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    Trump call to ‘find’ votes was threat to my safety, Georgia elections official says

    Donald TrumpTrump call to ‘find’ votes was threat to my safety, Georgia elections official saysBrad Raffensperger urged by Trump in early January to ‘find 11,780 votes’ to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state Martin Pengelly in New York@MartinPengellyTue 2 Nov 2021 10.13 EDTLast modified on Tue 2 Nov 2021 11.12 EDTThe Georgia Republican responsible for running elections considered an infamous call in which Donald Trump told him to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state a “threat” to his safety and that of his family.Virginia governor’s race: Glenn Youngkin may win due to ‘white backlash’, expert saysRead moreBiden’s victory in Georgia was a narrow but vital part of his national win. No Democratic presidential candidate had taken the state since Bill Clinton in 1992.Trump called Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, nearly two months after election day, on Saturday 2 January. Telling him “it’s pretty clear we won”, the then president said: “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have [to get]” to surpass Biden’s total.Raffensperger, a conservative who supported Trump, resisted the president’s demands. That prompted Trump to suggest the refusal to expose mass voter fraud in Georgia – on which Trump insisted but which did not exist, as in all other states – could be a “criminal offense”.“That’s a big risk to you,” Trump said. “That’s a big risk.”In Integrity Counts, a book published on Tuesday, Raffensperger writes: “I felt then – and still believe today – that this was a threat. Others obviously thought so, too, because some of Trump’s more radical followers have responded as if it was their duty to carry out this threat.”Raffensperger details death threats texted to his wife, an encounter with men who may have been staking out his home, and being escorted out of the Georgia state capitol on 6 January as rightwing protesters entered.A recording of Trump’s call was released to the Washington Post and became a key exhibit in Trump’s second impeachment trial, for inciting the deadly attack on the US Capitol on 6 January, by supporters seeking to overturn the election.Trump was acquitted when only seven Republican senators could be persuaded to vote for his guilt. He remains free to run for president again and dominates the Republican party but his attempts to overturn his defeat in Georgia have contributed to his extensive legal jeopardy.The Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, is investigating. Raffensperger told the Associated Press investigators “talked to some of our folks here. We sent all the documents and she can now buy the book online”.The Associated Press contributed to this reportTopicsDonald TrumpUS elections 2020US politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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    Almost one in three of Republicans say violence may be necessary to ‘save’ US

    RepublicansAlmost one in three of Republicans say violence may be necessary to ‘save’ USTroubling statistics show the post-election rancor that led to the US Capitol attack on 6 January is still very much in place Adam Gabbatt@adamgabbattMon 1 Nov 2021 09.14 EDTLast modified on Mon 1 Nov 2021 09.16 EDTAlmost a third of Republicans believe violence may be necessary to “save” the US, according to a new poll.Southwest Airlines investigates pilot’s use of ‘Let’s go Brandon’ anti-Biden jibeRead moreResearchers at the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit, found that 30% of Republicans agreed with the statement “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country”.Among Americans who believe the 2020 election was “stolen” from Donald Trump, which it was not, 39% believe violence may be required.The troubling statistics show the post-election rancour that led to the violent insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January is still very much in place.Republicans are most likely to believe “true American patriots may have to resort to violence”, PRRI found, with just 11% of Democrats and 17% of independents agreeing with the statement. Among all Americans, 18% agreed.PRRI said 2,508 adults, living in all 50 states, were interviewed for the survey between 16 and 29 September.“It is an alarming finding,” Robert Jones, chief executive and founder of PRRI, told Yahoo News. “I’ve been doing this a while, for decades, and it’s not the kind of finding that as a sociologist, a public opinion pollster, that you’re used to seeing.”Jones said the responses illustrate the “significant and rapidly increasing polarisation in the United States”.“As we’ve gotten some distance [from the 6 January], one might hope cooler heads would prevail, but we really haven’t seen that,” Jones said. “If anything, it looks like people are doubling down and views are getting kind of locked in.”The PRRI poll is not the first to discover an apparent readiness for violence among Republican voters.FBI failed to act on tips of likely violence ahead of Capitol attack – report Read moreIn February a survey by the American Enterprise Institute found that 39% of Republicans thought that “if elected leaders will not protect America, the people must do it themselves, even if it requires violent actions”.Among all Americans, 29% agreed with that statement. Some 31% of independent voters and 17% of Democrats thought violent action might be required.More than 650 people have been criminally charged for their role in the Capitol attack, in which five people died.Trump is resisting attempts to investigate from a House select committee, most recently suing the national archives to stop the release of White House documents.TopicsRepublicansUS politicsUS Capitol attacknewsReuse this content More

