If you think Trump is the only person accountable for the division in this country,you must have some great weed.
Trump Election Trail
- Thread starter Old School
- Start date
If you think Trump is the only person accountable for the division in this country,you must have some great weed.
This is the Republican platform:?Whataboutism ?. Always trying to distract. Never willing to accept the consequences of their policies and actions.
Let?s just start with his indictment and go from there.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Talk about distractions.
Lynch mob left mentality.
Nobody is accountable.It's repulsive
Trump will be obsolete almost instantly after next Wednesday. He was always a shit President, but holy Hell........he has completely disappeared. He's an immature child, propped up by immature people.
The Republican party will forget about this cancer within DAYS.
The Republican party will forget about this cancer within DAYS.
You are complaining about Trump and his whacko followers being held to account for their actions and rhetoric.......the you complain that nobody is accountable. Are you mental? Pick a thought and stick to it. Good grief.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
GOP senators wrestle with purging Trump from party
BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 01/18/21 06:00 AM EST
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/534525-gop-senators-wrestle-with-purging-trump-from-party
Republican senators are wrestling over what they want their party?s future relationship with Donald Trump to be after he leaves office on Wednesday.
Faced with a deeply divided Senate Republican Conference, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is giving his colleagues free rein to vote their conscience when the Senate tries Trump on charges that he incited an insurrection.
McConnell is telling colleagues that he himself hasn?t decided whether to vote to convict Trump on a House-passed article of impeachment and associates describe the GOP leader ?as furious? over that attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
The New York Times reported that McConnell has told associates that he sees the impeachment effort as a way for the Republican Party to break with Trump, although the GOP leader later discounted what he called ?speculation? in the press.
A Senate vote to convict Trump would need at least 17 Republican votes to be successful, if all 50 Democratic senators vote to convict. A second vote could be held to prevent Trump from running for office again. That would require a simple Senate majority.
While a good number of Republican senators would like to break free of what they see as the destabilizing and often erratic leadership of Trump, Republican strategists and aides warn there is a serious political risk to banning him from future political office.
?I don?t think it?s an easy call, but I think there would be a lot more Republican support evident if it were not linked to the Democrats? clear desire to prevent him from running for office ever again,? said Vin Weber, a Republican strategist. ?That?s the real question politically.
?A lot of people in both parties who want Trump just gone think, ?That?s good, we?ll just get rid of Trump. He can?t run again,? ? he added.
But he cautioned the ?hardcore Trump people, which probably means a majority of the Republican voters, still view Trump as their leader [and] they view the election as stolen.?
?If we take the step of banning Trump from running again, they?re not going to say anything?s been stolen. They?re simply going to say the power structure of the country has prevented our leader from running again and they?ll be right,? he added. ?You?ve created an impossible situation in terms of trying to soften the divisions a little bit in the country and soften the vote on the hardcore pro-Trump side.?
Some Republicans are already using that as a justification to oppose impeachment.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), an influential member of the Senate GOP conference who led the effort to put together a Republican police reform bill last year, warned that impeaching Trump would undercut efforts to promote national unity after the strife of 2020.
?An impeachment vote will only lead to more hate and a deeply fractured nation,? he said, arguing that convicting Trump would ?fly in direct opposition to what President-elect Joe Biden has been calling for all year.?
At the same time, outrage has mounted within the Senate Republican Conference as new details about last week?s attack on Congress emerge.
Federal prosecutors said in a court filing Friday that they had ?strong evidence? the rioters who breached the Capitol intended ?to capture and assassinate elected officials,? including Vice President Pence.
That revelation sparked outrage from Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), an influential conservative who may run for president in 2024.
?These men weren?t drunks who got rowdy ? they were terrorists attacking this country?s constitutionally-mandated transfer of power. They failed, but they came dangerously close to starting a bloody constitutional crisis. They must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,? Sasse said in a statement.
Trump?s plummeting popularity, his words of encouragement to a crowd of supporters before the storming of the Capitol last week and his debunked and unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was stolen has GOP senators looking for a way to decisively break with the outgoing president.
A small group of Republican senators has signaled they are open to voting to convict Trump for inciting the crowd.
?I believe that this president has committed an impeachable offense through his words on the sixth of January, and leading up to the sixth of January, when he was not honest to the American people about the election and the election results,? Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told KTUU, an Alaskan news channel.
Sasse and Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) have also either said Trump committed impeachable offenses or blamed him for inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol.
But Republican aides say Democrats won?t get 17 GOP senators to vote to convict Trump after he leaves office.
?It?s an opportunity to purge Trump, yes. I don?t know there are 17 votes to do so. This is more of an opportunity for the Democrats to continue to try to destroy the Republican Party. What the Democrats have very successfully done is politicize impeachment with no hearings, no process in the House,? said a Senate GOP aide.
