Michigan’s attorney general is requesting a special prosecutor to investigate alleged election breaches concerning her Trump-endorsed challenger, Matthew DePerno, Reuters first reported Sunday.
Why it matters: DePerno was previously accused of profiting off 2020 election conspiracies by Republican state senators, by Axios Detroit’s Samuel Robinson.
Driving the news: The request is part of a joint investigation by Attorney General Dana Nessel and Michigan State Police into “a conspiracy to unlawfully obtain access to voting machines used in the 2020 General Election,” according to a petition for the appointment of a special prosecutor, obtained by Political.
“When this investigation began there was not a conflict of interest. However, during the course of the investigation, facts were developed that DePerno was one of the prime instigators of the conspiracy,” the petition states.
The request was made to the Michigan Prosecuting Attorneys Coordinating Council, an autonomous entity within the state Department of Attorney General.
What they’re saying: DePerno’s campaign tweeted late Sunday that the investigation was a “Political Witch Hunt.”
His campaign manager Tyson Shepard said in to statement on Sunday night that Nessel has a “history of targeting and persecuting her political enemies.”
Read the petition, via DocumentCloud:
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with comment from DePerno’s campaign and further context.
Launceston mayor Albert Van Zetten is the latest in a string of Tasmanian mayors to announce they won’t run in upcoming local government elections, taking the total quitting to 10.
Key points:
Ten Tasmanian mayors won’t be standing for re-election this October
Greater Launceston Albert Van Zetten is the latest to call it quits
It comes as compulsory voting is set to be introduced and a government review of the sector continues
Most of those who are part of the exodus say they are retiring or stepping down for personal reasons.
Newcomers set to be elected in October face a changing local government landscape as compulsory voting is introduced, non-ratepayers are allowed to have their say for the first time and a state government review of the sector continues.
The majority of the mayors not re-contesting are based in the north and north-west of the state: Annette Rockliff in Devonport, King Island’s Julie Arnold, Flinders Island’s Annie Revie, Waratah-Wynyard’s Robby Walsh, Circular Head’s Daryl Quilliam, Tim Wilson from Kentish, and Central Coast major Jan Bonde.
Albert Van Zetten announced the decision with his wife Lyndal on Sunday. (ABC News: Jessica Moran )
Albert Van Zetten was first elected as mayor to Tasmania’s second biggest city in 2005, and said he now wants to spend more time with his family.
“I’ve been very thankful for the opportunity I’ve had to serve this beautiful city, and it’s been an amazing time,” he said.
“My case is it’s my time to go. It’s not got anything to do with what the other mayors are doing. If their time is up, then it’s their time up.”
In the south of the state Doug Chipman is retiring as major of Clarence.
He has been in the top job for 11 years and has said “it’s time for a change”.
Bec Enders stepped down as Huon Valley Council Mayor earlier in the year amid the controversy over the hiring of general manager Jason Browne.
Huon Valley Mayor Bec Enders quit the role in March after months of community backlash over a controversial recruitment process for general manager.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
President of the Local Government Association of Tasmania Christina Holmdahl said it was not abnormal to have a large number of mayors leaving.
“It’s something that happens about every second or third council election.”
“The majority have been mayors for quite some time, and almost all of them are standing down for personal reasons. They believe they’ve made a contribution,” she said.
“They also believe that maybe it’s time for new energy, new ideas in their municipality.”
King Island Major Julie Arnold has chosen not to recontest the position after just one term in the top job.(ABC News: Sarah Abbott)
Major voting changes on the way
With the introduction of compulsory voting for the October elections, Minister for Local Government Nic Street said he hoped it would bring more quality candidates to council.
“I hope that compulsory voting leads to more people putting their hand up to run if they think that they’re going to be held accountable by the whole community and not just the people who would normally vote at local government elections.”
“We’re committed to strengthening local government as best we can, and the best way to strengthen it is by having multiple candidates in every municipality so that people have got a legitimate choice to make come October.”
Mr Van Zetten said he welcomes compulsory voting.
“I’m sad I’m not running in a way because of the compulsory voting. I think it’s better for incumbents.”
“The time that I’ve had my closest vote, which was three votes (between him and the next candidate), many people said to me ‘I didn’t vote for you because I thought you were a shoe-in.”
Christina Holmdahl, president of the Local Government Association of Tasmania, March 2022.(ABC News: Jessica Moran)
Christina Holmdahl from Tasmania’s Local Government Association said she thought there were still some issues to work through when it came to voting in local government elections.
“It’s still going to be a postal vote, so there are still those issues of letters not being delivered, people have changed addresses and haven’t updated their electoral roll.”
It will also be the first time local government elections are open to everyone over 18, not just ratepayers.
“I think it’s going to be quite interesting as a result of that.”
She was hopeful the changes wouldn’t stop new people from running for older.