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    Republican Adam Kinzinger: I’ll fight Trumpism ‘cancer’ outside Congress

    RepublicansRepublican Adam Kinzinger: I’ll fight Trumpism ‘cancer’ outside Congress
    One of two GOP members of 6 January panel will retire next year
    ‘Roadmap for a coup’: inside Trump plot to steal the presidency
    Martin Pengelly in New York@MartinPengellySun 31 Oct 2021 11.08 EDTLast modified on Sun 31 Oct 2021 11.10 EDTThe Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger said on Sunday he would fight the “cancer” of Trumpism outside the congressional GOP, after he retires from the House next year. Trump seeking to block call logs and notes from Capitol attack panelRead more“In the House you can fight to try to tell the truth,” the Illinois representative said, speaking to ABC’s This Week. “You can fight against the cancer in the Republican party of lies, of conspiracy, of dishonesty.“And you ultimately come to the realisation that basically it’d be Liz Cheney and a few others that are telling the truth and there are about 190 people in the Republican party that aren’t going to say a word, and there’s a leader of the Republican caucus [Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader] that is embracing Donald Trump with all he can.”Asked if he had handed Trump a “win” by quitting, he said he “potentially” had but added: “It’s not really handing a win as much to Donald Trump as it is to the cancerous kind of lie and conspiracy, not just wing anymore, but mainstream argument of the Republican party.”Kinzinger and Cheney were among 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting supporters to attack the Capitol on 6 January, in an attempt to overturn the election.That made Trump’s second impeachment the most bipartisan ever. Seven Republican senators voted to convict, not enough for a required super-majority, ensuring Trump’s acquittal.Another House Republican who voted for impeachment, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, has announced his retirement. Trump greeted Kinzinger’s announcement by saying: “Two down, eight to go.” Others including Cheney have attracted challengers.Kinzinger and Cheney are the only Republican members of the House select committee investigating 6 January. McCarthy withdrew co-operation when the speaker, Nancy Pelosi, rejected an attempt to put Trump allies on the panel.Kinzinger told ABC Trump’s lawsuit to stop the committee accessing presidential records held in the National Archives was an attempt to drag proceedings out long enough for Republicans to retake the House next year and thereby kill the investigation.“Look, they killed an independent commission,” he said. “They’ve killed any attempt to get to the truth. [But] we have sources beyond just those that are kind of making the news, the Steve Bannons, you know, the Archives. We have people coming in and talking to the committee every day.“I think if you look at that archive request and what the former president is trying to block, it is very telling when you look at things like call logs, etc … We are going to fight as hard as we can to get that, and the president has no grounds to claim executive privilege as he is today.”Trump supporters, dominant in a GOP fully under the former president’s control, greeted Kinzinger’s retirement announcement with glee and abuse – despite the fact that as a strong conservative, he mostly voted with Trump during Trump’s time in office. Kinzinger told ABC he intended to stay in politics.“The point is there’s a lot of people that feel politically homeless, there’s a lot of people that feel like something has to change in our politics, and I think it’s important to jump in with both feet and see where that goes. See if there’s that market out there because what’s happening, we’re failing the American people right now.“The political system is failing. And the Republicans in particular.”Tucker Carlson condemned over ‘false flag’ claim about deadly Capitol attackRead moreKinzinger admitted that redistricting by Illinois Democrats that would affect his chances of re-election was part of his decision, saying: “I’m not complaining, it’s redistricting, I get it, it’s being done and abused everywhere. But when Democrats do say they want Republican partners to tell the truth, and then they specifically target me, it makes me wonder.”But he said a stronger push to retire had come from the direction of his party under Trump.“It’s sitting back and saying, ‘OK, what happens if I win again? I go back, probably Republicans will probably be in the majority. I’m going to be fighting even harder … and I haven’t seen any momentum in the party to move away from lies and towards truth.”TopicsRepublicansUS politicsDonald TrumpUS Capitol attacknewsReuse this content More

