The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: kris kobach
Kris Kobach

Trump Ally Kobach Marketed Dubious Product That ‘Kills COVID’ To Kansas Legislators

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Back in October, far-right Republican Kris Kobach — Kansas' former secretary of state and a "birther" who promoted the racist conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama wasn't really born in the United States — promoted a device he claimed would fight COVID-19. But a two-month investigation by the Columbia Journalism Review, according to the Kansas Reflector, showed nothing to verify Kobach's claims.

Kobach, along with his business partner, Daniel Drake — the CEO of MoJack Distributors in Wichita — made a sales pitch to Kansas legislators in October. Drake described the product as a "revolutionary" device that would "kill COVID" and claimed it would bring "several hundred jobs back to Wichita."

Kobach told Kansas legislators, "This stuff is very cutting-edge," saying that he wanted to give them the "first bite at the apple" and noting that the product was part of a new line called Sarus System.

"The former, controversial secretary of state and his new business partner made sweeping claims before the (Kansas) Legislature about the efficacy of Sarus Systems' products, but experts say the claims were misleading," Kansas Reflector reporters Jeremy Fassler and Nia Yancopoulos explain. "After a two-month investigation, Columbia Journalism School was unable to verify the vast majority of their statements."

Fassler and Yancopoulos continue, "There is no evidence Sarus Systems has made material steps toward rehoming hundreds of jobs to Kansas, and shipping records show products are currently being manufactured in China. There is also scant evidence their machines, or ozone in general, can safely eliminate SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. And while the pair have hyped the products' popularity, claiming a three-month backlog and international interest, we were unable to verify any purchases — from the State of Kansas or otherwise."

In October 2020, Fassler and Yancopoulos note, Drake claimed that his product did more to fight COVID-19 than common household cleaners — saying, "Our product actually kills COVID, SARS-CoV-2, everywhere, everywhere, it can touch. So, it kills the underneath of the desk, top of the desk, the underneath of the chair, the air in the room, the cracks and crevices in the keyboards. It does a 100% super deep clean job that even a human couldn't do."

In Kansas, Kobach is infamous not only for his birtherism, but also, for his voter suppression efforts. The former Kansas secretary of state ran for governor in 2018 but lost to centrist Democrat Laura Kelly, who is now Kansas' governor, by 5%.

Kobach Denied Access To ‘Build The Wall’ Money Scammed By Bannon

Kobach Denied Access To ‘Build The Wall’ Money Scammed By Bannon

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

While former Breitbart News Chairman Steve Bannon continues to battle federal criminal fraud charges in connection with the We Build the Wall campaign, one of the far-right Republicans who has been unable to access funds from that project is former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. And on Monday, December 28, Kobach went to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to plead his case.

Kobach — a "birther" known for his anti-immigrant views and voter suppression efforts — has not faced any criminal charges in connection with We Build the Wall, a crowdfunding project for a wall along the U.S./Mexico border. Those who have been charged with fraud include not only Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist in the Trump Administration in 2017, but also, We Build the Wall founder Brian Kolfage and Bannon allies Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea. Prosecutors allege that Bannon, Kolfage, Badolato and Shea deceived donors by not using 100% of the funds for the construction of a border wall, and instead used a lot of the money for personal expenses.

Federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York, Law & Crime reporter Adam Klasfeld notes, allege that "Bannon pocketed at least $1 million of the money, and Kolfage took $350,000 plus went on a spending spree to buy a Jupiter Marine yacht called the Warfighter, a Range Rover SUV, a golf cart, jewelry, and cosmetic surgery."

Klasfeld adds that as general counsel for We Build the Wall, "Kobach was compensated handsomely in attorneys' fees that the government does not allege to be improper." And because Kobach has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing — unlike Kolfage, Badolato and Shea — he believes it is unfair that he is being cut off from We Build the Wall assets during the prosecution.

But

U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres disagrees. On December 14, according to Klasfeld, "Torres rejected Kobach's argument that blocking the money interfered with his due process rights."

Torres wrote, "Although the Supreme Court has made clear that pretrial hearings on forfeiture may be required when the forfeiture order is challenged by a criminal defendant, particularly where their Sixth Amendment right to counsel is implicated, the law concerning the rights of third parties is less clear."

Now, Kobach — who ran for governor of Kansas in 2018 and lost to Democrat Laura Kelly — is hoping that the Second Circuit will disagree with Torres' ruling. Kobach's attorney, Justin S. Weddle, according to Klasfeld, is arguing "that the indictment" in the fraud case against Bannon and the others "concedes that any alleged fraud ended when We Build the Wall updated the website to disclose that Kolfage would be compensated."

Weddle told Law & Crime, "The government has frozen funds donated well after that date, which can have no logical or legal connection to the alleged fraud. Regardless of the government's intent, the result is that the government has frozen We Build the Wall's pursuit of its mission, which is the opposite of what its donors intended."