“We hope all the new incoming councilors have the commitment and the vision that the retiring mayors have had, and they’ll enjoy what they get out of local government.”
Code of conduct questions
A 12-month local government review is underway, which includes an examination of its code of conduct.
The code has been in the spotlight this year after a number of controversies including when a Kingborough council meeting descended into unrest in June, the fact a council had no power to sack a councilor convicted of sexual offences. and the code of conduct investigation into the Huon Valley general manager’s appointment.
Kingborough Council deputy Major Jo Westwood attempting to eject Councilor David Grace from a council meeting on June 6. (Supplied: Kingborough Council)
Nic Street says the review is about strengthening local government even further.
“It’s looking at the service, delivery, and functions of local government. What they do well, and perhaps what services should be delivered by a different tier of government.”
“At the end of that, we’ll look at the reforms that have been suggested by the local board of review.”
Ms Holmdahl says the next stage of the review, set to finish at the end of the year, should be extended to allow more people to have their say on local government.
“The community has had an opportunity to express their concerns or their suggestions about how local government could be better, and they have been noted.”
“I guess what’s disappointing is the very low level of input from the community. It was 0.34% of the voting population that actually took part.”
She said she was hoping to come to an arrangement with Mr Street to extend the next stage of the review until March.
“That will also cover the fact that after October this year, there may be new councilors that are not familiar even with the process, so we believe that there’s a period of time needed for the new councilors to familiarize themselves with the process as well. “
Mr Street said there was potential to extend the review.
“That’s a conversation that we’re continuing to have with the local government sector at the moment.”
Former Vice President Dick Cheney looks on as his daughter Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., takes the oath of office on the House floor on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017.
Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Former Vice President Dick Cheney assailed ex-President Donald Trump as a “coward” and a prime threat to the United States in a new campaign ad for his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney, days before her Republican primary election in Wyoming.
“In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who has posed a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” the elder Cheney said in a straight-to-camera ad, which was shared online Thursday afternoon.
“He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him,” said Cheney, 81, who served for eight years as vice president in the George W. Bush administration.
“He is a coward. A real man wouldn’t lie to his supporters,” Cheney said. “He lost his election and he lost big. I know it, he knows it, and deep down, I think most Republicans know it.”
The 60-second spot, titled “He Knows It,” will run across Wyoming and online starting Friday, the Cheney campaign said. The ad comes less than two weeks before the Wyoming Republican primary, where the incumbent Cheney appears to be in trouble.
Cheney is Trump’s biggest Republican critic in Congress and a leading member of the House select committee investigating him over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. For her refusal of her to back down from her criticisms of the former president, she has been largely ostracized by her party of her and condemned by Trump’s loyal base of Republican voters.
Polls of the Aug. 16 Wyoming primary show Cheney trailing her top Republican opponent, Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, by wide margins. Hageman has echoed Trump’s false claims that his loss of him to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election was “rigged” by widespread fraud.
Yet Cheney, unlike some other House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 riot, has kept up her vocal attacks on Trump over the “Big Lie.”
Her persistence may have damaged her standing among some Republican voters, but it has not hampered her fundraising efforts: She has far outraised her competitors while assuring key donors and supporters that she will continue to hold Trump accountable. Dick Cheney has been involved in these talks as well, CNBC previously reported.
“Lynne and I are so proud of Liz for standing up for the truth, doing what’s right, honoring her oath to the Constitution when so many in our party are too scared to do so,” Dick Cheney said in the ad.
“Liz is fearless. She never backs down from a fight. There is nothing more important she will ever do than lead the effort to make sure Donald Trump is never again near the Oval Office. And she will succeed,” he said in the ad .
“I’m Dick Cheney. I proudly voted for my daughter. I hope you will too,” he said.
FARMINGTON, MISSOURI – JULY 31: Missouri Attorney General and Republican Senate candidate Eric Schmitt speaks to supporters in Hall Pavilion at Englar Park on July 31, 2022 in Farmington, Missouri. Schmitt is holding campaign events on the last weekend before the August 2nd primary elections in Missouri. He is the front runner in the primary race that includes former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, to replace outgoing Senator Roy Blunt. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Michael M. Santiago | Getty ImagesNews | Getty Images
Eric Greitens, the scandal-tarred former Missouri governor who launched a comeback bid against the wishes of many Republicans, will lose the state’s GOP Senate primary, NBC News projects.
Eric Schmitt, currently the state’s attorney general, is projected to proceed to the general election, where he will compete with a Democratic nominee for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt.
The primary results mark a thudding defeat for Greitens, who fully embraced former President Donald Trump and fought against recent allegations of domestic abuse as he looked to claw his way back to the political fore.
Greitens had announced his Senate bid nearly three years after resigning from the governor’s office amid accusations that he blackmailed a hairdresser with whom he was having an affair. Greitens admitted to the tryst of her, but denied he had threatened to release her nude photographs he took of her if she revealed the affair.
