Tag: Donald Trump

Poll: Almost Half Of GOP Voters Want Legislators Enabled To Overturn Election Results

National Memo logo

A study published on Thursday of support for the “Stop the Steal” movement found nearly half of Republican voters believe their state legislatures should simply be able to overturn the results of elections.

The report, published by the Voter Study Group research collaborative, finds 46 percent of Republican voters believing “that it was appropriate for ‘Republican legislators in states won by Joe Biden to try to assign their state’s electoral votes to Donald Trump.'”

However, just 23 percent of Americans overall believe lawmakers should have the power to overturn an election, a dichotomy the report’s author, Lee Drutman, says could pose a challenge for Republicans in future elections. Continue reading.

Trump insurrectionist files hilarious court document in effort to replace 2 of 3 branches of government

Raw Story Logo

An attorney in Texas who lost his job as associate general counsel of an insurance company after traveling to Washington for the “Stop the Steal” rally that immediately preceded Trump’s insurrection has filed a new document as he continues his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Paul M. Davis was visited by the FBI about his role in the January 6th insurrection.

“Ever since footage of him outside of the U.S. Capitol went viral on the day of the Jan. 6th siege, Texas-based lawyer Paul M. Davis has embarked upon a self-styled quest of J.R.R. Tolkien-esque proportions. Davis filed a federal lawsuit asking nothing less than the wholesale replacement of two branches of the U.S. federal government. He said the FBI visited his home to ask him for his statement, and a federal judge referred him to the Disciplinary Committee for the Western District of Texas,” Law & Crime reported in February. Continue reading.

Mike Pence breaks with Trump, wants GOP to be ‘the party of the Constitution’

Raw Story Logo

As Donald Trump continues to push baseless conspiracy theories and refuses to concede that he lost the 2020 presidential election, his former vice president urged Republicans to back the Constitution.

During a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, Pence said he was proud to certify the election results that showed the GOP ticket lost by seven million votes.

“You know, every office holder in this country takes the same oath, to support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Pence noted. “I took that oath as vice president — on President Ronald Reagan’s Bible.” Continue reading.

DHS is concerned about Trump reinstatement conspiracy theory, top official says

Politico logo

DHS’s top counterterrorism official told members of Congress about the department’s concerns in a private briefing.

The conspiracy theory that Donald Trump will be reinstated as president in August has sparked concerns at the Department of Homeland Security, a top official there told members of Congress on Wednesday. 

The exchange came in a members-only briefing that John Cohen, the department’s top counterterrorism official, gave to the House Committee on Homeland Security. Three people familiar with the briefing described it to POLITICO. They requested anonymity to discuss the private conversation.

In the briefing, Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) asked Cohen how DHS is following the spread of disinformation and conspiracy theories, as well as the way that discourse can fuel violence. She specifically brought up the conspiracy theory claiming Trump will be reinstated as president in August — a theory Trump himself has reportedly promoted. Continue reading.

Georgia judge dismisses most of lawsuit that alleged fraudulent absentee ballots in Fulton County

Washington Post logo

A Georgia judge on Thursday dismissed most of a lawsuit that alleged there were fraudulent mail-in ballots in Fulton County from the 2020 presidential election, dealing a potential blow to a group of local voters that has pushed to inspect all 147,000 absentee ballots cast in the state’s largest county last November.

Superior Court Judge Brian Amero on Thursday dismissed seven of the lawsuit’s nine claims against Fulton County officials on the basis of Georgia’s sovereign immunity laws. Amero did not dismiss two counts in the lawsuit that sought digital images of the mail-in ballots through the state’s open records law.

Fulton County election officials and local representatives have repeatedly asserted that there has been no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, a claim perpetuated by former president Donald Trump, who has continued to baselessly allege that the election was stolen from him. President Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes, the first time the state had gone for a Democrat since 1992. Continue reading.

Inside the ‘shadow reality world’ promoting the lie that the presidential election was stolen

Washington Post logo

Wealthy allies of former president Donald Trump have spent millions on films, rallies and other efforts to tout falsehoods about the 2020 vote.

The slickly produced movie trailer, set to ominous music, cuts from scenes of the 2020 election to clips of allies of former president Donald Trump describing a vast conspiracy to steal the White House.

“The Deep Rig,” a film financed by former Overstock.com chief executive Patrick Byrne for $750,000, is set to be released online this weekend — the latest production by a loosely affiliated network of figures who have harnessed right-wing media outlets, podcasts and the social media platform Telegram to promote the falsehood that the 2020 election was rigged.

