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If 12 of 18 people were informants, we're seeing the mug shots of some of the snitches.
If 12 of 18 people were informants, we're seeing the mug shots of some of the snitches.
DID they really vote for her?The Gov. of Michigan is a joke. And guess what the jokes on the people of Michigan for voting that crazy woman into office.
you deserve what you vote for, sorry Irons I feel your pain.
this is actually GREAT News!![]()
Gretchen Whitmer Hates 'Out-of-State Interest' Money, Unless It's Spent To Help Her - Washington Free Beacon
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (D.) condemned "out-of-state interests" for "pouring millions of dollars" into her state. That apparently doesn't apply to her own campaign coffers, which prominent national Democrats have flooded with cash thanks to a campaign finance loophole.freebeacon.com
Gretchen Whitmer Hates ‘Out-of-State Interest’ Money, Unless It’s Spent To Help Her
Gov exploits loophole to raise millions from outside Michigan for non-existent recall election
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (D.) / Getty ImagesCollin Anderson• August 21, 2021 5:00 am![]()
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Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (D.) condemned "out-of-state interests" for "pouring millions of dollars" into her state. That apparently doesn't apply to her own campaign coffers, which prominent national Democrats have flooded with cash thanks to a campaign finance loophole.
Whitmer raised a staggering $8.6 million from Jan. 1 to July 20, a state record for a candidate in a non-election year. Nearly 44 percent of the money came from donors who gave more than Michigan's $7,150 contribution limit, which Whitmer's campaign says is allowed due to the multitude of recall petitions filed against the Democrat. Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker (D.), oil executive Stacy Schusterman, and heiress and Colorado Democracy Alliance Cofounder Patricia Stryker, for example, combined to give Whitmer $750,000. None of the three billionaires live in Michigan.
Whitmer's fundraising strategy did not stop the governor from railing against "out-of-state interests" for "pouring millions of dollars into Michigan to try and flip the governorship" in a Sunday campaign email. Whitmer—who has attacked Republicans for increasing campaign contribution limits and "infusing even more money into state politics"—also touted her campaign's "grassroots" status. Michigan Freedom Fund executive director Tori Sachs said Whitmer "lied to the working class" through the fundraising plea.
"Whitmer's ‘rules for thee, not for me' playbook is so well known that Michiganders won't be surprised by the governor's dishonesty and hypocrisy," Sachs said.
Whitmer did not return a request for comment.
Whitmer's campaign has defended its decision to solicit unlimited contributions, pointing to a 1983 ruling from former Michigan secretary of state Richard Austin (D.), which established that a Michigan official can accept donations beyond the legal limit if a recall against the official is "actively being sought." But the scheme has still attracted pushback from conservative groups.
A July complaint from the Michigan Freedom Fund argues Whitmer is not facing an "active" recall, as the most recent petition drive to oust the Democrat approved by the Board of State Canvassers expired in late April. Whitmer received three contributions of $250,000 or more in the ensuing weeks. In addition, three former Michigan governors who faced recall efforts—Republicans Rick Snyder and John Engler and Democrat Jennifer Granholm—did not exploit the situation to accept excess campaign cash.
In addition to Pritzker, Schusterman, and Stryker, Whitmer received a combined $260,000 from Wrigley chewing gum heir Jim Offield, Democratic megadonor Karla Jurvetson, and the governor's father, Richard Whitmer. Had Whitmer refused to accept contributions over $7,150, she would have raised just $5.9 million instead of $8.6 million, according to Michigan Campaign Finance Network executive director Simon Schuster.
Whitmer has faced dozens of recall campaigns, most of which came in response to the Democrat's far-reaching coronavirus restrictions. None of the efforts, however, have advanced past the petition signature collection phase. Whitmer may need to return the excess contributions "if there's ultimately no recall election," former Michigan Democratic Party chair Mark Brewer told Bridge Michigan.
"This is not money that she's going to be able to use next year in the general election," Brewer added.
