Tag: Kris Kobach

Kobach defends Bannon, deflects personal responsibility for alleged border wall corruption

Kansas AG nominee says Bannon’s contempt conviction ‘purely political’

Kansas attorney general candidate Kris Kobach, who served as general counsel to We Build the Wall, deflected responsibility for alleged fraud against the organization and defended Stephen Bannon, who faced indictment for financial misconduct at the crowd-sourced organization created to build wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. (Photo by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector)

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector


Olathe — Kansas attorney general candidate Kris Kobach offered a sweeping defense of former presidential adviser Stephen Bannon amid allegations of fundraising fraud against We Build the Wall Inc.

Kobach said alleged wrongdoing involving the organization that raised millions of dollars for construction of barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border took place before he was hired as general counsel for We Build the Wall. He has continued to work on behalf of the organization as it moved toward an orderly shutdown.

“All the allegations revolved around supposed agreements made when the thing was first started,” Kobach said after a candidate forum Wednesday night hosted by the Kansas Chamber. “I came on after that. They brought me on to figure out how to build a wall on private land legally. That was my job.”

Kobach, who served two terms as Kansas secretary of state, said he was convinced that he wasn’t in jeopardy of being indicted.

Kobach said he cooperated with prosecutors by sharing emails related to activities of We Build the Wall. He said he was listed as a witness for the prosecution and defense in the criminal case against Colorado businessman Timothy Shea that ended in a mistrial. Two other We Build the Wall defendants have entered guilty pleas.

Kobach said he was approached in 2019 to work on the project that raised about $25 million for wall construction on the southern U.S. border. He said he “jumped at the chance” because the country suffered because of the porous border.

Bannon, the onetime advisor to President Donald Trump, surrendered Thursday to state prosecutors in New York City. He was expected to be indicted for fraud related to We Build the Wall.

“My guess is that it will be similar to what the federal prosecutors claimed two years ago,” Kobach said.

Bannon was indicted by federal prosecutors in 2020 along with three other people accused of mail fraud and money laundering through diversion for personal expenses of crowd-funded donations to We Build the Wall. Trump pardoned Bannon in 2021 to thwart prosecution in U.S. District Court for allegedly misusing $1 million in donations.

Kobach said he first met Bannon at the Trump golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, when Trump interviewed Kobach for potential appointment as secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Kobach has appeared more recently on Bannon’s “War Room” podcast.

“We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well,” Kobach said. “He did great work with the We Build the Wall organization. I think he’s doing great work with his Bannon War Room program.”

Kobach dismissed as not a “garden variety” case Bannon’s conviction in July for contempt of Congress. Bannon refused to comply with a subpoena issued by the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault of the Capitol.

“I think the congressional contempt prosecution is purely political,” Kobach said. “He made a decision based on the fact that he was trying to protect executive privilege. That constitutional position is one I agree with. This was him taking a constitutional stand with which the current leadership of Congress disagrees, but I anticipate leadership of Congress come January will completely agree.”

Kobach, of rural Lecompton, won the Republican Party’s nomination for attorney general in August by defeating two rivals, including GOP Sen. Kelli Warren, who was endorsed by the Kansas Chamber PAC and other conservative political groups. Kobach is running against Democratic candidate Chris Mann, a Lawrence attorney and former police officer.

The chamber’s leadership said there was concern Kobach couldn’t win a campaign for attorney general and raised questions about whether Kobach could “adequately and effectively represent Kansas businesses and individuals successfully in court.” Kobach lost a 2018 general election for governor and the 2020 primary campaign for U.S. Senate.

“The Chamber made a decision in the primary that obviously I disagreed with, but I’m hopeful that as time goes on they’ll see that I’m a friend of Kansas business,” Kobach said.

If elected attorney general, Kobach said he would attempt to unwind involvement in a collection of private cases. He has filed suits against President Joe Biden and represents military members challenging a COVID-19 vaccination mandate.

