On Thursday, a federal judge in Texas found True The Vote's Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips, a former Texas official who claims that "2,000 mules" stole the 2020 election from Donald Trump, in contempt of court. Engelbrecht is a friend of Ginni Thomas's , by the way, and her group has collaborated with QAnon. And the story is about to get weirder.
Via The Texas Tribune:
They are facing accusations of defamation and computer crimes from a company at the center of a viral right-wing social media campaign engineered by the conservative voting organization.
The judge informed the pair they would face jail time if they did not comply with the terms of a court order by Monday at 9 a.m.
"I expect both defendants to be present," said U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt, a Ronald Reagan appointee, looking at their table. Marshals, he said, would be ready to arrest them.
The judge told Engelbrecht and Phillips that they would face jail time if they do not comply with the terms of a court order by Monday at 9:00 a.m.
Thursday's hearing, which took place on the 11th floor of the federal court building in downtown Houston, was the first time either Engelbrecht or Phillips have appeared in court in the matter. Engelbrecht and Phillips testified only after the judge demanded they do so — Hoyt needed their testimony so he could rule on whether the pair should be held in contempt of court for refusing, for weeks, to hand over information he'd ordered they produce to the plaintiffs.
The two don't seem to want to give up the names of certain individuals. Could it be because there weren't any individuals and they really did just defame a company because they thought they could?
At issue is the name and contact information of individuals Phillips and Engelbrecht have alleged were present at a Dallas hotel meeting in January 2021, when True the Vote was allegedly given proof Konnech was improperly storing the personal data of “millions” of U.S. poll workers on a server in China. True the Vote then used that information to fuel months of vaguely defined accusations about the company and Yu in podcasts and appearances.
Phillips and Engelbrecht repeatedly claimed Yu was an agent of the Communist Party of China. China, they said, had used the poll worker data to influence the 2020 election. The claims have powered weeks of fundraising for True the Vote, and Phillips and Engelbrecht have enlisted their followers to do additional research on Konnech. It’s an undertaking they’ve named “The Tiger Project.
Engelbrecht and Phillips have been promoting election conspiracy theories for years without evidence to back those wild-eyed claims up. Claims of voter fraud that don't exist did not start with Donald Trump. These groups are supported by powerful and wealthy donors, so it's a money-making thing for them.
UPDATE:
UPDATE: Lock them up!
