‘pure Insanity’: Donoghue Speaks Out On Italian Vote Switching Conspiracy Theory During Jan 6 Hearing
Donoghue testified that Kash Patel, who was installed at the Defense Department late in Trump’s term, called him and said, “I heard you were given some information by the chief of staff about this Italy thing. Can you tell me what this is all about?”
Kinzinger noted that Meadows did not simply advance the claim to the Justice Department, but sent it to the Defense Department too.
“As you will hear, Secretary Miller reached out to a high-ranking official based in Italy to follow up on this claim,” he said. “The Select Committee confirmed that a call was actually placed by Secretary Miller to the attaché in Italy to investigate the claim that Italian satellites were switching votes from Trump to Biden.”
“This is one of best examples of the lengths to which President Trump would go to stay in power. Scouring the internet for supporting conspiracy theories,” he continued. “As Trump told Mr. Donoghue in that December 27th call, which Donoghue took notes on: You guys may not be following the internet the way I do.
Kinzinger said Trump had “rushed back early from Mar-a-Lago” on New Year’s Eve and “called an emergency meeting with the Department’s leadership” a meeting in which Trump floated the idea of seizing voting machines, top DOJ officials told the committee.
At Time Of Capitol Prayer Service Jan 6 Trump Will Deliver Remarks Doubling Down On The Big Lie
The riot at the Capitol briefly looked like it had broken Trump’s hold on the GOP. Instead, he has reaffirmed his dominion over the party.
01/02/2022 07:00 AM EST
-
Link Copied
Donald Trump has already telegraphed the remarks he plans to give at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, the anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
If he follows the script laid out in his announcement of the news conference, he will commit a whitewashing of the day, repeating the lie that the 2020 election was rigged and defending his part in fomenting the insurrection all while a solemn prayer service is held at the Capitol, in a vivid split-screen moment. And, as Trump castigates Republicans not toeing his line, his event will also serve as a marker of Trumps extraordinary dominion over the GOP.
One year ago, many prominent Republicans predicted Trumps behavior on and ahead of Jan. 6 would relegate him to the fringes of the right, shaming the GOP back into the mainstream. Instead, the opposite has happened. When Trump speaks, he will set the table for a midterm election year with him firmly at the Republican Partys center.
Tune into our live conversation on Jan. 6
Its extraordinary, said Ralph Reed, the Republican strategist and founder of the Faith & Freedom Coalition. You could make the argument that hes in a stronger position within the Republican Party today than he perhaps ever has been.
He survived that, Walsh said. Hes stronger than ever.
- Filed under:
‘say The Election Was Corrupt And Leave The Rest To Me’: Donoghue Details ‘direct Quotes’ From Trump
Donoghue revealed his notes of a conversation with Trump that suggest the former president, with help from several Republicans in Congress, was set on overturning the results of the 2020 election.
Donoghue testified that he took notes during a Dec. 27, 2020, conversation he had with Trump and Rosen in which Trump made several damning statements regarding how he planned to overturn the election results. The committee then displayed portions of the notes on screen.
After Rosen, according to Donoghues notes, told Trump that the DOJ cant and wont snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election, Trump replied with his plan: Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen.
Donoghue told the committee Thursday that was a direct quote from the then-president, according to his notes.
Recommended Reading: How Much Does It Cost To Stay In Trump Tower
One More Thought About Trump
NBC News Chuck Todd with this sobering quote: I still cant believe an American president wants to question the integrity of our elections, and our election process. The one thing weve counted on is American presidents standing up for how we do democracy. And, in fact, we want to help the world do democracy like we do. And
He didnt finish. He didnt need to.
Sean Penn Sits With Capitol Police Officers Who Were Injured In Riot At Latest Public Jan 6 Hearing
Sean Penn sat with Capitol Police officers injured in the January 6 riots during Thursdays hearing into the insurrection.
The Academy Award-winner and celebrity activist chatted and joked with Michael Fanone, now a CNN contributor, and shook hands with other officers.
Im just here to observe just another citizen, Penn told reporters.
I think we all saw what happened on January 6 and now were looking to see if justice comes on the other side of it.
Bevan Hurley has the story.
Im just here to observe just another citizen, actor tells reporters
Recommended Reading: What Kind Of Jobs Has Trump Created
Ivanka Trump Told Film Crew Her Father Should ‘continue’ To Fight After Losing Election
Haley Talbot, Garrett Haake and Zoë Richards
Ivanka Trump told a documentary film crew in December 2020 that her father should keep pressing forward with legal action even after he lost the election.
NBC News has confirmed that Trump told the film crew that her father should continue to fight until every legal remedy is exhausted due to public doubts over the sanctity of our elections.
The New York Times first reported Trump’s comments.
Filmmaker Alex Holder, who is scheduled to be interviewed Thursday by the House committee investigating the insurrection, provided the footage to the Jan. 6 committee. Holder also submitted footage from interviews that featured President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, some of Trumps adult children, as well as Ivanka Trump’s husband Jared Kushner.
