BOMBSHELL update on Republican effort to STEAL election

I'm joined now by North Carolina Supreme. Court Justice Allison Riggs. Justice. Riggs, we've been speaking quite a bit. because, as most of my viewers, I'm. sure, know, yours is the last race that. hasn't yet been certified in from the. November 2024 election. We now have an. update here as it relates to these 60. some odd thousand ballots that uh your. opponent Jefferson Griffin is trying to. uh disqualify. and that is that uh. despite winning in uh a district court, the North Carolina Court of Appeals has. ruled in your opponent's favor. And so.

what happens next? So you're right. On Friday, a three. judge panel issued a ruling in this. case. The two Republicans in the. majority said that the ballots that my. opponent um has challenged should not be. counted unless they are somehow cured in. 15 days. Um or at least the vast. majority of them fell into that. category. Uh I am appealing this.

decision. I believe it's wrong and. misinformed. Uh my appeal will be. filed very very soon. Um and in the. meantime, we'll be seeking a stay of. this ruling. This is unprecedented. Your. uh listeners should understand the uh. threat that this ruling poses to. democracy across the country. There is. no precedent for five months after an.

election. um tossing cancelling over. 68,000 ballots were disenfranchising. thousands of members of the military. And I want folks to know that um we knew. this fight was not going to be easy. We. knew it was going to be hard and it was. going to take time and nothing that's. happened Friday uh will in any way stop. me and my legal team from seeking to.

defend the rights of all North. Carolinians to cast a ballot. So, we. have two issues happening at once here. one is the appeal and you know it goes. without saying but but this case is. going to be appealed from the appeals. court uh where they've obviously ruled. in in your opponent's favor up to the. North Carolina Supreme Court on which. you sit and you've recused yourself from. this case and so we're looking at a 5-1. Republican majority as it relates to. this specific case and so you know not. exactly in uh in your favor as you head.

toward toward that court and so the the. appeal is still pending but then but. then in the meantime in the event that. the appeal doesn't doesn't work or or as. this process continues to play itself. out, how are you looking at the the the. whole process of ballot cures, um are. are you still recommending that the. 68,000 people um who are impacted by. this ruling, are are you recommending. that they do move forward and cure their. ballots in the event that that you know. that's going to be the process that.

stands? Yeah. So, let me first just say. on the litigation, the appeals, I'm an. experienced civil rights attorney, a. litigator, and an appellet attorney. I've litigated these cases for 15 years. before I joined the bench. So, a smart. litigator always prepares for and. expects the worst and hopes for the. best. But we have been prepared for. challenges at step by step. We are. always prepared for the worst. We know.

that the North Carolina Supreme Court is. the next stop, but it is not the last. stop. And we are ready and have reserved. all of our rights to go to a federal. court and seek relief under federal law. um if a ruling stands that would. disenfranchise North Carolina voters. Now, in the 48 hours since the North. Carolina Court of Appeals ruling, um, and it hasn't gone into effect yet, but.

we have already started making plans for. what a a cure program would look like. And to be clear, the Court of Appeals. um, sort of made this up that there. there's no precedent for this. So, um, well, yeah. I mean, clearly there's no. precedent for just deciding apppropo of. nothing that that 68,000 ballots that. were legally uh cast suddenly aren't. aren't valid anymore because they come. from Democratic areas that don't benefit. uh benefit the Republican candidate.

That's right. But to give you an example. of the work that's we're work that's. already underway to make sure that if. this ruling stands that voters can cure. their ballot and ensure that um their. will is defended. My win is defended. Of. these 68,000 voters, we know for sure. that 38 uh 30 of them were totally. spurious challenges. My opponent said. these voters lacked um a driver's.

license number or social security. number. In just, you know, a few weeks, the state board has said no, no, we've. identified at least 30,000 where we do. have that data. So, we know that we. don't need to that we don't need to. support 68,000 voters in doing this. It's a smaller number. So, we're going. to be smart and make sure that the state. board is giving us guidance, the best.

data. And we also know though that there. are people amongst these voters um. who've passed away because it's a state. of 11 million people, right? In 5. months, people have moved, people have. passed away. They were entitled to cast. a ballot on election day. their votes. should count, but they will be on a. submarine or out of the country and not. hear about this in 15 days because when. they left the polling place in November,

they had every reason to expect their. vote counted because they followed every. single rule. So, as much as we know that. once the dust settles and we figure out. what the cure process should look like. and will look like that we will be. aggressive. North Carolinians are ready. to put up a fight. They are eager for. this fight. It shouldn't happen. The. voters already spoke. But North. Carolinians will be damned if they let.

an election be stolen from them. So, I. think the entire country is going to see. something amazing happen on the ground. here in North Carolina. They are going. to show. um folks who don't understand what it. means to be a public servant and to. treat voters with respect and dignity. and acknowledge election results. North. Carolinians are going to show what a. fight really looks like. Yeah. And look,

I, you know, I'll be first among them. That's why I've had you on so frequently. as this process plays itself out, be the. first one among them uh to to demand. that people do um do exactly that if if. it you know if push comes to shove. One. thing that that concerns me now now as I. said we have these two processes. happening uh on parallel tracks. One is. the appeals process, the other is the. cure process. Hopefully, we don't need. the cure process. And we do see the. appeals process play itself out where, okay, it jumps from the state court. system where again, you're looking at a.

