Investigate Tommy Tuberville’s Pre-Speech and Debate Actions

There has been a lot of press focus in the last two days on the role that Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz played in Wednesday’s insurgency. Hawley even lost his book deal for playing a part in inciting the mob.

There should be more focus, in my opinion, on Tommy Tuberville.

I say that for two reasons.

First, by all appearances, Hawley and Cruz were just being disgusting opportunists. They saw the populist mantle, which until Wednesday was assumed to be critical to winning a 2024 presidential primary, and ran to claim it. It’s unknown how closely they coordinated with Trump in their cynical attempts to exploit the moment.

Tuberville, however, appears to have been actively coordinating with Trump during the uprising.

And his involvement in this conspiracy dates to mid-December, weeks before he was sworn in, and so a time when his activities would have somewhat less investigative protection under the speech and debate clause. After he first floated serving as the then sole Senator who would challenge the certification of the vote, Trump reached out to Tuberville directly.

On Sunday, Trump said in a radio interview that he had spoken with Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) about challenging the electoral vote count when the House and Senate convene on Jan. 6 to formally affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

“He’s so excited,” Trump said of Tuberville. “He said, ‘You made me the most popular politician in the United States.’ He said, ‘I can’t believe it.’ He’s great. Great senator.”

Tuberville’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Trump’s statement, which the president made in an interview with Rudolph W. Giuliani, his personal lawyer, on New York’s WABC radio station.

Trump’s conversation with Tuberville is part of a much broader effort by the defeated president to invalidate the election. He is increasingly reaching out to allies like Giuliani and White House trade adviser Peter Navarro for ideas and searching his Twitter feed for information to promote, according to Trump advisers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

And we know that Tuberville remained in direct contact with the conspirators because on Wednesday, the geniuses trying to pull of this coup tried to call him twice. First, literally at the moment Senators were being evacuated because rioters had breached the building, Trump attempted to call Tuberville directly but instead dialed Mike Lee’s cell phone.

With a mob of election protesters laying siege to the U.S. Capitol, Sen. Mike Lee had just ended a prayer with some of his colleagues in the Senate chamber when his cellphone rang.

Caller ID showed the call originated from the White House. Lee thought it might be national security adviser Robert O’Brien, with whom he’d been playing phone tag on an unrelated issue. It wasn’t O’Brien. It was President Donald Trump.

“How’s it going, Tommy?” the president asked.

Taken a little aback, Lee said this isn’t Tommy.

“Well, who is this? Trump asked. “It’s Mike Lee,” the senator replied. “Oh, hi Mike. I called Tommy.”

Lee told the Deseret News he realized Trump was trying to call Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the newly elected Republican from Alabama and former Auburn University football coach. Lee walked his phone over to Tuberville who was talking to some colleagues.

“Hey, Tommy, I hate to interrupt but the president wants to speak with you,” Lee said.

Tuberville and Trump talked for about five to 10 minutes, Lee said, adding that he stood nearby because he didn’t want to lose his cellphone in the commotion. The two were still talking when panicked police ordered the Capitol to be evacuated because people had breached security.

As police were getting anxious for senators to leave, Lee walked over to retrieve his phone.

“I don’t want to interrupt your call with the president, but we’re being evacuated and I need my phone,” he said.

Tuberville said, “OK, Mr. President. I gotta go.”

Then, hours after Rudy Giuliani called for “trial by combat,” after the mob had already breached the building, after one of the insurgents had been killed, hours after Trump had released a video pretending to oppose the violence, possibly even after Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick suffered injuries that would ultimately kill him, Rudy attempted to call Tuberville. He also dialed the number of a different [unidentified] Senator. Rudy left a message suggesting that he expected Tuberville would heed his requests, a message that seemed to suggest the entire process was an attempt to buy President Trump’s disinformation teams a day to put together new false allegations.

Senator Tuberville? Or I should say Coach Tuberville. This is Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer. I’m calling you because I want to discuss with you how they’re trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you. And I know they’re reconvening at 8 tonight, but it … the only strategy we can follow is to object to numerous states and raise issues so that we get ourselves into tomorrow—ideally until the end of tomorrow.

I know McConnell is doing everything he can to rush it, which is kind of a kick in the head because it’s one thing to oppose us, it’s another thing not to give us a fair opportunity to contest it. And he wants to try to get it down to only three states that we contest. But there are 10 states that we contest, not three. So if you could object to every state and, along with a congressman, get a hearing for every state, I know we would delay you a lot, but it would give us the opportunity to get the legislators who are very, very close to pulling their vote, particularly after what McConnell did today. It angered them, because they have written letters asking that you guys adjourn and send them back the questionable ones and they’ll fix them up.

