The Hill’s 12:30 Report — Trump’s Georgia allies handled voting equipment for hours

by Cate Martel - 09/20/22 12:30 PM ET

FILE – A worker returns voting machines to storage at the Fulton County Election preparation Center on Nov. 4, 2020 in Atlanta, Ga. The list of security breaches at local election offices since the 2020 election keeps growing, with investigations ongoing in at least three states, Colorado, Georgia and Michigan. Security experts say the breaches by themselves have not necessarily increased threats to the November elections, but say they increase the possibility that rogue election workers could access election equipment to launch attacks. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

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–> A midday take on what’s happening in politics and how to have a sense of humor about it.*

*Ha. Haha. Hahah. Sniff. Haha. Sniff. Ha–breaks down crying hysterically.

TALK OF THE MORNING

This will make a wild documentary. Netflix, HBO, Hulu … GO!:

CNN’s Zachary Cohen and Jason Morris report that “Newly obtained surveillance video shows for the first time what happened inside a Georgia county elections office the day its voting systems are known to have been breached on January 7, 2021.”

What’s in the footage: “A Republican county official in Georgia and operatives working with an attorney for former President Donald Trump spent hours inside a restricted area of the Coffee County elections office that day. Among those seen in the footage is Cathy Latham, a former GOP chairwoman of Coffee County who is under criminal investigation for posing as a fake elector in 2020.”

Watch the footage

How much time did Trump allies spent with the data?: Eight hours, according to the Washington Post

What were they doing with the machines?: “Copying sensitive software and data from its voting machines,” according to the Post.

Happy Tuesday! I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here.

🎙 Getting attention

Ahh, Adnan Syed from the ‘Serial’ podcast is free!:

Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn tossed the murder conviction of Adnan Syed in the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, which was the subject of the viral “Serial” podcast.

Why?: “[P]rosecutors raised doubts about his guilty finding because of the revelation of alternative suspects in the homicide and unreliable evidence used against him at trial.”

The full story from The Baltimore Sun

Watch the moment Syed left the courthouse after 23 years (!) in prison: Here’s the video from Fox 5 DC’sKatie Barlow

^ More video of Syed walking free, with swarms of press

Remember Adnan’s friend Rabia Chaudry?: Here’s a photo of the two of them after his release.

WAS THE PODCAST HOST SARAH KOENIG AT THE COURTHOUSE?:

Yes, she is! And she even released a special follow-up episode this morning. Listen to the new episode of ‘Serial’

🤘 In the White House

TIDBIT — SIR ELTON JOHN IS PERFORMING AT THE WHITE HOUSE:

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden are hosting Sir Elton John to perform on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday evening.

📄 In the GOP

Playing legal Twister:

“Former President Trump’s legal team on Monday night resisted a request to elaborate on his claims around declassifying the documents recovered last month from his Mar-a-Lago home.”

Instead, they want to wait: “[Trump’s] attorneys said the ‘time and place’ for making such a disclosure would come in a motion in a criminal trial as an effort to recover his property.”

From the Trump team: “Otherwise, the Special Master process will have forced the Plaintiff to fully and specifically disclose a defense to the merits of any subsequent indictment without such a requirement being evident in the District Court’s order.”

What Trump has claimed since the FBI recovered classified more than 300 documents from his Mar-a-Lago residence: That he declassified them. Though, Trump has stopped short of using this defense in court filings.

SOME CONTEXT FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES’S MAGGIE HABERMAN:
Haberman tweeted, “Trump got what he wanted with a special master, and has now put himself in a position of having to explain in a court setting all the statements he and aides have made about declassification … ‘Trust us, it happened’ is less likely to tidy over the special master whom the Trump team sought, a Brooklyn federal judge who is also a former prosecutor.”

TIDBIT — HOW MELANIA FELT ABOUT THE RAID:
In a phone interview with Newsmax this morning, former President Trump said former first lady Melania Trump felt “very violated” after the FBI raided their residence in Palm Beach, Fla.

