#peter ticktin

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Election deniers reach a fever pitch calling for a “national emergency” declaration so Trump can give himself “king-like powers” over the mi

After President Donald Trump issued an executive order at the end of March aimed at stopping supposed fraud with mail-in ballots, election d

Alex Kaplan at MMFA:

After President Donald Trump issued an executive order at the end of March aimed at stopping supposed fraud with mail-in ballots, election deniers have urged Trump to declare a national emergency to allow a federal takeover of election processes. On June 24, Trump echoed those calls and suggested that passing a bill to supposedly combat election fraud is a “national emergency.” Media figures who have pushed claims of widespread election fraud — some of whom say they have been involved with drafting such an order that is “sitting on his [Trump’s] desk” — have urged Trump to give himself “king-like powers” by implementing the proposal, as it would supposedly empower Trump to “be able to make the rules” and use the National Guard to oversee midterm elections. Others claim that they have asked Trump directly to invoke the proposed order, saying it would be “very easy” for the president to “issue an executive order through a national emergency and have the National Guard count those ballots by hand.”

Election deniers drafted executive order declaring a national emergency to implement election policies and Trump issued an executive order on mail-in ballots

Since at least April 2025, a group of right-wing figures and Trump allies have called for Trump to issue a national emergency declaration “to make sure that the elections in 2026 are secure,” even proposing and circulating among Trump administration officials a draft executive order that would “declare a national emergency” and “empower the president to ban mail ballots and voting machines as the vectors of foreign interference.” Those involved include attorney Peter Ticktin, former Infowars staffer Jerome Corsi, and QAnon influencer Wayne Willot, known online as Juan O. Savin.

[...]

Trump and his right-wing media allies have been pushing claims of election fraud for years. During Trump's second term, election deniers known for promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 election have been given access to the levers of power — feeding already debunked claims to the Department of Justice, taking roles in the administration, and contributing to federal investigations. Some, like Peters, Byrne, and Martin Rodil, claimed they have spoken directly with Trump and administration officials. (The Guardian reported Rodil became a source “for the Trump camp and ultimately for investigators and … promoted two major allegations about Venezuela.”)

Right-wing election deniers such as Wayne Willott (Juan O. Savin), Tina Peters, Jerome Corsi, and Patrick Byrne, urge Donald Trump to make a tyrannical “national emergency” declaration that would give him unilateral power to remake the midterms in his own image.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

White House circulating blatantly illegal draft emergency order to take control of elections

Voting rights experts and at least one state election chief said Trump doesn’t have the authority to claim such powers — and any attempt wou

Matt Cohen at Democracy Docket:

A draft emergency executive order to declare a national emergency to allow President Donald Trump to take unprecedented control over voting is being circulated by anti-voting activists who said they are in coordination with the White House.  Voting rights experts, democracy advocates, and at least one state election chief said Trump doesn’t have the authority to claim such powers — and any attempt would be blatantly unconstitutional. The draft order — which is said to be based on a conspiracy theory that China interfered with the 2020 election — would allow Trump to unilaterally ban mail-in ballots and voting machines on the basis that they are susceptible to foreign interference. 

The order comes from MAGA activists who have been coordinating with the White House. One of the advocates for the order is Peter Ticktin, the attorney for Tina Peters, the former GOP Colorado county clerk who is currently serving a nine-year state prison sentence for her role in a 2021 voting system breach, in an attempt to find voter fraud based on election conspiracies. The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution explicitly gives states — not the president — sole authority over elections. But in an email to Democracy Docket, Ticktin said that Trump “may invoke emergency powers in response to an election emergency involving foreign interference, provided certain statutory and procedural requirements are met.” 

Ticktin said those requirements derive from the National Emergencies Act (NEA) and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEA).

[...] The Washington Post reported that the draft order outlining how Trump could use emergency powers to seize voting because of a foreign threat has been circulating since at least July, according to the conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi.  “The administration is reportedly planning to use false claims of foreign election interference by China in 2020 to justify the draft executive order,” McNulty added. “There is no credible evidence of Chinese government interference in the 2020 elections, and intelligence agencies issued past reports that verified that.”