So, this phone number, I’m available on all night, and it would be an honor to talk to you. Thank you.

This message is the most direct piece of evidence, thus far, that Trump and his co-conspirators planned to use the insurgency as a delay tactic to buy time to try to concoct new claims about the results. It shows that Rudy remained engaged with the attempt to obstruct the lawful counting of the vote after the violence that had delayed it.

Admittedly, both of these calls, like all communications involving either Hawley or Cruz, would be otherwise (if Trump and Rudy hadn’t fucked up) difficult to access given Tuberville’s speech and debate protections. But his communications with the President prior to being sworn in just days earlier would not have the same presumptive protections. And since Rudy was calling him directly, that wouldn’t be privileged either.

The place to start the investigation into Trump’s role in the coup attempt is not with Hawley and Cruz. It’s with Tuberville.

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110 replies
  1. chuck says:

    Ya, I don’t see any Giuliani requested hearings on elections in Tuberville’s future.

    The House agenda: after voting to impeach today, make McConnell walk past Sicknick’s casket as he lies in state until the 20th surrounded by a 24hr military and police honor guard. Let his time as Senate majority leader forever be remembered as a grim reaper.

  2. joel fisher says:

    Tuberville is just 1 of a whole slew of soon to be Defendants. In addition to a purge of Trumpy lawyers, the Justice Department is going to need a huge appropriation to investigate and prosecute the riot. There’s talk that the charges will be for “Destruction of Property” and “Trespassing”. I hope I’m wrong as I saw a lot of burglary, assault, and, at least one, murder. Massive obstruction of Congress; conspiracy, interference with the US Mail. Not to mention aiding and abetting all these crimes. The multiple planners need to be standing before a judge, soon. How fast can Trump get the pardons out the door vs how fast can Congress get Trump out the door?

    • chuck says:

      Impeachment is pretty straightforward when:

      1. The testimony by victims of the crime is efficiently available in-house, “Q: After inciting a crowd to ‘fight’ you, did you feel your life was threatened? A: Yes. Absolutely. They killed a person trying to protect us.”

      2. Repeat #1 more than 218 times.

      • joel fisher says:

        Every member of Congress is a witness; no hearings required. Stop talking and start impeaching/convicting.

          • chuck says:

            If someone broke into your place of work, ransacked your office, and killed one of your coworkers… yeah, I think that qualifies as being a victim.

            • harpie says:

              I didn’t see your earlier comment when I wrote mine…I’ll blame that on lack of coffee, I suppose. OY!

              • chuck says:

                No worries whatsoever. I left the country years ago and I’ve been in a fog these past few days as well.

          • M’ says:

            In fact, I stated to my other this AM that this will be the argument against impeachment i.e., “victim” can’t serve on the jury.

  3. Rapier says:

    Cruz is running for President, of the Republic of Texas. He doesn’t stand a chance against Elon Musk but he figures to be a high official. Hawley could move there or maybe the Texas republic will expand to include Missouri, not just Oklahoma and Kansas. Tuberville could be President of Alasippi.

    I am only half kidding.

    • P J Evans says:

      The TX GOP-T has been thinking like they’re a separate country for some years. They need to be taken down a bit. And KS and OK aren’t going to join any TX republic voluntarily, tyvm. (It could be the Republic of Baja Oklahoma though.)

      • Mart says:

        Remember playing golf at a fancy Dallas area course. It was the lessor of the links the PGA played on. The first green was the shape of Texas, the sand trap was OK.

  4. GKJames says:

    Safe to assume Giuliani and Trump chose the dimmer bulb to ensure a successful I’m-just-too-dumb-to-understand defense when the time comes?

  5. Mitch Neher says:

    Excerpted from Giuliani’s phone call to Tuberville: “. . . get the legislators who are very, very close to pulling their vote . . . [edit] . . . send them back the questionable ones and they’ll fix them up.”

    Shall we presume that Giuliani is referring to various state legislators?

    And, if so, were the coup plotters still trying to implement a variation on Plan A, in which the state legislatures, at issue, cast ballots for Trump/Pence contrary to the popular-vote result for Biden/Harris in those states?