The baseless assertion, backed by millions of dollars from wealthy individuals, is reverberating across this alternative media ecosphere five months after Trump and many of his backers were pushed off Facebook and Twitter for spreading disinformation that inspired a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol. While largely unnoticed by Americans who have accepted the fact of President Biden’s victory, the deluge of content has captured the attention of many who think the election was rigged, a belief that is an animating force inside the Republican Party. Continue reading.

Inside the extraordinary effort to save Trump from covid-19

Washington Post logo

His illness was more severe than the White House acknowledged at the time. Advisers thought it would alter his response to the pandemic. They were wrong.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar’s phone rang with an urgent request: Could he help someone at the White House obtain an experimental coronavirus treatment, known as a monoclonal antibody?

If Azar could get the drug, what would the White House need to do to make that happen? Azar thought for a moment. It was Oct. 1, 2020, and the drug was still in clinical trials. The Food and Drug Administration would have to make a “compassionate use” exception for its use since it was not yet available to the public. Only about 10 people so far had used it outside of those trials. Azar said of course he would help.

Azar wasn’t told who the drug was for but would later connect the dots. The patient was one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisers: Hope Hicks. Continue reading.

Trump spending his days at Mar-a-Lago serving Diet Coke to reporters to get ahead of wave of damaging books: report

Raw Story Logo

Donald Trump is spending his day at Mar-a-Lago hosting a parade of journalists for sit-down interviews as he tries to get in front of a coming wave of damaging books, according to a new report.

Axios co-founder Mike Allen told MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt that he’s obtained a list of 22 interviews the twice-impeached one-term president has given in recent weeks, with some of the book authors going back for more than one visit.

“He’s given 22 interviews to book authors, several people double-dipped,” Allen said. “He spent an hour and a half, two hours, [and] some of the people are then invited to stay and have dinner at Mar-a-Lago, and why it matters, President Trump, who’s said very little, besides to conservative outlets, knows he’s going to be everywhere. This rush of Trump books that will start in July, and he wants his voice out there.” Continue reading.

Trump Urged Justice Department To Probe QAnon’s Conspiracy Theories

National Memo logo

The ongoing release of materials on former President Donald Trump’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election has shown the extent to which the White House pushed for the Department of Justice to investigate far-out conspiracy theories linked to the QAnon movement. And the latest example might also show that false stories circulated in far-right media made their way to Trump himself.

The Detroit News reported last week on emails recently released by the House oversight committee showing some of the Trump administration’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. On December 14 — the same day when the members of the Electoral College met across the country to formalize Joe Biden’s victory — White House aide Molly Michael sent an email to acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen with the subject “From POTUS.”

The email contained a PDF file of a report from a right-wing investigator on an election counting error in the small locale of Antrim County, Michigan, and a set of talking pointsapparently written by the report’s author declaring that “Michigan cannot certify for Biden” due to a “seditious conspiracy to undermine the election process and the will of the American people.” Continue reading.

Trump feels ‘used’ by Jared Kushner after son-in-law bolts from him to protect his image: report

Raw Story Logo

On Wednesday’s edition of “Anderson Cooper 360,” correspondent Jim Acosta said that former President Donald Trump feels “used” by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, following reports that he and Ivanka Trump have distanced themselves from him as he continues to attack the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election.

“It sounds like Jared and Ivanka are trying to treat Trump as the coffee boy. I never thought I would see that day,” said Acosta. “I did talk to a long-time Trump adviser today who said, you know what, Trump feels used by Jared Kushner. There’s a twist, Anderson, that I don’t know if we would ever see — Trump feeling used in all of this.”

“Listen, as for Jared and Ivanka trying to distance themselves, keep in mind, I don’t want to go over all of the history in the last four years, but Jared was in charge of Middle East peace in the Trump administration. He had a heavy hand in the COVID response. He was working on, you know, the border wall. He was a campaign adviser and so on. There’s no rehab tour. There’s no PR spinning. There’s no separation that can be put in place between Trump and Jared and Ivanka that is going to wash the blood of January 6th off of their designer suits. It’s just not going to happen. And I think Jared and Ivanka can try this, but I don’t think they’re fooling anybody. I think a lot of people out there see their failures tied very tightly to the failures of former President Donald Trump.” Continue reading.