Tag: Trump voter fraud lie

The great capitulation of Trump’s voter fraud crusade

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The 2020 election is a case study in how unproved claims can be weaponized. For decades, former president Donald Trump’s party warned of significant voter fraud while successfully pushing policies such as voter ID. In 2016, Trump laid a predicate for contesting an election by suggesting there was massive fraud, even in an election he had won. By 2020, when Trump lost, it culminated in a huge portion of the electorate believing a “stolen election” theory for which there is vanishingly little actual evidence.

Some have done more than raise questions, though. They, like Trump and often in search of his allies’ support, have alleged actual massive fraud.

But now they’ve been asked to account for it. And crucially and increasingly, they have backed down. Continue reading.

Trump’s Sleight of Hand: Shouting Fraud, Pocketing Donors’ Cash for Future

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With breathless, often misleading appeals, the former president promised small donors that he was using the money to fight the election results, but in fact stored much of it for future use.

Former President Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party leveraged false claims of voter fraud and promises to overturn the election to raise more than a quarter-billion dollars in November and December as hundreds of thousands of trusting supporters listened and opened their wallets.

But the Trump campaign spent only a tiny fraction of its haul on lawyers and other legal bills related to those claims. Instead, Mr. Trump and the G.O.P. stored away much of the money — $175 million or so — even as they continued to issue breathless, aggressive and often misleading appeals for cash that promised it would help with recounts, the rooting out of election fraud and even the Republican candidates’ chances in the two Senate runoff races in Georgia.

What fraction of the money Mr. Trump did spend after the election was plowed mostly into a public-relations campaign and to keep his perpetual fund-raising machine whirring, with nearly $50 million going toward online advertising, text-message outreach and a small television ad campaign. Continue reading.

First on CNN: Trump’s impeachment defense team leaves less than two weeks before trial

Former President Donald Trump’s five impeachment defense attorneys have left a little more than a week before his trial is set to begin, according to people familiar with the case, amid a disagreement over his legal strategy. 

It was a dramatic development in the second impeachment trial for Trump, who has struggled to find lawyers willing to take his case. And now, with legal briefs due next week and a trial set to begin only days later, Trump is clinging to his election fraud charade and suddenly finds himself without legal representation.

Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, who were expected to be two of the lead attorneys, are no longer on the team. A source familiar with the changes said it was a mutual decision for both to leave the legal team. As the lead attorney, Bowers assembled the team. Continue reading.

Feds Track Down Bearded Proud Boy Seen Smashing Capitol Window With Police Shield

Dominic ‘Spazzo’ Pezzola was allegedly one of the first people to shatter a window at the Capitol, allowing rioters to stream inside and unlock doors.

Prosecutors have arrested and charged two Proud Boys members on Friday—one of whom allegedly led hordes of angry MAGA supporters into the Capitol and spoke about killing Vice President Mike Pence “if given the chance,” according to court filings.

The FBI has identified Dominic Pezzola as the Capitol rioter known as “Spaz” seen breaking into the building with a police shield. According to a criminal complaint, Pezzola encouraged rioters after smashing the glass protecting the west side of the building.

Pezzola’s successful shattering of the window was one of the first breaches of the Capitol and allowed other rioters to stream inside and unlock doors for more people to storm the building. A series of open-source photographs also confirm Pezzola was the individual who broke the glass. Continue reading.

‘Stop the Steal’ Protest Organizer Thinks Trump Foes Should be Executed

An organizer of the “Stop the Steal” protest that descended into a failed insurrection on Jan. 6 called for the “execution” of anyone who helped Joe Biden legitimately defeat Trump, according to a video unearthed by Mother Jones. At a “Stop the Steal” rally in Huntington Beach, California, on Dec. 12, Alan Hostetter told the crowd: “President Trump must be inaugurated… the enemies and traitors of America both foreign and domestic must be held accountable. And they will. There must be long prison terms, while execution is the just punishment for the ringleaders of this coup.” Hotsetter, founder of American Phoenix Project, appeared at the rally beside former GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. 

Another “Stop the Steal” rally organizer, Ali Abbas, was filmed two weeks before the Jan. 6 riot saying that his group wasn’t violent—“yet.”

View the post here.

Behind Trump’s Words, A Criminal State Of Mind

For the senators who will sit in judgment of Donald Trump’s second impeachment a crucial question will be his state of mind on his day of rage, January 6, and his weeks of rage leading up to the attack on the Capitol. 

Trump’s defense cherry-picks a few of his words on that day, pointing out that he used the word “peaceful” while speaking to the White House rally that preceded the insurrection. They ignore that he told them to “fight.” Immediately after a Proud Boys rally in Washington that ended with knifings and beatings in the streets, he urged his rabble to come to Washington for a “wild” demonstration to prevent the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College.

Proving his culpability, however, will depend on more than just his words before the insurrection. Continue reading.

West Virginia man arrested near U.S. Capitol with gun, ‘Stop the Steal’ papers in car

Dennis Westover, who told police he had concerns about the integrity of the election, had parked in the middle of an intersection near the Capitol Building.

A 71-year-old West Virginia man was arrested after police found him parked near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., with a gun, 20 rounds of ammunition and “Stop the Steal” paperwork in his vehicle.

The arrest came weeks after supporters of then-President Donald Trump, who had attended a gathering billed by many as the “Stop the Steal Rally” to oppose the election of President Joe Biden, stormed the Capitol. Five people died as a result of the Jan. 6 riot, including a Capitol police officer.

The man, Dennis Westover, was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with carrying a gun without a license, possession of unregistered ammunition and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to an incident report obtained by NBC News. Continue reading.