The aide predicted that Trump?s legal team will respond on the Senate floor with statements and videos by Democratic politicians urging their supporters to ?fight? and expressing sympathy to the Black Lives Matter protests last year, which resulted in property destruction and deaths in several cities.
Already Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has been called on by several Democratic colleagues to resign because of his role in opposing the final tally of electoral votes for Biden, is pointing to Democrats? support for the summer protests.
Some Republicans such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) will try to sidestep the question of whether Trump committed impeachable offenses by arguing that impeachment does not apply to a private citizen, which is what Trump will be by the time the Senate trial begins.
?The Founders designed the impeachment process as a way to remove officeholders from public office? not an inquest against private citizens,? he said in a statement.
There?s also growing uncertainty whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will even send the House-passed article of impeachment to the Senate this month as doing so would force a trial to begin immediately, which would stall work on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal Biden unveiled Thursday and hang up confirmation of his Cabinet nominees.
The Republican aide said Republicans are not likely to give Democrats consent to work on a coronavirus relief bill and confirm Biden?s nominees while the trial is going on, which means the incoming president?s agenda could be stalled for weeks.
Some Democrats are already balking at putting the Senate on pause for as long two weeks to a month to conduct an impeachment trial.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), an influential centrist, says holding a Senate trial after Trump leaves office ?doesn?t make any common sense whatsoever.?
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Friday his priority is to move a relief package and Biden?s nominees before holding a trial to convict an ex-president.
The Senate trial could not begin before 1 p.m. on Jan. 20, after Trump is out of office, because the upper chamber is in a recess until Tuesday.
BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 01/18/21 06:00 AM EST
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/534525-gop-senators-wrestle-with-purging-trump-from-party
Republican senators are wrestling over what they want their party?s future relationship with Donald Trump to be after he leaves office on Wednesday.
Faced with a deeply divided Senate Republican Conference, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is giving his colleagues free rein to vote their conscience when the Senate tries Trump on charges that he incited an insurrection.
McConnell is telling colleagues that he himself hasn?t decided whether to vote to convict Trump on a House-passed article of impeachment and associates describe the GOP leader ?as furious? over that attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
The New York Times reported that McConnell has told associates that he sees the impeachment effort as a way for the Republican Party to break with Trump, although the GOP leader later discounted what he called ?speculation? in the press.
A Senate vote to convict Trump would need at least 17 Republican votes to be successful, if all 50 Democratic senators vote to convict. A second vote could be held to prevent Trump from running for office again. That would require a simple Senate majority.
While a good number of Republican senators would like to break free of what they see as the destabilizing and often erratic leadership of Trump, Republican strategists and aides warn there is a serious political risk to banning him from future political office.
?I don?t think it?s an easy call, but I think there would be a lot more Republican support evident if it were not linked to the Democrats? clear desire to prevent him from running for office ever again,? said Vin Weber, a Republican strategist. ?That?s the real question politically.
?A lot of people in both parties who want Trump just gone think, ?That?s good, we?ll just get rid of Trump. He can?t run again,? ? he added.
But he cautioned the ?hardcore Trump people, which probably means a majority of the Republican voters, still view Trump as their leader [and] they view the election as stolen.?
?If we take the step of banning Trump from running again, they?re not going to say anything?s been stolen. They?re simply going to say the power structure of the country has prevented our leader from running again and they?ll be right,? he added. ?You?ve created an impossible situation in terms of trying to soften the divisions a little bit in the country and soften the vote on the hardcore pro-Trump side.?
Some Republicans are already using that as a justification to oppose impeachment.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), an influential member of the Senate GOP conference who led the effort to put together a Republican police reform bill last year, warned that impeaching Trump would undercut efforts to promote national unity after the strife of 2020.
?An impeachment vote will only lead to more hate and a deeply fractured nation,? he said, arguing that convicting Trump would ?fly in direct opposition to what President-elect Joe Biden has been calling for all year.?
At the same time, outrage has mounted within the Senate Republican Conference as new details about last week?s attack on Congress emerge.
Federal prosecutors said in a court filing Friday that they had ?strong evidence? the rioters who breached the Capitol intended ?to capture and assassinate elected officials,? including Vice President Pence.
That revelation sparked outrage from Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), an influential conservative who may run for president in 2024.
?These men weren?t drunks who got rowdy ? they were terrorists attacking this country?s constitutionally-mandated transfer of power. They failed, but they came dangerously close to starting a bloody constitutional crisis. They must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,? Sasse said in a statement.
Trump?s plummeting popularity, his words of encouragement to a crowd of supporters before the storming of the Capitol last week and his debunked and unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was stolen has GOP senators looking for a way to decisively break with the outgoing president.
