C4T still also has not filed as a political action committee. Alamogordo High School Alamogordo Proud Breaking Stereotypes and Winning in Welding Competition, Alamogordo was the only team to be represented with female welders. This decision marks the first time since 1869 that a court has disqualified a public official under Section 3, and . Couy Dale Griffin (born 1973) is a former politician who served from 2019 to 2022 as a county commissioner for District 2 of Otero County, New Mexico, which covers Tularosa, Three Rivers, La Luz, the western parts of Alamogordo, and the Mescalero Apache Reservation.In September 2022, Griffin was removed from office under the Disqualification Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United . I have done my best to shield and protect anyone who has supported me from the same attacks that I daily come under. ", Meantime, his barbecue business never succeeded. 89.9 FM Live From The University Of New Mexico. For years, Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin has been Donald Trump's most flamboyant supporter in New Mexico, creating spectacles and controversy in equal measure. The donut shop has announced it has closed its South Valley and Northeast Heights locations. Its probably why New Mexico is a toilet. On Aug. 11, Clements and his wife presented the final findings of their audit in a special five-hour commissioners meeting, during which he got into a shouting match with the county attorney and told Holmes she should resign because it was disgusting how you fight the people. She left the meeting in tears. But his allegiance to Trump has wavered. Alamogordo Proud! Here you have Couy Griffin as Cowboys For Trump not only hiding assets from his ex-wife and son. Mar 21, 2022, 9:53 AM Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin speaks Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, in Santa Fe, N.M., as hundreds of advocates for gun rights rallied at the New Mexico Statehouse. They are wrong about voting technology, election processes, certification, and legal requirements, Skoglund said. And I said, well, you're gonna know exactly where it's at whenever the forest catches on fire around there, because it's gonna burn the whole town down. The countys attorney disagreed, calling the argument highly unlikely.. Theyre trying to make it look like I was part of an insurrection in Washington, D.C., and insurrection is a criminal charge, Griffin said Friday in a phone interview. 0:00. Former Otero County Commissioner and well-known rabble-rouser Couy Griffin was pulled over in Alamogordo in his Dodge Ram in early November. This is a nonpartisan issue, Griffin said in an interview. "What I'm trying to do through this audit," he said, "is I'd like to create a blueprint for other counties to be able to follow as well. ", Griffin and his two fellow commissioners voted to conduct the audit despite concerns about its legality noted by County Attorney R.B. Banned from Washington until testimony or trial, Griffin has returned to the routines of home in a tidy double-wide trailer in Tularosa, working most days as a stone mason. Today, Couy Griffin is divorced, disparaged by family and confronts a political recall drive, a state corruption investigation and federal charges. "Never have. Contact Senator Griggs and Burton for Yes. And thats what we had.. I think that, if that would have been the case, then I would have been charged with that in the United States federal court where this case should be.. But David and Erin Clements pressed on, appearing before the three-member, all-Republican Otero commission with a new target: the states June 7 primary. SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) Cowboys for Trump cofounder Couy Griffin confronted a trial by jury Tuesday on charges that he failed to register a political organization without filing related public financial disclosures. Colorado State slices up Lobos; UNM is a 6 To say that defense was optional would imply is was a choice. Since then, Griffin has led an itinerant life. He means no malice on anybody, said George Seeds, outside the New Heart Cowboy Church in Alamogordo where Griffin once served as pastor. They have a Son Together was born in 2014. A document that David Clements claims shows a failure to update voter check-in machines for 11 years is inaccurate, since the state uses a different check-in system, the secretary of states office said. The language, known as the disqualification clause, is part of a Civil War-era constitutional amendment intended to bar former Confederates from holding state or federal offices. Couy Griffin: All of the videos that day that show Capitol police officers opening doors, fist-bumping people coming in and beating people up and assaulting people on Capitol grounds. He says his obsession with politics has taken a toll, contributing to his 2019 divorce