Whitmer took office in January 2019 after she defeated her GOP opponent, former state attorney general Bill Schuette, by 10 points. She is set to run for reelection in 2022.
DID they really vote for her?
It's pretty obvious that Dem-controlled states have elections co-opted.
If you read anything beyond the headlines of this shit show, it sure looks like all of the agents involved in this case are questionable at the very least, and that may be putting it lightly. Telling informants to lie, cover up information, doesn't shine a very good light on the FIB.
The fib is a lie lolIf you read anything beyond the headlines of this shit show, it sure looks like all of the agents involved in this case are questionable at the very least, and that may be putting it lightly. Telling informants to lie, cover up information, doesn't shine a very good light on the FIB.
Bitch like her needs to get passed around.She just needs a good banging. Irons your gonna have to take one for the team man............
Is she dead yet!zerohedge
@zerohedge
Michigan Gov. Whitmer Bans Masks/Vaxx Mandates As Polls Crash, Re-Election Fight Looks Grim zerohedge.com/political/mich…
https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1441077576458457088
And guess what the jokes on the people of Michigan for voting that crazy woman into office.
you deserve what you vote for, sorry Irons I feel your pain.
Correct!!! None of us voted for these turds. The election system has been rigged for decades! Let's stop kidding ourselves and get with the REAL program!!The system is rigged, media spreads propaganda, the narrative is 100% controlled, censorship run amuck and everyone knows it, yet people still say shit like this...
TPTB can get anyone they choose elected. Constituents be damned.
TPTB can get anyone they choose elected. Constituents be damned.
Could not happen to a more deserving individual.zerohedge
@zerohedge
Michigan Gov. Whitmer Bans Masks/Vaxx Mandates As Polls Crash, Re-Election Fight Looks Grim zerohedge.com/political/mich…
https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1441077576458457088
Hope you mean fearing for her................In hiding for life.
.
Experts from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Environmental Lawyers from across the state criticize Whitmer’s handling of the crisis, singling out her administration as a primary culprit and stating that the state has done nothing to change its approach to clean drinking water crises since Flint. Elin Betanzo, a public official with the EPA who played a crucial role in uncovering the Flint water crisis, told the Detroit News that there had been no “meaningful public outreach” explaining the situation to Benton Harbor residents to notify them about the pipes. In a statement given to the Detroit News referring to the Governor’s bureaucrats at the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, Rev. Edward Pinkney stated:“State and city officials treated Benton Harbor’s drinking water with a corrosion chemical blend that failed to control harmful levels of lead for more than two years and rejected federal requirements to fully study its effectiveness. As state officials waited to see if the treatment reduced lead to acceptable levels, they didn’t warn Benton Harbor residents that their water was unsafe or provide alternatives, such as bottled water, until late September.”
For two years, the Whitmer administration failed to adequately notify the people of Benton Harbor or issue any warning or advisory against drinking water from the tap. The Governor was either naive to the grave situation unfolding or knew and tried to keep the people and city officials in Benton Harbor quiet to avoid the public perception that another Flint-like crisis unfolded under her watch. As the situation gains media attention, the Governor failed to attend a press event this morning, sending the Lt. Governor to speak on her behalf.“‘That was the No. 1 thing that they could have come out and said, ‘Do not drink the water.’ But they failed to do so,’ Pinkney said. ‘They are in denial. You never hear them talk about how bad the water is… in three years. That’s criminal.’”
“It took Governor Whitmer two years to acknowledge a public health crisis was unfolding in Benton Harbor and she still has not declared a public health emergency,” said Eric Ventimiglia, Executive Director for Michigan Rising Action. Ventimiglia continued, “Whitmer’s failures are getting more and more dangerous, and she cannot even be bothered to show up to explain what her administration will do to rectify the situation.”
As much as I am a fan of piling on Whitmer, what do you do in this case as a government? Redo an entire town's water supply? Replace it with PVC (which allegedly has its own issues!)? Replace with cast iron? Idk...sometimes we the people just like piling on as a team activity.The bitch that just keeps on giving. One one hand she is saving lives with lockdowns but letting people drink polluted water.