He was charged with felony invasion of privacy related to the alleged blackmailing. Greitens was also charged with illegally using a charity donor list to help fund his 2016 gubernatorial campaign. Both charges were dropped around the time Greitens resigned in June 2018.
Eric Greitens, Missouri Governor, pictured at the Robin Hood Veterans Summit in New York City.
Those and other scandals led mainstream Republicans to worry about a Greitens candidacy jeopardizing the party’s hold on a Senate seat in a state that otherwise reliably votes Republicans into high office. Democrats are desperate to keep their razor-thin majority in the Senate, but their control of the chamber is threatened by a challenging political environment, exacerbated by President Joe Biden’s unpopularity and recent economic turmoil.
Greitens had aligned himself completely with Trump during his Senate campaign, including echoing Trump’s false claims about widespread fraud tainting the 2020 presidential election. Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., joined Greitens’ campaign as national co-chair.
But the former president ultimately did not give Greitens a full-throated endorsement. Rather, he bizarrely endorsed “Eric” in the Missouri GOP Senate primary, where two of the top candidates are named Eric.
“I trust the Great People of Missouri, on this one, to make up their own minds,” Trump said in a social media post on the eve of the primary.
Both Greitens and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt touted Trump’s announcement as though it were a personal endorsement.
Polling averages from RealClearPolitics showed Greitens had a smaller lead over a top Democratic primary candidate than either of his two biggest competitors in the Republican primary.
After Sheena Greitens filed court documents in March alleging Eric Greitens abused her and their young son while they were married, numerous top Republicans called on Greitens to drop out.
“If you hit a woman or a child, you belong in handcuffs, not the United States Senate,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who had investigated Greitens when he was Missouri’s attorney general.
Blunt himself said that Greitens “should not be a candidate for the Senate” if Sheena Greitens’ allegations are true.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct the photo of Eric Schmitt.
FARMINGTON, MISSOURI – JULY 31: Missouri Attorney General and Republican Senate candidate Eric Schmitt speaks to supporters in Hall Pavilion at Englar Park on July 31, 2022 in Farmington, Missouri. Schmitt is holding campaign events on the last weekend before the August 2nd primary elections in Missouri. He is the front runner in the primary race that includes former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, to replace outgoing Senator Roy Blunt. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Michael M. Santiago | Getty ImagesNews | Getty Images
Eric Greitens, the scandal-tarred former Missouri governor who launched a comeback bid against the wishes of many Republicans, will lose the state’s GOP Senate primary, NBC News projects.
Eric Schmitt, currently the state’s attorney general, is projected to proceed to the general election, where he will compete with a Democratic nominee for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt.
The primary results mark a thudding defeat for Greitens, who fully embraced former President Donald Trump and fought against recent allegations of domestic abuse as he looked to claw his way back to the political fore.
Greitens had announced his Senate bid nearly three years after resigning from the governor’s office amid accusations that he blackmailed a hairdresser with whom he was having an affair. Greitens admitted to the tryst of her, but denied he had threatened to release her nude photographs he took of her if she revealed the affair.
He was charged with felony invasion of privacy related to the alleged blackmailing. Greitens was also charged with illegally using a charity donor list to help fund his 2016 gubernatorial campaign. Both charges were dropped around the time Greitens resigned in June 2018.
Eric Greitens, Missouri Governor, pictured at the Robin Hood Veterans Summit in New York City.
Those and other scandals led mainstream Republicans to worry about a Greitens candidacy jeopardizing the party’s hold on a Senate seat in a state that otherwise reliably votes Republicans into high office. Democrats are desperate to keep their razor-thin majority in the Senate, but their control of the chamber is threatened by a challenging political environment, exacerbated by President Joe Biden’s unpopularity and recent economic turmoil.
Greitens had aligned himself completely with Trump during his Senate campaign, including echoing Trump’s false claims about widespread fraud tainting the 2020 presidential election. Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., joined Greitens’ campaign as national co-chair.
But the former president ultimately did not give Greitens a full-throated endorsement. Rather, he bizarrely endorsed “Eric” in the Missouri GOP Senate primary, where two of the top candidates are named Eric.
“I trust the Great People of Missouri, on this one, to make up their own minds,” Trump said in a social media post on the eve of the primary.
Both Greitens and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt touted Trump’s announcement as though it were a personal endorsement.
Polling averages from RealClearPolitics showed Greitens had a smaller lead over a top Democratic primary candidate than either of his two biggest competitors in the Republican primary.
After Sheena Greitens filed court documents in March alleging Eric Greitens abused her and their young son while they were married, numerous top Republicans called on Greitens to drop out.
“If you hit a woman or a child, you belong in handcuffs, not the United States Senate,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who had investigated Greitens when he was Missouri’s attorney general.
Blunt himself said that Greitens “should not be a candidate for the Senate” if Sheena Greitens’ allegations are true.
