Tag: Trump election fraud lie

A former Fox exec blasted the network for peddling Trump’s election-fraud claims and airing anti-mask comments, saying he knows Rupert Murdoch doesn’t buy into its coverage

A former Fox executive has blasted Fox News, saying that not even the network’s longtime proprietor Rupert Murdoch believes its coverage.

In an op-ed published Sunday by The Daily Beast, Preston Padden, who served as president of network distribution at the Fox Broadcasting Company for seven years, wrote that Fox News is a TV channel “that no reasonable person would believe.”

Padden wrote that Fox News had perpetuated former President Donald Trump’s “wild and false claims” that the 2020 election was stolen from him and that Fox’s decision to question masks had contributed to “the unnecessary deaths of many Americans” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading.

BUSTED: Arizona official was told to ‘stop the counting’ during blitz by Trump, Giuliani and GOP chair

Raw Story Logo

Donald Trump is under investigation in Georgia for his caught-on-tape efforts to pressure Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” 12,000 votes to overturn the election in the Peach State. A bombshell new report by The Arizona Republic documents a parallel effort to overturn the election results in Arizona.

“Then-President Donald Trump tried to speak directly with the chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in the weeks after the November 2020 election as his allies sought to change the election results in a state he narrowly lost to Democrat Joe Biden. New records obtained by The Arizona Republic reveal the behind-the scenes efforts by Trump, his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, and state GOP Chair Kelli Ward to pressure the county supervisors, who make up the elected body that oversees elections in the state’s most populous county,” the newspaper reported.

“Much of the attention from Trump’s allies was focused on Supervisor Clint Hickman, the 56-year-old lifelong Republican from a prominent West Valley family that runs an egg company. At the time, Hickman chaired the five-member Republican-controlled board, a position that gave him the power to set agendas, hold hearings on the election process, and certify — or delay — the 2020 election results,” the newspaper explained. Continue reading.

Trump Is Said to Have Called Arizona Official After Election Loss

National Memo logo

Donald Trump tried to reach the top Republican in metropolitan Phoenix as his allies were trying to overturn the state’s 2020 results, according to the official, who said he did not pick up the calls.

President Donald J. Trump twice sought to talk on the phone with the Republican leader of Arizona’s most populous county last winter as the Trump campaign and its allies tried unsuccessfully to reverse Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s narrow victory in the state’s presidential contest, according to the Republican official and records obtained by The Arizona Republic, a Phoenix newspaper.

But the leader, Clint Hickman, then the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said in an interview on Friday that he let the calls — made in late December and early January — go to voice mail and did not return them. “I told people, ‘Please don’t have the president call me,’” he said.

At the time, Mr. Hickman was being pressed by the state Republican Party chairwoman and Mr. Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani to investigate claims of fraud in the county’s election, which Mr. Biden had won by about 45,000 votes. Continue reading.

Fox News cuts off Trump after he derails ‘border’ press conference with election rant

AlterNet Logo

Fox News on Wednesday cut off a broadcast of former President Donald Trump’s visit to the border after he began ranting about the 2020 presidential election.

Although Fox News had heavily promoted the former president’s trip to Texas throughout the day, the network decided to cancel the president’s press conference about a minute after he claimed the voting system in America is a “disaster.”

“We had an election where we did much better than we did the first time and amazingly we lost,” Trump complained while sitting next to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R). “I just want to thank the people of Texas because we won in a landslide. It wasn’t even close.” Continue reading.

Released Capitol rioter who wants to ‘play for all the marbles’ stockpiled weapons while awaiting trial

Raw Story Logo

Federal prosecutors are seeking to revoke the pre-trial release of a former police officer charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, after he purchased 34 guns. Investigators also found a partially assembled pipe bomb at his home.

Thomas Robertson, a former police officer in Rocky Mount, Va., was ordered by a judge not to possess guns following his arrest on several charges stemming from the insurrection, including felony disruption of an official proceeding and misdemeanor disorderly conduct in a restricted building. Robertson and another Rocky Mount officer, Jacob Fracker, were fired in the wake of their arrests after they posted photos of themselves inside the Capitol on social media.

