Emails: Michigan sheriff seeks to seize voting machines amid Trump claims

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In a brief phone interview, Tucker said the emails Bridge obtained through the Freedom of Information Act are protected by attorney-client privilege and should not be disclosed by the Barry County Sheriff Office.

Asked his views on the role of a “constitutional sheriff,” Leaf told Bridge that it is important for elected law enforcement leaders in the province to “use their authority” so that it is not “thin. . “

“It’s just a matter of us using it and getting the sheriff’s office back on track and where it should be,” he said.

Martin, the Lake County sheriff, said he has been part of the national Constitutional Sheriff and Peace Officers Association but has been kind of backing out of it because it has become controversial.

While he was sworn into office to uphold federal and state constitutions, I’m not a fanatic like many people in that organization, Martin said.

From Antrim to General Flynn

Emails obtained by Bridge show Leaf and Trump allies fixed on Dominion voting machines.

On Dec. 15, Keshel from the Fight Back Foundation, responded to Tucker and Leaf with a document he said came from Flynn, the former national security adviser who twice pleaded guilty to lying about Russia but was pardoned by Trump following the 2020 election.

“Hello Carson and Dar, General Flynn wants you to see the Antrim Forensics review, and we believe all 48 provinces are affected the same,” Keshel wrote, referring to a factually challenged report that report on Dominion polling machines used in Antrim and dozens of other Michigan counties.

“I’m in contact with the team to link our next steps to these Dominion machines,” he added.

Antrim County, nearly 200 miles north of Barry, has emerged as an unlikely turning point in Trump’s fraud claims after an error in the Republican clerk’s program led to the initial bias of the results. indicating that Biden won in the very prosperous region.

The error was quickly fixed, and the state eventually conducted a recount of ballots that confirmed Trump led the region despite losing the statewide to Democratic President Joe Biden by 154,188 votes.

The “forensic audit” Keshel shared with Leaf and Tucker was prepared by a pro-Trump group called Allied Security Operations and widely criticized by election experts.

It contains a rare number of false, inaccurate, or unproven statements and conclusions, according to University of Michigan computer science professor J. Alex Halderman.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel called the report “another in a long stream of misleading, vague and questionable statements designed to erode public confidence. in the election.

But Trump, like his allies, is attempting to use the Antrim County report to justify an unprecedented criminal investigation.

In an email on Dec. 14 released recently in Congress, Trumps ’attorney forwarded the report to Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with the subject line: From POTUS.

Flynn, Wood and Powell are Trump loyalists who continue to claim the 2020 election can still be overturned, bringing Trump back to the White House.

Leaf told Bridge Michigan that he did not personally talk to Flynn or Powell about the voting machines and did not take any, as his attorney suggested. The sheriff said he asked some clerks to keep the voting machines “safe,” he said, which is “still a normal protocol for them.

Balanced on the ballot

If Leaf followed his vigorous plan to take over the voting machines, it could be illegal, Becker said, along with the Center for Election Innovation and Research.

That’s because federal law requires election officials to maintain exclusive control over records and equipment for 22 months.

“Every single person is aware of the election rules that go into the election, and to try to hijack voting machines that are contrary to federal law shows a fundamental disrespect for the rule of law,” he said.

Trump led Barry County last fall, but seven months after the presidential election, Leaf told Bridge he remains concerned about what he called reports “asking if the votes could be” skipped. “or” if we were hacked.

Local clerks said there was no evidence that happened in a province where Trump won 65 percent of the vote, up from 63 percent in 2016.

Instead, election officials who spoke with Bridge said the local administration has been doing well, and they have never given up having their voting machines on Leaf or others.

“I don’t know what Dar is digging, said Barry County Clerk Pamela Palmer, who is a Republican and said there was no indication of local vote manipulation last year.

In Hastings, the largest city in Barry County, the tournament went well in 2020, Clerk Jane Suarman said.

We don’t have any issues with the marker situation, ”he said, referring to a debunked Sharpie Leaf mark conspiracy that had previously been advanced in a failed lawsuit.

In fact, clerks said giving Leaf access to their voting machines would create security risks and hinder the use of those tabulators in future elections, creating new and additional costs for to taxpayers.

“We will not give up no more court orders or anything like that,” said Yankee Springs Township Clerk Mike Cunningham, who won the election in November. “To my knowledge, (Leaf) has no contact with our town office and state law is required to keep them safe.

Barry County clerks did a “stellar” job in the presidential election, but he was told by various individuals and organizations to investigate, Leaf told Bridge, who declined to disclose the source of the complaints. .

“I don’t give any names because of the death threats and harassment people have gotten,” he said.

Martin, the Lake County sheriff Leaf attempted to recruit for an election investigation, said he did not see any evidence of fraud in his county, which Trump won with 62 percent of the vote.

I never said there was anything wrong with the election, Martin said. So this is what it is. I think we chased.

Hazy and nebulous claims

Leaf is no stranger to controversy.

In May 2020, the Barry County Sheriff appeared on stage with armed militia members at a Grand Rapids rally protesting Whitmer’s COVID-19 response.

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