    • Rayne says:

      Many of us who were hyper-focused on the Capitol Building riot didn’t address the attacks masquerading as demonstrations on state capitols across the country.

      City, State — Status
      Phoenix, Arizona — Demonstrations
      Sacramento, California — Demonstrations
      Denver, Colorado — Demonstrations
      Atlanta, Georgia — Increased security
      Topeka, Kansas — Demonstrations
      Santa Fe, New Mexico — Closed
      Harrisburg, Pennsylvania — Demonstrations
      Austin, Texas — Closed
      Salt Lake City, Utah — Closed
      Madison, Wisconsin — Demonstrations
      Cheyenne, Wyoming — Demonstrations

      I need to go back and check but I think Michigan’s state capitol shut down due to a bomb threat; I don’t know if the capitol was shut on January 6, however.

      Note that among these states are those in which Team Trump filed lawsuits to contest the election results in one way or another, and that a few of these states collectively had enough electoral votes to swing the election.

      Were these demonstrations coordinated in an attempt to affect electoral votes well after the Safe Harbor Day? Or to inject claims of changed electoral votes from some of these states?

      Sure would like to know what Roger Stone and Rudy Giuliani were up to this last three weeks.

      • madwand says:

        Yeah I saw all those State Capitals protests also, I would treat it as a dress rehearsal for the next time.

      • jplm says:

        I suspect there has been some coordination along those lines involving the usual sleazy and malevolent suspects with Trump’s only job to encourage attendance at the main rally.
        I’m guessing that what Rudy was looking for is ‘momentum’ that might cause some weak knees amongst the states who might succumb if enough Repubs in Congress objected and certification could be ground to a standstill.
        A large, vocal and prolonged demo linked with an increasing number of members willing to object and dragging the certification out might have provided Rudy with more leverage in encouraging (or more likely lying to) a weak-kneed state who may have been looking for an excuse to withdraw their slate.
        But the demo was overtaken by self-proclaimed patriots and extremists with their own agendas and the resulting riot became counterproductive to Team Trump’s efforts and brought the finish line nearer.
        So cock up trumped conspiracy.

      • MB says:

        I don’t know about the last 3 weeks, but Roger Stone spoke at a “medical freedom” (euphemism for anti-mask) rally in D.C. earlier in the day before the Capitol ransacking.

      • MFH says:

        Cannot figure out how to make a created GoogleMap public – but I mapped all 50 state capitals – and what demonstrations were taking place there – a link to local reporting.
        About 9 had no demonstrations. (e.g. Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska, Delaware, South Dakota)
        I could not find local reporting for about 8 more.
        Otherwise – there were 33 demonstrations at state capitals. Ranging from dozens to thousands of people. Most demonstrations were 200 – 600 people. And they are absolutely convinced – cannot be reasoned with.

      • Molly Pitcher says:

        Last Sunday, Pelosi’s house in San Francisco was vandalized at the same time that McConnell’s house was.

        I don’t think the demonstration in Sacramento was a feint to try to change any electors. No one would believe that California voted for Trump, but I think it, along with the actions at the other state capitals were test runs and were sending multiple signals.

        I think they were a dog whistle to like minded followers in those states and across the country that these are the areas we will attack. And I think it was a ‘test the waters’ move to see what the local response from law enforcement would be.

        They did this in Michigan and in Lafayette Park in DC. Those were proof of concept actions that they learned from.

        I don’t think the action at the Capitol is the final goal. There is more to come. We better work quickly to find the rotten apples in the police and intelligence barrels. I hope above all else that the inauguration is inside with very limited participants, at an undisclosed location and broadcast after it is over.

  6. tryggth says:

    Rudy wanted to increase the number of challenges to increase the counting time – “ideally until the end of tomorrow”. Do you think Rudy thought he was going to find the silver bullet of evidence. That timeframe has come and went and I don’t see Rudy stopping his stupid Kraken effort.

    On the other hand, there might have been other things they wanted that time for.

    • Montana Voter says:

      Don’t kid yourself. Guiliani has no belief in finding evidence. There is none otherwise they would have shown long before this.
      The purpose of delay is probably an attempt to run out a “time clock” related to mandatory language concerning when the vote must certified.
      This was also the reason Congress moved forward, beyond a demonstration of democratic governance.
      The procedural issues were also paramount when McConnel initially moved to adjourn and his managers had to stop him. Saying: “We’ll figure it out”
      Guiliani is not always the buffoon he is portrayed as. He is a clever devious manipulator of Trump, just like Steve Miller.