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    Trump seeking to block call logs and notes from Capitol attack panel

    US Capitol attack Trump seeking to block call logs and notes from Capitol attack panelEx-president sued to stop the National Archives from transmitting documents to the House committee

    ‘Roadmap for a coup’: inside Trump plot to steal the presidency
    Associated Press in WashingtonSat 30 Oct 2021 08.47 EDTDonald Trump is trying to block documents including call logs, drafts of remarks and speeches and handwritten notes from his chief of staff relating to the 6 January Capitol riot from being released to an investigating House committee, the National Archives revealed in a court filing early on Saturday.Tucker Carlson condemned over ‘false flag’ claim about deadly Capitol attackRead moreThe former president has sued to stop the National Archives transmitting those documents, and thousands more, to the House committee investigating the attack. Joe Biden declined to assert executive privilege on most of Trump’s records after determining that doing so is “not in the best interests of the United States”.On 6 January, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of Biden’s election victory. Trump was impeached by the Democratic-led House for inciting the riot but acquitted by a Republican Senate.The House select committee investigating 6 January contains only two Republicans, the anti-Trump conservatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, after House GOP leadership sought to place Trump allies on the panel and then withdrew co-operation.In his lawsuit to block the National Archives from turning over the documents to the committee, Trump called the committee’s document requests a “vexatious, illegal fishing expedition” that was “untethered from any legitimate legislative purpose”.The Saturday filing, which came as part of the National Archives and Record Administration’s opposition to Trump’s lawsuit, details the effort the agency has undertaken to identify records from the Trump White House in response to a broad, 13-page request from the House panel for documents pertaining to the insurrection and Trump’s efforts to undermine the 2020 presidential election.The document offers the first look at the sort of records that could soon be turned over.Billy Laster, director of the National Archives’ White House Liaison Division, wrote that among documents Trump has sought to block are 30 pages of “daily presidential diaries, schedules, appointment information showing visitors to the White House, activity logs, call logs and switchboard shift-change checklists showing calls to the president and vice-president, all specifically for or encompassing 6 January 2021”; 13 pages of “drafts of speeches, remarks, and correspondence concerning the events of 6 January 2021”; and “three handwritten notes concerning the events of 6 January from [former White House chief of staff Mark] Meadows’ files”.Trump also tried to exert executive privilege over pages from former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s binders of talking points and statements “principally relating to allegations of voter fraud, election security, and other topics concerning the 2020 election”.Other documents included a handwritten note from Meadows’ files “listing potential or scheduled briefings and telephone calls concerning the 6 January certification and other election issues” and “a draft executive order on the topic of election integrity”.Laster’s declaration notes that the National Archives’ search began with paper documents because it took until August for digital records from the Trump White House to be transferred to the agency.The National Archives, Laster wrote, has identified “several hundred thousand potentially responsive records” of emails from the Trump White House out of about 100m sent or received during his administration, and was working to determine whether they pertained to the House request.Biden has waived executive privilege on nearly all the documents the committee has asked for, though the committee agreed to “defer” its requests for several dozen pages of records at the behest of the White House.In explaining why Biden has not shielded Trump’s records, the White House counsel, Dana Remus, wrote that they could “shed light on events within the White House on and about 6 January and bear on the select committee’s need to understand the facts underlying the most serious attack on the operations of the federal government since the civil war”.The Trump suit also challenges the legality of the Presidential Records Act, arguing that allowing a president to waive executive privilege of a predecessor just months after he left office is inherently unconstitutional. Biden has said he will go through each request separately to determine whether that privilege should be waived.TopicsUS Capitol attackDonald TrumpUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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    Tucker Carlson condemned over ‘false flag’ claim about deadly Capitol attack