Makes as much sense as pulling a barbers license or photo op's with blm maskless.
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Gretchen Whitmer’s Administration Knew There Was Lead In Benton Harbor’s Water for Years
Holding Michigan Liberals Accountablemichiganrisingaction.org
Gretchen Whitmer’s Administration Knew There Was Lead In Benton Harbor’s Water for Years
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October 14, 2021
Lansing, Mich., October 14, 2021 – A water crisis revolving around lead pipes in Benton Harbor has been swept under the rug by Gretchen Whitmer and her administration for well over two years. Whitmer, who campaigned on the promise of clean drinking water, has failed on that promise and failed to notify the public of the presence of lead in water pipes, a complete dereliction of her duty. The Detroit News reports:
Experts from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Environmental Lawyers from across the state criticize Whitmer’s handling of the crisis, singling out her administration as a primary culprit and stating that the state has done nothing to change its approach to clean drinking water crises since Flint. Elin Betanzo, a public official with the EPA who played a crucial role in uncovering the Flint water crisis, told the Detroit News that there had been no “meaningful public outreach” explaining the situation to Benton Harbor residents to notify them about the pipes. In a statement given to the Detroit News referring to the Governor’s bureaucrats at the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, Rev. Edward Pinkney stated:
For two years, the Whitmer administration failed to adequately notify the people of Benton Harbor or issue any warning or advisory against drinking water from the tap. The Governor was either naive to the grave situation unfolding or knew and tried to keep the people and city officials in Benton Harbor quiet to avoid the public perception that another Flint-like crisis unfolded under her watch. As the situation gains media attention, the Governor failed to attend a press event this morning, sending the Lt. Governor to speak on her behalf.
As much as I am a fan of piling on Whitmer, what do you do in this case as a government? Redo an entire town's water supply? Replace it with PVC (which allegedly has its own issues!)? Replace with cast iron? Idk...sometimes we the people just like piling on as a team activity.
P.S. my response isn't meant to be snarky to you but we the people in general.
I have a well I share with Ice Mountain. Except I don't sell mine.I cut out the middleman: I have a reverse osmosis setup going.
Prosecutors have downplayed the communications as “hearsay” and insist they’re not admissible in court. But the defense undoubtedly has much more in its arsenal.The agents here drove the informants’ communications with the defendants, and the agents shaped the informants’ assertions, statements, and claims. The agents monitored the CHS conversations and other communications with the defendants, and not only approved them but used the information they gathered from them to direct further activity. After monitoring the communications, FBI agents paid the lead informant with an envelope filled with cash. When the same informant reported to the FBI that he was making no progress . . . the FBI continued to push its plan.”
Expert analysis: ProbablyWas the FBI’s Whitmer Chicanery a Warm-up for January 6?
By removing three dirty cops from the witness list, the Justice Department hopes to prevent any cross-examination during the trial and, one supposes, any link to January 6.
By Julie Kelly
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December 21, 2021
As questions mount about the government’s animating role in the Capitol protest on January 6, the criminal case against the men charged with conspiring to “kidnap” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 continues to collapse.
Defense attorneys in the Whitmer case are carefully compiling evidence that depicts an elaborate tale of FBI entrapment; at least a dozen FBI informants were involved in the failed plot—equaling one FBI asset per defendant. FBI agents handling the informants directed every move. They funded training and reconnaissance trips, and even organized a “national militia” conference in Ohio in June 2020 to lure potential accomplices.
Several men were arrested in October 2020 when the lead informant drove them to meet an undercover FBI agent to purchase munitions, the six month-long scheme’s dramatic conclusion. News of the shocking plot made national headlines as early voting was underway in Michigan: Joe Biden, Whitmer, and the media blamed Donald Trump for inciting an attempted domestic terror attack. (Sound familiar?)
