Join us on today’s BradCast for a deep dive down into the twisted rabbit hole of Team Trump’s recently manufactured claims that Canadian election vendor Dominion Voting Systems and its Venezuelan-tied competitor Smartmatic secretly joined forces as part of an enormous international conspiracy (also involving the late Hugo Chavez) to steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump on behalf of Joe Biden and the Democrats. We happen to know a bit about these claims, as they are directly based on one (or more) of my own exclusive investigate reports from a decade ago. [Audio link to show is posted below summary.]
As it turns out, The BRAD BLOG is actually responsible for the original kernel of truth that has become the pretend conspiracy now being used as the basis for Trump’s attempt to reverse the results of the 2020 election. These are the claims now being shared by Trump’s attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, not to mention by Trump himself.
The initial story is based on a deeply reported, well-evidenced and independently verifiable 2010 investigative exclusive of mine (also republished by HuffPo) that Republicans, over the past week or so, have been citing as the basis for their so-far evidence-free claims that Democrats teamed up with Dominion, Smartmatic — and also China and Cuba somehow — to commit “nationwide voter fraud” via computers (computers don’t commit voter fraud, voters do) to flip the results of the election. They claim this proves that Donald Trump actually won the election in a landslide — though, as even Tucker Carlson of Fox “News” found out, they have no actual evidence to back any of it up.
We share their actual claims, the original basis for them (which they have absurdly bastardized to the point that it is barely recognizable) and how others in the party, like Arizona State GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward, have run with the ball to misrepresent facts and manufacture claims in her scary scary new video titled “DOMINION EXPOSED! This Video Should Terrify Every Single American”.
We explain what all of these folks got right (almost nothing) and wrong (pretty much all of it…though Chavez is tied in to the story — or was before he died seven years ago), and what the top two real takeaways should be for both parties and all American voters now that the GOP has finally decided to become concerned — or, at least, pretend to be — about the dangers of electronic voting and tabulation systems:
- Simply because a computerized voting and tabulation system is vulnerable to fraud and manipulation does not mean that any particular election run on it has been defrauded or manipulated, and;
- Even if an election is 100% secure and accurate, if it can’t be known by the public to have been 100% secure and accurate, it is every bit as much of a threat to confidence in our democratic system as it would be if the election had actually been stolen on such a system.
The past few days should give you plenty of evidence for that, at least!
There are too many details beyond that to include in a summary, so I hope you’ll just buckle up and tune in for the full rollicking story today on this one!
But, one other point worth noting here. While we’ve been reporting on all of these facts — with independently verifiable evidence — for nearly two decades now, it is for the above reasons that we have been inviting Republicans of late to put their money where there mouths are. If they are actually concerned about easily manipulated elections by Dominion (or any other computer vote system vendor), then join us in demanding the use of only hand-marked paper ballots for Georgia’s upcoming critical U.S. Senate runoffs in January (which will determine partisan control of the U.S. Senate). Those ballots should then be publicly hand-counted on Election Night. It’s just two races with two candidates each, so it’s very easy to count publicly in a single night, and it would result in Dominion being tossed out of elections entirely in the state of Georgia! How about it Repubs? You in? I’ll even drive out to Phoenix to make a new video about it with Kelli Ward if she joins the call. Why wouldn’t she?
Then, we’re joined today by George Washington University Law School professor and Washington Post contributor RANDALL D. ELIASON, for his explanation as to why he believes it is appropriate to bring public pressure against high-profile law firms representing Trump in his evidence-free “voter fraud” cases, but not against attorneys and firms who choose to represent other despicable individuals like terrorists, child molesters and the KKK. That, after top national law firms recently withdrew from Trump’s fraudulent “fraud” cases following public opprobrium encouraged by the anti-Trump Republicans of the Lincoln Project. (Also, here’s that recent piece I mentioned from Eliason on Trump’s upcoming PardonPalooza!)
