A year later, he still believes the election was tampered with. 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 Couy Griffin Interview concerning the trial can be heard following the advertisement in the KALH Radio AlamogordoTownNews.com archives as the lead story following the weather report. Its like hes been radicalized somehow. She grew up in the U.K. and has a small jar of Marmite in her kitchen for emergencies. The first call to the press he made was to our reporter to the station we own. Asked for comment, Erin Clements sent a video of Democratic lawmakers raising concerns about election security. You think that the governor hates me as a county commissioner put a gun and a badge on me, and well see.. ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (KRQE) New video shows former County Commissioner Couy Griffin getting pulled over and getting into it with police officers. 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. 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. 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. Griffin said he never entered the Capitol building. 70 202 With calls for an independent investigation of the Capitol siege blocked by Senate Republicans, Griffin is out on bail and speaking his mind. Colorado State slices up Lobos; UNM is a 6 seed in league tourney, After bill was vetoed last year, lawmakers try again to boost pay of NM judges, If it MUST be the NIT, UNM basketball has a plan. Couy Griffin Griffin, who was convicted of a federal misdemeanor in March for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, is representing himself in the lawsuit, which. I dont have the same confidence in him, Griffin said. 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. "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. 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. He says Griffin is right about lots of things, like the need for a border wall. He had hoped the president would address some problems with the forest near the town of Cloudcroft, which is at risk for fire. I just went to stand in what I believe is my constitutional right, to peacefully protest. "And they're trying to spin routine election administration processes as somehow improper. Here you have Couy Griffin as Cowboys For Trump not only hiding assets from his ex-wife and son. ", Oliver also said that if the audit did become a blueprint that other counties followed, "that would be even more concerning than the situation we're already dealing with.". Ct. Sept. 6, 2022) [hereinafter Griffin . He yearns to someday run for governor even though state GOP leaders are openly scornful and Democrats hold every statewide elected office. Mr Griffin appears to be setting the stage of this court case with home court advantage. The arbitrator, who was chosen by Griffin and Cowboys for Trump, found for the Secretary of State's Office. However, the new evidence . The officers call Griffin over and the traffic stop gets ugly. 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. In Washington, prosecutors unveiled photographs of Griffin climbing a toppled fence and another barrier to access the Capitol steps. EXCLUSIVE: Blake Griffin and Ryan Kalil are getting into business with Sony Pictures Entertainment. In his disciplinary hearing, which Clements posted online, the university said he violated the schools covid-19 mask and vaccination policy. Griffin has cast Democratic Gov. In all, more than 400 people were charged in the insurrection, which left five dead and dozens of officers injured. Michelle Lujan Grisham as his political nemesis on issues of gun control, abortion and pandemic restrictions. You can play on an old beat-out dirt lot.. "I wanted to go from just being a voice to having a vote.". But the project seems confusing at first glance, given that Trump won in Otero County. But this is also a man who beat a "Mom and Pop business" that has 5 kids out of thousands of dollars. And it was a challenging venture into the barbecue restaurant business that he said pushed him into politics. 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. Is it my county commissioners or these people sitting here who had lunch with Donald Trump and the MyPillow guy?, On June 17, the states deadline to certify election results, Clements drove several hundred miles in his old Buick, hoping to stop commissions across New Mexico from approving the votes. 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. Thats something the media is not telling us right now, not showing us but its going to come out. 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. By MORGAN LEE February 28, 2023. The Oath Keeper. In at least one case detailed in the affidavit, Griffin paid his ex-wife $350.00 from Cowboys for Trump LLC to cover his child support obligations. Griffin is one of thousands of Trump loyalists in public office who are charting an uncertain future ahead of the 2022 election cycle. Im a big boy. Id see other happy families on vacation while I would bus their tables as an underage kid and say, is this it, Lord? , But, he said he realized, God was preparing me for something, to see artifice, to see lies.. He said he went to pray and exercise his right to peacefully protest, but he was arrested for his involvement. And thats what we had.. For now, Griffin has halted the petition with an appeal to the state Supreme Court, which hasnt decided whether to intervene. 