Prosecutors filed a motion to revoke Robertson’s release on Wednesday, after FBI agents served a search warrant at his home, where they found the pipe bomb inside a box labeled “booby trap” in addition to numerous boxes of ammunition. Authorities also tracked online gun purchases made by Robertson, who was allegedly storing his arsenal at a local firearms dealership. Continue reading.

Trump went to the border to attack Biden — but he mainly talked about himself

Washington Post logo

PHARR, Tex. — Former president Donald Trump traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border here Wednesday for a trip billed as an opportunity to assail President Biden on immigration — an issue core to Trump’s political identity and one Republicans view as a weakness for Democrats.

But Trump often got sidetracked from the day’s message, instead launching into grievance-filled rants.

He tried to re-litigate the results of the 2020 election. He questioned whether Biden would pass the mental acuity test that he has often used to boast about his own mental fitness. Continue reading.

U.S. arrests more than a dozen in Capitol riot, among the most made public in a single day

Washington Post logo

More than a dozen arrests in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot were announced or unsealed Wednesday, revealing charges against alleged supporters of extremist right-wing groups including the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys and “boogaloo boys” movement, and individuals accused of attacking the property of news media.

The arrests ranked among the most made public in a single day and came as an alleged Oath Keepers member reached an unexpected plea deal with prosecutors in the largest conspiracy case brought against those accused of obstructing Congress as it met to confirm the 2020 election results.

Mark Grods, 54, of Mobile, Ala., became the second from the anti-government group publicly to flip in the 16-defendant conspiracy case and cooperate with prosecutors in the latest sign of movement in the investigation. Continue reading.

Disillusioned MAGA rioter demands Trump pay his legal fees: ‘This all happened because of you!’

Raw Story Logo

A man arrested this week for participating in the January 6th riots at the United States Capitol building demanded that former President Donald Trump pay his legal bills.

As reported by Reuters legal affairs journalist Jan Wolfe, MAGA rioter Zvonimir Jurlina was arrested in Austin, Texas this week and charged with inciting violence against members of the media who were covering the rioting Trump supporters and with encouraging the theft of media equipment.

In a video posted shortly after his court appearance Jurlina complained about being a “political prisoner” who was being persecuted for being a “patriot.” Continue reading.

D.C. officer says ‘rage’ of former New York officer on Jan. 6 ‘put me in fear of my life’

Washington Post logo

A D.C. police officer on Tuesday recalled fearing for his life when he was attacked outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by a man using his fists and a flagpole. The officer also expressed the dismay he later felt on learning that the man charged with assaulting him is a former police officer and military veteran, Thomas Webster.

“Mr. Webster trained for years to show restraint in times of chaos, ensure public safety and protect public order,” the officer wrote in a statement read aloud by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hava Mirell during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington. “He deliberately chose to dishonor himself, as well as fellow former service officers, motivated by what we now know was political ignorance.”

Webster, 55, served in the U.S. Marine Corps and spent 20 years in the New York Police Department, according to court filings. He has been detained since his arrest in February, one of about 50 defendants jailed pending trial of the roughly 500 accused of participating in the riot at the Capitol. Continue reading.

GOP Blocked Bipartisan Jan. 6 Investigation — But Now They Demand One

National Memo logo

One month after congressional Republicans blocked a bipartisan investigation into the January 6 Capitol insurrection, congressional Republicans are demanding a bipartisan investigation into the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

The House in May passed by a vote of 252-175 a bill that would have created a bipartisan commission modeled on the one that investigated the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The bill, the result of a compromise between Republican Rep. John Katko of New York and Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, was nearly identical to a January GOP proposal. It would have established an outside panel with an even number of Democratic and Republican appointees.

But just 35 Republicans joined the Democratic majority in voting for it after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy refused to support it and Donald Trump instructed Republican lawmakers to block the legislation. Continue reading.