As I explained in an October column, the plan to abduct Whitmer—who had a very public feud with Trump throughout 2020—originated from Operation Cold Snap, an undercover multi-state FBI spy ring intended ostensibly to surveil “militia groups” opposed to states’ lockdown policies.
Henrik Impola, one of the FBI special agents managing the Whitmer kidnapping plan, confirmed the existence of Operation Cold Snap in sworn testimony earlier this year.
“From the FBI through the domestic terrorism operation center, I was aware of other FBI investigations in Baltimore and Milwaukee and Cincinnati and Indiana involving other militia members,” Impola told a judge in March.
Impola’s role in the Whitmer caper, in fact, stemmed from his work as a case agent for Operation Cold Snap. The 11-year bureau veteran has spent his entire FBI career investigating counterrorism, including “militia extremism,” which enabled Impola to designate the Wolverine Watchmen, a Facebook group with no real organization coincidentally formed just months before the sting, a “terror enterprise” to justify the government’s central involvement in rigging the kidnapping scheme.
Impola, working out of a satellite office in Flint that reports to Michigan’s only FBI field office in Detroit, was deeply involved in every facet of the Whitmer plot. His testimony is crucial to persuading a jury that the men on trial conspired to abduct Whitmer from her vacation home last year.
But Impola will not testify during the trial scheduled to begin on March 8. (The judge overseeing the case delayed the original November trial date after defense attorneys requested more time to investigate the government’s informants and agents.) BuzzFeed News reported over the weekend that Impola won’t be on the government’s witness list after defense attorneys accused Impola of perjury in another case.
In fact, the Justice Department notified the court on Friday that all three of the top FBI agents in charge of the Whitmer investigation, including Impola, will not testify on behalf of the government amid accusations of misconduct, domestic abuse charges, and political bias.
Jayson Chambers, who worked side-by-side with Impola throughout the sting, was caught running a consulting business and anonymously publicizing his side gig on social media. Over the summer, defense attorneys, citing a separate BuzzFeed report, accused Chambers of using a troll account to hint that something big was coming out of Michigan. The troll account purportedly belonged to the CEO of Exeintel—a cyber intelligence firm owned by none other than Jayson Chambers.
“The evidence documented in the [BuzzFeed] story suggests that Special Agent Chambers used the investigation to promote his company and its services,” defense attorneys wrote in an August filing. Chambers’ moonlighting not only shows a personal motive in coordinating the kidnapping ruse, it also calls into question the integrity of the FBI’s top informant, who kept in nearly-hourly contact with Chambers and Impola for more than six months. Defense counsel will want to know whether the informant knew of Chambers’ side business.
And Michigan wasn’t Chambers’ and his informant’s only target. The pair conspired to entrap another man, a disabled Vietnam veteran from Virginia, into devising a plan to assassinate Virginia Governor Ralph Northam before the 2020 election. “The mission is to kill the governor specifically,” Chambers instructed his informant. (That plot failed to materialize.)
But it would be hard to find a bigger lowlife in the Whitmer case than the lead agent, who not only has been removed from the witness list but fired from the FBI, a near impossible feat.
Richard Trask, the agent who signed the criminal complaint against the six federal defendants, was arrested last summer for drunkenly assaulting his wife after the couple attended a “swingers party” at a local hotel. Police body cam footage released this week show the inside of Trask’s Kalamazoo home including a bed sheet stained with blood; Trask’s wife told officers her husband hit her head against a nightstand “multiple times” in the early hours of July 18, causing a laceration and strangulation marks on her neck. Trask “choked her out,” she said.
Inebriated, wearing no shirt, and with blood on the side of his face, Trask was arrested around 4:15 a.m. on one count of assault. (He was not asked to take a breathalyzer test or charged with driving under the influence, despite clear indication.) On Monday, Trask pleaded no contest; a Kalamazoo County judge sentenced Trask to time served—he spent two nights in jail after his arrest—and to pay court costs.