A small group of Republican senators has signaled they are open to voting to convict Trump for inciting the crowd.
?I believe that this president has committed an impeachable offense through his words on the sixth of January, and leading up to the sixth of January, when he was not honest to the American people about the election and the election results,? Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told KTUU, an Alaskan news channel.
Sasse and Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) have also either said Trump committed impeachable offenses or blamed him for inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol.
But Republican aides say Democrats won?t get 17 GOP senators to vote to convict Trump after he leaves office.
?It?s an opportunity to purge Trump, yes. I don?t know there are 17 votes to do so. This is more of an opportunity for the Democrats to continue to try to destroy the Republican Party. What the Democrats have very successfully done is politicize impeachment with no hearings, no process in the House,? said a Senate GOP aide.
The aide predicted that Trump?s legal team will respond on the Senate floor with statements and videos by Democratic politicians urging their supporters to ?fight? and expressing sympathy to the Black Lives Matter protests last year, which resulted in property destruction and deaths in several cities.
Already Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has been called on by several Democratic colleagues to resign because of his role in opposing the final tally of electoral votes for Biden, is pointing to Democrats? support for the summer protests.
Some Republicans such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) will try to sidestep the question of whether Trump committed impeachable offenses by arguing that impeachment does not apply to a private citizen, which is what Trump will be by the time the Senate trial begins.
?The Founders designed the impeachment process as a way to remove officeholders from public office? not an inquest against private citizens,? he said in a statement.
There?s also growing uncertainty whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will even send the House-passed article of impeachment to the Senate this month as doing so would force a trial to begin immediately, which would stall work on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal Biden unveiled Thursday and hang up confirmation of his Cabinet nominees.
The Republican aide said Republicans are not likely to give Democrats consent to work on a coronavirus relief bill and confirm Biden?s nominees while the trial is going on, which means the incoming president?s agenda could be stalled for weeks.
Some Democrats are already balking at putting the Senate on pause for as long two weeks to a month to conduct an impeachment trial.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), an influential centrist, says holding a Senate trial after Trump leaves office ?doesn?t make any common sense whatsoever.?
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Friday his priority is to move a relief package and Biden?s nominees before holding a trial to convict an ex-president.
The Senate trial could not begin before 1 p.m. on Jan. 20, after Trump is out of office, because the upper chamber is in a recess until Tuesday.
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
As he heads for the exit, Trump vows that his movement ?is only just beginning.?
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/0...vows-that-his-movement-is-only-just-beginning
President Trump delivered a defiant and unapologetic farewell speech to the nation in a video released on Tuesday, declaring that he ?took on the tough battles? and vowing that ?the movement we started is only just beginning.?
Mr. Trump, who has not appeared in public in days and remained in seclusion at the White House in his final hours in office, sought to frame his administration as a period of progress despite the coronavirus pandemic that has now killed 400,000 Americans and the divisions that led to the storming of the Capitol this month by a mob of his supporters.
?I did not seek the easiest course,? Mr. Trump said in the 20-minute video, posted online the day before he leaves office. ?By far, it was actually the most difficult. I did not seek the path that would get the least criticism. I took on the tough battles, the hardest fights, the most difficult choices, because that?s what you elected me to do. Your needs were my first and last unyielding focus. This, I hope, will be our greatest legacy.?
Mr. Trump made no explicit concession to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., nor did he mention his name. After months of falsely claiming that he did not lose and trying to overturn the results of the election, Mr. Trump has scorned the traditional transition of power, refusing to invite Mr. Biden for the customary postelection visit to the White House and opting to skip the inaugural ceremony on Wednesday.
But he did offer well wishes to his successor without naming him. ?This week, we inaugurate a new administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous,? Mr. Trump said. ?We extend our best wishes, and we also want them to have luck, a very important word.?
In listing what he sees as his accomplishments, the departing president cited the strong economy before the outbreak of the pandemic, his tax cuts and regulation curbs, his judicial appointments including three Supreme Court justices, his revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement, his investment of additional money in the military, the normalization of relations between Israel and several of its Arab neighbors and his confrontations with China and Iran. ?I am especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars,? he said.
Mr. Trump again condemned the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol without acknowledging any responsibility for encouraging his supporters, for which he has been impeached by the House and faces trial by the Senate. ?All Americans were horrified by the assault on our Capitol,? he said. ?Political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans. It can never be tolerated.?
Likewise, as the death toll from the pandemic reached a macabre new benchmark, he offered no regrets about his handling of the virus, which he repeatedly dismissed and said would simply disappear. He claimed credit for the record-fast development of vaccines, which even some opponents have praised him for, but made no mention of the troubles that have slowed their distribution.
