Last Updated on November 7, 2022
True The Vote leaders Gregg Phillips and Catherine Engelbrecht after an appeals court overruled a contempt charge lobbied against the duo by a judge. The judge ordered the election integrity activists to name a confidential source, which they refused to do.
Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips were ordered released by a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit late Sunday evening. “IT IS ORDERED that Petitioners’ opposed motion for release from detention is GRANTED pending further order of this court,” the panel said in its ruling.
The election watchdogs are expected to be released on Monday, November 7, a spokesman for True The Vote told the Epoch Times in an email. “They will be released when the paperwork is complete, probably sometime this morning,” the spokesman said.
Englebrecht and Phillips were previously taken into custody by U.S. Marshals on October 31. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt found the pair in contempt of court for refusing to reveal the identities of sources who helped to assess information from Konnech Inc; the election software company whose CEO is being criminally charged for allegedly stealing U.S. election data and storing it in China.
Hoyt ordered them to be imprisoned for contempt until they “fully comply” with the order to disclose the source.
Investigative reporter was in court last week and witnessed the arrest. “It all comes down to this meeting in this Dallas hotel, where they were accessing, supposedly, the Konnech servers,” Webb said. “Catherine Engelbrecht [was] not at this meeting. Only Gregg Phillips [was]. [Phillips] said he’s a confidential informant. [Phillips] said this other gentleman named Mike Hasson, who was there, also is a confidential informant for the FBI,” Webb said in a video statement describing the arrest.
“The defense also said the other third person was also a confidential informant, they just don’t want to give up the name of the third person,” Webb said.
Catherine Englebrecht and Gregg Phillips taken into custody in the Courtroom here in Houston this morning. pic.twitter.com/eYEqXiwDee
— George Webb – Investigative Journalist (@RealGeorgeWebb1) October 31, 2022
Catherine Engelbrecht released a statement shortly after the appeals court decision was announced.
“Those who thought that imprisoning Gregg and I would weaken our resolve have gravely miscalculated. It is stronger than ever,” she said. “The right to free and fair elections without interference is more important than our own discomforts and even this detention, now reversed by a higher court. We are profoundly grateful for that.”
“We will continue to protect and defend those who do the vital work of election integrity, and we will make sure that their findings become a matter of public record.”
Statement from Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips of True the Vote, on the Fifth Circuit court reversing a lower court and ordering them released from custody. #TrueTheVote pic.twitter.com/fJWXlKwwSM
— Brian Glicklich (@brianglicklich) November 7, 2022