The White House is said to be circulating a “national emergency” draft order to allow the Trump Regime to take over elections by banning vote-by-mail and voting machines bases on spurious claims of “foreign interference”, aided by right-wing election deniers.

Such a declaration of a phony and illegal “national emergency” order based on the debunked nonsense assertion that “China interfered with the 2020 elections” would be patently lawless.

See Also:

NCRM: ‘Extraordinary Presidential Power’: Trump Is Urged to Declare Emergency Over Voting

MMFA: Election deniers have reportedly coordinated with the Trump White House on a draft executive order declaring a “national emergency” over elections

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Right-wing figures and Trump allies are calling for Trump to declare a “national emergency” to prevent supposed election fraud

The New York Times recently reported that a Department of Homeland Security official focused on “election integrity,” appointed by President

Alex Kaplan at MMFA:

The New York Times recently reported that a Department of Homeland Security official focused on “election integrity,” appointed by President Donald Trump, has proposed that Trump declare a “national emergency” to “justify dictating new rules to state and local governments” related to voting and elections. The call for a “national emergency” declaration, which Department of Homeland Security official Heather Honey made a few months ahead of her appointment, has also recently been reiterated by right-wing figures and Trump allies known for pushing false claims of widespread election fraud. In interviews and on social media, some of these figures have suggested that Trump use “plenary authority” or claimed to be “encouraging” Trump to declare a national emergency “to make sure that the elections in 2026 are secure.” One of those figures has even claimed to be involved in efforts to craft a related executive order that would affect voting processes.

Trump has issued and threatened executive orders to enact national election policies

In March, Trump issued an executive order of dubious legality to mandate prospective voters provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The executive order “calls for the Election Assistance Commission to require people to show government-issued proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, and directs state or local officials to record and verify the information,” along with “requir[ing] states to count ballots by Election Day.” Legal experts have cast doubt on the executive order’s legality, and a federal judge in June blocked most of the key provisions of the order, writing in a decision that “the Constitution does not grant the president any specific powers over elections.” In August, Trump called for voter ID for “every single vote,” claiming, “I Will Be Doing An Executive Order To That End!!!” [The New York Times, 3/25/25, 3/26/25, 6/13/25, 8/31/25]

Trump official previously suggested Trump can declare a “national emergency” to implement the administration’s preferred election policies nationally

In March, Heather Honey, now DHS’ deputy assistant secretary for election integrity, reportedly “suggested that the new administration could declare a ‘national emergency’ and justify dictating new rules to state and local governments” related to voting and elections. The New York Times reported that during a “call with right-wing activists in March,” Honey suggested a national emergency “could be based on an ‘actual investigation’ of the 2020 election if it showed there had been a ‘manipulation’ of the vote.” “Therefore,” she argued, “we have some additional powers that don’t exist right now” and “can take these other steps without Congress and we can mandate that states do things and so on.” [The New York Times, 10/22/25]

Honey is one of “multiple proponents” of Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims who The New York Times reports Trump elevated “into high-level administration jobs.” Prior to Honey's appointment to DHS in August, she was “a leader” in the “right-wing election activist movement that emerged” after Trump “falsely claimed that his 2020 defeat was the result of widespread fraud.” According to the Times, Honey “echo[ed] rhetoric that has infused” that movement during a call in September with state election officials. [The New York Times, 10/22/25]

Trumpist figures and election deniers are calling on Donald Trump to enact a phony "national emergency" to prevent "election fraud" (read: any result that doesn't align with MAGA's preferences).

[justinspoliticalcorner]

MAGA Turns on Trump’s Top Lawyer

Todd Blanche discovers that your place is never totally secure in the modern conservative movement.