An investigation by a Grand Rapids television station also unearthed Trask’s anti-Trump rants on social media. One post, dated March 28, 2020, called Trump “a piece of shit president,” and said he hoped Trump “would burn in hell” for his response to the pandemic. Trask posted the message just as the FBI-concocted kidnapping scheme took off.
“The government does not plan to call Impola, Chambers, or Trask as witnesses,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge notified the court on December 17. “[The] government requests the Court exclude evidence relating to Exeintel, the unfounded allegations against SA Impola, and Richard Trask’s domestic assault charges or alleged social media posts.”
By removing the three dirty cops from the witness list, the Justice Department hopes to prevent any cross-examination during the trial.
Defense attorneys, however, are not deterred—and the government has another major headache on its hands. A detailed chart attached to a new defense filing lists nearly 260 texts, group chat messages, and audio recordings proving extensive planning and coordination between FBI agents and their confidential sources. The communications, according to defense counsel, also show the would-be kidnappers pushed back on the FBI’s plan on several occasions:
Prosecutors have downplayed the communications as “hearsay” and insist they’re not admissible in court. But the defense undoubtedly has much more in its arsenal.
If the prosecution completely falls apart either before March or during trial, the outcome would deliver a huge blow to the already collapsing narrative about January 6. The two events are inextricably tied with numerous intersections—not the least of which is that the head of the FBI’s Detroit field office, Steven D’Antuono, was promoted to run the FBI field office in Washington, D.C., one week after the arrests in the Whitmer plot were announced.
That’s the same FBI office running the bureau’s Capitol investigation.
If the Whitmer trial proceeds, even without the caper’s top FBI masterminds, it would provide an illuminating backdrop to the first trials of January 6 defendants in 2022. Was Operation Cold Snap the launching pad for both the Whitmer plot and the Capitol protest?
The American people cannot—and should not—ignore the similarities.
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Was the FBI’s Whitmer Chicanery a Warm-up for January 6? › American Greatness
As questions mount about the government’s animating role in the Capitol protest on January 6, the criminal case against the men charged with conspiring to “kidnap” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer…amgreatness.com
My prediction, she will be reelected by a wide margin.![]()
Outrage over leniency for Michigan Gov. Whitmer in campaign finance case
Conservatives blast Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s ruling that Whitmer didn’t violate Michigan campaign finance law.justthenews.com
Outrage over leniency for Michigan Gov. Whitmer in campaign finance case
Conservatives blast Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s ruling that Whitmer didn’t violate Michigan campaign finance law.
Updated: December 22, 2021 - 11:50pm
Conservative groups are up in arms over Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s ruling on Tuesday that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer did not violate Michigan campaign finance law in two separate instances.
The Michigan Freedom Fund filed a formal campaign finance complaint against the governor last summer after she raised in excess of $3.4 million. Michigan Campaign Finance law limits individual donations to $7,150, but allows an exemption to accept unlimited contributions if a governor is facing a recall attempt.
At the time Whitmer accepted the contributions, there was no active recall effort.
Whitmer raised a record $8.65 million in 2021 with $10.7 million cash on hand. Of that sum, $3.4 million was raised from 119 large donors, including Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who gave $250,000. Attorney Mark Bernstein, brother of Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein, donated $257,150.
Benson’s decision does not force the governor to return the money to the initial donors. It does, however, allow her to remit the monies to other campaign war chests.
“Gretchen Whitmer made the biggest illegal campaign cash grab in Michigan history and Jocelyn Benson is laundering it for her so the millions in donations over the limit can be used for both of their re-election campaigns next year,” Tori Sachs, MFF executive director, said in a statement. “The Freedom Fund filed its campaign finance complaint because the law applies to everyone – even Gretchen Whitmer,” Sachs added.
Sachs also asserted Benson, a Democrat, is “encouraging partisans to file recalls in order to game the system and raise unlimited campaign funds.”
Benson also granted a pass to the governor for using campaign funds to pay for a private charter plane, which she and her daughters used for a four-day Florida trip for the purpose of visiting Whitmer’s father while at the time she was imposing strict COVID-19 restrictions on business owners and residents in Michigan.