“You have to be careful how you back out of a case,” Kobach said. “You have to make sure there is somebody there who can step into your shoes and is capable of litigating that issue. I anticipate that I would try to hand off the cases.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/08/kobach-defends-bannon-deflects-personal-responsibility-for-alleged-border-wall-corruption/

Kobach is back running for office, setting sights on Kansas attorney general

Kobach lost a race for governor against Democrat Laura Kelly and lost the Republican primary for U.S. Senate to Roger Marshall. He’s a staunch supporter of Donald Trump and was an adviser to the former president on immigration and voter fraud.

Kris Kobach announced his candidacy for Kansas attorney general on Thursday. (Kansas News Service photo)

by Stephen Koranda, KCUR and Kansas News Service

Wichita, Kansas — Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach kicked off a race for state attorney general Thursday, aiming his hardline immigration and voting policy politics at the state’s top legal and law enforcement office.

Kobach called the office a last line of defense against policies pushed by President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders in Congress. Kobach raised concerns about limiting gun rights, the federal government setting election laws and immigration policy.

“If the Biden administration tries to take away our Second Amendment rights here in Kansas, they’ll have to get through me first,” Kobach said at an event in Wichita announcing his run. “If the Biden administration tries to relocate illegal aliens to Kansas in violation of the standards of federal law, they’ll have to get through me first.”

Kobach raised the profile of the secretary of state’s office by bringing it to the forefront of voter security fights. That office typically handles administrative and election duties and flies under the radar.

With duties in law enforcement and representing the state in court, as attorney general Kobach would hold an even more powerful platform for pushing those issues.

Should he win the Republican primary and the general election — he’s got deep support among conservatives, and just as strong opposition from moderates and Democrats — he’d enter the job with a national profile rare for a state attorney general, even rarer for a Kansas politician.

Kobach said he’d work to defend any abortion restrictions approved by state lawmakers.

“When the Legislature passes a law to protect the unborn or to protect our way of life in a manner the Left does not like, the ACLU and its allies inevitably sue,” Kobach said in a news release. “The attorney general must have the expertise and the willingness to defend our laws in court.”

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the Kansas Constitution protects the right to an abortion. Voters will decide in the August 2022 primary, when Kobach seeks his party’s nomination for attorney general, whether to reverse that ruling. The ballot measure is likely to draw more anti-abortion voters to the polls.

Critics of the amendment say it could open the door to lawmakers approving much stricter abortion laws or even an outright ban. Supporters say it’s needed to protect regulations Kansas has already imposed on abortion.

Kobach had filed documents late Wednesday night to appoint a treasurer for his campaign. That’s the initial step for raising money for his campaign.

His latest move comes after high-profile losses for the aggressively conservative Republican — losing the governor’s race to Democrat Laura Kelly in 2018 and falling short of the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2020.

The attorney general’s office is slated to open up because Republican incumbent Derek Schmidt announced he’s running for governor. Former Gov. Jeff Colyer is also in that race.

Kobach has been a lightning rod, with a dedicated base of supporters who helped him narrowly defeat fellow Republican then-Gov. Colyer in the 2018 primary election. But his positions also energize opposition from Democrats and some Republicans.

After losing the governor’s race, some Republican groups turned on him during his 2020 run for the U.S. Senate. They argued nominating him would risk losing the office to a Democrat. Kobach ultimately lost the GOP primary to then-U.S.Rep.Roger Marshall.

Serving as attorney general would bring Kobach back into a statewide office — a potentially bigger stage than what he had as secretary of state. Even in that job, a largely record-keeping job that politicians often use as a stepping stone, he built a national reputation as an immigration hardliner and for pressing often-refuted claims about the prevalence of voter fraud.

Kobach pushed through the passage of a strict Kansas voting law that required proof of citizenship. Kobach argued it kept elections secure, but critics said it prevented thousands of eligible Kansans from registering to vote.

The law was eventually knocked down in court, and he faced judicial sanctions for how he performed in the case. His arguments before the Kansas Supreme Court brought him chastisements from the judge.