      • Rayne says:

        I suspect Giuliani’s delay tactic was related to an attempt to insert false votes to be attributed to states’ electors, which may explain the difference in Pence’s ceremonial statement at the time he finalized the certification.

        EDIT: I should say that by an “attempt to insert false votes” I mean establishing and injecting a narrative which casts the existing states’ electors’ votes into question, hacking the legitimacy of the election.

        • Montana Voter says:

          So. In order to “insert” different ballots “, Pence was in on it, faked his break with Trump and use the distraction to put alternate certifications in the mahogany boxes.
          In my opinion that is not credible. More likely make a deadline be missed, require a new certification by the states and manipulate that process while arguing only one president at a time. Remember On 911 Rudy argued he should continue as mayor of NYC despite having lost the election. Just like Stone they keep going back to the old playbook.

          • Rayne says:

            No, I don’t think Pence was in on it. I think there was a concerted effort to find the electors’ votes and destroy them and cast the states’ certifications into question before Pence’s ceremonial function was performed — even if it meant kidnapping the first three presidential successors Pence, Pelosi, Grassley and hauling them off in zip ties for a few hours while they searched for those boxes with the ballots, destroyed them, and built a different narrative about states’ electors’ certified votes.

            We are extremely lucky an older member of Congress didn’t die from stress-related illness during/immediately following the riot, because that might have been used, too.

            • Rayne says:

              This guy’s short 3-tweet thread gave me pause last night.

              I probably ought to write a post about it though it’s speculative. Members of Congress may not fully grasp even now the enormity of this situation.

            • John K says:

              If there really was a plan to destroy the ballots, then those staffers who picked them up and took care of them are bigger heroes than I realized.

          • adambulldog says:

            Giuliani did not lose the NYC mayoral election in 2001. He was term-limited out. He made noises about staying on as mayor but failed to gain much traction.

            • Montana Voter says:

              I’m sure you are correct and I was going from distant memory. The September date probably confirms. Nonetheless, that was what Rudy tried to pitch and he’s trying something similar, if for no other reason than to sidetrack the opposition.
              Further inquiry into Rudy’s connection with Ukrainian oligarchs is just one more item one a long, long to do list.

        • Kathy Johnson says:

          Add to that list a protest at the capitol in Salem, Oregon that was declared unlawful. Not sure if it turned violent or if it was because of the assault on the capitol in DC

        • harpie says:

          Speaking of RUDY, I came across this from Wendy Siegelman yesterday:
          https://twitter.com/WendySiegelman/status/1347336857164591104
          7:18 PM · Jan 7, 2021

          Capitol rioter Aaron Mostofsky dressed in fur and a police vest, [Now there‘s a phrase I had not expected! lol] is brother of Nachman & son of Shlomo Mostofsky who both had leadership roles with National Council of Young Israel – a group that honored Giuliani associates Lev Parnas & Igor Fruman in 2019 [THREAD]

          • Rayne says:

            I’d seen that dude — had to laugh at the photo of him sitting there while a Confederate flag drifted by, while he sat there looking like he’d dropped acid 30 minutes earlier.

            Curious bed fellows.

            • vvv says:

              A follow-up:

              “On Friday, Mostofsky had traded his fur getup for a bright orange winter coat and baseball cap.

              On Wednesday, Mostofsky breached the building with the mob, telling the Post, “We were cheated. I don’t think 75 million people voted for Trump — I think it was close to 85 million. I think certain states that have been red for a long time turned blue and were stolen, like New York.”

              A spokesman for Shlomo Mostofsky, Ken Fisher, said Friday, “Justice Mostofsky has no knowledge of these unfortunate events.””

              https://nypost.com/2021/01/08/nyc-man-who-breached-us-capitol-seen-for-first-time-since-siege/

      • Nelson says:

        MV you nailed it. Am I alone in being very anxious to know how the network between Stephen Miller, organized domestic terrorist groups and their funding works? The agenda behind this dark money has successfully groomed, (man)ipulated and brainwashed enough underemployed overstretched secondary educated white males that were never significantly socialized or acclimatized to seeing women, black and brown men – all of whom are suffering equally and then some with the same feelings of powerlessness – as the ‘other’, as the source of their pain. The broadcast and marketing of this notion even beyond this demographic has been so successful it will takes years of economic growth, access, and progress to heal.

