Republican Promises Forensic Audit In Wisconsin
Rep. Janel Brandtjen, chair of the Assembly elections committee, promised a “comprehensive, forensic examination” of the 2020 election in Wisconsin.
The Republican head of the Wisconsin Assembly elections committee said Monday she will ensure there is a “comprehensive, forensic examination” of ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election at the same time the state’s nonpartisan audit bureau conducts a review.
The broadened investigation comes amid pressure from former President Donald Trump and other national Republicans to take a closer look in Wisconsin, a state President Joe Biden won by just over 20,000 votes. There is no evidence of widespread fraud and courts rejected numerous lawsuits filed by Trump and his allies attempting to overturn the outcome. Democrats have derided calls for more investigations as feeding into conspiracy theories and lies that Trump actually won the state.
One of the loudest critics of how the election was run is Rep. Janel Brandtjen, chair of the Assembly elections committee. She said in a statement Monday that her committee will request additional materials to conduct a deeper review.
The committee’s investigation is in addition to a review ordered by Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, being done by three retired police detectives and overseen by a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, and the independent review by the audit committee. Here is the press release:
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73% Of Capitol Hill Aides Believe GOP Will Take Back House in 2022
Three-quarters of senior Capitol Hill aides think Republicans are going to win back control of the House of Representatives in the 2021 midterm elections.
Punchbowl News surveyed several senior Capitol Hill aides and reported that a whopping 73 percent think Republicans will take the speaker’s gavel from Democrat Rep. Nancy Pelosi next November.
Republicans need a net gain of 5 seats to regain the House majority in the midterms next November.
The loss of the House stalled much of then-President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, and the loss of the House majority might do the same for Biden.
Seventy-five percent of Hill staffers believe Democrats will retain the Senate majority.
This is up five percent from the last survey. Democrats currently have a 50-50 split with Republicans in Congress’s upper chamber.
The slight majority in the Senate has forced Biden to negotiate with Republicans to either negotiate on issues such as infrastructure or pressure moderate Senate Democrats such as Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) or Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) to back more partisan proposals.
Fifty-eight percent of Hill staffers also believe that enhanced unemployment benefits are hurting the labor market, while only 24 percent think it is helping Americans obtain employment.
The GOP has another big advantage now: they are raking in historical amounts of money.
Republicans set a fundraising record for the third month in a row and now have $42.1 million in cash on hand with zero dollars in debt.
The National Republican Congressional Committee raised over $14 million in May as it builds resources toward next year’s elections.
The NRCC highlights that May was its third straight record-breaking fundraising month.
But the impressive $14 million haul included a transfer of $5 million from the Republican National Committee.
And the NRCC says it ended May with more than $42.1 million cash on hand – more than double the amount it had in its coffers at this point in the last election cycle – and zero debt.
“Americans are ready to do whatever is necessary to stop Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats’ socialist agenda. May’s record-breaking fundraising numbers are just the latest indication that House Republicans are primed to retake the majority,” NRCC Chairman Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota said.
For comparison, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reported having $32 million cash on hand with no debt at the beginning of May.
House Republicans have history on their side as they aim to regain the chamber.