5-1 Republican majority in the Supreme. Court because you've recused yourself. and it can jump into the federal court. system where they'll hopefully um have a. little bit more allegiance to the actual. law as opposed to just a political. party. But in the meantime, you know, your your margin of victory was just. over 700 votes. If they've got 68,000, even if it's minus 30 30 some odd. thousand because they've got the. information they already need, if there. are tens of thousands of voters who. predominantly come from.

Democraticleaning areas, then really. isn't the bar for uh Jefferson Griffin. to be able to flip the results pretty. low where you know, I mean, honestly, even if it even if it's, you know, even. if it breaks 6040 in your favor, uh all. he would have to do is is, you know, a. couple thousand votes get get. disqualified and suddenly he's made up. that 700 vote margin. Is that correct? I. mean, it's making up that margin is a.

little harder just because it sort of. assumes either all votes get cured or. all votes don't get cured. It doesn't. sort of assume that there's a different. ground game um on different sides. What. I know are my supporters, Democrats in. these de targeted areas, areas targeted. because they had concentrations of. Democratic voters are incredibly. motivated to make sure that the people. who voted for me and who are on this. challenge list get their ballots cured.

And I think this is a, you know, it's a. difference in motivation that is really. underestimated. Um, and that this is a. moment where we can take our outrage and. put aside the fatigue of looking on the. national news and seeing how awful. things are and and focus that outrage. and resistance on a very winnable task, which is making sure that while we're. walking and chewing gum, while we are.

fighting in the court for to defend the. rule of law, to defend democracy, that. we are also making sure that that there. is no way um that we are out organized. and that we are our our folks are doing. everything they can to make sure that. voters get heard. But obviously, you. know, we know why some of these voters. were targeted. We know why military. voters were targeted in only four of the.

bluest counties out of North Carolina's. 100. So, no one is naive about what's. really at play here. But again, because. we're clued into that, we know how. insidious this attack on democracy is, how insidious insidious it is to to only. seek to toss ballots when you think. those people didn't vote for you. Right? And that is not a vision or version of.

this country that any of us down here. are willing to stand for. And people. know that I will not give one inch on. defending their rights and fighting for. them. And they're standing with me arm. in arm. This is not a fight that I'm. doing alone. I know that your viewers. across the country are watching this and. understand the stakes for democracy. across the country and I feel so. strengthened and my resolve so stiffened.

by the support that I have felt and I. know will continue to feel over the next. weeks and months. However long it takes, we are going to bring this in for voters. and for the democracy we all deserve. Yeah. I mean, I have I have zero. hesitation in saying that that in the. event people need to get mobilized, we. will get a million people onto the. streets in North Carolina and get them. mobilized. I mean, this is, you know, we.

we've spoken about this exact phenomenon. um in the event that Trump were to lose. the election and yet try and do what he. did in 2020 and pretend that he won and. try to use the courts as a cudel um. against Democrats, against democracy. And that obviously wasn't necessary on. on a national scale. The exact thing we. were worried about Trump doing on a. national stage is exactly what. Republicans are doing right now in North. Carolina. So, I mean, look, that is why. I'll continue to highlight this race. every step of the way. Um to that point,

when will we know whether we're going to. go forward with the process of okay, we. need to start curing these ballots or. whether it's not going to be necessary. because maybe um you know, maybe there's. some some stay that was administered, maybe uh you know, a judge handed down. some ruling or if we even know whether. it's going to jump from the state court. system to the federal court system. So, I think within the state court system. and with what a a cure process, if it. needs to happen, will look like, there's. going to be a lot of developments this.

week. So, I encourage all of your. listeners to go to my website, rigs4s.com, sign up for my emails, follow me on social media. I think in. the next 48 hours, there could be. incredible developments in this case. and um learn what's happening, share uh. the more people who know about this, the. harder it is. We will not let an. election be stolen in dark. And I I. can't ask for better partners than you.

and all of the folks who are shedding. light, who believe in the disinfectant. power of sunlight on things that that. are not consistent with our values and. our vision for this country. And so I I. know it sounds silly to be this peppy. about it, but I am I am encouraged. This. is this is the fight that I wanted us to. to have the fighting spirit and it's a.

winnable fight. And I just am really. grateful for your listeners who care. about this, who understand the threat. and will do whatever they can to um be. an ally to those of us here in North. Carolina um making this stand. Well, look, I mean, you know, I I've spoken. about a lot of litigation. I cover a lot. of litigation that happens on a daily. basis. This is the single most important. court case that is happening right now. I highly recommend that for the same um. the same energy that we've seen toward. the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, the.

same uh energy that we've seen in those. two Pennsylvania uh state legislative. elections that Democrats won, those same. the same energy that we saw push um. these two Florida seats 16 points to the. left from where they were in 2024 um to. bring that exact same energy that that. exact same sense of fight to what we're. seeing in North Carolina right now. The. reality is that we have the advantage. right now of not having to worry about, you know, hundreds of different. elections all across the country. This. is where we can train all of our energy, all of our focus right now and all of. our fight. And so, again, if the moment.

comes where we need to mobilize in North. Carolina, then then you've got me and. and you know, our our audience here um. that's perfectly willing to do that. So, for everybody who's watching, highly. recommend that you uh sign up at. rigsforcourts.com. make sure that you're. prepared um to to get new information as. soon as it comes out and uh and we can. all stay in this fight together. So, Justice Riggs, I appreciate you taking. the time and appreciate uh you taking on. this fight the way that you have. Thank. you so very much. [Music].