Kobach has a reputation for being an extremist even in Republican circles. When Barack Obama was president, Kobach promoted the racist "birther" conspiracy theory— which claimed, with zero evidence, that Obama wasn't really born in the U.S. and was really born in Kenya. Obama's birth certificate made it abundantly clear that he was born in Hawaii and is a life-long U.S. citizen, contrary to what Kobach and other birthers claimed.

In addition to embracing birtherism, Kobach is known for his anti-immigrant viewsand for promoting voter suppression. But Kobach's xenophobia couldn't get him past the finish line in Kansas' 2018 gubernatorial race. Even in a deep red state, Kobach lost to the Democratic nominee, Laura Kelly, by 5% — and Kelly is now governor or Kansas.

Donald Trump

Trump Claims He Rejected Wall Scam, But Sponsors Boasted Of His Support

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

After Steve Bannon's arrest on Thursday, Donald Trump tried to put a Grand Canyon-sized gap between himself and the "We Build The Wall" border scheme. Bannon, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato, and Timothy Shea were indicted on counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The federal indictment says the crew pilfered "hundreds of thousands of dollars" and a Bannon-controlled nonprofit received more than $1 million in funds.

Read NowShow less
Why Republicans Fear Kobach Will Lose Kansas

Why Republicans Fear Kobach Will Lose Kansas

Former Kansas Secretary of State officially announced on Monday that he will be seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat presently held by Republican Pat Roberts, who is retiring. If Kobach receives the nomination and defeats a Democratic nominee in 2020, he would hardly be the first Republican to win that seat — Kansas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1930. In other words, Kansas is a very red state. And yet, some GOP strategists are imploring Kobach not to run and fear that if he does receive his party’s nomination, he could become the first Republican to lose a U.S. Senate race in Kansas in 90 years.

Kobach isn’t just any Republican: he is extreme even by modern-day GOP standards. And he comes with a lot of baggage. Here are some of the reasons why various Republican strategists would love to see Kobach drop out of the race.

1. Kobach lost Kansas’ gubernatorial race to a Democrat in 2018

Texas is often described as a red state, but compared to Kansas, Texas is light red rather than deep red. In 2018, according to U.S. News and World Report, voter registration in Kansas was a paltry 24 percent Democratic — whereas Pew Research found that among Texans, the political makeup was 39 percent “Republican/lean Republican,” 40 percent “Democrat/lean Democrat” and 21 percent “no lean.” Democrats have more reason to feel depressed in Kansas than they do in Texas. And yet, in 2018, the unthinkable happened in Kansas: a centrist Democrat, Laura Kelly, won the gubernatorial race, defeating Kobach by 5 percent.

Granted, 5 percent isn’t a landslide, but this is Kansas we’re talking about — not California, Massachusetts or even a swing state like Florida or Pennsylvania. In 2016, President Donald Trump won Kansas by 21 percent. And GOP strategists fear that if Kobach could lose one statewide race in Kansas, he could lose another.

Joanna Rodriquez, press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, complained to The Hill, “Just last year, Kris Kobach ran and lost to a Democrat. Now, he wants to do the same and simultaneously put President Trump’s presidency and Senate Majority at risk.”

2. Kobach lost a House race to a Democrat in 2004

The 2018 election wasn’t the only time Kobach lost to a Democrat. In 2004, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District and was defeated by former Rep. Dennis Moore by 11 percent in a district that is 82 percent white. Kobach has held some major positions (chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, Kansas secretary of state), but GOP strategists believe that he has suffered too many losses to Democrats in a state where Republicans have a huge advantage.

A GOP strategist who spoke to The Hill on condition of anonymity fears that if Kobach stays in the Senate race and Democrats win enough Senate races in red states, they might regain control of the Senate in 2020. “You can see a real scenario where President Trump is reelected and the U.S. Senate falls to the Democrats if Kobach puts Kansas in play,” that strategist warned.

3. Kobach is an unapologetic birther

When Barack Obama was president, Kobach enthusiastically promoted the racist and idiotic birther conspiracy theory — which claimed that Obama wasn’t really a U.S. citizen and was born in Kenya. Obama’s birth certificate proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961. Yet even when MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was holding Obama’s birth certificate right up to the camera in order to show how ridiculous birthers were, Kobach persisted in his birtherism.

4. Kobach falsely accused the Human Rights Campaign of promoting ‘pedophilia’

Kobach, a far-right Christian fundamentalist, is notoriously anti-gay. When he ran against Moore in 2004, he accused his Democratic opponent of associating with a group that promoted “homosexual pedophilia.” That group was the Human Rights Campaign, a mainstream gay rights organization that has never condoned or promoted pedophilia in any way. But in his effort to smear Moore, Kobach reflexively associated a gay rights group with pedophilia.

5. Kobach has worked for the racist Federation for American Immigration Reform

Kobach has not only been an avid proponent of voter suppression; he has also been deeply anti-immigrant and worked for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, the legal division of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) — which the Southern Poverty Law Center considers a hate group. The Federation, founded by eugenics proponent John Tanton in 1979, has a long history of calling for a moratorium on immigration and claiming that Latinos don’t fully assimilate into U.S. culture.