🚨 Marc Elias drops BOMB on Trump over USPS whistleblower

Some bombshell news today as that. whistleblower report has been released. to the public from Senator Blumenthal's. office showing that Donald Trump and the. leadership at the USPS were working to. create together to create a portal where. Donald Trump would be able to filter. certain people in to determine who could. vote by mail. Mark, I have to ask first. and foremost about the. disenfranchisement that would occur if. Donald Trump was successful in terms of. carrying out this plan. Can you speak on. that since that seems to be the. principal issue at hand here? >> Yeah, that would be catastrophic. I.

mean, you'd have hundreds of thousands. if not more voters who would be. disenfranchised in a single instance. I. mean, you know, the the hypothetical. that is used by. by Senator Blumenthal and by the. whistleblower is, you know, the state. submits 10,000 names to get mail-in. ballots and those are compared to 10,000. people on the list. that sort of match, you know, that's.

sort of larger voter file list. And if. any one doesn't match, then all 10,000 are refused to get. absentee ballots. Well, there's no. reason to think that the Trump. administration would stop at 10,000. I. mean, the list could be 100,000. In a. state like Washington or California. where you have predominantly vote by. mail, the list could be millions, right? I mean, you you you could I mean, there. there's no telling how much damage to. democracy would be done by allowing this.

to go into effect. But, Brian, the place. where I part company with a lot of the. commentary is that people are treating. this as if it is a design flaw, as if. this was a rushed process that had this. sort of bug in it. And I don't think. this was a bug. I think this was a. feature. I think that they saw the power. of being able to disenfranchise at scale. hundreds of thousands of voters. and to use this as a tool to try to rig. the outcome of the midterm elections.

>> Right. I I I completely agree. I mean, people are looking at this as if it as. if it's a a a situation that can be. rectified. Oh, like, you know, we put. together this system that that it may be. a bug that people would be. disenfranchised, but you don't put. together a system 2 months before an. election expecting it to work when you. are the president of the United States. looking expressly to disenfranchise a. certain group of people. Can you speak. on the fact that it's Democrats who. disproportionately use mail-in ballots.

in the first place, and so when you have. a faulty system, faulty by design, I. think both of us would argue that this. is actually, you know, a a a feature, not a bug of this whole process. >> Yeah, that's exactly right. So, what. they deployed here is something called a. zero failure policy. And again, that is. not like the result of sloppiness. That. is an engineering choice they made, which means that if any one data field. doesn't match, then all of the then. everything's rejected, right? They. didn't have to adopt that. They could. have said, "If one name doesn't match,

just that one person doesn't get a. ballot." So, this was a choice. Now, to. your point, how does this negatively. impact Democrats? How does this give. Republicans [clears throat]. or the Trump administration leverage to, you know, try to rig the outcome of the. elections. It's really simple. First of. all, we don't know what the sorting. bucket will be. But just imagine for a moment that the. bucket that they choose is a zip code. So, what that means is in cities where. you have highly dense populations.

and zip codes with lots and lots of. voters who disproportionately are. Democrats, it might not be 10,000 people. It might. be in a city like Los Angeles, 100,000. or 200,000. It might not even just be. limited to zip code. It might be a. geographic region. They may just say, "You know what? We're going to bucket. not 10,000 people or even the however. many people are in any particular zip. code in LA, we're going to bucket the. entire geographical area in one. category. And so if one name, one name doesn't.

match in the city of Los Angeles, no one. in Los Angeles can get a mail-in ballot. Now, just imagine now we go to a more. rural uh location. Uh you know, a a. where they say, "Okay, we're going to. take that zip code or that geographic. region." Well, yeah, it skews. Republican, but it has far fewer. >> Right. >> total voters in it. So, that's one way. this could be done. The second is, and. this this is a you know, one of the uh. examples used in Senator Blumenthal's. letter. He says, "Well, you know, a.

single woman who changed her last name. when they got married could blow this up. for, you know, everyone on that list. >> Right. >> as could a person who moves." Well, where have we heard the before? The idea. that women who change their last name. and people who are transients, right? Those are Democratic populations. This. was the SAVE Act. This was the last way. that the Trump administration targets. tried to target Democrats. So, that's.

like a second way that this this could. be weaponized. But finally, just to your. overall point, the fact is that since. 2020, Democrats vote more by mail than. Republicans. So, even if you didn't do. any of the rest of the targeting, you. know, not geographically targeted at. all, and this was just first come, first. serve, you know, the fact that the fact. of the matter is more Democrats vote by. mail, and so that's just going to be the. effect of this kind of of of system that. they've designed. >> Right. And And by the way, this isn't. even hypothetical. You know, you had. mentioned the difference in the regions.

