On Thursday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the arrest of Raquel Rodriguez for election fraud, illegal voting, unlawfully assisting people voting by mail, and unlawfully possessing an official ballot. Each charge constitutes a felony under the Texas Election Code. James O'Keefe with Project Veritas, confronted Rodriguez last fall when he showed her their undercover video of her coercing and bribing voters to change their votes from Republican to Democrat. She said she was "asked to do that." If convicted, Rodriguez could face up to 20 years in prison.
AG Paxton issued the following statement on Thursday:
“Many continue to claim that there’s no such thing as election fraud. We’ve always known that such a claim is false and misleading, and today we have additional hard evidence. This is a victory for election integrity, and a strong signal that anyone who attempts to defraud the people of Texas, deprive them of their vote, or undermine the integrity of elections will be brought to justice,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The shocking and blatantly illegal action documented by Project Veritas demonstrates a form of election fraud my office continually investigates and prosecutes. I am fiercely committed to ensuring the voting process is secure and fair throughout the state, and my office is prepared to assist any Texas county in combating this insidious, un-American form of fraud.”
A local news report in Austin, TX says that a 20-year sentence is unlikely, "In Texas, 150 people have been charged with voter fraud since 2004. 138 of those resulted in a guilty plea or jury conviction." Most were settled with plea agreements, and only 24 spent "at least a day in jail." The rest of the defendants "were given probation or pre-trial diversion deals."
O'Keefe shared a letter on Twitter that Rodriguez had written after the release of the original video exposing her alleged criminal behavior. She says that she suspected something was amiss when approached by the Project Veritas undercover staff. Rodriguez said she "played along" with them because she suspected they were the ones committing crimes, and she wanted to "submit evidence to legal authorities."
Dr. Peter Navarro, the White House Trade and Manufacturing Director, issued a two-part report covered by UncoverDC on what he says was a "stolen election." The report investigates evidence of widespread election fraud, including criminal acts like those allegedly committed by Rodriguez.