As he faced a new chapter of life deprived of his favorite tools of communication, he took another jab at the ?political censorship? and ?blacklisting? by social media companies that have locked him out of his accounts, citing his many false and incendiary messages. YouTube said on Tuesday that it was extending its suspension of Mr. Trump?s channel for at least another seven days, preventing him from uploading new content or streaming video until next week, because of ?concerns about the ongoing potential for violence.?
?Shutting down free and open debate violates our core values and most enduring tradition,? Mr. Trump said in his video. ?In America, we don?t insist on absolute conformity or enforce rigid orthodoxies and punitive speech codes. We just don?t do that.?
He plans to leave the White House early Wednesday morning and attend a farewell event with current and former administration officials at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington before flying to Florida, landing an hour before Mr. Biden takes the oath of office in the act that will formally end the Trump presidency. But Mr. Trump made clear he would not go away and be silent.
?Now, as I prepare to hand power over to a new administration at noon on Wednesday,? he said, ?I want you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning.?
Daisuke Wakabayashi contributed reporting.
? Peter Baker
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/0...vows-that-his-movement-is-only-just-beginning
President Trump delivered a defiant and unapologetic farewell speech to the nation in a video released on Tuesday, declaring that he ?took on the tough battles? and vowing that ?the movement we started is only just beginning.?
Mr. Trump, who has not appeared in public in days and remained in seclusion at the White House in his final hours in office, sought to frame his administration as a period of progress despite the coronavirus pandemic that has now killed 400,000 Americans and the divisions that led to the storming of the Capitol this month by a mob of his supporters.
?I did not seek the easiest course,? Mr. Trump said in the 20-minute video, posted online the day before he leaves office. ?By far, it was actually the most difficult. I did not seek the path that would get the least criticism. I took on the tough battles, the hardest fights, the most difficult choices, because that?s what you elected me to do. Your needs were my first and last unyielding focus. This, I hope, will be our greatest legacy.?
Mr. Trump made no explicit concession to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., nor did he mention his name. After months of falsely claiming that he did not lose and trying to overturn the results of the election, Mr. Trump has scorned the traditional transition of power, refusing to invite Mr. Biden for the customary postelection visit to the White House and opting to skip the inaugural ceremony on Wednesday.
But he did offer well wishes to his successor without naming him. ?This week, we inaugurate a new administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous,? Mr. Trump said. ?We extend our best wishes, and we also want them to have luck, a very important word.?
In listing what he sees as his accomplishments, the departing president cited the strong economy before the outbreak of the pandemic, his tax cuts and regulation curbs, his judicial appointments including three Supreme Court justices, his revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement, his investment of additional money in the military, the normalization of relations between Israel and several of its Arab neighbors and his confrontations with China and Iran. ?I am especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars,? he said.
Mr. Trump again condemned the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol without acknowledging any responsibility for encouraging his supporters, for which he has been impeached by the House and faces trial by the Senate. ?All Americans were horrified by the assault on our Capitol,? he said. ?Political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans. It can never be tolerated.?
Likewise, as the death toll from the pandemic reached a macabre new benchmark, he offered no regrets about his handling of the virus, which he repeatedly dismissed and said would simply disappear. He claimed credit for the record-fast development of vaccines, which even some opponents have praised him for, but made no mention of the troubles that have slowed their distribution.
As he faced a new chapter of life deprived of his favorite tools of communication, he took another jab at the ?political censorship? and ?blacklisting? by social media companies that have locked him out of his accounts, citing his many false and incendiary messages. YouTube said on Tuesday that it was extending its suspension of Mr. Trump?s channel for at least another seven days, preventing him from uploading new content or streaming video until next week, because of ?concerns about the ongoing potential for violence.?
?Shutting down free and open debate violates our core values and most enduring tradition,? Mr. Trump said in his video. ?In America, we don?t insist on absolute conformity or enforce rigid orthodoxies and punitive speech codes. We just don?t do that.?
He plans to leave the White House early Wednesday morning and attend a farewell event with current and former administration officials at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington before flying to Florida, landing an hour before Mr. Biden takes the oath of office in the act that will formally end the Trump presidency. But Mr. Trump made clear he would not go away and be silent.
?Now, as I prepare to hand power over to a new administration at noon on Wednesday,? he said, ?I want you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning.?
Daisuke Wakabayashi contributed reporting.
? Peter Baker
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
Trump Raised $255.4 Million in 8 Weeks as He Sought to Overturn Election Result
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/us/politics/trump-voter-fraud-fundraising.html
The former president?s fund-raising slowed significantly after the Electoral College delivered its votes to make Joseph R. Biden Jr. the 46th president.
By Shane Goldmacher and Rachel Shorey
Jan. 31, 2021, 6:00 a.m. ET
President Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party raised $255.4 million in the eight-plus weeks following the Nov. 3 election, new federal filings show, as he sought to undermine and overturn the results with unfounded accusations of fraud.
