My God, Greg Abbott is a wimp.
Donald Trump’s letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demanding he pursue an “audit” of the 2020 election set off a “mad dash” in the governor’s office as aides sought to figure out just how serious the former president was, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
In the letter, Trump called on Abbott to hold a “Forensic Audit of the 2020 Election” and pass HB 16, a bill recently filed in the Third Special Session of the Texas legislature, which would allow for an Arizona-style “audit” of the presidential election.
“Despite my big win in Texas, I hear Texans want an election audit!” Trump wrote in a public letter addressed to Abbott on Thursday. “Texas needs you to act now. Your Third Special Session is the perfect, and maybe last, opportunity to pass this audit bill. Time is running out.”
Just hours after Trump released the letter, a statement was put out by Sam Taylor, assistant secretary of state for communications, who said the office had “already begun the process” of reviewing 2020 votes in the state’s two largest Democrat and two largest Republican counties: Dallas, Harris, Tarrant and Collin. Trump only won Collin County, and Biden won Dallas, Harris and Tarrant counties in 2020.
During an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” Abbott said that the audits “began months ago”— a statement that echoed the claim made by the office of the secretary of state.
“State audits conducted by the Texas Secretary of State’s office have already been underway for months,” Renae Eze, press secretary for the governor, said in a statement. “Under federal law, county election officials only have to keep these materials for 22 months, and it is imperative that all aspects of elections conducted in 2020 are examined before the counties clear out these materials in September 2022.”
But in reports from both the Texas Tribune and CNN, local officials in counties targeted by the “audit” said they had not learned of the review until Thursday’s statement from the secretary of state’s office.
And behind the scenes, the Texas governor’s office was caught off guard by Trump, whose letter made no mention of “audits” already underway. There had not been contact between Trump and Abbott ahead of the release, and Abbott’s office was uncertain if they could meet Trump’s demands to pass HB16 without complicating the legislative agenda. One Texas political aide familiar with how the process played out said, “The secretary of state‘s decision to call for audits in the four largest counties in Texas was predicated on Trump’s statement mentioning Gov. Abbott.”
“There was a mad dash to determine if Trump was actually being serious with his statement and it was decided this was the best route to take without blowing up the special session,” the aide said.
The scramble among Abbott’s team to placate the president illustrated the degree to which Trump and his election conspiracies continue to set the rules of engagement for virtually all other GOP elected officials.
See here for the background. I wish I had something thoughtful to say, but I don’t. This isn’t really a situation that calls for calm analysis. It requires calling a thing what it is, and that is to say that this is a disgrace and an embarrassment. Greg Abbott is a sniveling coward.
In the meantime, someone owes us some answers about this crap.
The top civil lawyer for Texas’s most populous county issued a records demand seeking information on the origins of Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) so-called “forensic audit” plans, including any communications between the secretary of state’s office and surrogates for former President Donald Trump.
“Governor Abbott and the Secretary of State are telling the public that this ‘audit’ has been going on for months, but this is the first time the County’s heard anything about it,” Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee wrote in a statement. “They’re on the news and issuing press releases about this ‘audit’, talking to everyone about it but us.”
“The administration has told us nothing about the purpose of or legal basis for this audit, what they’re requesting, or what the process will be,” Menefee added. “It’s my job to advise the County and the Elections Administrator on how to respond. I can’t do that without this basic information that neither the Governor nor the SOS has shared.”
In his two-page letter, Menefee addresses his records demand to the office of Texas’s Secretary of State, which is currently vacant. Menefee addressed the letter to the general mailbox for that office’s general counsel, requesting 14 categories of information.
Two of those categories relate to the governor’s office: One seeks “[a]ll communications between the SOS office and the Office of the Texas Governor or the Office of the Lieutenant Governor related to a complaint, allegation of fraud or misconduct, request for investigation or review, or question received by the SOS office regarding the November 2020 General Election in Harris County.”
The other demands “[a]ll communications between the SOS office and the Office of the Texas Governor or the Office of the Lieutenant Governor related to the ‘forensic audit’ of the November 2020 General Election in Harris County announced by the SOS on September 23, 2021 (as the SOS office’s announcement explicitly states the department ‘has already begun the process,’ this request also seeks communications dated prior to September 23, 2021).”
You can see the full letter embedded in the story. I fully expect this request to be stonewalled, and for Ken Paxton to slime his way in to defend not turning anything over. But it’s vital that we get as much information about this travesty and the ways in which our government has conspired to try to placate Donald Trump. This is what we elected Christian Menefee for. I have faith he is up to the task.
UPDATE: Hilarious and pathetic at the same time:
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Per @TXsecofstate, the 2020 election audit @GovAbbott said was underway in Harris, Dallas, Tarrant & Collin counties so far consists of stuff that regularly happens after elections. New audit steps planned for Spring 2022. https://sos.texas.gov/about/forms/9-28-21-forensic-audit-summary.pdf #txlege— Jasper Scherer (@jaspscherer) 7:14 PM – 28 September 2021
Someone who was his own person would be able to articulate what was happening in an accurate way. Someone who is a sock puppet, well. You know.
HUH ?
Didn’t the Governor himself certify the 2020 election results in the ordinary course of election administration?
Any thoughts, Voter_worker ? Campos ? Are we missing something ?
—- TEXAS ELECTION CODE:
Sec. 67.016. CERTIFICATE OF ELECTION. (a) After the completion of a canvass, the presiding officer of the local canvassing authority shall prepare a certificate of election for each candidate who is elected to an office for which the official result is determined by that authority’s canvass.
(b) The governor shall prepare a certificate of election for each candidate who is elected to an office for which the official result is determined by the canvass conducted by the governor.
(c) A certificate of election must contain:
(1) the candidate’s name;
(2) the office to which the candidate is elected;
(3) a statement of election to an unexpired term, if applicable;
(4) the date of the election;
(5) the signature of the officer preparing the certificate; and
(6) any seal used by the officer preparing the certificate to authenticate documents that the officer executes or certifies.
(d) After the canvass of a presidential election, the secretary of state shall prepare a certificate of election for each presidential elector candidate who is elected.
(e) The authority preparing a certificate of election shall promptly deliver it to the person for whom it is prepared, subject to Section 212.0331.
(f) A certificate of election may not be issued to a person who has been declared ineligible to be elected to the office.
(g) This section does not apply to the offices of governor and lieutenant governor.
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/EL/htm/EL.67.htm#67.016