    Fox NewsTucker Carlson condemned over ‘false flag’ claim about deadly Capitol attackCongresswoman Liz Cheney and Anti-Defamation League president denounce Fox News host’s ‘lies’ as he plugs new series

    ‘Roadmap for a coup’: inside Trump plot to steal the presidency
    Martin Pengelly in New York@MartinPengellySat 30 Oct 2021 01.00 EDTLast modified on Sat 30 Oct 2021 10.55 EDTThe conservative Republican Liz Cheney and the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League led condemnation of Fox News and Tucker Carlson, after the primetime host announced a series about the supposed “true story” of the deadly attack on the US Capitol on 6 January. Trump seeking to block call logs and notes from Capitol attack panelRead moreThey denounced Carlson for spreading dangerous conspiracy theories in the latest scandal to engulf a man whose popularity belies his record of racist and untrue statements on issues from immigration to racial justice.“Fox News is giving Tucker Carlson a platform to spread the same type of lies that provoked violence on 6 January,” tweeted Cheney, a Wyoming representative on the dwindling anti-Trump wing of the Republican party.Jonathan Greenblatt, of the ADL, wrote to Lachlan Murdoch, chief executive of Fox Corporation, to demand the series be shelved.“Clearly Carlson has the right to make outrageous claims,” Greenblatt wrote. “But freedom of speech is not freedom of reach. You have no obligation to validate his views with airtime on your platform and, I would argue, a moral responsibility not to do so.”Greenblatt has previously called for Carlson to be fired over his advocacy of the racist replacement theory, which says Democrats encourage immigration to keep Republicans out of power. Lachlan Murdoch rejected that request.In the trailer for Carlson’s series, Patriot Purge, a pundit says: “False flags have happened in this country, one of which may have been 6 January.”Among conspiracy theorists, “false flag” events are said to be staged by the government to pursue nefarious ends. Some claim the 9/11 terrorist attacks were false flags. The InfoWars host Alex Jones, a Trump ally and supporter, has landed in legal and financial jeopardy after claiming the Sandy Hook school shooting of 2012, in which 20 young children and six adults were killed, was a false flag attack.Carlson has called the 6 January riot “a political protest that got out of hand”. He has also claimed it was organised by the FBI.Cheney said: “As Fox News knows, the election wasn’t stolen and 6 January was not a ‘false flag’ operation.”Five people including a Trump supporter shot by law enforcement and a police officer died around the Capitol attack. The riot followed a “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House at which Trump told supporters to march on Congress and “fight like hell” to overturn the election.Trump was impeached for inciting an insurrection. Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to send him to the Senate for trial but only seven Republican senators joined Democrats in finding Trump guilty and he was not convicted. He is free to run for office again, fundraising strongly and dominating polls regarding possible candidates for 2024.Trump has stuck to his lie that the election was stolen, a claim rejected by his own attorney general, Republican officials in key states and a succession of judges. The Republican party has swung behind Trump, also seeking to play down the events of 6 January, a day which has led to more than 600 arrests.Another outlet owned by Rupert Murdoch, the Wall Street Journal, was condemned this week for printing a letter in which Trump repeated his election lies.In another tweet, Cheney asked Carlson: “Are you still falsely contending the voting machines were corrupted and the election was stolen?” She included the Twitter handles of Rupert Murdoch, Fox News’s chief executive, Suzanne Scott, its president and executive editor, Jay Wallace, and the former House speaker Paul Ryan, now a member of the Fox board. None commented.Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.On Thursday another Fox News personality, Geraldo Rivera, told the New York Times Carlson was “wonderful” and “provocative” but said things that were “inflammatory and outrageous and uncorroborated”. On Twitter, Rivera called the “false flag” claim in Carlson’s trailer “bullshit”.Carlson’s series will premiere on the Fox Nation streaming service on Monday. Scored to martial drums, its trailer says it will tell the “the true story behind 1/6 … the war on terror 2.0 and the plot against the people”.“The domestic war on terror is here and it’s coming after half of the country,” a pundit says, over shots of helicopters near the Capitol and the title, Patriot Purge.Fox News host Tucker Carlson tells interviewer: ‘I lie’Read moreCarlson says: “The helicopters have left Afghanistan and now they’ve landed here at home.”On Thursday, Carlson claimed: “What we found … bore no resemblance whatsoever to the story that you have heard repeatedly from Liz Cheney and Nancy Pelosi, as well as their many obedient mouthpieces in the media. They were lying.”In his trailer, another pundit says: “The left is hunting the right, sticking them in Guantánamo Bay for American citizens, leaving them to rot.”The trailer also splices footage of Trump speaking with a shot of Osama bin Laden, while scenes outside the Capitol on 6 January are scored to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The trailer culminates with the refrain of that civil war song: “The truth is marching on.”In his letter to Rupert Murdoch, Greenblatt of the ADL wrote: “Let’s call this what it is: an abject, indisputable lie and a blatant attempt to rewrite history.”TopicsFox NewsUS Capitol attackRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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    Wall Street Journal criticized for Trump letter pushing election lie