Mr. Trump?s strongest fund-raising came in the immediate aftermath of the election, such as after major media organizations declared that Joseph R. Biden Jr. had won on Nov. 7. But even as Mr. Trump and his legal team lost case after case ? in venues including the Supreme Court ? his donors continued to give repeatedly. More than two million contributions flowed in to Mr. Trump, the Republican National Committee and their shared accounts from Nov. 24 through the end of the year.
The donations were made public over the weekend in a Federal Election Commission filing by WinRed, the digital platform that Republicans use to process online donations. Mr. Trump?s campaign committee, joint committees with the R.N.C., and the new political action committee he formed after the election, Save America, will all file additional disclosures on Sunday with more details on spending and fund-raising.
Mr. Trump had previously announced that he and the R.N.C. had raised $207.5 million in the first month following the election. The new records show that his fund-raising fell sharply in December compared with November, with an especially notably dip after Dec. 14, the day the Electoral College formally cast its ballots to make Mr. Biden the nation?s 46th president, and reality may have set in for some of Mr. Trump?s supporters about the futility of the efforts to overturn the result.
In the two weeks leading up to the Electoral College vote, Mr. Trump and the R.N.C. had raised an average of $2.9 million every day online; in the two weeks after, the average was $1.2 million.
In fact, Mr. Trump and the R.N.C. had raised more than $2 million online every day since the election until Dec. 14. They did not raise that much again for the rest of the year, until Dec. 31, when donations spiked at the end-of-year deadline.
The new figures capture almost all of Mr. Trump?s online fund-raising, as he stopped raising money on Jan. 6, the day on which he addressed a mob of supporters who then stormed the Capitol in a violent riot and on which Mr. Biden was formally ratified by Congress as the next president.
Following that riot, Mr. Trump essentially ceased sending fund-raising pitches to his supporters (the R.N.C. paused for about a week). His last campaign email that day began, ?TODAY will be a historic day in our Nation?s history.?
Still, Mr. Trump left office with tens of millions of dollars raised for his new Save America PAC, which he can use to fund a post-presidential political operation, including travel and staffing.
But Mr. Trump still faces a wave of legal costs with a looming impeachment trial in the Senate set to begin in a little more than a week. Late on Saturday, Mr. Trump abruptly parted ways with the lead lawyer, Butch Bowers, on his impeachment defense.
The riot inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, followed a rally at which President Trump made an inflammatory speech to his supporters, questioning the results of the election. Here?s a look at what happened and the ongoing fallout:
Several Trump administration officials, including cabinet members Betsy DeVos and Elaine Chao, announced that they were stepping down as a result of the riot.
Federal prosecutors have charged more than 70 people, including some who appeared in viral photos and videos of the riot. Officials expect to eventually charge hundreds of others.
The House voted to impeach the president on charges of ?inciting an insurrection? that led to the rampage by his supporters.
In his first impeachment, the R.N.C. shouldered some of the legal expenses for Mr. Trump because he was the sitting president and the party leader. Those costs included a $196,000 payment to Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer who served as part of Mr. Trump?s defense team.
It is not clear what role the R.N.C. will play in the upcoming impeachment but the party?s coffers did benefit immensely from Mr. Trump?s aggressive fund-raising as he spread conspiracy theories about voting fraud. Some 25 percent of funds raised through Mr. Trump?s email and texting operation were earmarked for the R.N.C.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/us/politics/trump-voter-fraud-fundraising.html
The former president?s fund-raising slowed significantly after the Electoral College delivered its votes to make Joseph R. Biden Jr. the 46th president.
By Shane Goldmacher and Rachel Shorey
Jan. 31, 2021, 6:00 a.m. ET
President Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party raised $255.4 million in the eight-plus weeks following the Nov. 3 election, new federal filings show, as he sought to undermine and overturn the results with unfounded accusations of fraud.
Mr. Trump?s strongest fund-raising came in the immediate aftermath of the election, such as after major media organizations declared that Joseph R. Biden Jr. had won on Nov. 7. But even as Mr. Trump and his legal team lost case after case ? in venues including the Supreme Court ? his donors continued to give repeatedly. More than two million contributions flowed in to Mr. Trump, the Republican National Committee and their shared accounts from Nov. 24 through the end of the year.
The donations were made public over the weekend in a Federal Election Commission filing by WinRed, the digital platform that Republicans use to process online donations. Mr. Trump?s campaign committee, joint committees with the R.N.C., and the new political action committee he formed after the election, Save America, will all file additional disclosures on Sunday with more details on spending and fund-raising.
