Hes part of a smaller cadre who flirted with insurrection on Trumps behalf and may still pay a high price. 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. You can play on an old beat-out dirt lot.. Otero County Clerk Robyn Holmes disagrees. Hes also been suspended from Facebook and banished from Native American lands in his district as he contests charges of breaking into the Capitol grounds and disrupting Congress that could carry a one-year sentence. In the end, the commissioners voted to sue the secretary of states office for forcing them to certify the primary results. Sledgehammers! a woman at the back of the room yelled out. The claim that the volunteer canvassers found dozens of ghost voters at one address turned out to reference the Post Office box at a nearby military base. He said he went to pray and exercise his right to peacefully protest, but he was arrested for his involvement. The producing partners have signed a multi-year first-look development and production deal for film and TV via their Mortal Media production banner. Jeff Swanson, chairman of the Otero County Democratic Party, says Griffins divisive remarks hinder county efforts to secure state infrastructure spending, and he has engaged in intimidation by recording Cowboys for Trump videos from his office with a shotgun within view. Emptying the Notebook: Can the Lobos get a defensive stop when it counts? 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. A jury will consider this week whether the support group . The countys attorney disagreed, calling the argument highly unlikely.. At the June hearing in Otero, David and Erin Clements turned up to a crowded meeting room to give the commission a nearly three-hour update on their findings. The couples conclusions prompted Griffin to chastise his own clerk, Robyn Holmes, a Republican who has 30 years of experience running elections in the county. 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. Copyright 2023 2nd Life Media AlamogordoTownNews.com. Liz Howard, Senior Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, said that contractors hired to do these audits frequently have little to no experience in election administration. 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. Trump won there in 2020 with 73% of the vote. Regardless of the outcome of this trial an appeal is expected. Now, Griffin is spearheading a legally dubious audit of the 2020 election in Otero County. 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.. He says Griffin is right about lots of things, like the need for a border wall. I just went to stand in what I believe is my constitutional right, to peacefully protest. KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. This story has been shared 104,709 times. He said he began examining the alleged evidence of fraud in contested states like Georgia and Pennsylvania in the days following the election, and later had some of those who claimed to have observed it firsthand appear on his YouTube videos. And it was a challenging venture into the barbecue restaurant business that he said pushed him into politics. They want to destroy our country, Griffin said in a video monologue. "I was never involved in anything violent on that day, and there was never anything violently done around me," he said when asked about the incident. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. Weve figured out how theyre screwing you out of your vote, Clements said. 0:00. Griffin lost that case but still appears to have failed to follow the court order. 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. The county sheriffs sole duty and responsibility is to protect our individual rights, he said. Because the rule of law needs to exist.. My mom worked at Kmart and Lowes, my dad bagged groceries, he said. A New Mexico county commissioner who heads Cowboys for Trump was arrested Sunday in Washington, D.C., by Capitol Police after vowing to bring back his guns for Inauguration Day. Clements won last year. 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. Email addresses are used solely for verification and to speed the verification process for repeat questioners. "And I really thought that the president was going to come through on his end, and unfortunately, he never did. 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. The former Disneyland rodeo cowboy once rode down New York's Sixth Avenue wearing the furs of bobcats and coyotes he trapped and skinned, brandishing an American flag. The error was quickly corrected, but the damage was done. ", But despite conversations with a Department of Agriculture official, nothing happened. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Couy's ex-wife, Kourtnie, is a 34 years old Iraqi war veteran who was born in the year 1986. At times I felt cursed. De-extinction is a, Roundhouse Roundup: Paramilitary rules, youth parole, Rio Bravo Park cleanup will take longer than expected, Gun safety bill passes Senate, faces one more hurdle, Restaurants still struggling to recover from COVID, Roswell PD: Woman steals, drives wrong-way to get, More from KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos, State basketball tournament: Girls first round recap, BCSO: Kids were living in dirty home containing drugs, Local casino hosts National Fiery Foods & BBQ Show, UNM police arrest man for giving false ID, fleeing, Man connected to political shootings to stay behind, Whats happening around New Mexico Mar. A group of prominent constitutional attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief on Aug. 1 arguing that Griffin should be removed from office. Griffin has been rebuked by some Republicans over his racial invective. In a conversation with The Associated Press, Griffin says he learned to love the spotlight during five years as an expert rodeo hand in a Wild West show at Paris Disneyland park. 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. Cowboys for Trump cofounder Couy Griffin is confronting a trial by jury on charges that he. The political operative. Weve never experienced a national coup, he told the crowd, standing before red, white and blue signs strung up alongside a bingo board. All they need to do to change the system, he assured them, is to win over a handful of commission votes. Officer: Where you headed to? I come to you as someone who had a future. The second trial in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot case is underway Monday, with New Mexico county commissioner, self-proclaimed cowboy and noted conspiracy theorist Couy Griffin appearing . 