    Wall Street JournalWall Street Journal criticized for Trump letter pushing election lieFormer president’s letter, written in response to an editorial on Pennsylvania voting laws, contains a list of disproved claims Adam Gabbatt@adamgabbattThu 28 Oct 2021 11.35 EDTLast modified on Thu 28 Oct 2021 11.37 EDTThe Wall Street Journal has been criticized after it published a letter by Donald Trump in which the former president continued to push his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged”.The former president’s letter, written in response to a WSJ editorial about voting law in Pennsylvania, claims, wrongly, that “the election was rigged, which you, unfortunately, still haven’t figured out”.How a secretive conservative group influenced ‘populist’ Trump’s tax cutsRead moreThe 600-word letter contains a bullet-point list of disproved claims – many of which have been debunked by WSJ reporters – which Trump claims show there was voter fraud. There was no widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, as several independent and partisan reviews have confirmed.Several WSJ reporters were unhappy with the publication of the letter, CNN reported, which comes after what had been a successful few weeks for the WSJ, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. The newspaper’s Facebook Files investigation revealed, through internal documents, how high-profile users were not subject to the same standards as regular users, and that Facebook was aware that Instagram, which it owns, is toxic for teenage girls.The decision to publish Trump’s spurious letter threatens to undermine that journalism, despite a newspaper’s editorial board typically being separate from the newsroom.Trump remains banned from Twitter and Facebook, and has been reduced to sending daily emails to supporters to make his voice heard. The WSJ’s publication of the letter was swiftly criticized in the media world.“I think it’s very disappointing that our opinion section continues to publish misinformation that our news side works so hard to debunk,” an unnamed WSJ reporter told CNN. “They should hold themselves to the same standards we do!”Bill Grueskin, a Columbia University School of Journalism professor who served as deputy managing editor of the Journal, told the Washington Post that letters to the editor are often used as a place for readers to express dissatisfaction with a newspaper’s coverage.“That’s generally fine, but if someone is going to spout a bunch of falsehoods, the editor usually feels an obligation to trim those out, or to publish a contemporaneous response. The Wall Street Journal editorial page chose not to do that in this case,” Grueskin said.Other journalists weighed in on Twitter.“Most newspapers don’t allow op-ed writers to just make up nonsense lies. Apparently the Wall Street Journal is not among them,” SV Dáte, a HuffPost White House correspondent, wrote.Matt Fuller, who covers politics for the Daily Beast, posted: “Newspapers don’t exist so that powerful people can publish whatever lies they want. In fact, that may be one of the very opposite reasons newspapers exist.”The WSJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.TopicsWall Street JournalDonald TrumpUS elections 2020US press and publishingNewspapers & magazinesNewspapersnewsReuse this content More