Mr. Trump had previously announced that he and the R.N.C. had raised $207.5 million in the first month following the election. The new records show that his fund-raising fell sharply in December compared with November, with an especially notably dip after Dec. 14, the day the Electoral College formally cast its ballots to make Mr. Biden the nation?s 46th president, and reality may have set in for some of Mr. Trump?s supporters about the futility of the efforts to overturn the result.
In the two weeks leading up to the Electoral College vote, Mr. Trump and the R.N.C. had raised an average of $2.9 million every day online; in the two weeks after, the average was $1.2 million.
In fact, Mr. Trump and the R.N.C. had raised more than $2 million online every day since the election until Dec. 14. They did not raise that much again for the rest of the year, until Dec. 31, when donations spiked at the end-of-year deadline.
The new figures capture almost all of Mr. Trump?s online fund-raising, as he stopped raising money on Jan. 6, the day on which he addressed a mob of supporters who then stormed the Capitol in a violent riot and on which Mr. Biden was formally ratified by Congress as the next president.
Following that riot, Mr. Trump essentially ceased sending fund-raising pitches to his supporters (the R.N.C. paused for about a week). His last campaign email that day began, ?TODAY will be a historic day in our Nation?s history.?
Still, Mr. Trump left office with tens of millions of dollars raised for his new Save America PAC, which he can use to fund a post-presidential political operation, including travel and staffing.
But Mr. Trump still faces a wave of legal costs with a looming impeachment trial in the Senate set to begin in a little more than a week. Late on Saturday, Mr. Trump abruptly parted ways with the lead lawyer, Butch Bowers, on his impeachment defense.
The riot inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, followed a rally at which President Trump made an inflammatory speech to his supporters, questioning the results of the election. Here?s a look at what happened and the ongoing fallout:
Several Trump administration officials, including cabinet members Betsy DeVos and Elaine Chao, announced that they were stepping down as a result of the riot.
Federal prosecutors have charged more than 70 people, including some who appeared in viral photos and videos of the riot. Officials expect to eventually charge hundreds of others.
The House voted to impeach the president on charges of ?inciting an insurrection? that led to the rampage by his supporters.
In his first impeachment, the R.N.C. shouldered some of the legal expenses for Mr. Trump because he was the sitting president and the party leader. Those costs included a $196,000 payment to Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer who served as part of Mr. Trump?s defense team.
It is not clear what role the R.N.C. will play in the upcoming impeachment but the party?s coffers did benefit immensely from Mr. Trump?s aggressive fund-raising as he spread conspiracy theories about voting fraud. Some 25 percent of funds raised through Mr. Trump?s email and texting operation were earmarked for the R.N.C.
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
Donald Trump's entire legal team quits week before impeachment trial: Sources
JOHN SANTUCCI and KATHERINE FAULDERS
Sat, January 30, 2021, 11:16 PM?3 min read
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/donald-tr...-041610892.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=2_04
All five of the impeachment lawyers who were expected to represent former President Donald Trump have called it quits, sources told ABC News.
The team, led by South Carolina lawyer Butch Bowers, resigned in part because of disagreements over how to mount Trump?s defense, the sources said. The lawyers had planned to argue the constitutionality of holding a trial given Trump is now a former president.
The disagreements over strategy varied, sources told ABC News, but Trump wanted his team to argue there was election fraud, while the lawyers and some top advisers to the former president wanted the focus to remain on the constitutionality of a trial with the president no longer in office.
A source close to the former president described the change as a "mutual decision" between the parties.
Trump was impeached by the House on Jan. 13 on a single article for "incitement of insurrection" following the violent siege at the U.S. Capitol that left one police officer and four others dead and left members of Congress and their staffs fearing for their lives. The insurrection, which took place Jan. 6, was preceded by a Trump rally when he told his followers to head to the Capitol and repeatedly said they should fight for him.
"The Democrats' efforts to impeach a president who has already left office is totally unconstitutional and so bad for our country. In fact, 45 Senators have already voted that it is unconstitutional. We have done much work, but have not made a final decision on our legal team, which will be made shortly,? Jason Miller, a spokesperson for Trump, told ABC News Saturday.
The Senate trial is scheduled to begin on the week of Feb. 8. Two-thirds of the Senate -- or 67 senators -- would need to vote to convict Trump to be successful. That means 17 GOP senators would need to come to the Democrats' side.
Sources believe there will be another round of additions to the team in the coming days though the process is nowhere near finalized with just over a week to go. Many attorneys who worked with or represented Trump during the last impeachment trial are declining to defend him in the Senate.
Trump's former top lawyer, Jay Sekulow, who represented him at his first impeachment trial, will not be taking part in this trial. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, also said he will not be representing the former president after appearing at the same rally that preceded the siege on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The attorneys in addition to Bowers who will no longer be representing Trump are Deborah Barbier, Josh Howard, Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who urged Bowers to take the case, told his Senate GOP colleagues on Jan. 21 that Bowers would be representing Trump.