Will Sommer at The Bulwark:

Todd Blanche faces MAGA heat

It’s hard to imagine a more loyal Trump foot soldier than Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. A former defense attorney for Trump, Blanche has played a role in administration controversies big and small. At one point, Trump even appointed him to run the Library of Congress. (It’s still not totally clear who is running it right now.) Most infamously, Blanche conducted a friendly interview with imprisoned sex trafficker, sex abuser, and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell just before she was suspiciously transferred to a lower-security prison. And yet, as is often the case in MAGA land, it’s never enough. Blanche has become the target of a right-wing media campaign pushing for his ouster. His accusers blame him for, among other things, holding up a Maxwell-like arrangement for Tina Peters, a conspiracy theorist and former county clerk in Colorado sentenced last fall to nine years in prison for letting another conspiracy theorist copy hard drives of voter data and post the stolen materials to his website. And in an administration that takes many of its cues from right-wing media, that might spell trouble for even entrenched Trump loyalists like Blanche. “We now can definitely identify Todd Blanche as the problem,” Emerald Robinson, an anchor for MyPillow magnate Mike Lindell’s LindellTV, said in an InfoWars appearance last week.

No one’s position inside the MAGA movement is ever fully secure. And that holds particularly true for those who serve in Trump’s Justice Department, where each month a new top official seems to be in the crosshairs of activists yearning for prosecutions, accountability or just good old-fashioned liberal tears. Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, both at the FBI, have had to manage disappointment and anger over the lack of disclosures around the Jeffrey Epstein files. And Attorney General Pam Bondi recently was the subject of intense criticism for claiming that hate speech wasn’t legally protected. Blanche, by contrast, had largely skated. Until now.

He has recently been blamed for a host of misdeeds, including holding up “reparations” for January 6th defendants. But the most significant allegation against him comes from Peter Ticktin, a former Trump military-academy chum turned MAGA lawyer who’s now at the center of the get-Blanche campaign. In Ticktin’s telling, the Justice Department was poised last month to essentially rescue his client Peters from Colorado state prison, where she has started serving her nine-year sentence. Peters has become a kind of election fraud martyr, thanks in part to interviews from prison where she lays out grievances with prison life, including smelly cups, loud doors slamming, and guards yelling her name too loudly. But because Peters is held on state charges, Trump can’t pardon her, even though he’s demanded her release repeatedly in Truth Social posts.

[...] The call to fire Blanche has been picked up by other MAGA influencers, including the popular “Hodge Twins” and InfoWars chief Alex Jones. Happy to pile on, Jones claimed that Blanche had also blocked an investigation into alleged unfairness in the Sandy Hook lawsuits that bankrupted InfoWars.

[...] Perhaps that’s why the Fire Blanche campaign has received so much pushback from top Justice Department officials and other MAGA figures. On Friday, Chad Mizelle—the chief of staff to attorney general Pam Bondi—defended Blanche on X. “Todd Blanche is crushing the deep state,” he wrote. Former congressman Matt Gaetz, now a host at One America News, argued that Blanche was “no squish.” But perhaps the strongest defense of Blanche came from former Trump lawyer Alina Habba, now fighting her own battle to remain as the lead federal prosecutor in New Jersey.

If portions of MAGA World are turning on Todd Blanche, then no one in the MAGA Cult is 100% safe from being cast out.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Big Lie-boosting election clerk is begging for Trump to save her

Tina Peters simply will not go away. The onetime clerk for Mesa County, Colorado, is currently incarcerated while appealing her 2024 convict

Lisa Needham at Daily Kos:

Tina Peters simply will not go away. The onetime clerk for Mesa County, Colorado, is currently incarcerated while appealing her 2024 conviction for helming a massive election security breach. Peters remains a steadfast warrior for Donald Trump’s Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen, but she can’t keep pursuing her mission while sitting in a Colorado jail. The problem for Peters is that her conviction was in state court, so while she remains a true believer in the Big Lie, Trump can’t wave a wand and pardon her.  But she’s not going to stop trying.  On Tuesday, Peters asked a federal magistrate to let her out of jail on bond while she pursues her state appeal. Peters had already requested that the Colorado Court of Appeals release her on bond, and after they ruled against her, she filed a federal habeas petition. Peters is desperate to wedge this case into federal court somehow so that Trump can make it go away. 

