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CNN —Lawyers representing David Shafer, the embattled chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, are arguing their client should not be charged with any crimes for his actions following the 2020 election because he was following advice provided by attorneys working for former President Donald Trump, according to a letter sent to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last week. Willis has indicated she is seriously weighing bringing racketeering and conspiracy charges in connection with Trump’s actions in the Peach State around the 2020 election. Willis had previously notified all 16 GOP fake electors in Georgia that they were targets in her investigation. Other Republicans who served as pro-Trump electors, including Shafer, could still face legal exposure in her investigation, according to people familiar with the matter. Investigators have at least three recordings of Trump pressuring Georgia officials, including a phone call that he made to the Georgia House speaker to push for a special legislative session to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state.

Other NATO allies have donated 10 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, according to the State Department. Depending on the location and strength of the jamming, a rocket can still launch and result in a successful strike with significant damage. Widespread Russian jamming can have drawbacks for their own forces as well, impacting their ability to communicate and operate. For nearly a year, the HIMARS system has been the longest-range rocket system Ukraine has, allowing troops to fire up to six rockets in quick succession at Russian positions as far as 50 miles away. “Jamming is like the weather or the terrain, it’s something that happens that you have to deal with,” the official said.

☆ Jack Teixeira: Accused Pentagon leaker's violent rhetoric raises fresh questions about top secret vetting process
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Natasha Bertrand Sean Lyngaas Zachary Cohen Haley Britzky | Natasha Bertrand | Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

But that didn’t stop the Pentagon from granting a top-secret security clearance to Jack Teixeira, who prosecutors say had an arsenal of weapons at home and a history of violent online rhetoric. And the Air Force’s Inspector General investigation is specifically examining the Pentagon’s vetting process and whether any procedures were violated or ignored, Pentagon officials said. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Thursday that when vetting someone for a security clearance, the adjudicator examines “a sufficient period” in someone’s life to determine if they are eligible. That program – largely run by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) – aims to continuously vet security clearance holders for warning signs than periodically investigate them every five to 10 years. “Social media is a new world that the government really hasn’t gotten ahold of yet,” said Brad Moss, a lawyer who specializes in national security and security clearance law.

CNN —Special Counsel Jack Smith has expressed interest in audio tapes recorded by former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg while she worked at the right-wing network, her lawyer said. Grossberg attorney Gerry Filippatos told CNN on Wednesday that he has given a spreadsheet to the special counsel’s team, detailing the nearly 90 audiotapes in Grossberg’s possession. “We’re in the process of negotiating a targeted subpoena for Abby’s electronic data, so they can have what they want,” Filippatos said. Federal investigators initially reached out several weeks ago, after some of the tapes were aired by news outlets, Filippatos said. Fox vehemently denies these allegations and has said her lawsuits are “riddled with false allegations against Fox and our employees.”A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.

☆ Trump operatives considered using breached voting data to decertify Georgia's Senate runoff in 2021, text messages show
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Zachary Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

It’s unclear what if any evidence he has in his possession related to the Coffee County breach. Penrose and Logan were also named in a state-level criminal investigation in Michigan alleging they participated in a conspiracy to seize voting machines there. A local election official helped them gain access to sensitive voting data which they downloaded onto a portable hard drive. Bundren was part of the team enlisted by Trump’s lawyers to find evidence of widespread voter fraud after the 2020 election. Bundren helped oversee the multi-state push to access voting machines on behalf of the Trump legal team, according to several documents obtained by CNN.

CNN —The person behind a massive leak of classified US military documents worked on a military base and posted sensitive national security secrets in an online group of acquaintances, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. The leaker, going by the moniker “OG,” began posting messages to the Discord chatroom last year that referenced military jargon, The Post reported. In the months that followed, the leaker posted messages in which he appeared to transcribe classified information from US documents, according to the report. “If you could think it, it was in those documents,” the friend and member of OG’s Discord group told the Post. Bellingcat, an investigative outlet, first reported on the connection between the leaked documents and the two Discord servers.

CNN —Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell testified Thursday before a grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents. Grenell was subpoenaed to testify in special counsel Jack Smith’s ongoing criminal probe, according to a source familiar with the matter. While serving in the administration, Grenell embarked upon an effort to declassify documents that were of interest to Trump because the then-president believed they could delegitimize the Russia investigation. Grenell remained in Trump’s orbit even after the former president left office and has been seen at his Mar-a-Lago resort as recently as last week. Grenell has also commented publicly about Trump’s retention of classified documents and the former president’s still-unproven claims that the materials he kept had been declassified.

