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@BrandiKruse - Brandi Kruse
🚨 BREAKING: An Island County (WA) man has just been convicted of a FELONY after he refused to wear a mask while watching ballot counting during the 2024 election. His is the first of two cases to go to trial.
Video Transcript AI Summary
Tim Hazelow, a Republican ballot observer and Trump supporter in Island County, Washington, was convicted on trespassing and unlawful entry of an election center, a felony. The charges stem from Hazelow's refusal to wear a COVID mask while observing ballot counting in 2024, after which he was escorted out by law enforcement.
The elected prosecutor, Greg Banks, known for his anti-Trump sentiments and wishing death on those not wearing masks, personally prosecuted the case after Hazelow refused to plead guilty to a misdemeanor. The speaker argues this is a political prosecution, highlighting that Banks compared Trump supporters to Nazis and wished death on people who don't wear masks.
The defense was limited, as the judge deemed the prosecutor's bias and evidence of others not wearing masks irrelevant. Another Republican ballot observer, Tracy Abdul, faces similar felony charges. The speaker calls for a better defense team for Hazelow's appeal, as a felony conviction could impact his security clearance and lead to jail time.
Full Transcript
Speaker 0: Tim Hazelow has been convicted on two counts, including one felony. This is a story we've been covering for months on the show. It's got national attention. Tim Hazelow is a Republican ballot observer in Island County, Washington, a county in Washington where he used to be the chair of the Republican Party. So he's a well known Republican in the county, a well known supporter of president Donald Trump.
He was during the days leading up to November election in 2024, he was scheduled to be a ballot observer. Republicans and Democrats get to have individuals who are in there watching the ballot counting, just sort of a transparency thing. When he was removed by police, I mean, he certainly left on his own accord, but because he had refused to follow a rule in 2024 where he had to wear a mask, a COVID mask, while watching ballot counting. Here's the body camera footage of the moment Tim Hazelow was confronted by law enforcement.
Speaker 1: Hey. How you doing, Miller? What's your what's your name? Tim Hazelow. Tim Hazelow?
Yeah. Good to meet you. Good to meet you. Yeah. Okay.
We've met before. So tell me what's going on here. I'm just observing my civil rights as the observer. Okay. But as I know, they've made a policy that you wear a mask while you're in there.
The RCW doesn't give them the authority to do so. That's still a policy that's been set. You need to leave. Are you gonna write the citation? If I need to, then let's go.
The the charge is disorderly conduct. Gotcha. Okay. You have mandatory court appearance. K.
Do you have any other questions for me? No. I'm gonna ask you not to return here today I won't. Or you can end up in jail. I won't.
Okay. Should I go sign out, though? What's that? Because I have to sign in as an observer. Should I sign out?
I will escort you up there to sign out, and and then you can be able to That makes sense. Okay. Does that make sense? Yep.
Speaker 0: Based on that interaction, that man is now a convicted felon. A jury of his peers this afternoon convicting him on two counts, one of trespassing, and one using a state RCW that prohibits unlawful entry into an election center, which look. I understand why that RCW exists. We don't want people breaking into election centers or barging in in the middle of ballot counting. That's not what Tim Hazelow did.
I'm so passionate about this case and in doing a breaking update for you today because this is one of the worst cases of political prosecutions I've seen in the entire country. Why do I say it's politically motivated? Well, as we've covered, and I'm gonna take you through all the insane layers of this story, it needs to be a national story. It needs to have national attention. He needs a better attorney for his appeal of this case, which we'll get to.
But the reason, I I think, for for everyone who's become interested in this story that the felony charge seems so egregious is it started as him being cited for disorderly conduct, which seemed insane. It was at least a misdemeanor, but it it was insane. Like, nothing on that video looks like disorderly conduct. There's, of course, the issue of why was he why was there a a mask mandate in 2024 to watch ballot counting? But then the news came out about the elected prosecutor in Island County, Washington, and this is so, so important.
So his name is Greg Banks. And not only did he decide to threaten he threatened Tim Hazelow with a felony if he didn't just plead guilty to a misdemeanor. Tim Hazelow said, I'm not pleading guilty. That's insane. Charged him with a felony.
