Republican Attorney General who killed a man with his car has to answer for new evidence

Back in September 2020, 55-year-old Joseph Boever was struck and killed by a car being driven by South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg. Boever was walking on the side of Highway 14 around 10:30 PM when Ravnsborg’s car drifted into the shoulder of the highway and hit Boever. Ravnsborg had been driving home from a Republican fundraiser and reportedly called 911 at the time, claiming to the dispatcher that he might have hit a deer. A sheriff’s deputy came out to quickly survey the attorney general’s car before giving him a ride home.

It wasn’t until the following morning, when Ravnsborg returned to the site, that he discovered Boever’s body. From there a long and drawn out investigation ended this past year with Ravnsborg pleading guilty to three misdemeanor charges, serving no time in jail, and paying out $5,000 in fines and court costs. At the time, Boever’s family said the results were “not the ending we hoped for.” This was in part because the investigation was opened up to the public by Ravnsborg’s Republican colleague, Gov. Kristi Noem. Noem has long been calling for Ravnsborg’s resignation, and the attorney general has been facing an impeachment inquiry.

On Wednesday, new evidence was leaked out by way of Public Safety Secretary Craig Price, A Noem appointee. Price sent a letter to South Dakota’s Republican Speaker Spencer Gosch that relitigated quite a bit of the evidence that was already known—and also added some information that was not public knowledge.

Related: What’s the cost of a deadly hit-and-run? For one South Dakota official, it’s $5,000 and no jail time

Related: South Dakota attorney general pleads to misdemeanor, avoids jail time for killing man with his car 

Price tweeted out the letter he sent to make sure the public at large got an eyeful of Ravnsborg’s guilt and felt no doubt over his level of responsibility in Boever’s death. The letter, among other things, claimed that Ravnsborg “had been pulled over for traffic offenses eight times between taking office in 2019 and the fatal crash, including five in which he either identified himself as the attorney general or displayed a badge.” He was never ticketed during any of those stops. But before he had that position, he had received more than a half dozen tickets for speeding.

Also damning, according to Price’s letter, is a claim that Ravnsborg, his Division of Criminal Investigation director, and his chief of staff shared “disparaging and offensive statements regarding other law enforcement officers, judges, a supreme court justice, a legislator, prosecutors, staff members, a former Attorney General, and A United States Senator” by way of text messages. Also, maybe as a teaser, Price wrote about “Text messages that the investigation uncovered between the Attorney General and what appears to be a political consultant wherein the consultant indicated, referring to the deceased, “Well, at least the guy was a Democrat.” The message seems to have been sent just two days after Boever was killed.

In the interest of continued transparency on this important issue, I sent this letter to the Honorable Speaker Gosch today. I can’t speak for the committee, but I’m confident they are interested in the truth and facts as well. pic.twitter.com/0nywsqFp5y

— Craig Price (@PriceDPS1) March 10, 2022

Boever was a registered Democrat but his cousin, former state legislator Nick Nemec, told The Daily Beast he wasn’t an active political operative: “He was just a voter.” Nemec pointed out that the letter was further proof of the battle going on in the GOP with “far-right Republicans, regular Republicans and Democrats. And there’s just turmoil in Pierre right now.”

There has been ample evidence that Ravnsborg’s story has changed and and been shaky from the start:

  1. His insistence that he had no idea what he had hit was called into question as Boever’s glasses were discovered on Ravnsborg’s passenger seat, meaning his face had slammed so hard into the window that his glasses went flying into the car.
  2. Ravnsborg insisted he had not been looking at his phone any time near when he hit Boever, until investigators presented him with evidence that he was reading some kind of “sonspiracy” article about President Joe Biden and China right around the time he hit Boever with his car.
  3. Ravnsborg’s insistence that he never exceeds the speed limits by more than 4 MPH are clearly untrue.
  4. According to Craig, Ravnsborg contacted digital evidence expert Brent Gromer to pick his brain about what investigators may be able to find on his phone. The interaction leads Gromer to write up a report on the meeting, and Ravnsborg has to admit he has made contact with Gromer later on to investigators after having denied any such contact.

One thing Boever’s family could not have foreseen was that right-wing MAGA monster Noem’s ambitions to control her political party would potentially help them receive some justice in the form of political retribution against Ravnsborg.

Liz Cheney Releases ‘Stunning’ Text Messages During January 6 Riot, It Appears To Have Backfired

Representative Liz Cheney released text messages provided by former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows showing several people close to Donald Trump during the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, urging the then-President to issue a statement condemning the protesters.

The texts have been alternately referred to by The Hill as “stunning,” the Daily Beast as a “bombshell,” and Twitter as “damning.”

They are none of these.

The panel, upon which Cheney serves as token Republican and Vice-Chair, has been trying to create a narrative that the January 6 riot was an “insurrection” and planned by Trump and those in his inner circle beforehand.

The text messages, however, paint a different picture – one of Fox News personalities, Trump’s own son, and his Chief of Staff being caught off guard by events that day and strongly advising the former President to try to stop it.

Which he attempted to do.

RELATED: Former Trump Chief Of Staff Mark Meadows Sues January 6 Committee, Nancy Pelosi

Liz Cheney’s ‘Bombshell’ Text Messages

Liz Cheney read the text messages aloud during a hearing of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 riot.

The panel voted to recommend a full House vote on whether or not to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress and refer him for prosecution to the Department of Justice for not cooperating with their investigation.

Meadows initially cooperated with the anti-Trump panel but reversed course with the committee due in part to subpoenas over private phone records from Verizon.

He subsequently announced a lawsuit against the panel and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The text messages read by Cheney show Meadows and Trump Jr. were caught off guard by the events of January 6 – which defeats their entire theory; that is, that it was pre-planned.

“He’s got to condemn this shit ASAP,” Trump Jr. texted.

Meadows replied, “I’m pushing it hard. I agree.”

“We need an Oval Office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand,” Trump Jr. added.

President Trump did, in fact, deliver a statement, though he was criticized for creating an air of sympathy for the protesters and for taking a long time to tell them to go home, something he requested they do peacefully.

RELATED: Top Pence Aide Marc Short Cooperating With January 6 Committee

Did Cheney’s Stunt Backfire?

The text messages read by Liz Cheney also show Fox News anchor Sean Hannity urging President Trump to issue a statement.

“Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol,” Hannity wrote.

Other Fox News personalities joined in.

“Mark, president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy,” texted host Laura Ingraham.

“Please get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished,” added Brian Kilmeade.

But the text messages indicate both Trump’s Chief of Staff and his own son weren’t initially expecting the mostly peaceful protest to turn into a breach of the Capitol. Instead, they reacted as they saw events unfold.

“Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement,” the President would tweet at 2:38 p.m.

“The Capitol Police tweet is not enough,” Trump Jr. would say to Meadows.

Trump seemed to concur tweeting, “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful” at 3:13 p.m.

Roughly an hour later he released a video urging people to go home.

Ironically, for those who claimed Trump didn’t “do enough,” he was suspended from Twitter shortly after his video imploring people to go home.

A few days later, he was permanently banned merely for stating he would not attend Biden’s inauguration.

Everything Liz Cheney and the panel have asserted about a conspiracy theory regarding the Capitol riot went up in smoke with those text messages.

The House will vote whether to hold Meadows in contempt on Tuesday.

Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury on two contempt-of-Congress charges related to his refusal to testify and provide documents to the committee.

Nine Republicans joined Democrats in voting to hold Bannon in contempt.

 

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