In Trump’s words: “She felt very violated. I mean, this is a terrible thing. They go into her closet, they go through her dresses, and who knows what else, and it wasn’t left the way it — they found it.”

🗳 On the campaign trail

Hey, can you stand a little further away? Another step. Maybe another step. One more?:

Via The Hill’s Brett Samuels, “Republicans are growing more concerned that President Trump could be a drag — and not a help — in tight midterm races that will determine the majorities in the House and Senate.”

How popular is Trump?: “Trump remains overwhelmingly popular among Republican voters, but he’s just as unpopular with Democrats, and there is a growing body of evidence that he is losing more support from independent swing voters as he grapples with a slew of investigations.”

How many voters have a positive view of Trump?: Thirty-four percent, according to a new NBC News poll released on Sunday. Fifty-four percent have a negative view of the former president.

Which races to watch where Trump has been closely associated — Trump endorsed these Senate GOP nominees: Herschel Walker in Georgia, Blake Masters in Arizona, J.D. Vance in Ohio and Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania.

Which races Trump could be a drag on Republicans’ chances

SPOTTED THIS MORNING:
“Ohio Senate Candidate JD Vance walking out of the Capitol Hill Club.” (Via Politico’s Olivia Beavers)

Ris-🔑 business:

Via The Hill’s Rafael Bernal, “Democrats say GOP governors sending migrants to liberal cities in blue states are making a political mistake, potentially turning the issue of immigration and the border into a loser for Republicans.”

What Dems argue: “[S]ending plane- and busloads of men, women and children to unfamiliar cities with the promise of jobs and care is coming off as cruel and careless, even if the intention is to make a statement about the difficulties border areas face with a surge of immigrants.”

Specifically: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) sent planes of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard as a political move to place the burden on blue states.

How Democrats are using this issue to their advantage, when the issue of immigration generally favors Republicans: “In Florida, Democrats are zeroing in on the argument that the Republican governors are unfairly targeting and making life harder for migrants fleeing repressive leftist governments in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. It blunts Republican talking points on socialism that the GOP has used to make inroads with Hispanic voters in Florida in particular.”

How DeSantis’s move may recalibrate immigration at the polls

🦠 Latest with COVID

➤ THE COVID-19 NUMBERS

Cases to date: 95.4 million

Death toll: 1,048,301

Current hospitalizations: 13,783

Shots administered: 612 million

Fully vaccinated: 67.7 percent of Americans

CDC data here.

🐥Notable tweets

Omg, that hair, Eli!:

Axios’s Kendall Baker tweeted, “Eli Manning went undercover at Penn State as walk-on ‘Chad Powers’ and it’s absolute gold.” Watch the video

⏱On tap

The House and Senate are in. President Biden is in Washington, D.C., and is heading to New York on Tuesday. Vice President Harris is in South Carolina.

9:15 a.m.: Harris left for Orangeburg, S.C.
11:30 a.m.: The Senate voted on a nomination. Senators then meet for weekly caucus luncheons. Tuesday’s Senate agenda
Noon: Harris and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona meet with student leaders at Claflin University to discuss mental health, entrepreneurship and access to capital.
1:15 – 3:30 p.m.: The House votes. Tuesday’s House agenda
2:15 p.m.: A Senate cloture vote.
3:40 p.m.: Harris returns to Washington, D.C.
5:25 p.m.: Biden arrives in New York City to headline a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

All times Eastern.

📺What to watch

Noon: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and national security adviser Jake Sullivan hold a press briefing. Livestream
1:45 p.m.: Biden delivers remarks on the DISCLOSE Act. Livestream
1:55 p.m.: Harris delivers remarks at South Carolina State University’s Fall Convocation. Livestream

🍕 In lighter news

Today is National Pepperoni Pizza Day and National Fried Rice Day!

And to give you a little break from the news, here’s why I want to be a suburban dog in my next life.