Not only did he decide to take it to trial, the elected prosecutor decided to personally prosecute this case, something he rarely ever does. And here's his background. Here's why it's so concerning. As we unveiled exclusively on this show, Greg Banks, the elected prosecutor, has a long history of anti Trump animus and also wishing death on people who don't wear masks. Greg Banks has a history of comparing Trump supporters to Nazis, calling them racist bullies with a second grade intellect, saying we need to cleanse the planet of their diseased thinking, wishing death on people who don't wear masks.
This is the guy, the elected prosecutor who decided to charge an election observer with a felony crime, a Republican election observer, with a felony crime for refusing to wear a COVID mask while watching ballots being counted. There's no way in hell this guy should have been allowed to try the case. He should have had to recuse himself. Months ago, we asked him why he wasn't recusing himself given his disdain for Republicans, given his disdain for people who won't wear a mask. He called his old social media posts jokes, said he could absolutely separate his personal feelings about Trump supporters from this case.
He clearly could not. There were other issues with this case. I mean, there are really a a bunch of elements that I I think of interest here. One, the fact that there was a mask mandate in 2024 for election observers is insane, but it was in place. Right?
And then you've got the fact that you have other people in the ballot counting area who also weren't wearing masks, but who weren't ultimately charged with felony crimes. We have the video evidence of this. The body cameras of the police officers, they're not wearing masks. I've got one of them holding a mask. Now I don't think they should have to wear masks, but they are going in, and shame on them, frankly.
I know they have to do their jobs, but for the love of God. They they're going in to confront a guy for not wearing a mask while while also not wearing masks. So how serious can the mask mandate be? And then, of course, there's the now infamous footage, the day after Tim Hazelow was removed from this ballot counting center of the old man. Can you put that back up, Nicole?
Of the old man sitting there actually counting ballots with no mask on. And we asked the auditor's office at the time, why isn't he wearing a mask, and why is he allowed to be in there when Tim Hazelow was removed by law enforcement? And the answer we were given was he was drinking a beverage. This is just momentary. Do you see any beverage in sight?
No. I see a ballot in his hand that he's counting. I don't even see a mask around his his chin. Maybe one there in his left hand, but he doesn't have it on. So as the trial commenced on Tuesday of this week, I said on the show, I said there 's two key pieces of evidence.
First of all, I said I would be shocked if Tim Hazelow was convicted of a felony crime over this malicious political prosecution at its worst. But then I said there's two key pieces of evidence that that as soon as the jury hears them, they're gonna acquit him. The fact that the prosecutor standing in the courtroom who brought the charges hates Trump supporters, has wished death on them, compares them to the KKK, and has wished death on people who don't wear masks. That's exhibit a. And then exhibit b, there's people in the room who were not arrested, who were not cited, who were not charged, who were also not wearing masks.
Well, the judge in this case ruled that neither of those things were admissible. So here you have a situation where there's essentially no no argument left for Tim Hazelow's defense team to make. They can't argue the basis of the mask mandate. That's not kind of relevant in this setting. So was the mask requirement even lawful?
They can't argue that. They can't bring up the fact that the prosecutor in the courtroom has a severe political bias. Can't bring up that. Can't show the jury the picture of the other man who was in the room counting ballots with no mask on who's never been charged with a crime. So they stripped him of his ability to mount a good defense.
Now I do think central to this is the fact that the felony Tim Hazelow was charged with has the crime, the statute on the books, has nothing to do with Tim Hazelow's actions. The two don't go together. The felony statute has to do with unlawful entry of an election center. Tim Hazelow didn't enter that election center unlawfully. He signed in.
He signed in to be a ballot observer. Now he was escorted out, but he didn't unlawfully enter. So how can you charge him with unlawful entry when he signed in? That should have been enough to get the case thrown out. But instead, Tim Hazelow has now been convicted of a felony all stemming from refusing to wear a COVID mask in 2024, long after the pandemic was done.
And he's not the only one. Remember, there's a second Republican ballot observer who is also awaiting trial for a felony. Her name is Tracy Abdul. We had Tracy on the show in very similar circumstances. We've got the video of both of them being let out.
Tracy being escorted out by law enforcement because she refused to wear a mask. Now her case also started off as a misdemeanor. And you know what? I'm not sure I'd still be fired up about it, but they both knew they were in there and they were supposed to wear a mask, and they chose not to so that there would be potential consequences for it. How how old is Tracy again?