that Republicans might pick where you've. got Los Angeles versus, you know, a. rural region. Think about the fact that. Texas, for example, led by Republicans. only allows one drop box per county, I. believe. Okay, well, that might not have. a huge impact in a small rural county. where everybody can get to that drop. box, but in a county like Houston, which. is massive and has millions of people, it's going to have a big impact. So, when they segment these regions where. where they pretend that every region is.

the same, whether it's a a an urban. region versus a rural region, the net. effect of that is going to be. disenfranchisement anyway because of the. sheer number of people. And so, they can. claim, "Oh, well, every county is the. same." But, in effect, in practice, every county is not the same. And look, with that said, you have been doing uh. an immense amount of coverage on this. issue in particular. This This seems to. be uh you know, the the place where you are in the. highest demand right now. So, I would. highly recommend for everybody who is.

watching and listening right now, if you. want to learn more about this as we go. through the twists and turns of this. story um and as more whistleblower. information comes out. And by the way, more more whistleblower information will. come out. Uh I just spoke with Robert. Garcia, ranking member of the House. Oversight Committee, and he told me as. much. Um as this information continues. to come out, you're going to want to be. subscribed to Democracy Docket so that. you can be the first one to find out. when it does. So, I'm going to put that. link right here on the screen and also. in the post description of this video. That is the one outlet that I could not. recommend highly enough when it comes to.

this this uh topic in particular. Mark, I don't want to bury the lead. here. What is the recourse as this is. happening? Because folks are going to be. watching this and they're going to. rightfully, I think, feel uh a sense of. despair or hopelessness or fear that. this stuff is happening and and you. know, want to know what we have uh as. far as as far as our defense is. concerned. >> Yeah, look. First and foremost, there. are several lawsuits already pending in. court. There's a case that that my law. firm and I have filed in Washington D.C.

on behalf of the Democratic Party. There. are the state AGs cases in Massachusetts. along with nonprofit nonprofits who have. filed in Massachusetts that, as you. know, have led to a series of. injunctions and and blockages including. most recently a temporary restraining. order. Right, another aspect of this. story is the idea that, you know, those. injunctions and restraining orders have. not been followed. That the the US. Postal Service has taken action in. contravention of court orders. But, the. fact is those court orders are in place.

and they are having a meaningful impact. on preventing the rollout of this. Now, that's working its way through the. court. There's no guarantee when this. gets to higher courts, particularly the. Supreme Court, where we will be, but. certainly the stakes have been raised. There is no justice on the Supreme Court. who's going to be able to say they did. not know. There is no Republican politician who's. going to be able to say they did not. know. Right, [snorts] this has exposed. what's going on and it only strengthens.

the hands of the lawyers who are. bringing these cases. You know, I think. in the coming hours and days you are. going to see even more revelations in. those court filings. So, I would. recommend everyone subscribe to. Democracy Docket because those will come. out there first. Um, but also to. subscribe to this channel because Brian, you and I have been doing this Democracy. Watch series for years now and I think. it has developed a well-earned. reputation as the go-to place. for people who want to understand and.

get the full context of what is. happening to democracy in court. We. cover the voting and elections and so. please make sure you are subscribed and. hit the bell to when you are alerted on. new content. He has a series with Glenn. Kirschner does a great job of breaking. down what's going on in all of the. weaponization and criminal cases that. are going on. So, please make sure. you're subscribed now. >> And I'm going to put a link to subscribe. to this channel right here on the screen. and also in the post description as. well. Mark, you had mentioned a point. that I think is really important or at.

least I thought was really important. which is that this whole move was going. on in secret among the Trump. administration and DOJ leadership to. push this portal forward in. contravention of the temporary. restraining order and the federal. injunction that had come before that. And so when when they get back into. court and they have to face Judge. Chutkan who issued the temporary. restraining order, how does that process. play out? What do you anticipate seeing. when you have. one party in that case who directly.

flouted the judge's order? >> Oh, I think there's going to be a very. angry judge. I mean, I I think I think. the judge. judges potentially who have heard these. cases and have considered these and and. and and there are more than one because. you know, there are there is the like I. said, the case is in in Massachusetts, case in DC, but then there are other. cases that have involved other federal. databases that kind of intersect with. this. There's a lot of pieces to this. and a lot of judges I think are going to. be looking and asking.

was this consistent with their orders? And but first and foremost, you point. out the judge in Massachusetts and I. would not want to be the government. lawyers to show up in her courtroom and. try to explain why it is that the. actions that are described are. consistent with. those court orders. Now, look, they may. come in and say these are just. allegations and they are like the. whistleblower, they may say the. whistleblower is not correct. You know, I I you know, the the lawyers who. represent the whistleblower are well. known in Washington DC. It's a very.