Now, you might be agog at the notion that a federal magistrate can just roll into a state court case and functionally overrule the Colorado Court of Appeals, and guess what? The federal magistrate was equally perplexed, because federal magistrates have no authority to intervene in a state case. Indeed, Chief Magistrate Judge Scott Varholak said, “I don’t think petitioner has cited a single case in the history of the United States where a federal court granted an appeal bond in a state case.” [...] Trump is already in Peters’ corner. In May, he directed the Department of Justice to secure her release. On Truth Social, Trump called Peters an “innocent Political Prisoner” and said that she was being “horribly and unjustly punished in the form of Cruel and Unusual Punishment.” Also, she is a hostage who is being imprisoned by Democrats for “political reasons.”

Like Peters, her attorney, Peter Ticktin, is absolutely full-on MAGA. He wrote a fawning book about Trump, detailing their time together in high school at a military academy. He’s also one of Trump’s endless series of personal attorneys, having represented him in his suit against Hillary Clinton and James Comey. Ticktin is also a pal of Ed Martin, the Department of Justice’s very shady pardon attorney, and personally delivered 11 applications to Martin. 

Ticktin’s argument to the federal magistrate was essentially that Peters shouldn’t be in jail with actual criminals, because she is not one. Instead, she’s being imprisoned for her speech.  “In this particular case, we have a person in prison because of a fear that she’s a danger to society because of what she might say,” he claimed.

Buddy, she’s in prison because she was convicted by a jury of her peers for giving a Big Lie conspiracy theorist rando complete access to election machines and allowing him to copy the hard drives, which later popped up on election conspiracy sites. This is a crime, period. 

Election-denying Lindell acolyte and former Mesa County, CO Clerk Tina Peters is still begging for Donald Trump to save her criminal hind end.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Right-Wingers Are Calling For Military Intervention, Violence to Free Tina Peters

Read more here.

Matt Cohen at Democracy Docket:

Prominent right-wing figures are calling for the military to free Tina Peters, the Colorado election-denier-turned-MAGA-folk-hero who’s currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for her role in a 2021 voting system data breach, in a failed attempt to find voter fraud. The escalating rhetoric comes as the Trump administration aims to pressure Colorado officials to transfer Peters to federal custody — and underscores how springing Peters from prison has become a cause celebre among conspiracy-driven far-right activists. During a Nov. 24 interview with Steve Bannon, Peters’ attorney Peter Ticktin suggested that the president send in the military to free Peters from state prison in Colorado.  “Do I think that it should be done?” Ticktin asked. “Yeah. I would love to see that happen.”

“This audience would one million percent back you, back the Justice Department, back the Secretary of War, back the President of the United States if we did this tomorrow morning,” Bannon responded. “And that’s the type of thing it’s going to take [to free Peters].” Ticktin and Bannon aren’t the only conservative figures calling for military intervention to secure Peters’ release. 

[...] Though CDOC refused to transfer Peters to federal custody, Polis (D) has yet to publicly comment on Peters’ status. Since Peters was convicted on state and not federal charges, only Polis has the power to pardon or transfer her. A bipartisan coalition of Colorado county clerks called out Polis for his silence on the issue.  “Polis’ indecision, or his refusal to publicly address the decision, is already causing harm to clerks across Colorado,” Boulder County Clerk Molly Fitzpatrick (R) reportedly said during a recent Zoom press conference.  “The governor welcomes an opportunity to meet with the clerks to hear from them directly and has signed many laws to protect the integrity of our free and fair elections, including increasing penalties for threatening public officials,” a spokesperson for Polis’ office told CBS News.

Fringe right bozos are calling on the military to free right-wing former election clerk Tina Peters, who is in prison for a 2021 voter data breach.