I can't remember. I mean, she's like this innocent older woman. So what happened is this highly politically motivated prosecutor, we received we got a copy of the letter. He sent both of them what I would what I would call blackmail, what I would call a threat, Basically saying either you plead guilty and admit to these misdemeanor crimes, or I'm gonna charge you with a felony. So both of them said kick rocks, dude.
So he charged them with a felony. If you're watching this from somewhere else in the country, Washington state hardly charges violent criminals with felonies. We've got people let off the hook left and right. Antifa has been down outside our federal court courthouse for for or court or or federal building for weeks on end, lighting fires, vandalism, assaulting people, and they they haven't been arrested at all. So there this is the definition of malicious prosecution, political prosecution, and it will upend Tim Hazelow's life.
Tim Hazelow requires a security clearance for his job, for his career. And with a felony conviction, he's gonna lose his security clearance. Not to mention, he might spend time in jail. It's insane. Now I will say, I've been talking to Tim Hazelow between court the last couple days, and I wasn't impressed with what he was saying about his defense attorney's strategy.
And I know that his defense attorney was cut off all at the knees by an activist judge who said, no. You can't bring up all these very relevant things. I think we need to try to find a way to help Tim Hazelow get a better defense team for an appeal. And I was told that Tracy Abdul has the same defense attorney as well. And and maybe he did the best job he could, but if you can't win this case, it's not good enough.
So we need to make sure that Tracy I I I think they're both coming out of pocket for their own defense. Someone has to step up. If we can help in any way, try to make sure that they've got a better defense team around them, because I don't want to see either of them go to jail over this. I am just beside myself. My my heart dropped into my stomach when I got the text, Tim Hazel has just been convicted.
And I I think they're gonna let him go home on his personal recognizance until sentencing happens. I would be shocked if they put him in handcuffs right there in the courtroom. So if you're just tuning in, real short breaking update because we've been talking about this trial happening all week. Opening arguments began on Tuesday and then went into the day yesterday, and it was pretty short. And the the jury came back with a verdict.
Now the jury had sent several questions back to the judge during the day today, which sometimes when that happens, you can tell, like, the jury's really thinking about things. And it's sometimes a good sign for the defense that, hey. You know, the jury's not sure about some aspects of this case, but they came out and convicted him on both both counts of trespassing and unlawful entry of an election facility. And look. I maybe even the trespassing one, I can understand because, you know, they had to ask him a few times before he got up and left.
But, again, we're in Washington. They hardly even even take violent criminals to court for things. So they're throwing the book at this guy to make a point, a point brought up out by a prosecutor with a long history of unhinged post about Trump supporters, Republicans, and people who won't wear masks, never should have been on the case in the first place, should have recused himself immediately. This is about politics. It's malicious.
Tim Hazelow is a good man. He does not deserve a felony on his record over this. And, Tracy, if you've seen our interview with Tracy, you just wanna hug her. You just wanna hug her and love her, and now she's facing a felony too. Absolutely insane.
So that's the breaking update. Nicole, do you have anything to add? Nope. You're fine. So we'll be following this.
We'll touch base with Tim Hazelow and, you know, see what happens next in this case. But I think trying to get some semblance of a a better defense team around him so he can appeal this. I think there's a lot of reasons that that are open where where he could have a successful appeal in this case than trying to make sure that Tracy Abdul does not have the same outcome. But I will say, shame on Island County prosecutor Greg Banks. Shame on you, sir.
Shame on you. Politically motivated, malicious, a felony for that. Outrageous. Absolutely outrageous. To catch our regular live shows, we'll have much more on this on the, Monday live show.
Just go to undividedpod.com. Undividedpod.com. You can sign up to support the show. Tune in Monday at noon for the regular live show. We'll have the latest on this case.
@BrandiKruse - Brandi Kruse
Who is the best criminal defense attorney in Seattle/Washington state? I am FUMING. I’ve watched Antifa commit violent felonies out in the open for WEEKS without consequence and Tim gets a FELONY because he wouldn’t put a f*cking mask on in 2024!?!
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@BrandiKruse - Brandi Kruse
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