and tensions with relatives. But my hope rests on the law, and the law is available to us all.. Griffin: You know the drugs right now are horrible, the property crime is horrible, and theres two of you guys riding around citing people for no seatbelts?Officer: So, wed probably be doing the drug stuff if you were wearing your seatbelt.Griffin: Oh, really? "The reports that we've subsequently seen put out by these people have been riddled with falsehoods," she said. Officer: Where you headed to? In addition Mr. Griffin sent an email to his supporters which said, If convicted of this charge I could be sentenced to a year in state prison. Griffin recalled. Griffin was convicted in federal court of entering a restricted area outside the U.S. Capitol. Griffin went to court over the seatbelt ticket where he was ordered to pay the $81 fine. The process, now underway, faces several challenges. A federal judge found Couy Griffin, a county commissioner from New Mexico and founder of the group "Cowboys For Trump," guilty on one of two counts stemming from the Capitol riot. He yearns to someday run for governor even though state GOP leaders are openly scornful and Democrats hold every statewide elected office. This guy has gone off the deep end. In the seatbelt citation, the officer would note Griffin got mouthy.. The audience, which included a local minister, a bank teller and farmers in their overalls, gasped in horror or whispered wow with each new claim. Couy Griffin: You know, those would have to go through my counsel. Former President Donald Trump leads Florida Gov. Stay turned to KALHRadio.org and the Alamogordo Town News and AlamogordoConservativeDaily.org for daily updates. Griffin, who was once thanked by Trump for saying The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat and who was convicted of a misdemeanor for entering a restricted area during the Capitol riot, has long alleged the 2020 presidential election was stolen. That is what our motive and our focus has to be. Griffin has suggested that voting machines provided by Dominion Voting Systems across New Mexico could have been hacked. Manage the news you want to see, read exclusive content and explore other subscriber benefits. In what he described as a mission, he traveled on horseback from San Francisco to New York, and then across Europe and the Mediterranean to Jerusalem, arriving in 2008 after more than two years on the road. One recent still summer night in this tiny city on the Nebraska prairie, more than 60 people showed up at a senior citizens center to hear attorney David Clements warn of an epidemic of purported election fraud. You can play on an old beat-out dirt lot.. Dozens of Albuquerque Academy students volunteered to help unload and deliver the furnishings, Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer. "I was raised in the shadow of a great man," he said. What is sure to be a media circus for Alamogordo next week, Jury selection will begin Monday at the Otero County New Mexico Courthouse in the trial of the state of New Mexico v Couy Griffin, leader of Cowboys for Trump. Today, Couy Griffin is divorced, disparaged by family and confronts a political recall drive, a state corruption investigation and federal charges. This is yet another example of how lies about Dominion have damaged our company and diminished the publics faith in elections, Dominion spokeswoman Stephanie Walstrom said of Clements. As per the sources, He was married to him for a long time and got divorced in 2019. By March, volunteers organized by David and Erin Clements calling themselves the New Mexico Audit Force were going door to door in Otero County asking citizens about how they voted in 2020. Pecchia wrote a recommendation letter for Clements for a teaching award that recognizes excellence in pre-tenure professors. Do you regret anything that happened? Griffin is one of thousands of Trump loyalists in public office who are charting an uncertain future ahead of the 2022 election cycle. WWG1WGA standing in Faith! It was a complete change. A group of prominent constitutional attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief on Aug. 1 arguing that Griffin should be removed from office. The 249-page lawsuit alleges that Griffin can be removed as an Otero County commissioner for violating his oath of office because the 14th Amendment states that no officeholder sworn to uphold the Constitution shall have engaged in insurrection against the same, according to the suit. They say Griffin didnt partake in violence and was well within his free speech rights as he voiced election grievances and attempted to lead a prayer with a bullhorn. "And it's cost me everything - from a marriage, to finances, to friends.". Couy Griffin, an Otero County commissioner and co-founder of Cowboys for Trump, answers a question from the prosecution Monday, Aug. 15, at