Washington CNN —The Pentagon has begun to limit who across the government receives its highly classified daily intelligence briefs following a major leak of classified information discovered last week. All the email lists have been reviewed, a senior defense official said, and some restrictions may only be temporary. Everyone on the lists had proper clearance, but not everyone needs to receive that information daily, the official added. Previously, slides from the Joint Staff briefing deck could be accessed by hundreds, if not thousands, of people across the government, officials said. “Having to scale that distribution back, even temporarily, is a bitter pill,” said the source familiar with internal joint staff deliberations.

☆ Jan. 6 Committee failed to hold social media companies to account for their role in the Capitol attack, staffers and witnesses say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan Audrey Ash Zachary Cohen | Donie O'Sullivan | Audrey Ash | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

But now these witnesses, along with some committee staff, are frustrated, saying the committee failed to adequately hold major social media companies to account for the role they played in the worst attack on the Capitol in 200 years. They also said the final report outlines structural issues across social media and society that need to be studied further. Jeremy Moorhead/CNNDisagreement about social media companies’ role in the Jan. 6 attack comes as 2023 looks to be a pivotal year for Silicon Valley firms in Washington, DC. “Indeed, the lack of an official Committee report chapter or appendix dedicated exclusively to these matters does not mean our investigation exonerated social media companies for their failure to confront violent rhetoric,” they wrote. “History has taught us what happens when political speech on social media companies is allowed to fester unchecked.”

CNN —Special counsel Jack Smith has issued a subpoena to local officials in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, for information related to the 2020 election, a spokesperson for the county told CNN. “Yes, we received a subpoena from the Department of Justice’s special counsel regarding the 2020 election. The subpoena sent to Allegheny County is the latest in a string of requests for information sent by Smith, who is now overseeing the Justice Department’s sprawling criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Officials have also been subpoenaed in Georgia, New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin. Smith’s team has now sent subpoenas to local and state officials in all seven of the key states targeted by former President Donald Trump and his allies as part of their bid to upend Joe Biden’s legitimate victory.

CNN —Local officials in Nevada, New Mexico and Georgia have received federal subpoenas for records related to the 2020 election as the Justice Department’s investigation intensifies in battleground states. In addition, the Cobb County, Georgia, election board received an FBI subpoena this week, according to Ross Cavitt, the county’s communications director. In late December 2020, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced an audit found “no fraudulent absentee ballots” with a 99% confidence. CNN reported Monday that Smith had also subpoenaed Raffensperger as part of the Justice Department’s investigation. Clark County, Nevada’s most populous county, and Arizona’s secretary of state’s office also refuted claims of voter fraud after the 2020 election.

CNN —Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, told reporters the committee will hold its final public meeting on Monday and that the panel’s full report will come out December 21. Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, said the committee will approve the panel’s final report on December 19 and make announcements about criminal referrals to the Justice Department, but the public will not see the final report until two days later. “We will do all of the business of the committee on the 19th,” Thompson said, which includes voting on the final report. During the public meeting, the full committee is expected to vote on adopting the subcommittee’s recommendations. Asked about the committee’s plans to hold a public meeting on Monday, Thompson said: “We looked at the schedule and it appears we can complete our work a little bit before that,” Thompson said of shifting the public meeting earlier next week.

Washington CNN —The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection concluded its meeting on Sunday where members discussed criminal referrals, multiple sources told CNN. The subcommittee tasked with investigating criminal referrals presented its recommendations to the full panel at a 1 p.m. ET virtual meeting, but it is unclear if those recommendations were officially adopted. Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, told reporters Friday he expected to reach a decision on criminal referrals at Sunday’s virtual meeting. But Schiff reiterated on Sunday that the committee will wait to announce its decision until December 21, when it plans to present the rest of its report.

Ukrainian artillerymen load an M109 self-propelled howitzer during training exercises with US and Norwegian at Grafenwoehr Training Area on May 12. Since the start of the conflict in February, the US has trained only a few thousand Ukrainian soldiers, mostly in small groups, on specific weapons systems. The proposal, which was made at the behest of Ukraine, is still under inter-agency review by the administration. But the primary variable on the battlefield right now is the availability of ammunition on both sides, he said. "The Ukrainians aren't going to be as effective at combined arms maneuvers if they don't have enough artillery ammunition."

☆ CNN reporter details Meadows' texts from pro-Trump operative
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

Text messages obtained by CNN reveal that a key figure in the effort to overturn the election in 2020 briefed then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about his attempts to gain access to voting systems in battleground states. CNN's Zachary Cohen has the details.

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