1/ Trump discussed appointing a lawyer who promoted conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines as a special counsel to investigate nonexistent voter fraud. In a “heated” meeting in the Oval Office, Trump met with Sidney Powell, her client, Michael Flynn, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and counsel Pat Cipollone. Rudy Giuliani participated by phone. The meeting reportedly broke out into a screaming match as Meadows and Cipollone pushed back on Powell and Flynn’s suggestions for overturning the election, while Powell accused Trump’s advisers of being quitters. Among the ideas discussed was Flynn’s earlier suggestion that Trump impose martial law and deploy the military to “rerun” the election. Giuliani, seperately, called the Department of Homeland Security’s Ken Cuccinelli and asked if it was possible for DHS to seize voting machines. Cuccinelli told Giuliani that DHS does not have that authority. Trump also asked about Powell getting a security clearance to pursue her work. While Trump later dismissed reports of the martial law discussion as “fake news” on Twitter, Trump had previously urged Attorney General William Barr to appoint a special counsel to look into election fraud, as well as one to investigate Hunter Biden. Barr, however, was unwilling to do what Tump wanted and later announced his resignation. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Axios / CNN / ABC News / Vox)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2020/12/21/day-1432/