the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe. The couple soon found an ally in Couy Griffin, a flamboyant former Disneyland Paris rodeo cowboy who until this week was a member of the county commission in Otero, a rural New Mexico community of 69,000 along the Texan border. I could also be in jeopardy of having my pretrial release affected from January 6th that could result in me being transferred back to the DC Gulag in Washington DC. I wasnt charged with insurrection because the evidence to criminally charge me was not there according to the letter of the law, he said. White House official grilled over Biden's summit with Puti Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, US home prices just did something they haven't done since 2012, Celeb-loved jewelry brand Dorsey drops dazzling new styles, White Lotus actor jokes about being hit on following shows success, Is this the couple behind the Worst Art Job Listing Ever?, Undertaker transforms coffin into barbecue grill, Tom Sizemore And The Dangerous Burden of Desperation, Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce. Griffin and Cowboys for Trump refused to do so and the case went to arbitration. "And they're trying to spin routine election administration processes as somehow improper. The case went to federal district court where a judge dismissed Griffin's case where he tried to have the New Mexico Campaign Reporting Act declared unconstitutional. But luck may have run out for this cowboy pastor who rode to national political fame by embracing President Donald Trump with a series of horseback caravans and came crashing down with a defiant stand Jan. 6 against President Joe Bidens election. See State ex rel. Couy's ex-wife, Kourtnie, is a 34 years old Iraqi war veteran who was born in the year 1986. She said in an online press conference that she feared, "a scenario where the tabulators would instantly become, you know, questionable, and we would have to completely take them out of serviceIt's just a really scary, unfortunate and nonsensical situation. Representing the plaintiffs are no fewer than seven attorneys listed in court records. Some extra notes, quotes, news and notes from the Lobos Friday night basketball game in, To say that defense was optional would imply is was a choice. Just weeks later, in October 2021, he was fired, by his own account, for refusing to wear a mask in class. As news of the attack came, he was in his cabin in the mountains of New Mexico with his wife and three young children. Otero County commissioners in July rejected Griffins request for taxpayer-funded legal representation in the lawsuit. EXCLUSIVE: Blake Griffin and Ryan Kalil are getting into business with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said dozens of people have complained about volunteers associated with the audit going door-to-door and asking residents about their vote. Couy Griffin, the founder of the Cowboys for Trump group, appeared to turn on the former president during a QAnon event in Las Vegas. And yet he remains determined. Because I care about the truth. 1:07. If I was in your position I wouldnt be able to sleep at night, Griffin said to Holmes. All they need to do to change the system, he assured them, is to win over a handful of commission votes. Griffin is presumed innocent until proven guilty. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. I am already bracing for a media frenzy during this time because there is so much on the line. But the project seems confusing at first glance, given that Trump won in Otero County. Kourtnie served in the US military and is a war Veteran. Emptying the Notebook: Can the Lobos get a defensive stop when it counts? Griffin had recently been booted out of office following his conviction on federal charges for trespassing outside the Capitol building during the January 6 attack. 3 Mar. His 12 th-round knockout of Ilunga . A recent report from congressional Democrats on election misinformation highlighted Clementss activities and concluded that the greatest current threat to democratic legitimacy now comes from lies by domestic actors who seek to convince Americans that their election systems are fraudulent, corrupt, or insecure., New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, who has clashed repeatedly with Clements and his wife, said the misinformation and disinformation were being seeded as core beliefs, not just with elected officials but the general public.. Early in his life, he struggled with drugs, alcohol and an assault conviction, he has said. McFadden also acquitted Griffin of a disorderly conduct charge. The two-day trial began Tuesday with jury selection in state District Court at Alamogordo, the . Griffin shows hes not just an election denier, hes also a traffic ticket denier. He looked back and saw his wife and children standing in the window watching