Senate Republicans had asked for a delay in the trial, agreed to by Democrats, following the delivery of the impeachment article in order for Trump to work with his still-forming legal team.
ABC News' Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
JOHN SANTUCCI and KATHERINE FAULDERS
Sat, January 30, 2021, 11:16 PM?3 min read
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/donald-tr...-041610892.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=2_04
All five of the impeachment lawyers who were expected to represent former President Donald Trump have called it quits, sources told ABC News.
The team, led by South Carolina lawyer Butch Bowers, resigned in part because of disagreements over how to mount Trump?s defense, the sources said. The lawyers had planned to argue the constitutionality of holding a trial given Trump is now a former president.
The disagreements over strategy varied, sources told ABC News, but Trump wanted his team to argue there was election fraud, while the lawyers and some top advisers to the former president wanted the focus to remain on the constitutionality of a trial with the president no longer in office.
A source close to the former president described the change as a "mutual decision" between the parties.
Trump was impeached by the House on Jan. 13 on a single article for "incitement of insurrection" following the violent siege at the U.S. Capitol that left one police officer and four others dead and left members of Congress and their staffs fearing for their lives. The insurrection, which took place Jan. 6, was preceded by a Trump rally when he told his followers to head to the Capitol and repeatedly said they should fight for him.
"The Democrats' efforts to impeach a president who has already left office is totally unconstitutional and so bad for our country. In fact, 45 Senators have already voted that it is unconstitutional. We have done much work, but have not made a final decision on our legal team, which will be made shortly,? Jason Miller, a spokesperson for Trump, told ABC News Saturday.
The Senate trial is scheduled to begin on the week of Feb. 8. Two-thirds of the Senate -- or 67 senators -- would need to vote to convict Trump to be successful. That means 17 GOP senators would need to come to the Democrats' side.
Sources believe there will be another round of additions to the team in the coming days though the process is nowhere near finalized with just over a week to go. Many attorneys who worked with or represented Trump during the last impeachment trial are declining to defend him in the Senate.
Trump's former top lawyer, Jay Sekulow, who represented him at his first impeachment trial, will not be taking part in this trial. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, also said he will not be representing the former president after appearing at the same rally that preceded the siege on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The attorneys in addition to Bowers who will no longer be representing Trump are Deborah Barbier, Josh Howard, Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who urged Bowers to take the case, told his Senate GOP colleagues on Jan. 21 that Bowers would be representing Trump.
Senate Republicans had asked for a delay in the trial, agreed to by Democrats, following the delivery of the impeachment article in order for Trump to work with his still-forming legal team.
ABC News' Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
77 Days: Trump?s Campaign to Subvert the Election
Hours after the United States voted, the president declared the election a fraud ? a lie that unleashed a movement that would shatter democratic norms and upend the peaceful transfer of power.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/...action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
Hours after the United States voted, the president declared the election a fraud ? a lie that unleashed a movement that would shatter democratic norms and upend the peaceful transfer of power.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/...action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
What to expect at Trump's second impeachment trial
BY GRACE SEGERS
FEBRUARY 9, 2021 / 7:25 AM / CBS NEWS
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-impeachment-second-trial-questions/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h
BY GRACE SEGERS
FEBRUARY 9, 2021 / 7:25 AM / CBS NEWS
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-impeachment-second-trial-questions/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
Senate declares Trump impeachment constitutional, allowing trial to proceed
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/tr...econd-impeachment-trial-kick-tuesday-n1257119
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/tr...econd-impeachment-trial-kick-tuesday-n1257119
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
Trump team to launch defense as trial barrels toward a close
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/12/trump-impeachment-trial-day-4-468829
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/12/trump-impeachment-trial-day-4-468829
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
Trump's impeachment defense team rests, arguing his words before riot were 'ordinary political rhetoric'
A final vote on whether to convict the ex-president for inciting the Capitol riot could happen on Saturday.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/do...resent-case-senate-impeachment-trial-n1257601
A final vote on whether to convict the ex-president for inciting the Capitol riot could happen on Saturday.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/do...resent-case-senate-impeachment-trial-n1257601
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
Senate votes to allow witnesses to testify in Trump?s impeachment trial
The move will likely prolong the trial.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/13/trump-impeachment-trial-day-5-468985
The move will likely prolong the trial.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/13/trump-impeachment-trial-day-5-468985
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
Senate Acquits Trump With 7 Republicans Joining All 50 Democrats in Voting ?Guilty?