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. Many of the comments predated the 2020 election and focused on the potential for foreign interference. But she "did not take her minor child to war with her" as Couy Griffin is doing by taking their son to President Donald Trump campaign events during a pandemic, the attorneys said. Griffin is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Subscribe now to access decluttered news, chosen by you. 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. In October, around the time he was fired from his university job, David and Erin Clements mailed a 261-page document to commissioners and county clerks across New Mexico alleging widespread issues with the voting systems what the congressional report called imaginary fraud.. The decision was made . 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. And yet, Griffin said in an interview that the audit is strategic, designed to forge a path so other counties in New Mexico audit their elections, a gambit that echoes a nationwide push by Republican officials to sow doubt about election results by pushing for audits. 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? I never ever got the impression he was so radical about things like that and I felt stupid I had submitted a letter for this guy nominating him for this great award.. Griffin has cast Democratic Gov. As news of the attack came, he was in his cabin in the mountains of New Mexico with his wife and three young children. "I do believe our elections were stolen," he said. Still, loyal constituents are easy to come by in a rural county steeped in the anti-establishment, pro-gun culture that dominates southern New Mexico. Thats something the media is not telling us right now, not showing us but its going to come out. Griffin recalled. Speak up a little.Officer: I said I am going to issue a citation for a seatbelt. Whenever you say, China stole the election. Griffin participated in, encouraged, and promoted the January 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol, the suit alleges. That happened Tuesday in New Mexico when a state judge disqualified Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin from holding public office. 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. For two hours, Clements who has the rumpled look of an academic, though he lost his business school professors job last fall for refusing to wear a mask in class spoke of breached voting machines, voter roll manipulation and ballot stuffing that he falsely claims cost former president Donald Trump victory in 2020. And I pray to see you on February 28th at the Otero County Courthouse in Alamogordo N.M.Much love in Christ,Couy, According to case documents Griffin launched a GoFundMe account for Cowboys For Trump but used the funds for personal expenses, including court-ordered child support, used public funds to advance C4T and has taken official acts for personal gain.. This story has been shared 143,593 times. . He grew up in Reserve, in western New Mexico, where his father ran a sawmill. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Couy Griffin, Cowboys for Trump founder and Otero County commissioner, was arrested last year for his involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. Sicknick, a Capitol police. So whats the solution?. 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. A New Mexico judge on Tuesday removed Otero County commissioner Couy Griffin by invoking the 14th Amendment's prohibition on those who engaged in insurrection from serving in office. Dont forget to wear your seatbelt. But my hope rests on the law, and the law is available to us all.. He continued per the sent email; I believe another motivation for this charge is that by forcing me to register as a c-corp or non-profit it will force me to disclose all financials to the state and by doing that they will be able to unmask any past supporters of Cowboys for Trump to only destroy them with the same vindictiveness that they have come at me with. Feb 27, 2023. Ah cheer up, Chris - maybe the governor's State Police troopers can catch Couy doing an illegal lane change! 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. He delved into politics too, serving as a county Republican chair and as an unsuccessful Republican primary candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2014. He has made baldly racist and violent statements. Thus the State Attorney General filed the lawsuit and a trail by jury was ordered. Any further details regarding Kourtnie have not been disclosed yet. 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. . 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. Brittany Costello: Are you willing to share those? He raised this the first time the president called him. 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. "Never have. "And he kind of laughed and said no. Clements said in a brief interview in Nebraska that he believes his efforts are noble. Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican we should all want to make sure our elections are secure.. As per edailybuzz, Couy Griffin is married to his wife, Kourtnie A Gates. He also says Cowboys for Trump is a for-profit company, not a political group. Citizens hurled insults at leaders voting for certification, calling them cowards, traitors to our country and rubber stamp puppets.. It is being investigated by State Auditor Brian Coln after complaints prompted concerns about the procurement process. Griffin said he is confident the judge will dismiss the lawsuit. New Mexicos secretary of state has also rejected the allegations. He was a rodeo cowboy at Disneyland Paris and a pastor at the Cowboy Church in Alamogordo. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Couy Griffin, Cowboys for Trump founder and Otero County commissioner, was arrested last year for his . 89.9 FM Live From The University Of New Mexico. Pull him out of his pick-up, take him to the ground, and charge him with resisting arrest! Thats hard for me to accept.. The New Mexico Supreme Court denied an appeal from former Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin in the case that removed him from office based on his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. D-101-CV-2022-00473, 2022 WL 4295619 (N.M. Dist. "Just struggling every day with new regulations, new laws, new taxes," he said. The donut shop has announced it has closed its South Valley and Northeast Heights locations. "There's no absolutely no reason for this," she said. Its all falsehoods and speculation. The election was stolen from me, and then you just walk away? A year later, he still believes the election was tampered with. Yeah. He had a son with her, who currently lives with her. As per the sources, He was married to him for a long time and got divorced in 2019. I wasnt charged with insurrection because the evidence to criminally charge me was not there according to the letter of the law, he said. Weve got enough evidence to have indictments, people tried for treason and have the remedy of firing squads. Griffin took the oath of office in December 2018 when he was sworn in as a commissioner. It sounds good and people believe it because it sounds authoritative if you dont know much.. A Hubbard Broadcasting Company, said he never entered the Capitol building. 