him, weeping. Hes part of a smaller cadre who flirted with insurrection on Trumps behalf and may still pay a high price. Given his intelligence and accomplishments, the fact that hes decided to pursue this provably false theory is tragic and surprising, said Chris Luchini, the head of the Libertarian Party of New Mexico and a former colleague of Clements. Clements also asserted that the digital file containing the ballots from the 2020 elections had been deliberately wiped from the voting machines when in fact separate files are created for each election and the ballots and other records are preserved. Because what they get away to doing to me will be what they inevitably do to you. Regardless of the outcome of this trial an appeal is expected. The Oath Keeper. Youre in the middle of elections that are fraudulent right now if what theyre telling us is true., If what theyre telling us is true, Holmes said, shouting, IF!. Get the Android Weather app from Google Play, Skier Shiffrin locks up overall title, still chases, Olympic ticket sales for Paris Games gets off to, 7 Cubs pitchers combine for no-hitter vs Machado,, Mikal Bridges helps Nets rally to stun Celtics, 115-105, NASCAR star Elliott has leg surgery after snowboard, New images surface of Couy Griffin at Capitol insurrection, Report: Couy Griffin denies COVID test, delaying potential release hearing, Should we bring back the dodo? Officer: Hello, sir.Griffin: How you doing? Cowboys for Trump co-founder Couy Griffin confronted a trial by jury on Tuesday on charges that he failed to register a political organisation without filing related public financial disclosures. Should Griffin be found guilty of the charge, he could be punished by a fine of up to $1,000 or by up to a year imprisonment, court records state. Hes an advocate for stricter state voting laws and a die-hard opponent of COVID-19 restrictions who says hell no to taking the vaccine. Couy Griffin, of New Mexico, was arrested today in Washington, D.C., and charged by criminal complaint with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful entry. He said people wanting to sing the song popularly known as the Black national anthem should go back to Africa. I know they do. In his disciplinary hearing, which Clements posted online, the university said he violated the schools covid-19 mask and vaccination policy. Couy Griffin (via CREW legal filing) Leading First Amendment experts have weighed in on a lawsuit against a New Mexico man convicted in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying that he cannot use the First Amendment as a defense to the constitutional prohibition against insurrectionists holding public office. 70 202 Clementss strategy is to target his message locally: to county commissioners and clerks, jobs that are lower profile but that wield an outsize role in administering Americas decentralized election system. That day, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released their report into the threat of election misinformation. Dont forget to wear your seatbelt. A Hubbard Broadcasting Company, said he never entered the Capitol building. The audit later fell apart, with the firm hired to analyze the results agreeing to return part of its initial payment, stipulating they had found no evidence of fraud. A state judge on Tuesday ordered Griffin removed from office, citing his role in having aided the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. After years of unwavering support, Griffin suggested he. Thats hard for me to accept.. Griffin took the oath of office in December 2018 when he was sworn in as a commissioner. "Cowboys for Trump" co-founder Couy Griffin speaks to reporters as he arrives at federal court in Washington on June 17, 2022. . While he did face criticism, including from fellow Republicans, in the aftermath of the events at the Capitol, Griffin survived an effort to recall him from his position, when a petition did not garner enough signatures. Be safe.Griffin: Id be embarrassed if I was you guys.Officer: Alright. At New Mexico State University, Clements was known for his engaging lectures, being available to students and grading papers late into the night, according to David Pecchia, a former student and retired Air Force master sergeant who was close to Clements and considered him a mentor. In Sandoval County, Clements had so riled residents that the commissioners had to be removed from the hearing room by sheriffs deputies for their safety after voting 4-1 to approve the results, according to County Commissioner Katherine Bruch, a Democrat. Their reports on election fraud are a jumble of conspiracy theories and full of errors. Both are extremely concerning and truly terrifying to say the least.. Officer: Reason why I stopped you, is I observed when you were back there and you werent wearing your seatbelt. He grew up in Reserve, in western New Mexico, where his father ran a sawmill. Griffin participated in, encouraged, and promoted the January 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol, the suit alleges. "But the need for the audit isn't necessarily here in Otero County. Thats the battle. Wearing a Cowboys for Trump shirt, and sitting in the office he shares with the heads of a deer and an elk, Griffin discussed the roots of his brand of populist politics. Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican we should all want to make sure our elections are secure.. Hed like to reinvent the sheriffs role as a brake on the governors power. Griffin delivered a scathing rebuke last year as the NFL announced game-opening renditions of Lift Every Voice and Sing, also known as the Black national anthem. We've received your submission. Email addresses are used solely for verification and to speed the verification process for repeat questioners. He said he went to pray and exercise his right to peacefully protest, but he was arrested for his involvement. Pecchia said his respect for Clements evaporated one day when he saw his former teacher leading an anti-mask march through a craft market where Pecchia sold his woodworking, causing a disturbance. "There's no absolutely no reason for this," she said. Make them go away. , One woman told him she and others in her county were planning to have a days-long outdoor slumber party near her countys one ballot drop-box before the November election to guard it from being stuffed with ballots a fear propagated by the debunked film 2000 Mules.. Griffin has acknowledged using the county building for promotional videos but said he never claimed they were . The Cowboys for Trump website was not operational Feb. 13. Their son was born in 2014. They also alleged that unnamed bad actors massively manipulated voter registration rolls, allowing people to illicitly vote in the last presidential election. The lawsuit contends that Griffin violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits officeholders sworn to uphold the Constitution from engaging in an insurrection against the U.S. government. The need for the audit in New Mexico was more in the likes of Bernalillo County, and Sandoval County and Doa Ana County," referring to areas where President Joe Biden won the 2020 vote. "Ive seen the same videos that you have and there were people who acted extremely foolishly and recklessly and violently, and I dont agree with any of that type of behavior," Griffin said. Pull him out of his pick-up, take him to the ground, and charge him with resisting arrest! Michelle Lujan Grisham as his political nemesis on issues of gun control, abortion and pandemic restrictions. And yet he remains determined. And since he is still in office, he was able to push for the audit. The January 6th attack and the events surrounding it constituted an insurrection against the government and Constitution of the United States as defined by the 14th Amendment, the suit alleges. Now, Griffin is spearheading a legally dubious audit of the 2020 election in Otero County. Cowboys for Trump, or C4T as it is known colloquially, was ordered by the New Mexico Secretary of State's Office to file as a political action committee and file all campaign finance reports or face fines. And that was one that got me, said Brown, part of a committee seeking to recall Griffin. It concluded that if elections continued to be litigated and relitigated, without evidence of fraud, there is a serious threat voters will refuse to accept votes they do not like, and that the, "peaceful transfer of power, a hallmark of our democracy, could be at risk.". I dont have the same confidence in him, Griffin said. He is a pastor, a Republican and the son of a former commissioner in Catron County, New Mexico. Clementss allegations extend to voting machines made by multiple companies, including Dominion Voting Systems, which are used in New Mexico and have been the target of false claims by Trump supporters. And yet he remains determined. So whats the solution?. Couy Griffin Net Worth Couy Griffin has an estimated Net Worth of $1Million in 2022. Mr Griffin, the founder of Cowboys for Trump, said in an interview with journalist Mr Griffin that he believed both Sicknick and Ashli Babbitt are still alive. Its about the money, and this week in Otero County, New Mexico a jury will decide. Asked for comment, Erin Clements sent a video of Democratic lawmakers raising concerns about election security. I got a better idea. Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said that her office was working to ensure the process does not compromise the "security and integrity" of the tabulating machines used in the elections. "On the afternoon of January 17, 2021, the U.S. Capitol Police notified the FBI that they had detained Couy Griffin of New Mexico, who was the subject of an arrest warrant for his role in the . Mr Griffin, a county official in Otero County, New Mexico, added that the aftermath of the election had added to difficulties with relatives and his divorced wife. Couy Griffin was founder of a group called Cowboys for Trump and a member of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Its been real hard.. New Mexicos secretary of state has also rejected the allegations. Like others preaching the gospel of election fraud, Clements has attracted a large following online, where he mixes conspiracies with Christian nationalist and sometimes violent rhetoric. Feb 27, 2023. Ex-NBA Champ Shares Screenshot of Soccer League's Ridiculous Question for His Son - He's Fuming . Griffin, the only dissenter, called his vote in from Washington, where he had just been sentenced to 14 days in jail time served for his role in the Capitol attack. Those claims are rooted in a 2020 election night error by the clerk in a Michigan county that resulted in the heavily Republican area briefly reporting that Biden had beaten Trump there. Last year, one report (produced jointly by the Brennan Center for Justice, the R Street think tank and nonprofit Protect Democracy) looked at five states where partisan reviews of elections are being pursued. Yet two independent election security experts who have examined the Clements work Susan Greenhalgh, senior adviser on election security for the nonprofit Free Speech For People, and Kevin Skoglund, president and chief technologist for the nonpartisan Citizens for Better Elections said the fraud charges are baseless and misleading. For now, Griffin has halted the petition with an appeal to the state Supreme Court, which hasnt decided whether to intervene. Otero County Clerk Robyn Holmes disagrees. His words had an impact: In June, officials in three New Mexico counties where he made his case either delayed or voted against certification of this years primary results, even though there was no credible evidence of problems with the vote. Holmes has grown so disheartened by the couples oft-repeated allegations that she has stopped coming to meetings unless asked for. KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. Guitarist Ottmar Liebert bringing his unique blend of music Ottmar Liebert and his band Luna Negra will perform with the New Mexico Philharmonic at Popejoy Hall on Saturday, March 11. TULAROSA, N.M. He rodeoed in a Buffalo Bill-style Wild West show, carried his message on horseback from the Holy Land to Times Square and was invited to the White House to meet the president. Whenever you say, China stole the election. They embrace the instructions of leaders like former Trump adviser turned podcaster Stephen K. Bannon, who has urged election deniers to run for local races and sign up to be poll workers in what he calls his precinct-by-precinct takeover strategy. He broadcast from the January 6, 2021 takeover of the US Capitol looking like the Cowboy Church pastor he used to be, in a tie and cowboy hat. But despite the uproar of the last few years, he still believes he has a support base. (Those findings were comprehensively rejected by the Maricopa County Elections Department.). The New Mexico attorney general investigated embattled former Otero County Commissioner and Cowboys For Trump founder Couy Griffin for using C4T funds for personal use and taking official acts as commissioner for his personal gain. Donnie Reynolds, a 51-year-old sales associate at an Alamogordo hardware store, says Griffin is being targeted for ties to Trump. Some extra notes, quotes, news and notes from the Lobos Friday night basketball game in Fort Collins, Colorado. They loved it, Harper said. Griffin still wears a monogrammed Cowboys for Trump shirt to commission meetings. The motion said Couy Griffin "has. He was also one of three commissioners in Otero, a county of some . Expect tightened security in the area of New York Avenue and an influx of press in the area on Tuesday. More immediately, Griffin is eyeing an open 2022 sheriffs race in another New Mexico county where he grew up. The fanciful arguments of conspiracists obscure the countrys real need to continue to address election vulnerabilities, she said, such as internet voting 31 states and the District of Columbia allow it for overseas, military and in some places disabled voters as well as outdated paperless voting machines. The ruling comes after lawyers for Griffin's ex-wife, Kourtnie, filed an emergency motion in May to modify their custody and visitation agreement. Im asking you all to consider showing up to an air-conditioned building, organizing, opening your mouth and saying: These machines suck. However he is on probation from the guilty verdict related to the participant and in the capital events of January 6th thus the stakes are now significantly higher.

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