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Nov. 22, 2020 10:06PM EST
Inside Republicans' troubled Election Day operations
As President Trump unsuccessfully argues fraudulent voter claims, campaign operatives tell Axios the reality is the joint EDO (Election Day operations) by the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee left them feeling largely unprepared to challenge ballots in real time.
Why it matters: With several states moving toward certifying election results this week, the postmortems are beginning as political operatives try to understand what worked, what didn't and how to adjust going forward.
What we're hearing: Officials in different regions of the country describe a state-by-state patchwork — and a sense that the GOP's litigate-everything posture wasn't matched by operations robust or agile enough to mobilize properly.
- "They claimed they had a great EDO on the ground, and that was the furthest thing from the truth," said one Trump election adviser who was in Pennsylvania the week of the election. "You have to stop fraud as it happens, not after the fact."
- An official in the Gulf states said they repeatedly asked the campaign for more resources and were denied.
- "The campaign fell apart after Election Day," another adviser said. "You can’t audit this in reverse. ... The infrastructure just failed."
- In contrast, two officials in Florida told me their team had a good plan in place to combat concerns in real time and a strong EDO helped them win there.
The other side: Trump deputy campaign manager and lawyer Justin Clark tells Axios this was "the largest, most organized Election Day operation ever mounted by any campaign in the history of the Republican Party" with more than 50,000 trained volunteers nationwide.
- "We were prepared, and anyone who says otherwise either wasn't there or is trying to make themselves seem smart by anonymously running to the press."
Be smart: Republican elections lawyer Ben Ginsberg tells Axios' Stef Kight even if the Trump campaign had better EDOs, there's no reason to assume that would have yielded any discoveries to invalidate Biden's margins.
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Jul. 27, 2021 03:12PM EST
D.C. officer testifies: "It was clear the terrorists perceived themselves to be Christians"

D.C. Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges on Tuesday painted a vivid and emotional picture of the rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, calling them "terrorists" and describing how unusual it was that they waved Christian imagery and Blue Lives Matter flags.
Why it matters: Hodges was one of four police officers who testified at the first hearing of the Jan. 6 select committee. Harrowing video footage from the day of the riot shows how he was violently attacked and crushed against a Capitol door by the pro-Trump mob.
What they're saying: "The sea of people was punctuated by flags. Mostly varieties of American flags and Trump flags. There was Gadsden flags. It was clear the terrorists perceived themselves to be Christians. I saw the Christian flag directly to my front and another had 'Jesus is my savor, Trump is my president. Another, 'Jesus is king,'" Hodges said.
- "To my perpetual confusion, I saw the thin blue line flag, a symbol of support for law enforcement, more than once being carried by the terrorists as they ignored our commands and continued to assault us," he continued.
- Hodges detailed how rioters identifying as veterans said they had "fought for this country and were fighting for it again."
- Others demanded that law enforcement refrain from attacking them because they "were not Black Lives Matter ... as if political affiliation is how we determine when to use force," Hodges noted.
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Dec. 08, 2024 06:05PM EST
Dec. 08, 2024 06:16PM EST