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. 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. Alamogordo Proud! ", Meantime, his barbecue business never succeeded. 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. "We would cut trees that had been blown over by the wind, we would cut trees that have been killed by forest fires," he said. Former Otero County Commissioner and well-known rabble-rouser Couy Griffin was pulled over in Alamogordo in his Dodge Ram in early November. Because I care about the truth. Today, Couy Griffin is divorced, disparaged by family and confronts a political recall drive, a state corruption investigation and federal charges. Hear their stories. The allegations against CPAC chief Matt Schlapp. 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. Washington - The founder of the "Cowboys for Trump'' organization and commissioner of Otero County, New Mexico, Couy Griffin, was sentenced Friday to 14 days in jail, a $3,000 fine, 60 hours of . He yearns to someday run for governor even though state GOP leaders are openly scornful and Democrats hold every statewide elected office. "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. Friday night on, Senate Bill 2 would bring the pay of state Supreme Court justices in line with. See State ex rel. I dont have the same confidence in him, Griffin said. "I've had my own family say. White v. Griffin, No. Dysfunctional family. Cell phone video captured the violence and chaos of that day. Distraught that Bidens victory would be validated by Congress despite the insurrection, he has said that he ran outside and fell on his knees, next to the fire pit. Be safe.Griffin: Id be embarrassed if I was you guys.Officer: Alright. "When they put this thought into people's minds, that somehow our machines are not calculating the votes correctly, then these people will not want to vote.". FILE - Otero County, New Mexico Commissioner Couy Griffin speaks to reporters as he arrives at federal court in Washington, June 17, 2022. Maggie Toulouse Oliver v Couy Griffin, Near mistrial results in not guilty verdict, Alamogordo Proud Flickinger Center Hosts Local Students to LP And The Vinyl, Alamogordo Proud local students take in the arts for free at Flickinger, Minor School Accident Bus #108 Tuesday NO Injuries, Maggie Toulouse Oliver v Couy Griffin Campaign Finance Violations Trial Day One Recap. The cowboy. Griffin has suggested that voting machines provided by Dominion Voting Systems across New Mexico could have been hacked. Clements was saying, Youre zombies, man. C4T still also has not filed as a political action committee. Because what they get away to doing to me will be what they inevitably do to you. 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. Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin will face off in court Monday against three New Mexicans who argue in a lawsuit that he should be removed from his post as an Otero County commissioner for participating in an insurrection against the United States. 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. 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. But his allegiance to Trump has wavered. But much of that I believe will depend on how much support we can build during this time and nothing can replace individual Americans showing up physically and standing alongside one another.. He has sent out a public plea in an attempt to win in the court of public opinion, by garnering a large showing of supporters, shoulder to shoulder to appear at the Otero County Courthouse. Kourtnie Griffin, an Iraqi war veteran, understands "passions for God and country" and believes her ex-husband has a right to express his views, her lawyers said. Its about the money, and this week in Otero County, New Mexico a jury will decide. Ramie Harper, a 67-year-old former bull rider from Fruitland, took a break from making custom hats to join the caravan. In all, more than 400 people were charged in the insurrection, which left five dead and dozens of officers injured. A state judge on Tuesday ordered Griffin removed from office, citing his role in having aided the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. He said the only good Democrat was a dead Democrat. 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!. 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. 1:07. 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. Theyre going to eat some crow.. Couy Griffin Net Worth Couy Griffin has an estimated Net Worth of $1Million in 2022. 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. You know, and if we do, then its gonna be a sad day, because theres gonna be blood running out of that building." Do you regret anything that happened? Officer: Reason why I stopped you, is I observed when you were back there and you werent wearing your seatbelt. Representing the plaintiffs are no fewer than seven attorneys listed in court records. 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. "My day consisted of everything non-violent and patriotic, but the media is trying to paint a different picture, and unfortunately, theyre having success at it," Griffin told KOB 4. Brittany Costello: Do you personally have any of those videos? His concern is the direction of this country, where its going.. Im not going to sit and argue with that.. "And it forced us to go out of business and it's been something that I've never forgotten because it was so unfair and unjust.". Couy Griffin has been barred from in-person visits with his son due to social media posts that have produced threats and for refusing to comply with the requirements of the COVID-19 mask. 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. He had hoped the president would address some problems with the forest near the town of Cloudcroft, which is at risk for fire. 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. The pastors. 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? 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.
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