Also today: The latest news from Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan in Trump’s attempted coup; the one Republican Senator who is finally calling it out; and the news that Florida’s Republican Senator Rick Scott and Donald Trump Jr., have now both tested positive for the coronavirus…
CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!…
[audio:http://BradBlog.com/audio/BradCast_BradFriedman-GiulianiPowellTrumpDominionConspiracy_RandallDEliason-TrumpLawFirms_112020.mp3]
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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In short, Sydney Powell wasn’t lying. Funny how you disguised your agreement as a rebuttal. I’m assuming you are aware of this. Thanks for pointing me to Kelly Ward’s video!
Joel @1:
Cuckoo-cuckoo-cuckoo…
This whole electronic voting “conspiracy” has been honestly really interesting. Ever since the wild press conference on Thursday, I have been trying to “fact check” the craziness. My major question has been: “If the Trump team has evidence, what would it be?” Sidney Powell made some wild allegations surrounding Dominion voting machines and their connection to Smartmatic voting machines, created by Venezuelan nationals back in 2003. If that was true, there would have to be a paper trail, right? That is the specific area I have researched. Powell stated that Dominion voting machines utilized Smartmatic software. From my research, technically that is true. Here is why.
Smartmatic originally owned Sequoia Voting which was exclusively run by Smartmatic software.
The tangled web is documented here: https://bradblog.com/?p=6005
Dominion ended up purchasing Sequoia Voting from Diebold/Premier
https://bradblog.com/?p=7906
“Dominion purchased the remaining hardware and software assets and potential customer base of Diebold/Premier, but they purchased the actual customer contracts, as well as the hardware and software, in their acquisition of Sequoia.”
As I said above, Powell wasn’t technically wrong; however, this doesn’t prove any wrongdoing at all. What I actually think happened is the Trump team took the information from this blog (https://bradblog.com/?p=7906) as well as supporting information such as the following https://jennycohn1.medium.com/updated-attachment-states-have-bought-voting-machines-from-vendors-controlled-and-funded-by-nation-6597e4dd3e70 AND https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article24530650.html
to create/feed this wild theory that the election was rigged (including communist and international influences as well as cooperation from numerous states). This (I believe), along with affidavits which are essentially hearsay, is the “evidence” I believe that the Trump Team says that they have. I don’t believe there is anything concrete and provable that exists to suggest any wrongdoing actually occurred on a such a grand scale.
BOTTOM LINE (my theory): The Trump Team took the information from above and created a wild, fantastical theory that the whole system is rigged (of course everyone conspired against Trump 😊). They are furiously fishing for evidence to support their wild fantasy based off of a circumstantial possibility that this scenario “COULD happen”. Something as elaborate as this (if even possible due to the shear number of players) would take YEARS upon YEARS to prove.
Kenneth @3:
Yup. That’s just about exactly it. One point I would add to your comment that it would “take YEARS upon YEARS to prove”, it would also take hundreds and hundreds of people to pull off. The idea that nobody has come forward to give even a hint of this enormous conspiracy should probably be a tip off that it’s largely all imaginary from the very creative mind of Sidney Powell.
Brad: Yes, you are absolutely right. It would be the proverbial “everyone would have to be in on it” (the fraud) to actually make it happen. BTW, really have enjoyed reading through your blog. Some great investigative research. When I was “fact-checking” the crazy Giuliani/Powell press conference and was trying to find connections between Dominion/Smartmatic (and trying to figure out the basis for Powell’s crazy theories), I stumbled upon your “EXCLUSIVE: On Heels of Diebold/Premier Purchase, Canadian E-Voting Firm Dominion Also Acquires Sequoia, Lies About Chavez-Ties in Announcement” (from 2010). Just seeing the title was a major “aha moment” 🙂
I’m a firm believer that to get to the truth you have to listen to both sides of a story, and here is something I picked up from the red side:
American experts are not the only ones concerned about mail-in voting. John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center reported a comparative study of voting experiences and practices in other countries. Just one vote fraud case in the U.K. involved six politicians who won after a campaign of mail-in vote fraud described by the judge as “massive, systematic, and organized.†This research found widespread restrictions on mail-in voting in other countries as a protection against such fraud.
Brad, I’ve stumbled into this excellent blog on the heels of the craziest election/year of all time. I’m here looking for an alternative perspective that is both fearless and unrelenting in the reporting of facts, letting the chips fall where they may. I’m not sure yet that this is that place, but it’s obviously at first blush an impressive trove of the fruits of your talents.