Kobach has also been a close ally of former President Donald Trump, winning Trump’s 11th-hour endorsement in the GOP primary for governor. Kobach also led a voter fraud commission created by Trump that Trump dissolved after pushback from states and a lack of evidence of widespread cheating. Kobach defended Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2016 and 2020 elections. He also advised the president on immigration issues.

In the years following his 2018 loss to Kelly, Kobach served as director and general counsel for We Build The Wall — a 501(c)4 nonprofit that was crowdsourcing millions of dollars to build a private border wall on the country’s southern border. All the group’s leaders, except Kobach, were later charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

In October 2020, Kobach made headlines again for peddling a refrigerator-sized device touted as a COVID-killing machine and a large room sanitizer to Kansas legislators, promising an investment could bring hundreds of jobs to Wichita. The efficacy of the products made by Wichita-based MoJack Distributors has not been confirmed by the Environmental Protection Agency or health experts.

It’s still very early in the race, so there’s time for candidates to change their minds and run for different offices or drop their races altogether.

Abigail Censky of the Kansas News Service and Nadya Faulx of KMUW contributed to this report.
Stephen Koranda is the Statehouse reporter and news editor for the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter @Stephen_Koranda or email him at stephenkoranda (at) kcur (dot) org.The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.
Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.
See more at https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-04-29/kris-kobach-is-back-running-for-office-setting-his-sights-on-kansas-attorney-general.

Taylor may remove his name from ballot, high court says

Chad Taylor (Staff file photo)

The Kansas Supreme Court today ruled that Chad Taylor, a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, may remove his name from the general election ballot.

The Kansas secretary of state had said that Taylor’s withdrawal did not meet the requirements under law. Today the Supreme Court ordered Secretary of State Kris Kobach not to put Taylor’s name on the ballot.

The court noted that it did not need to rule on Kobach’s opinion that the Kansas Democratic Party would need to appoint a successor to Taylor to be on the November general election ballot.

“With this determination, we need not consider the parties’ numerous other arguments,” the Supreme Court opinion stated. “Nor do we need to act on Kobach’s allegation that a ruling for Taylor would require the Kansas Democratic Party State Committee to name his replacement nominee per K.S.A. 25-3905. The Kansas Democratic Party is not a party to this original action, and this court does not issue advisory opinions.”

The U.S. Senate contest earlier this year had been primarily a three-way race with incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts, a Republican, facing challenges from independent candidate Greg Orman, and from Taylor. There also is a Libertarian candidate running, Randall Batson.

The court’s opinion is online at http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2014/20140918/112431.pdf.

Sen. Roberts’ campaign staff issued this response to today’s ruling:
“Today, the Kansas Supreme Court deliberately, and for political purposes, disenfranchised over 65,000 voters. In a bow to Senators Claire McCaskill and Harry Reid, liberal activist Supreme Court justices have decided that if you voted in the Democrat Primary on Aug. 5, your vote does not matter, your voice does not matter, and you have no say in who should be on the ballot on Election Day. This is not only a travesty to Kansas voters, but it’s a travesty to the judicial system and our electoral process.”

Jean Schodorf, a Democratic candidate for secretary of state, also issued a news release on today’s ruling. It reads, in part:

“After countless hours of time, and at an unreported cost to the Kansas taxpayers, the circus created by Mr. Kobach has been decided by the Kansas Supreme Court. This decision was issued swiftly and justly, but the fact remains that if Kris Kobach was at his post working for the people of Kansas, this legal contest never would have happened,” said Schodorf. “Instead, Mr. Kobach was away from his duties. He was not present to work with Mr. Taylor, and his absence led to a situation where time, money, and respect were lost. … We cannot afford a secretary of state who would rather work in a courtroom, leading Kansas into an endless string of lawsuits. We want someone who is in the office doing the job full-time.”

The Greg Orman campaign, according to his website, issued this statement on the ruling, attributed to Jim Jonas, Orman campaign manager:
“No matter who’s on or off the ballot, Greg Orman is running as an Independent against the broken system in Washington that has failed Kansas and failed America. Kansas voters from across the political spectrum are fed up with the mess in Washington, and that’s why Republicans, Democrats and Independents are supporting Independent Greg Orman for Senate.”