Gee, who are you going to believe when it comes to Republicans trying to intimidate voters in Virginia? The Republican National Committee or the Democratic National Committee. Democrats submitted a recording of a conference call in which an RNC lawyer almost slips up to let the cat out of the bag: yes, the RNC were handling certain GOP ballot security initiatives in Virginia, in direct violation of the consent decree Democrats say the RNC is violating.
"I've got the folks RNC has hired on—um, to help them with...," Virginia Republican Party General Counsel Chris Marston allegedly said, according to a transcript of a poll worker training conference call filed in court by the Democratic National Committee Thursday.
“I’m sorry. The RNC is not doing anything related to Election Day operations,” Marston went on to say with laughter, according to the transcript. The DNC, nonetheless, argued that the comment indicated "the RNC’s involvement and obfuscation."
The transcript was filed in a case regarding a consent decree the RNC agreed to in the early 1980s that prohibited it from participating in certain "ballot security" initiatives. Democrats are claiming that the RNC has violated the decree, which is set to expire in December 2017, and that it should be extended for another eight years. Republicans have maintained that have followed the consent decree, which still allows for Republican state parties (with the exception of New Jersey's) to engage in the sort of poll watching activities the RNC is barred from doing.
See how dangerously close he came to spilling the beans there? Of course, Trump campaign officials pretty much have already admitted it, so this is just piling on top of the existing evidence.
Democrats submitted this conference call, recorded by a Democratic operative in Virginia who signed on as a Trump volunteer to monitor what the campaign—and the Republican party—was planning in light of Trump's escalating calls for "monitors" at the polls to make sure undesirables (to Trump) aren't "committing fraud." Marston provided an affidavit the RNC just filed, basically saying well of course I know about the consent decree and take it very seriously and that was all, um, I was saying that to emphasize how seriously we all take the consent decree. Yeah, that's the ticket.
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