        • bmaz says:

          Yes, you are wrong. The blithe postulate of a “connection” between “the network between Stephen Miller, organized domestic terrorist groups and their funding works” makes all kinds of leaps of fact and legal status. It may make you feel good to chip in with this, but we don’t do such sloppy work here.

  7. harpie says:

    RUDY to TOMMY:

    So, this phone number, I’m available on all night, and it would be an honor to talk to you. Thank you.

    I wonder which phone number that was…maybe not his own?

  8. harpie says:

    1] https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/1346927966144655362
    4:13 PM · Jan 6, 2021

    A source close to the White House who is in touch with some of the rioters at the Capitol said it’s the goal of those involved to stay inside the Capitol through the night.

    2] [responding to 1]]
    https://twitter.com/KenGude/status/1346935310706466824
    4:42 PM · Jan 6, 2021

    This is evidence of coordination that will make impeachment trial go quickly

    TRUMP/RUDY were not ONLY coordinating with their accomplices in Congress/Senate, but ALSO coordinating with those who were physically BREACHING OUR DEMOCRACY.

    • harpie says:

      Maybe Trump/Rudy were in touch with this INSURRECTIONIST:

      1] https://twitter.com/ByJohnLMicek/status/1346933137989885956
      4:34 PM · Jan 6, 2021

      Former Pa. state lawmaker Rick Saccone was among those who stormed the Capitol, per his Facebook page. [Link] [Photo]

      2] Dave Wasserman:
      https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/1346938310359396354
      4:54 PM · Jan 6, 2021

      Saccone is a former Air Force counterintelligence officer who came within 800 votes of winning a seat in Congress in 2018; Trump held rallies for him in #PA18 twice.

      • harpie says:

        https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1347585191070625792
        11:45 AM · Jan 8, 2021

        “Bring handcuffs and zip ties to DC…”

        Specific call to bring restraints for members of congress. Thread included a map of the #CapitolHill tunnel system.

        Imp caveat: may be unrelated directly to men we’re attempting to ID. H/t to brilliant @AricToler for spotting. [LINK]

        Links to:
        https://twitter.com/AricToler/status/1347558296052498432
        9:58 AM · Jan 8, 2021

        How could the police have ever known they were going to storm the Capitol????? (These posts are from before Trump’s speech, check the timestamp in the code) [screenshots] [THREAD]

        • harpie says:

          Tue Jan 05 15:07:00 GMT
          If we occupy the capitol building, there will be no vote Literally stopping the steal [responses]

          I posted a map of some of the tunnels to Capitol Hill. There are likely more that most of us do not know about…

          Literally stopping the steal.

        • harpie says:

          [From screenshot in linked thread]

          Sun Jan 03 22:52:37 GMT
          Bring handcuffs and zip ties to DC. No more tolerating “elected” officials who hate us and hate our country.

          January 6th is the chance to restore this country.

          Barging into the Capitol through multiple entryways is the surest way to have our bases covered and be sure we can apprehend these traitors.

        • Rugger9 says:

          Who has that information on Clyburn’s actual location? In combination with the videos and selfies with some of the Capitol Police outside, I wonder if there are Trumpist moles in the force. It would explain many things we saw on the response, and I get the sense that the Ds will root it out in the investigations.

          I understand the Senate doesn’t get back to business until the 19th so that gives the House plenty of time to dig before there is something else to do.

  9. dc says:

    The call from Trump must have been around 215-222. This was a window when they had stopped debate in the senate, just before Pence was whisked away, when rioters had been in the Capitol for almost an hour. Trump assuredly knew this. Why did they need to contact a flunkie in the senate chamber at that exact moment in time? Were they looking for something? I wonder what would have happened if the actual state electoral documents, of “regular form and style”, with attached official certification and state seals, were taken by the mob….

    • gmoke says:

      Over the TV the other day I heard that the states make 6 copies of the electoral vote documents so the loss of the single set in the Capitol would be symbolically significant but without any actual legal effect.

    • dc says:

      Seems like only one copy goes to the President of the Senate, managed by the parliamentarian. It certainly would not have stopped the procedure, but could have delayed things, which is what Rudy was pushing Tuberville to do later….