reputable set of lawyers. So, you know, I I have confidence based on that, but. obviously I don't know the. whistleblower. I don't know who it is. So, they may come in and dispute the. factual underpinning of it, but if if the facts that are described. are true, you know, I I think it's going to be a. head scratcher for them to explain how. this was consistent with those court. orders and we'll see whether the judge. imposes some kind of sanction. >> Okay, so this is going to be the cynic. in me, but my follow-up to that is does. it matter? I mean, there there seems to. be a sense that the Trump administration.

can do whatever it wants knowing that at. the end of the day they're just going to. appeal this thing up through the circuit. courts and eventually to the US Supreme. Court. And I feel like everything that. happens in the lead up to that is kind. of just noise. And so there is this. sense of impunity by Trump. administration officials because yes, they might you know, have to contend. with some temporary uh um uh block it. blockades in district courts or appeals. courts, but the Supreme Court has the. final say and they're going to be much.

more differential to this. administration. And so what would your. response be to this idea that what. happens at the district court level, whether it's temporary restraining. orders or these these injunctions at the. end of the day don't really matter. because they're not the Supreme Court. >> Yeah, so first of all, they do matter. I. mean, you know, the fact is that you. know, the Department of Justice uh right. now is before a judge that like I said. is going to be none too pleased that. that her orders were not followed. And. then you have the first circuit which. previously upheld that judge's ruling.

before that case the first iteration of. this case got to the US Supreme Court. But even the US Supreme Court, you know, there there's a little bit of the. Pottery Barn rule going on here about, you know, you break it, you own it, right? And and and one of the things. that I think even the most conservative. justice on the Supreme Court are going. to have to ask themselves is do they. really want to be the one who breaks. this? Like if a judge says my order was. not followed and this is potentially. setting up a catastrophic result for.

free and fair elections. Do the conservative justices on an. emergency basis in what is September? I. mean, you know, the first mail-in. ballots are set to go out this week. >> Yeah. >> Right? Like like. do are they really going to weigh in in. the in these circumstances? Maybe, but. will they get a majority? I can I don't. think so. >> Last question here. Um you know, there. are going to be people who see this and. I think you and I are in agreement that. the point of this plan is not to make.

people feel comfortable um. by by by casting their ballots via mail. It is expressly to sow chaos and. confusion if they're going to cast their. ballot their ballots by mail. What would. you say to people who lose faith in. elections or just don't know whether. it's even worth it right now uh to cast. ballots by mail at all? >> Look, Donald Trump wouldn't be doing. this if your vote didn't matter. I mean, the fact the US Postal Service. would not be doing what's going on here. if if they thought that your vote was.

not powerful. They wouldn't be trying to. silence your voice. They wouldn't be. trying to take away the franchise. if Donald Trump was popular and they. thought they were going to win this. election. They know that Donald Trump is. historically unpopular. They know. that if we have free and fair elections, Republicans are going to get going to. get kicked out of control of the house. and probably lose control of the Senate. And so, their only opportunity, their. only plan, the only way they can to deal. with that is not to change policies. It's not to build independence from.

Donald Trump. It's not to do any of. those things. It is to try to make it harder for you. to vote and to cause you to think that. your vote doesn't matter. But, don't. give in to the cynics. Don't give in to. Donald Trump. That's what he wants. Instead, make sure you are registered to. vote. Make sure you have a plan to vote, and then make sure you vote. And if that. is if if you prefer to vote by mail, I. promise you we will move heaven and. earth to make sure that the the mail-in. voting system in this country works for. you this November. If you don't have. confidence in voting by mail, vote early. in person if you're if you're in a. jurisdiction allows that, or else vote. on election day. But, no matter what,

don't give in to what Donald Trump. wants. >> We will leave it there. Uh again, for. those who are watching right now, this. is the moment to support the invaluable. work that Mark is doing both in the. media space where he is reporting on. this issue, and no one is better. positioned to be able to report on. voting rights and democracy than he is. And he's litigating this stuff. So, he's. on the front lines in the courts uh. litigating this exact issue, which is to. say nothing of the fact that he's 23 and. 0 in front of the DOJ on the issue of. trying to get the voter rolls sent from. the states to the federal government,

along with a raft of other cases. If I'm. not mistaken, Mark, 87 cases in total. that you're litigating right now? >> Yeah, and 40. >> 87 cases in total. So, all of those are. reasons to support the work that he's. doing. I'm going to put the link to. Democracy Docket right here on the. screen and also in the post description. As soon as this video ends, click on. that link and make sure to subscribe. And of course, if you're not subscribed. to this channel and want to see more of. Democracy Watch, you can subscribe to. this channel as well. I'm Brian Tyler. Cohen. >> I'm Marc Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch. >> [music].