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. "When they shut our sawmill down, it just leaves all of that useless material, if you will, in our forests which creates more fire hazards.". His 12 th-round knockout of Ilunga . Couy Griffin and his horse grift America. ", But despite conversations with a Department of Agriculture official, nothing happened. At the meeting at the Nebraska senior center in early August, Clements appealed to his audience to get on social media and to keep showing up at county commission meetings, again and again, until local leaders are worn down and give in. 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. A first-term commissioner in New Mexico's Otero County, Griffin rose to national prominence in May 2020 when Trump tweeted a video of him proclaiming that "the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat." In 2019, he founded the for-profit "Cowboys for Trump" organization and has described himself as a "peaceful patriot." Brittany Costello: A number of people are facing charges, including you. The allegations against CPAC chief Matt Schlapp. 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. SANTA FE, N.M. - A New Mexico state district court judge has disqualified county commissioner and Cowboys for Trump co- founder Couy Griffin from holding public office for engaging . Ex-NBA Champ Shares Screenshot of Soccer League's Ridiculous Question for His Son - He's Fuming . That day, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released their report into the threat of election misinformation. Officer: Youre free to go. Former Otero County Commissioner and well-known rabble-rouser Couy Griffin was pulled over in Alamogordo in his Dodge Ram in early November. 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. He raised this the first time the president called him. With Trump or without, Griffin still ascribes to unsubstantiated claims of massive 2020 election fraud. New Mexicos secretary of state has also rejected the allegations. 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. Investigators said the investigation was launched after Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver referred her investigation into Griffins refusal to register C4T as a political committee and disclose donors and expenses. Friday night on, Senate Bill 2 would bring the pay of state Supreme Court justices in line with. The county sheriffs sole duty and responsibility is to protect our individual rights, he said. Couy Griffin's Wife, Children Griffin is currently single, he was previously married to his girlfriend Kourtnie A Gates, but they were divorced in 2019. 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. Whenever you say, China stole the election. Shows how clueless you really are. Otero County Commission Chairman and Cowboys for Trump co-founder Couy Griffin rides his horse on 5th avenue on May 1, 2020 in New York City. We've received your submission. Im a child of the trailer park. 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 not going to sit and argue with that.. But go ahead and do whatever you need to do.Officer: Yes, sir. The election was stolen from me, and then you just walk away? He has made baldly racist and violent statements. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. His concern is the direction of this country, where its going.. The decision was made . Pull him out of his pick-up, take him to the ground, and charge him with resisting arrest! South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh has been found guilty on all four counts in connection with the 2021 murders of . Many of the comments predated the 2020 election and focused on the potential for foreign interference. Griffin was convicted in federal court of entering a restricted area outside the U.S. Capitol. And he is disillusioned with Trump himself, citing an issue that brings him back to his earliest grievances: forest management. Alamogordo High School Alamogordo Proud Breaking Stereotypes and Winning in Welding Competition, Alamogordo was the only team to be represented with female welders. FILE - Otero County, New Mexico Commissioner Couy Griffin speaks to reporters as he arrives at federal court in Washington, June 17, 2022. Trumps election defeat has left the 47-year-old father in a lonely fight for his political life after preaching to crowds at the U.S. Capitol siege, promising to take his guns to Bidens inauguration and landing in jail for over a week. 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. Email addresses are used solely for verification and to speed the verification process for repeat questioners. 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. Thus the State Attorney General filed the lawsuit and a trail by jury was ordered. 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. Anti-vaxxers quickly embraced Clements, with far-right Colorado podcaster Joe Oltmann creating an online fundraiser for him and calling him a lightning rod of truth and courage. The appeal has since brought in more than $304,000 in donations, including from donors who say they support his election integrity crusade. 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. 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. I said, God save us, please, please save our country, he recalled in a speech in Michigan last year.