January 6th Hearings: Trump associates said he ignored their election fraud doubts

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Washington D.C
An advertisement soliciting donations for former President Donald Trump is seen in second public hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the US Capitol, in Washington June 13, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Top advisors to then-President President Donald Trump informed him that his claims of widespread election fraud were unfounded and would not reverse his 2020 election loss. Still, he refused to listen, according to testimony presented yesterday at a committee hearing investigating the riot on January 6, 2021, in the US Capitol.

Reports of a "suspicious suitcase" containing fake ballots, a truck transporting ballots to Pennsylvania, and computer chips swapped in voting machines were among the implausible allegations that surfaced after Trump's election loss, according to close aides and family members who claim to have informed the president.

"I thought, boy if he really believes this stuff he's lost touch with, he's become detached from reality," said William Barr, Trump's former attorney general and a longtime loyalist to the Republican president. Barr blasted fraud charges as "bulls**t" and "crazy stuff" in his video testimony. He stated, "There was never any indication of interest in the facts."

The Democratic-led House of Representatives Select Committee examining the assault on the US Capitol by hundreds of Trump supporters delivered its findings at the second of what is anticipated to be six hearings this month regarding its nearly year-long investigation into the riot.

The purpose of yesterday's hearing was to establish that Trump disregarded the counsel of many of his staff members when he declared that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from him.

Democrats refer to Trump's constant fraud charges as "The Big Lie." Committee members contend that Trump's repeated fraud claims inspired his supporters to attack the Capitol.

Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat, stated, "He and his closest advisers were aware that these claims were false, but they continued to promote them up until the moment a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol."

Democrats asserted that Trump raised over $250 million from his supporters to advance fraud accusations in court but redirected most of the funds elsewhere.

"The 'Big Lie' was also a big scam," claimed Lofgren.

Trump has frequently denied wrongdoing and asserted that he did not lose, describing the Select Committee inquiry as a political witch hunt.

Opinion polls indicate that many Trump fans continue to believe his bogus election claims. Some are now running for positions that would oversee future elections. Trump has intimated that he will run for president again in 2024, but he has made no official announcement.

The campaign "failed to make its case."

On election night, Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, urged that the candidate refrains from declaring victory and instead state that votes were still being tabulated.

"He believed I was in error. Stepien stated in his videotaped testimony, "He told me so, and that they were going in a different direction, and that he was going in a different direction." Stepien was scheduled to testify in person but canceled at the last minute due to his wife's birth.

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani persuaded Donald Trump to make a preemptive win declaration on television. Miller testified that Giuliani was not sober at the time in question.

Miller stated in video testimony, "The mayor was definitely intoxicated, but I did not know his level of intoxication when he spoke with the president, for example."

Byung J. "BJay" Pak, who resigned as US attorney in Atlanta because Trump's team contested Georgia's election results, stated that he discovered no proof of election fraud in that state.

Seated at the witness table, Pak stated that about the suspicious bag that allegedly contained fraudulent or altered ballots, "The alleged black suitcase pulled out from under the table was an official lockbox."

Thursday night's groundbreaking hearing featured testimony indicating that close Trump friends, including Trump's daughter Ivanka, rejected his phony accusations of voter fraud. Approximately 20 million Americans watched the hearing during primetime viewing hours.

On the day of the attack, four persons perished, one from police gunfire and three from natural causes. About 140 police officers were injured, and one died the next day. Later, four officers committed suicide.

More than 250 individuals have been charged with assaulting or obstructing law enforcement.

Publish : 2022-06-14 07:30:00

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