      When each state’s electors meet to vote (on the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December),[3] they sign and record their vote on six “certificates of the vote”,[8][10] which are then paired with the six remaining certificates of ascertainment. One pair of certificates is sent to the president of the Senate; two pairs are sent to the Archivist; two pairs are sent via registered mail to the state’s secretary of state; and one pair is sent to the Chief Judge of the closest United States district court.[13][14] One of each of the two pairs sent to the Archivist and the secretary of state are designated for public inspection, while the others (and the Chief Judge’s copy) are “held subject to the order of the President of the United States Senate”.[12] The Archivist must receive the certificates by the fourth Wednesday in December,[10] and may take “extraordinary measures to retrieve duplicate originals” otherwise.[12]

    • Arthur M. says:

      IMO, Trump may have wanted to know, in real time, whether the Senators were safe in the chamber: it seems to me, looking back at the timeline, if the Senators were going to be confronted by the violent mob, most likely, it would have been during that phone-call.

  10. DSL says:

    As a Canadian who was in his 20s when 9/11 happened, these events have been incredibly revealing. The events of the past 5 years, really. Turns out all that strong armed GOP b.s. was exactly what we thought it was. The vaunted US military, defense system, government, security, intelligence, etc. It’s all toothless when the GOP is in power and white GOP supporters are the terrorists. That is really something.

    We always new that rich + white = no fear of reprisal. Now it turns out that just white will do, as long as you vote for the right group of assholes.

      • DSL says:

        Woah, that’s one hell of a deep & terribly relevant cut! Thanks for sharing

        In semi-related (but more uplifting) news, I just happened to be ripping some old CDs this week and one of them happened to be Maceo Parker’s Life on Planet Groove. That ‘Georgia On My Mind’ sure was nice to hear after all these years. Particularly this week, it somehow seems less sad.

      • mospeck says:

        On my saver. Great song. never even heard of Big Bill–who looks to be hundred years back out of Chicago. Says here he’s born in 03 (disputed)

  11. harpie says:

    1] 2:20 PM · Jan 6, 2021 [via Charles Pierce] https://twitter.com/jazmineulloa/status/1346899454536912897 [Boston Globe]

    Capitol is on lockdown as protesters storm front entrance of the Capitol. They are banging on the door. They have broken the glass window. [VIDEO]

    2] 2:23 PM · Jan 6, 2021 [thread above]

    A dense group of protestors has shattered the windows of the Capitol. We can hear roaring chants of “USA” outside. [VIDEO]

    3] 2:24 PM Jan 6, 2021
    [TRUMP ECHOES CROWD]
    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1346900434540240897

    Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!
    [Twitter: This claim about election fraud is disputed]

    • Rayne says:

      Yeah, that tick-tock is important. He tweeted *before* Congress arrived at a point where Pence would certify the election, before all the states’ votes had been submitted. They intended something between Boebert’s speech and Pence’s certification.

  12. eerock says:

    Imagine the chances of success of a plan that relies upon Tommy Tubberville to, on the fly, come up with grounds to object to and argue against the electoral votes of 10 states.

      • Ginevra diBenci says:

        Yes! I can’t get the “great senator” sobriquet out of my mind. Just like Tommy T. was a great coach after signing his contract but before any games were played. (I will now entertain myself imagining Tuberville fulfilling Rudy’s charge . . . to whomever Rudy actually gave it.)

  13. Jenny says:

    Thank you Dr. Marcy.
    What came to mind was an inside job for Trump and his helpers.

    “Our government wasn’t set up for one group to have all three branches of government — wasn’t set up that way. You know, the House, the Senate, and the executive.”
    Tommy Tuberville USA Today Nov 13, 2020

    • P J Evans says:

      Even I know what the three branches are. How is it that a Senator-elect doesn’t? (The government wasn’t set up for the existence of political parties, either, which is a problem when one party turns into a personality cult.)

  14. sand says:

    If the modern GOP had a platform, one point would be:

    – We believe that we must elect more righteous morons that are ignorant enough to do whatever it takes to lead us into our dystopian future.

  15. rattlemullet says:

    t-Rump has pulled a Benghazi on his on government. He is complicit to murder. Is it Sedition now? There are more attorneys here than ants on a Tennessee ant hill. Comments please.

  16. Desert Dave says:

    Two misdials? To me that only makes sense if working from recent calls list, not contacts screen (same thoughts apply to all Rudy’s other buttDials). Surely others took calls or listened to a VM they wished they hadn’t. Maybe Mike Lee is only telling the story of the second call to his phone at this point…

      • Desert Dave says:

        Just thinking that a misdial (on a smart phone anyway) most commonly involves accidentally tapping a name/number immediately adjacent to the intended one. As distance between any two names/numbers increases, odds of that misdial decrease. So intended call was to Tommy T but Mike Lee (and also someone else) was unintentionally called instead. It seems to me unlikely this particular misdial occurs by browsing contacts in an alphabetized list. Maybe instead the phone that was used for the call had the recent calls screen up. Maybe this is insignificant but if the call to Tommy T was important seems reasonable that other calls made just prior to that could be as well.

