceiving voters.

"Today, on behalf of the Nassau County Republican Committee, I'm calling for his immediate resignation," Cairo said. "His lies were not mere fibs. He disgraced the House of Representatives, and we do not consider him one of our congress people. He's not welcome here at Republican headquarters."...

Former Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., has officially moved to Florida without handing over the required constituent casework to Rep. Chuck Edwards, the new Republican representing the state's 11th District.

Cawthorn bought a $1.1 million house in Florida in August, months before finishing his lone two-year term. In an Instagram post, Cawthorn announced that he moved into the Cape Coral house on Jan. 4, just one day after his term officially ended.

According to a statement posted on Edwards' website, Cawthorn did not transfer official casework before leaving North Carolina, which goes against standard practice for legislative transition....