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    Minnesota politician backs fundraiser for alleged Capitol attackers

    US Capitol attackMinnesota politician backs fundraiser for alleged Capitol attackersRepublican state senator Mark Koran encourages donations to family after four members charged in 6 January riot Victoria Bekiempis in New YorkSat 23 Oct 2021 10.57 EDTLast modified on Sat 23 Oct 2021 10.59 EDTA Minnesota politician has promoted a fundraiser for several constituents who are charged with participation in the deadly 6 January attack on the US Capitol, saying they come from a “good family”.The Republican state senator Mark Koran, who represents the town of Lindström, made this entreaty for the Westbury family in a Facebook post on Friday.Four members of the Westbury family are accused of participating in the insurrection, comprising half of all Minnesotans charged for alleged involvement.“Here’s a local family in Lindström who can use some help. They attended the Jan 6th Rally and have been accused and charged with a variety of crimes. Some very serious and some which seem to be just to punish opposing views,” Koran wrote. “All I’m asking is that they need assistance to mount a fair defense from an over bearing Dept of Justice. They are a good family!”It’s not clear whether Koran is calling the storming of Congress, when thousands broke in, attempting to stop lawmakers certifying Joe Biden’s victory over Trump, simply a “rally” or whether he is conflating the riot with the rally held prior near the White House, at which Trump urged his supporters to march on the Capitol and try to overturn the election result.More than 50 police officers were injured as they tried to stop the riot, some beaten and seriously hurt. Five people died during the storming, including a police officer. About 500 people have been charged in connection with the events. Donald Trump was impeached for a historic second time, charged with inciting the insurrection, although he was acquitted by the Senate.House Capitol attack committee votes to recommend Steve Bannon prosecutionRead moreWashington DC federal prosecutors charged Robert Westbury, Isaac Westbury, and Aaron James, alleging crimes such as assault on Capitol police officers and interfering with government operations.The charges against them came in early October, about six months after another relative, Jonah Westbury, was charged for his alleged participation in the riot, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.The online fundraiser was launched by Rosemarie Westbury, who claims to be Robert Westbury’s wife and the mother of these other three men.The fundraiser is called “Legal Fees 4 family fighting tyranny 4 you” and is posted on GiveSendGo, which bills itself as a Christian fundraising site. The Star Tribune appears to have first reported on Koran’s support of this fundraiser.“First amendment, second amendment, right to privacy have been ripped away from our peaceful law abiding family. A million people attended January 6th for one purpose, and one purpose only to pray,” she wrote.“My family is being targeted by this illigitimate (sic), tyrannical government…Please understand that we are the forerunners….What’s happening to us is coming to a Theatre near you,” she said, later writing: “We have an attorney who is willing to stand up for us, but this isn’t going to be an inexpensive endeavor.”She hopes to raise $50,000. By Saturday morning, the fundraiser had received more than $1,000. The Guardian has contacted the senator and the fundraising site.Reached by phone on Saturday morning, Rosemarie Westbury said: “I don’t know how the Guardian is – I don’t know if you’re good guys or bad guys, so I don’t know what to say,” and deferred comment to an attorney, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.TopicsUS Capitol attackMinnesotaUS politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More