        • ducktree says:

          Well, Sen. Lee reported that he saw the call coming in on his phone he knew it was from the White House – but presumed it was an expected call from O’Brien, not Trump. Does this mean WH administration and staff members’ phone numbers are all indistinguishable one from another?

          Lee’s comment really raised *more* questions about the games of “telephone” these gangsters have been playing. It ain’t just a parlor game anymore.

          • P J Evans says:

            I thought everything went through the WH switchboard, which would make it hard to know which person was calling. Other possibility is that the contacts were in some other order: by number, or by when they went into the list, or something weirder.

            The company I worked at had a whole lot of numbers that were in one prefix, with consecutive numbers. If the directory had one wrong, it was a problem. Before we got networked phones (watch them boot!) it was easy to dial just the last four to connect in the building.

    • FL Resister says:

      The wrong number call explanation may be as simple as poor eyesight. Since I have reached the over the hill age, I have noticed a lot of my peers haven’t coped with losing their close vision as I have by getting a prescription that allows me to see what’s right under my nose and wearing them all of the time.

    • Stacey says:

      I think it looks like Rudy was using a burner in the message he left with someone else, not the one that said from the WH, and he had to actually dial the number and he picked it up wrong off the list or something from his real phone or somewhere else. He apparently called 2 separate senators thinking both of them were Tommy Tubberville? Who does that with a phone that’s called that number already? Either Tommy or Rudy has a different phone. Also, I’m not sure Rudy’s message to what he thinks is Tommy sounds like he’s talked with him before. It’s not your ‘hey, it’s Rudy, I need you to do X’ type of language in the message.

  17. jaango says:

    There’s not much that I can add to this thread. However, it’s easily and convenient to forget that Pence will be the primary candidate in 2024 for the GOP. And given that the GOP is now dividing itself into two GOP conglomerates of politics, the aforementioned ‘new’ version of the Tea Party and the lesser sort, or of the MAGA, Biden needs a newer approach to a better and bigger Democratic Party.

    • Fraud Guy says:

      I thought 2016 would resolve where the center-rightish Republicans would fold into the Democratic Party and we would either end up with a Tea Party rump as our second, or the liberals would split off to the left, but now I’m not sure.

  18. What Constitution? says:

    So Trump has read script that informs people that he’s going to support a “peaceful transition”.

    Taking him at his word (and yes, why would anyone do that?), has he now instructed the Pentagon and Defense Department to cooperate with the Biden transition team?

  19. DoubleDeens says:

    1) Sure hope Mike Lee hit “Record” on his phone before handing it over for Tuberville/Trump conversation.
    2) Alabama AG-led nonprofit’s dark money funding march adds further “Alabama” depth to story.
    Thanks all at emptywheel for your good work.

  20. rosalind says:

    for Rayne: add Washington State to the list. Armed “protestors” have been descending on Olympia, WA every weekend openly threatening to take over the State Capitol when the session opens next Monday. Govenor Inslee today is deciding whether to activate the National Guard.

    A few days ago the mob broke down the gate to the Governor’s residence and tried to get in but were stopped. They are now showing up daily at his home. The Governor and his family are staying elsewhere.

    Adding: the tactics seen in D.C. have been getting dry runs here in Washington and Oregon (and MIchigan). I would hope that Governors across the Country are hardening their residential security.

  21. madwand says:

    Here is how they are portraying the local congressman down here as a hero. Please note he is an enabler who voted twice objecting to Arizona and Pa electors.

    https://www.augustachronicle.com/story/news/2021/01/08/congressman-allen-helped-barricade-house-chamber-against-mob/6583406002/

    Since he is my congressman I get his emails and he has been stirring the base consistently since Nov 3. He’s also on the picture collage of the deplorables in the NYT. Two diametrically opposed ideas,
    1 The election is rigged and Mail in ballots should be disqualified.
    2. Republicans needed to vote absentee in the runoff to defeat Ossoff and Warnock.

    What a load of shit.

  22. Leading Edge Boomer says:

    Tommy “Choo Choo Pull Toy” Tuberville promises to be endlessly entertaining, the Louie Gohmert of the Senate.