By Ed Kilgore
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/02/senate-acquits-trump-with-seven-republicans-defecting.html
By Ed Kilgore
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/02/senate-acquits-trump-with-seven-republicans-defecting.html
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,197
- 370
- 83
- 74
McConnell unloads on Trump: 'Morally responsible' for provoking mob
BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 02/13/21 04:48 PM EST
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate...n-trump-morally-responsible-for-provoking-mob
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Saturday unleashed blistering criticism of former President Trump, blaming him for sparking the attack on the Capitol while also explaining why he didn't vote for a conviction.
McConnell also suggested that Trump could face criminal prosecution for his actions.
"There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. The people that stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president," McConnell said.
"And having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole, which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on the Earth," McConnell added.
McConnell's remarks came after the Senate fell short of the 67 votes needed to convict Trump. Though McConnell voted to acquit him, arguing it fell outside the Senate's jurisdiction, his remarks are a stinging rebuke of Trump's actions and rhetoric.
McConnell said the mob breached the Capitol because it was fed "wild falsehoods" by Trump, who was "angry he had lost an election."
McConnell, like most Senate Republicans, refused to acknowledge for weeks that President Biden had won the election. But he publicly congratulated Biden on the floor in mid-December after the Electoral College certified the victory.
McConnell marked the day as when Trump "opened up a new chapter of wilder and more unfounded claims."
"The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise," the GOP leader said, adding that Trump "seemed determined to either overturn the voters decision or else torch our institutions on the way out."
Trump's legal team defended his actions on Jan. 6, when he repeated false claims that the election was "stolen" and encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol just as former Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers were counting the Electoral College votes.
Trump's team also argued that the former president did not realize that Pence was in danger.
McConnell rejected those claims, noting that attack played out on live television.
"We know that he was watching the same live television as the rest of us. A mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name. ... The president did not act swiftly. He did not do his job. He didn't take steps so federal law he could be faithfully executed and order restored," McConnell said.
But the GOP leader also said that impeaching Trump falls outside the Senate's jurisdiction because Trump is no longer in office. McConnell voted twice previously to try to declare the trial unconstitutional, an argument that has been rejected by a swath of legal scholars.
Though the House impeached Trump while he was still in office, the Senate trial didn't start until after Biden was sworn in. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) tried to get McConnell to bring the Senate back into session early to start the trial before Trump left office, but the GOP leader shot down the request.
"The question is moot because former President Trump is constitutionally not eligible," McConnell said.
McConnell, however, hinted that Trump could still face legal repercussions.
"President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen, unless the statute of limitations has run. ... Didn't get away with anything yet," McConnell said.
BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 02/13/21 04:48 PM EST
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate...n-trump-morally-responsible-for-provoking-mob
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Saturday unleashed blistering criticism of former President Trump, blaming him for sparking the attack on the Capitol while also explaining why he didn't vote for a conviction.
McConnell also suggested that Trump could face criminal prosecution for his actions.
"There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. The people that stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president," McConnell said.
"And having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole, which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on the Earth," McConnell added.
McConnell's remarks came after the Senate fell short of the 67 votes needed to convict Trump. Though McConnell voted to acquit him, arguing it fell outside the Senate's jurisdiction, his remarks are a stinging rebuke of Trump's actions and rhetoric.
McConnell said the mob breached the Capitol because it was fed "wild falsehoods" by Trump, who was "angry he had lost an election."
McConnell, like most Senate Republicans, refused to acknowledge for weeks that President Biden had won the election. But he publicly congratulated Biden on the floor in mid-December after the Electoral College certified the victory.
McConnell marked the day as when Trump "opened up a new chapter of wilder and more unfounded claims."
"The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise," the GOP leader said, adding that Trump "seemed determined to either overturn the voters decision or else torch our institutions on the way out."
Trump's legal team defended his actions on Jan. 6, when he repeated false claims that the election was "stolen" and encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol just as former Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers were counting the Electoral College votes.
Trump's team also argued that the former president did not realize that Pence was in danger.
McConnell rejected those claims, noting that attack played out on live television.
"We know that he was watching the same live television as the rest of us. A mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name. ... The president did not act swiftly. He did not do his job. He didn't take steps so federal law he could be faithfully executed and order restored," McConnell said.
But the GOP leader also said that impeaching Trump falls outside the Senate's jurisdiction because Trump is no longer in office. McConnell voted twice previously to try to declare the trial unconstitutional, an argument that has been rejected by a swath of legal scholars.
Though the House impeached Trump while he was still in office, the Senate trial didn't start until after Biden was sworn in. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) tried to get McConnell to bring the Senate back into session early to start the trial before Trump left office, but the GOP leader shot down the request.
"The question is moot because former President Trump is constitutionally not eligible," McConnell said.
McConnell, however, hinted that Trump could still face legal repercussions.
"President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen, unless the statute of limitations has run. ... Didn't get away with anything yet," McConnell said.
