Pres. Biden & VP Harris Cancel Holiday Plans as Election Security Report Due
Update #20 | Examining new signs of activity behind the scenes in D.C.
If you haven’t read the original post,
I highly recommend reading it first ↓
Update #20
To start, a personal note:
From my family to yours, we wish you a warm and joyous holiday season! I apologize for not being able to post in my usual cadence this last week, as a combination of recovering from family illness and still-unfinished Christmas prep took priority. Thank you for your patience. Moving forward, I’ll be adjusting the frequency of my posts hit a middle ground between quantity and quality.
I’m also happy to report that The Tinfoil Times broke 500 subscribers this week! I sincerely appreciate all of you for sharing this Substack with others to spread the word. It’s critical we keep focused on the impacts of foreign interference in the 2024 election and the subsequent transfer of power. We’re now only four weeks out from Inauguration Day, and this upcoming month may very well be the most consequential one in deciding the fate of American democracy.
Let’s dive into our main story:
I’ll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas…
This Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris scrapped her trip home to California at the last minute, with her motorcade rushing her back to the White House. President Joe Biden, originally set to stay in Delaware through Christmas, also made a surprise return to Washington.
There has yet to be any explanation from the White House why they canceled holiday plans and raced back, leading to widespread speculation.
At first glance, it may seem like these moves were related to the congressional tussle over federal funding and the impending government shutdown. Harris could theoretically have been needed as the tie-breaking vote to pass the needed budget bill—however, lawmakers in the House overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan compromise the next day with 336 yeas and 34 nays. Congress ultimately rejected Trump’s debt limit demands, at least for now.
So if Harris wasn’t needed for that, what then?
Biden played a less public role in the conversation over the shutdown overall, adopting a hands-off posture as legislators bickered. While the White House is involved in shutdown planning, it doesn’t constitute an emergency for the President or VP. A president doesn’t need to be in the White House to sign a bill into law. So why would Biden rush back?
The Office of the Vice President did release a vague press statement with the following sentence:
The Vice President will be in Washington, DC where she will receive briefings and conduct internal meetings with staff. These meetings will be closed press.
She and Biden rushed back for… briefings and internal meetings? That indicates something major is going on that’s too sensitive for a phone call.
What could it be?
The Foreign Election Interference Assessment
In September 2018, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13848, which mandates the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to spearhead an assessment of foreign election interference and deliver it to the President and other key members of the cabinet no later than 45 days after the conclusion of a United States election. It also established a national emergency related to election security, which was set to expire in September 2024. Biden elected to extend it to cover the 2024 election earlier this year.
That 45-day window after the election, during which this foreign election interference assessment must be delivered to the White House, ended on Friday, December 20. It’s no accident it coincides with Biden’s and Harris’ emergency return.
I’m confident Biden and Harris were just briefed about Russia’s efforts to steal the election. If we’re able to make a pretty damning case for it without the any of the resources or access afforded to the intelligence community, I’m certain the full scope assessment is alarming.
Sidenote: Reportedly, new fencing has also gone up around the White House and the U.S. Naval Observatory, but not the Capitol Building (which means it’s not for the inauguration). What are they preparing for?
The Honorable Avril Haines
The current DNI is Avril Haines, who was instrumental in developing the argument—since confirmed true despite skepticism from E.U. and NATO partners—that Russia was intent on invading Ukraine. She was also behind the unprecedented declassification effort that attempted to sway Russia away from that chosen path.
These were bold political actions that required decisive leadership and fearlessness. I can think of no better attributes for the person responsible for delivering this report to the Biden Administration. I don’t think Haines would steer Biden away from taking action, despite the risks.
Please take ten seconds to share this article and help get the word out!
Donald Trump didn’t just steal the election, he stole America’s future. And it will stay that way unless we do something about it.
Of course, Trump, Musk, Putin, and their enablers all know this. That’s why, since just yesterday, Haines has started popping up as a target in right wing propaganda on X. A video has recently popped up of RFK Jr. accusing her and the CIA of collaborating with common conspiracy theory boogeyman Bill Gates to “bioengineer" COVID-19. The way it’s being spread on social media and translated into different languages appears to be the work of a disinfo troll farm.
The kneejerk vitriol from the right is unsurprising. But I believe we’re seeing, in real time, an influence operation to preemptively discredit her by portraying her as a “deep state” partisan who would help Democrats illegally overturn an election.
So, what’s next?
I expect things will be generally quiet until New Year’s, but throughout the holiday season we’ll start to see more questions about election integrity go mainstream. I anticipate also seeing more messaging from the Harris/Walz campaign about “staying in the fight.” In fact, we already have—about 20 hours ago, Harris’ @VP account on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted a video in which the Vice President says the following:
And now this fight—to keep the light of America’s Promise and ensure it burns bright—it continues with you. Get some rest over the holidays. Spend time with the people that you love. Then, after you have had some rest, come back ready. Ready to chart our path to the future. Ready to summon your drive, your energy, your passion to help our fellow Americans. And be ready to get back to work fighting for opportunity and freedom, fighting for fairness and dignity, and fighting for this country we love, and the future we share.
I’m going to take that advice. Savor any joy you can this holiday season, while it’s here. Regardless of how things go in January, we should prepare for harder days ahead.
More soon.
If we don’t take action to defend democracy, we don’t deserve to keep it.
If you have relevant information to contribute, please email: tinfoilmatt@proton.me
