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MAGA official points to 'Plan B' as Republicans lose faith in Georgia victory · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: In the great and important swing state of Georgia, early
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  Speaker 1: voting starts next week. And this just went out from
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  Speaker 1: the Georgia State Election Board to the Trump administration in Washington.
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  Speaker 1: Dear Attorney General Todd Blanch, I am writing in my
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  Speaker 1: capacity as executive director of the Georgia State Election Board
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  Speaker 1: to request the Department of Justice's review and, where appropriate,
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  Speaker 1: investigation and intervention concerning Georgia's voting system. We want federal
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  Speaker 1: intervention in Georgia's voting? Georgia appears to be slipping out
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  Speaker 1: of Republicans' grasp in some important political ways. In Georgia's U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Senate race, Democratic Senator John Ossoff is running for reelection.
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  Speaker 1: Republicans used to think this seat was theirs for the taking.
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  Speaker 1: This was their big chance to peel a Senate seat
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  Speaker 1: away from the Democrats. That is not happening. John Ossoff,
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  Speaker 1: it turns out, is a great candidate, and Republican candidate
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  Speaker 1: Mike Collins is turning out to be a real disaster. Politically,
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  Speaker 1: it is not going their way. That apparently means they
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  Speaker 1: are activating Plan B. MAGA Republicans have gotten a toehold
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  Speaker 1: at the Georgia State Election Board. The executive director of
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  Speaker 1: the board is a dyed-in-the-wool election denier, and he has
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  Speaker 1: now taken action, writing to the Trump administration saying Georgia's
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  Speaker 1: official state election board explicitly requests that Trump's attorney general
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  Speaker 1: and the feds must come into Georgia and take over
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  Speaker 1: the elections, intervene there as soon as possible. Like I said,
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  Speaker 1: voting starts next week. Well, here's a twist. Two members
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  Speaker 1: of the Georgia State Election Board, two Republican members of
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  Speaker 1: the election board, now tell the news outlet Vote Beat
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  Speaker 1: that they don't agree with this and that although this
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  Speaker 1: was done in their name as the Georgia State Election Board,
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  Speaker 1: they never authorized this letter to the Trump administration. The
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  Speaker 1: board's Republican chairman saying, quote, we have no control over
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  Speaker 1: our executive director and he does whatever the hell he
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  Speaker 1: wants to. Asked whether that was an ongoing problem, the
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  Speaker 1: chair replied, quote, you have no idea. But authorized or not,
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  Speaker 1: this letter could, of course, achieve its goal just by existing, right?
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  Speaker 1: If Trump wants to try to seize control of an election,
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  Speaker 1: of voting, in a state Republicans are likely to lose, well,
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  Speaker 1: now this letter provides a convenient pretext for them to
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  Speaker 1: do it, this letter inviting them in. In Fulton County, Georgia,
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  Speaker 1: County Commissioner Dana Barrett says this is, quote, about undermining
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  Speaker 1: confidence in the elections process so that they can claim
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  Speaker 1: any results they don't like on November 3rd are fraudulent.
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  Speaker 1: She says, quote, this is not about issues with 2020
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  Speaker 1: or with the machines or with whatever nonsense they come
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  Speaker 1: up with next. It's about controlling the outcome of the
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  Speaker 1: 2026 and 2028 elections. elections. Joining us now is Fulton
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  Speaker 1: County Commissioner Dana Barrett. Commissioner Barrett, thank you very much
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  Speaker 1: for being here with us tonight. I appreciate it.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
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  Speaker 1: I think a lot of people looking at the news
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  Speaker 1: of this think that this is dangerous, that this letter
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  Speaker 1: from the state election board could be used as a
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  Speaker 1: pretext by the feds to come in and somehow meaningfully
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  Speaker 1: take over the election processes and the vote in the state.
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  Speaker 1: Do you see it as that kind of threat?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, absolutely. It's just one more sort of excuse
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  Speaker 2: they have to take unprecedented action that is unconstitutional. And
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  Speaker 2: we know that they don't care about what's in the
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  Speaker 2: Constitution and will do whatever they want and wait to
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  Speaker 2: be taken to court to try to stop them. And
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  Speaker 2: that's exactly what this is. And and even if they
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  Speaker 2: don't directly intervene, as I said in my in my comments,
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  Speaker 2: they will use this as more evidence that something is
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  Speaker 2: wrong in Georgia if they don't like the results, which
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  Speaker 2: we know, as you said, that they won't.
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  Speaker 1: And Republicans, though, are not united on this. I was
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  Speaker 1: very interested to see not just your characterization of what
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  Speaker 1: kind of a risk this is, but to see other
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  Speaker 1: Republicans on the state election board, including the chair, say,
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  Speaker 1: we want nothing to do with this. This had nothing
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  Speaker 1: to do with us. This is not something that we
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  Speaker 1: support and not something that we want. To what extent
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  Speaker 1: is there sort of a war going on among Republicans
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  Speaker 1: here about whether or not to let the elections properly
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  Speaker 1: go ahead?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think this has kind of been quietly going
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  Speaker 2: on for some time. But the reality is that, as
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  Speaker 2: we saw with James Mills in this letter, the MAGA
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  Speaker 2: folks are running the show. And the few Republicans that
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  Speaker 2: are not in agreement with them have kind of allowed
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  Speaker 2: it to happen and allowed it to get to this point. That's,
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  Speaker 2: you know— They kicked Raffensperger off of this commission a
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  Speaker 2: long time ago because they didn't like that he did
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  Speaker 2: the right thing. You know, they've been taking over and
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  Speaker 2: they've been getting away with it. And so it's kind
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  Speaker 2: of a breath of fresh air that finally two of
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  Speaker 2: them have spoken out and said, this is not what
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  Speaker 2: we asked for, not acceptable.
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  Speaker 1: In Fulton County, and to the extent that you know
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  Speaker 1: at the state level, has there been sort of wargaming
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  Speaker 1: going on in terms of what practical steps people can
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  Speaker 1: take in Georgia to defend the election if, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: Trump and or the Justice Department, some element of the
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  Speaker 1: federal government comes in and tries to either stop the vote,
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  Speaker 1: to stop the count, or to seize the results?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. All across the state, We've been coordinating with
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  Speaker 2: groups on the ground, with our congresspeople, with officials at
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  Speaker 2: all levels, county elections officials, county commissioners across multiple counties,
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  Speaker 2: in particular in Fulton. looking at, you know, coordinated response,
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  Speaker 2: both with our law enforcement being prepared for anything that
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  Speaker 2: might happen in terms of federal law enforcement showing up
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  Speaker 2: or trying to intervene, you know, with our lawyers, making
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  Speaker 2: sure that we have legal defenses ready to go the
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  Speaker 2: minute something goes awry, to make sure everybody is trained.
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  Speaker 2: Our poll workers and our election workers know what to
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  Speaker 2: do if something does seem to be– you know, being
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  Speaker 2: interfered with in any way that's inappropriate by anyone. And
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  Speaker 2: this is a level of effort and tabletop exercises and
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  Speaker 2: coordination that we have never had to do before and
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  Speaker 2: that we have never seen before. We are doing the
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  Speaker 2: best we can to be prepared for every eventuality.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you never should have to do it in a
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  Speaker 1: free country, but that work may prove absolutely invaluable toward
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  Speaker 1: protecting individuals free and fair elections in this country. You're
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  Speaker 1: right there at the tip of it. Fulton County Commissioner
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  Speaker 1: Dana Barrett, thank you so much for helping us understand.
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  Speaker 1: I would love to have you back as things progress
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  Speaker 1: in your county and in your state.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much.