As for me, I’m calloused against the didactic opinions of both sides, and aware enough to realize that our country is in desperate need of the second coming of Tim Russert.
You currently have the attention – the stage – to make a positive change for fairer elections; and I gather from your Coup Klutz Clan headline that you aren’t in the market to give the Trumpian’s an assist. I get it, you’d rather keep the fraud going than help Trump – not that I would have that thought process.
However, the very second, the very moment in time that we can put a fork in this crazy election, please take advantage of your newly garnered attention and the eyes of this nation to help bring this “election engineering†to a screeching halt! Just make hay with your talents for the sake of this nation the very moment the coast is clear. Or, put aside your disdain for Trump for the good of the country, and take advantage of the moment.
Election malfeasance is one thing – but, I fear the spooks1 have brought their spy craft home directing it against our own for the first time, and someone, anyone, needs to get to the bottom of that suspicion, because the suspicion itself is untenable. We must ask ourselves if our intelligence agencies are aware of ongoing election fraud at home using the very tools of their own craft abroad — including surreptitious software licensed from foreign lands sheltered in illusively hidden shells — and if that’s the case, would it make them complicit given their role as defender of our liberty and sovereignty?
I’ve gone down the rabbit hole far enough now to scare myself, and I’m just alluding to the low hanging fruit; such as CIA involvement in election interference1 — corporations with obviously deceptive fact check language2 — out and out lies about the origins of smartmatic3 — companies contracted for security testing voting machines,4 lacking only their connection to DOD and aerospace,5 or slyly sharing an address with such companies,6 which makes one wonder why such sophisticated defense contractors are monkeying around with voting machines in the first place — monikers of Sir and Lord atop a company whose founder’s plane falls mysteriously from the sky,7 after loosing “both†engines taking a drug running pilot down along for the ride on their way to a Houston runway suspected of being a CIA launching spot — finance and consulting shops with personnel that overlap the intelligence apparatus and military industrial complex (Cerebus, Carlyle, etc.) — Senator Diane Feinstein knee deep in equity of AVID news and election media — online video presentations merely sharing factual evidence of real vote flipping in Philadelphia,8 playing whack a mole with madhatter censoring tech oligarchs — LA County laying down an edict requiring a new specific ballot order that flips the Presidential race from first listed to last listed,9 – and Texans who refused Dominion in their state presenting exactly how the bad guys are getting into their system including how if you know the ballot order (see above) you can determine who wins,10 — Frankfurt consulate and I could go on, and on, and on..
In the end, it all comes down to Smartmatic is a riddle! 11
OMG — what a fucking rabbit hole!
Happy Thanksgiving!
JP
1) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/sunday-review/russia-isnt-the-only-one-meddling-in-elections-we-do-it-too.html
2) https://www.dominionvoting.com
3) https://www.smartmatic.com/us/about/our-history/
3) https://www.manilatimes.net/2015/12/01/opinion/columnists/topanalysis/us-caracas-embassy-smartmatic-is-a-riddle/232249/
4) https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-small-world-of-voting-machine-certification_3587972.html
5) https://www.eac.gov/voting-equipment/voting-system-test-laboratories-vstl
6) https://www.interfuze.com
7) https://www.madcowprod.com/2008/06/12/cia-ghost-planes-hidden-in-cayman-isles-trusts/
8) https://rumble.com/vbas2t-smoking-gun-dominion-transferring-vote-ratios-between-precincts-in-pa.-by-e.html
9) https://www.bitchute.com/video/scUpSRkNoJ9g/
10) https://votingsystems.cdn.sos.ca.gov/vendors/LAC/vsap20-cert.pdf
11) https://www.manilatimes.net/2015/12/01/opinion/columnists/topanalysis/us-caracas-embassy-smartmatic-is-a-riddle/232249/
Love the call out to use ALL HAND MARKED PAPER BALLOTS PUBLICLY HAND COUNTED!
That should be the catalyst for changing all elections to be done in just that a way.
JP said @6:
Well then, you’ve come to the right place — though you may not like which direction the chips fall in this particular case. At least so far.