  23. MelW says:

    The article makes a good case that Trump, Giuliani and Tubberville all engaged in sedition. My question is whether the pardon power could be used as a get out of jail card.

    Maybe the only way to get rid of “The Dump” is to ridicule him. While I’m not optimistic, this video is about as good as I’ve seen on the subject of interest.

    https://youtu.be/wT5kafhG3Qw

  24. sand says:

    From cnn.com at 5:25pm EST: (https://www. [break] cnn.com/politics/live-news/washington-dc-riots-trump-news-friday/index.html)

    “. . . The second call to Lee came in at 7 p.m. ET from Giuliani. Lee did not answer the call so it went to voicemail. Lee’s office confirmed to CNN that the voicemail was intended for Tuberville and that the message left from Giuliani was very similar to one another unnamed GOP senator received. The transcript of that call was published by the news blog emptywheel.”

    • harpie says:

      Some details:
      1] Trump first called the personal cell phone of Lee, a Republican from Utah, shortly after 2 p.m. ET

      2] Tuberville spoke with Trump for less than 10 minutes

      3] The call was cut off because senators were asked to move to a secure location

      4] The second call to Lee came in at 7 p.m. ET from Giuliani.
      Lee did not answer the call so it went to voicemail. Lee’s office confirmed to CNN that the voicemail was intended for Tuberville and that the message left from Giuliani was very similar to one another unnamed GOP senator received

  25. Jesus Medina says:

    You must impeach and convict Trump and his servile agents right away. In 1994 Venezuelan president Rafael Caldera pardoned Hugo Chavez for his attempted 1992 Coup d’état against the democratically elected government. Hugo promised then that he would be a “good boy”… just examine how Venezuela is doing and think about the possible consequences of not addressing Trump’s Coup d’état

  26. Rugger9 says:

    Cruz and Hawley seem to think that Biden’s comments were not genteel enough for them. Too bad, given what these two have been up to in a conspiracy to steal the election. Let’s remember (even if the press doesn’t mention it enough, and they haven’t) that every time a judge asked whether fraud was alleged (much less proven) on several dozen occasions in open court, the campaign attorneys including Giuliani said “no”. Also, the Hayes-Tilden election had actual slates of alternate electors submitted, but none were here. These events have been frequently documented on this board in other threads so I will not rehash them now.

    So, far from being a scholar as Ted (Calgary) Cruz claims to be, even the fundamental facts do not support his claims. However, he is making hay on fundraising, as is Hawley. Cruz, Hawley and Tuberville need to be expelled from the Senate (but won’t since it takes 2/3rds).

  27. Midtowngirl says:

    Is anyone talking about how the lax security at the Capitol points also points to a planned insurrection? The National Guard for example:
    According to accounts from the governors of Virginia and Maryland, they were initially refused permission to send troops to DC. And the DC Council stated Mayor Bowser’s request for additional troops was also denied. The troops that were previously deployed were limited in their role to traffic control, and were not allowed arms or riot gear.
    The Defense Secretary is tasked with the deployment of National Guard troops in DC. Trump replaced Secretary Esper with Christopher Miller November 9th, just 6 days post losing the election to Biden. The next day Kash Patel, (who earned his loyalist creds as aide and dirty deeds doer for Devin Nunes) was named as the Secretary’s chief of staff.
    With all the telegraphing of intended violence, and with this summer’s over the top show of federal force, no one could say that they didn’t know what sort of troop support would be needed, nor could anyone say that there was confusion of coordination of such efforts – they had plenty of experience in that by now.

    Maybe it’s just me, but this looks like an effort to withhold support in order to ensure the insurrectionists were met with as little resistance as possible.

    Related links:
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2021/01/07/maryland-governor-says-pentagon-repeatedly-denied-approval-to-send-national-guard-to-capitol/?sh=530e6d576cb4
    https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/verify/who-is-in-charge-of-deploying-the-national-guard-dc-police-explainer-how-many-are-in-the-national-guard/65-78800366-10c7-480b-af62-8773af4f29e0
    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-loyalist-kash-patel-blocking-some-pentagon-officials-helping-biden-n1250053
    https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/24/kash-patel-pentagon-transition-440293

    • bmaz says:

      Yes. Pretty much everyone is “talking about” that.

      Did you even bother to read us thoroughly before jumping in with first time bullshit comment and a bunch of links? It appears as if the answer is no.

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