Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / Trump is trying to ‘INJECT CHAOS’ ahead of midterms, says Colorado Secretary of State

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Trump is trying to ‘INJECT CHAOS’ ahead of midterms, says Colorado Secretary of State · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Seven days out now and lawmakers are sounding the alarm
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  Speaker 1: about a series of Trump administration efforts that could disrupt
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  Speaker 1: the voting process, which in many communities is already underway.
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  Speaker 1: On Friday, the Supreme Court handed President Trump a temporary
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: win by allowing the Department of Homeland Security to move
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  Speaker 1: forward with their controversial systematic alien verification for entitlements program
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  Speaker 1: designed to verify citizenship and immigration status. The problem is
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  Speaker 1: The program would not only allow the federal government to
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  Speaker 1: access sensitive personal information across the board, the system itself
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  Speaker 1: has been found to sometimes incorrectly flag eligible voters as non-citizens.
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  Speaker 1: And on Wednesday, Democratic Party leadership and campaign organizations filed
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  Speaker 1: a lawsuit against the Trump administration over alleged threats to
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  Speaker 1: unlawfully deploy armed federal agents at polling sites. The White
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  Speaker 1: House has stated there are no formal plans to deploy
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  Speaker 1: officers to voting centers this November, but they are not
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  Speaker 1: ruling it out either. And joining me now is Jenna Griswold,
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  Speaker 1: Colorado Secretary of State and Democratic nominee for Colorado Attorney General. Jenna,
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  Speaker 1: you've been fighting tirelessly to prevent the White House from
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  Speaker 1: trying to collect Colorado's voter data. In August, a federal
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  Speaker 1: judge dismissed a lawsuit from the Trump administration trying to
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  Speaker 1: compel you to hand it all over. Does the Supreme
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  Speaker 1: Court's ruling here then on the SAVE database undermine some
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  Speaker 1: of that legal win that you were just granted?
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  Speaker 2: Well, first off, thank you for having me on. And
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  Speaker 2: I think big picture, Trump has been weaponizing the federal
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  Speaker 2: government in any way that he can to try to
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  Speaker 2: undermine the upcoming election or inject chaos. And I'll tell you,
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  Speaker 2: the Supreme Court opening up the door for the Department
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  Speaker 2: of Homeland Security to roll out this faulty database is concerning.
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  Speaker 2: I do want to make it clear that we are
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  Speaker 2: in a blackout period right now ahead of the upcoming
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  Speaker 2: election where there cannot be systematic removal of voters from
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  Speaker 2: the voter rolls. But there is a concern that some states,
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  Speaker 2: red states, would use this faulty tool to disenfranchise their voters.
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  Speaker 2: The immediate concern, though, for the 26th election is this
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  Speaker 2: is just one more tool to Trump to point to
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  Speaker 2: to push out his baseless lies about non-citizen voters. And
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  Speaker 2: what he is ultimately doing is trying to lay the
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  Speaker 2: groundwork to reject the results if they don't go his way.
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  Speaker 1: You know, to your point, there has been some reporting
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  Speaker 1: over the course of the past week or so that
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  Speaker 1: outside advisers have even gotten to the point of telling
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  Speaker 1: Trump that he should consider declaring martial law. When you
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  Speaker 1: see something like that, how seriously do you take it?
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  Speaker 1: And what do state law enforcement officials do to prepare
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  Speaker 1: for all of this?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think when you hear something like that, it
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  Speaker 2: is outlandish and crazy. That's the basic truth. It would
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  Speaker 2: be absolutely crazy. But do I put it past this president?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely not. He is a crazy president. He is growing
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  Speaker 2: more and more extreme because his popularity is in the gutters.
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  Speaker 2: So we are seeing him do things that are really unthinkable. Look,
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  Speaker 2: if he would try to declare martial law or something
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  Speaker 2: along those lines, there would be lawsuits immediately. I do
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  Speaker 2: believe that we would very quickly beat him and stop
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  Speaker 2: that interference. There's also concerns about, you know, the administration's
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  Speaker 2: refusal to clearly state that they will not use heights
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  Speaker 2: to intimidate voters. We cannot allow armed agents to be
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  Speaker 2: used as an intimidation tool this upcoming election. And again,
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  Speaker 2: it is illegal for any federal agent to interrupt voting.
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  Speaker 2: And it's mostly illegal for them to be present at
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  Speaker 2: polling locations unless they are repelling armed enemies of the
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  Speaker 2: United States. which is not going to be the case.
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  Speaker 2: So I will say Colorado is prepared. We've been preparing
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  Speaker 2: contingencies for over a year. We brought in new people,
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  Speaker 2: including a refugee from the Department of Justice to help
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  Speaker 2: us prepare But these these contingencies and I am confident
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  Speaker 2: we are going to have good, good elections. And when
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  Speaker 2: I say refugee, I do not mean actual refugee. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: someone who was fed up. There's a lot of attorneys
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  Speaker 2: who are just fed up with this administration and they're
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  Speaker 2: coming to the right side to be on the right
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  Speaker 2: side of history.
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  Speaker 1: I want to dig into some of those contingencies, if
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  Speaker 1: you're able to describe some of them for our viewers.
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  Speaker 1: I know that the city of Denver, for example, has
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  Speaker 1: already filed a lawsuit to prevent exactly what you're describing
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  Speaker 1: with ICE agents from happening in their city. But what
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  Speaker 1: do other contingencies, what does the rest of the preparation
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  Speaker 1: work actually require?
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  Speaker 2: So I can speak at a high level for Colorado.
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  Speaker 2: We've been preparing for all of the political contingencies that
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  Speaker 2: you and your viewers are probably concerned about. Interference with
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  Speaker 2: the Postal Service, you know, trying to snatch or execute
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  Speaker 2: search warrants as the election is going for voting equipment
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  Speaker 2: or mail ballots. A whole host of things. And what
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  Speaker 2: I can say is we will be prepared. And I
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  Speaker 2: think it's really important for to just clearly name that
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  Speaker 2: Trump is trying to inject chaos, but he is largely
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  Speaker 2: losing chaos. His DOJ has sued states left and right
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  Speaker 2: all across this nation for sensitive voter data. I told
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  Speaker 2: them to take a hike. They've lost every single one
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  Speaker 2: of those states. Trump has issued two executive orders to
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  Speaker 2: try to take some control over our elections. He has
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  Speaker 2: not one, but two losses. So we are going to
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  Speaker 2: continue to hold the line, and we cannot allow his
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  Speaker 2: chaos machine to make people afraid to vote. That is
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  Speaker 2: what he wants. So please make a plan to vote.
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  Speaker 2: Know how you're going to cast your ballot and exercise
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  Speaker 2: the franchise. MAGA and Trump want to suppress the vote
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  Speaker 2: because they are afraid of the election results.
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  Speaker 1: Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold, thank you so much
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  Speaker 1: for your time.
• 6:15
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