I often caution folks that it takes time for real concerns to come to light. So, things could change in this case as well. At this time, however, not only have I seen nothing particularly unusual in this particular election, I would go so far as to say it’s been one of the smoothest elections I’ve seen in years.
Again, I reserve the right to revise that opinion, but as of nothing, I’ve seen very little out of the ordinary beyond a very few excepted failures with some systems in a few locations (including OH, GA and MI). But very few of them, in truth. Normally, we see many more during Presidential elections by this time.
Thank you.
If Tim Russert is your North Star, I don’t know you’ll be particularly happy here. Tim Russert was terrible, and generalized recognized as such until he died early and was somehow sainted through a bizarre hagiography that had little do with his actual record, IMO.
But that’s neither here to there.
But I have given them as assist by pointing out how largely every claim that put forward, to date, is evidence-free bullshit. Three weeks ago I gave them an assist by tweeting this three tweet thread inviting them to join me — if they are really concerned about Dominion (which I have reason to doubt) in demanding all hand-marked paper ballots, publicly hand-counted for GA’s crucial U.S. Senate runoffs. To date, few, if any Republicans have taken me up on that invitation.
That is wrong and offensive. And, while that is decidedly NOT my thought process, it may be yours if you’ve been silent about elections that have failed MUCH worse than this one over the past 20 years. My record — in supporting even the most reprehensible Republicans when they are screwed by election systems is transparent for all to see. It is documented on these pages and many others (and on radio and TV.)
If I saw a case for “fraud” here, I would have no problem calling it out. To date, however, the only fraud is the evidence-free (and often demonstrably false) claims being made by Trump, Powell, Giuliani, et al, about “massive fraud”.
The nice thing about my “newly garnered attention” is that I don’t have to say anything different today than I did a year ago, or four years ago or 15 years ago. My position has been consistent then and is consistent now. Hopefully you read the item above and took notice of the two enumerated items I included in the article. I have been making both of those two case for decades now.
There is no need to wait. My efforts “for the good of the country” have never ended and continue today, even if you may not like what they are.
So, your “fear” about spooks means little here, other than your misinformed belief that any of this is being “direct[ed] against our own for the first time.” See this if you need some help.
You then go on in your comment above to tie together a bunch of stuff based partially on reality, and partially on some discredited websites that simply make shit up. (Hint: If you’re EVER using the Epoch Times as a “source” for anything, you are far down the wrong rabbit hold.) Rabbit holes are easy to dig and fall down into. I know, because I go down and check them out for “a living” and report back what is actually independently verifiable and what appears to be speculative and what is verifiably bullshit.
At this time, there’s a bunch of partial facts (many of them lifted from my own reporting), being spun into complete lies. That that you have been led down a whole that leads you to believe “it all comes down to Smartmatic” suggests that you have fallen prey to some pretty accomplished con artists.
If you seek the truth, you’ve come to the right place. If you seek to have someone confirm the horseshit being peddled by con-artists, you may not have such a great time here.
I’m glad you found us nonetheless and I hope that you also are having a happy and HEALTHY Thanksgiving, JP!
Now please go back up and read those two enumerated points I made in the original article above. Thanks! 🙂
JP said @7:
First, John Lott is a discredited con-man and hustler. Here’s just some evidence for you. Don’t be bothered by what you’ve been trained to believe is a partisan slant of the website in question. They link to actual, independently verifiable studies for you to decide for yourself.
That said, you needn’t go to the UK to find verifiable absentee ballot fraud. The GOP carried out a massive scam to do exactly that in 2018 and got busted for it to the point that it resulted in a U.S. House election in North Carolina being called off entirely in favor of a new election months later (with charges brought, etc.) Look up NC-9 in 2018 and you’ll find it.
I have long warned of the concerns of problems with absentee voting. Most of those problems, however, regard voters being disenfranchised, rather than massive “voter fraud” schemes. “Voter fraud” can indeed happen via mail-in, but it’s pretty easily caught and very difficult to use to defraud an entire election on any kind of scale that would flip results. My warnings (one of which is linked above) regarding VBM concerns involve elections in which a deadly, mismanaged pandemic is not running out of control, as is now the case.
JP said @8:
THANK YOU! At least we see eye to eye on something and, in fact, the most important something of all! 🙂