Michigan Rising Action, another conservative group, filed a complaint with Benson against Whitmer last July. “There can be no dispute that Respondent Whitmer’s Excursion was a personal expense, unrelated to any campaign activity or official business …,” reads MRA’s complaint.
The cost of the charter flight was $27,521, which was paid from Whitmer’s 2019 transition fund as an “incidental expense.” MRA contends the governor’s charter flight doesn’t meet the legal standard of an incidental expense because the trip had nothing to do with “carrying out the business of the elective office.”
MRA’s complaint also noted the governor didn’t alert Florida law enforcement agencies of her visit.
“Upon information and belief, Respondent Whitmer did not inform Florida Department of Law Enforcement and/or the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office of her four-day Florida Excursion, which would have been standard protocol if there were any sort of security concerns with her travel,” Eric Ventimiglia, MRA executive director, said in a statement.
“Secretary of State Benson’s ruling confirms that ‘rules for thee, not for me’ is not just a political quip, but ingrained in Michigan Democrats’ operating procedures,” Ventimiglia said. “This decision will be a defining moment of their failed tenure, which will go down in history as one of the most corrupt administrations in the history of our state.”
Benson’s ruling allows Whitmer to “disgorge” the excess campaign contributions to recipients of the governor’s choosing rather than forcing the governor to return the money to the 10 donors who exceeded state limits.
“Gretchen Whitmer made the biggest unethical campaign cash grab in Michigan history and even Jocelyn Benson says she’s not allowed to keep it,” Sachs said in a release issued Wednesday. “Gretchen Whitmer has a choice. She can use the tainted millions of dollars to prop up every Democrat campaign by giving the funds to their state party, or Whitmer could do the right thing and donate the money to charities that will help Michiganders devastated by her lockdown orders and botched handling of the COVID pandemic.”
Sachs also pointed out the Secretary of State’s ruling was issued just days before Christmas. The MFF executive director portrayed the timing of Benson’s decision as an “attempt to bury the story days after it was legally due.”
With Zuck the cuck supplied voting machines and CCP paid operatives counting the ballots...Minnie Mouse could win in a landslide.My prediction, she will be reelected by a wide margin.
Likewise, the government has allegedly refused to provide records about the private business of FBI agent Jayson Chambers. BuzzFeed News revealed that Chambers had registered a business called Exeintel, which was linked to Twitter account that posted about the case before it became public.“It is of record that a local attorney has filed a complaint with the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility alleging that Mr. Impola committed perjury in another case,” the defendants said.
“It is not clear why the government won’t disclose the outcome of the investigation into allegations it characterizes as ‘unfounded’ when a simple disclosure could very well clear Mr. Impola’s name and moot this issue in its entirety.”
But the defendants argued otherwise in their Dec. 31 response, saying that Chambers’ business scheme calls into question whether he was investigating the Whitmer case in good faith.“The BuzzFeed story (and the defendants) implied that SA Chambers leaked confidential law enforcement information in this and/or other cases to an Exeintel-related Twitter user, to drum up business by making the company look prescient,” prosecutors said.
“The defendants have produced no evidence, however, showing SA Chambers had a financial stake in the outcome of this case.”
As for former agent Richard Trask the defendants agreed with the prosecution that the conviction for beating his wife is irrelevant to anything at issue in their case.“When an agent, like Chambers, is focused on using his active investigations on behalf of the government as a selling point to make money in his private business, it raises a serious question about whether the agent is conducting the investigations in good faith or is instead motivated to make arrests for personal financial gain,” the defendants said.
Prosecutors haven’t responded to the defense’s motion to admit the statements as evidence, but they did oppose numerous motions in a Jan. 4 filing—including an earlier Dec. 25 motion to dismiss, as well as a separate motion to extend filing deadlines.“This statement also demonstrates a lack of predisposition in the entrapment context—no one, even Adam Fox himself—was actually predisposed to make any decisions with regard to possible wrongdoing.”