The Jan. 6 committee plans to take viewers inside the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon, when witnesses describe a contentious meeting in which Justice Department leaders threatened to resign if then-President Donald Trump promoted a political appointee who was prepared to back up his false claims of election fraud.
The committees fifth public hearing will focus on the former presidents effort to draw upon the departments legal muscle and authority as he tried to overturn the 2020 election.
‘leave The Rest To Me’: Trump Asked Former Doj Official To Call 2020 Election Corrupt
We have obligation to tell the people that this was an illegal, corrupt election, Trump told Donoghue at another point, according to Donoghues notes.
Former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue said during live testimony that he was on a 90-minute call with Trump on Dec. 27, 2020, in which he repeatedly shot down numerous allegations raised by the president about a stolen election.
Donoghue said he grabbed a notepad from his wife’s nightstand when Trump made an allegation he hadn’t heard before and started taking notes.
“He had this arsenal of allegations that he wanted to, to rely on. And so I felt in that conversation that it was incumbent on me to make it very clear to the president what our investigations hadnt revealed that we had concluded based on actual investigations, actual witness interviews, actual reviews of documents, that these allegations simply had no merit and I wanted to try to cut through the noise,” Donoghue told the committee during the hearing.
Read Also: How Much Does It Cost To Stay In Trump Hotel
Donoghue Says He Asked Doj Official In National Security Division Not To Participate In Mass Resignation Plot
During a phone call that occurred before the contentious Jan. 3 White House meeting, Donoghue said that a group of assistant attorneys general all agreed they would resign en masse if Trump replaced Rosen with Clark. Donoghue said that he directed the assistant attorney general of the national security division, John Demers, not to resign.
Donoghue said the assistant attorneys general said they would resign without hesitation and that they would leave the department if Trump fired Rosen. He said that he told Demers not to resign because his position was too important to be left open.
The committee discussed the evolution of how an outrageous conspiracy theory involving the Italian government made its way through the Trump administration and revealed that the Defense secretary sought answers on it from an Italian official.
The conspiracy theory involved Italians changing the U.S. election results and then loading them into military satellites. In response to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows passing along this theory, Richard Donoghue described it as “pure insanity.”
“The Select Committee investigation found that this wild, baseless conspiracy theory made it from the recesses of the internet to the highest echelons of our government,” Kinzinger said, pointing to a text from Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., to Meadows asking: “Why cant we just work with the Italian government?
Trump Cancels January 6 Press Conference
Former President Trump has canceled a January 6 press conference he was scheduled to hold at his Mar-a-Lago home, he announced in a statement Tuesday.
Trump had planned to reiterate his unfounded claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election on the one year anniversary of the assault on the U.S. Capitol. The assault followed a rally he held in Washington, D.C., and weeks of him falsely asserting the election was rigged. The former president said he’ll address the issues he would have discussed on January 6 at a rally in Arizona on January 15.
“In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in ArizonaIt will be a big crowd!” Trump said in an email message.
In his statement, the former president asserted without evidence that the House committee investigating the Capitol riot is engaged in a coverup and asked why it was not instead investigating “the fraud of the 2020 Presidential Election.” Multiple investigations, including one by Trump’s own Department of Justice, have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Also Check: Vdare Lion
Statement From President Biden On Record
Americans across the country are back to work at a historic level. Right now, workers in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin are less likely to be unemployed than in any other time on record. The unemployment rate did not increase in any of our 50 states.
This news comes on the heels of new data showing that the number of Americans who are forced to rely on unemployment insurance programs for their support fell to its lowest level in over 52 years and that the economy has added more than 8 million jobs since I took office more jobs on average per month than under any other President in history.
This job creation is no accident its the direct result of my economic plan to rebuild the economy from the bottom up and the middle out through the historic American Rescue Plan and a nationwide vaccination strategy. There is more work to do to build an economy that works for all Americans. Tackling inflation is my top priority. But we cannot lose sight of the fact that millions of workers are now able to better provide for themselves and their families and enjoy the dignity that a good-paying job provides.
Trump Told Doj To Say Election Was Corrupt And Leave The Rest To Me And Gop Jan 6 Hearing Told
Top officials at the Justice Department testified on Thursday that then-President Donald Trump put enormous pressure on them in near-daily phone calls and statements demanding that they declare the results of the 2020 election fraudulent with zero evidence.
Former acting deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue told the committee that Mr Trump instructed him personally to say that the election was corrupt, and that he would use that as the impetus for Congress to act and refuse to certify the results.
Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen, Donald Trump said, in words read aloud by committee member Adam Kinzinger, who then asked: Thats a direct quote from President Trump, correct?
Thats an exact quote from the president, yes, Mr Donoghue responded.
More details on this breaking news here.
Top DOJ officials detail stunning pressure White House put on supposedly independent agency
Read Also: Did Trump Donate His Salary To Military Cemeteries
Biden Campaign To Air Tv Ad In Ohio Slamming Trumps Call For Goodyear Boycott
The Biden campaign is seizing on President Trumps demand for Americans to boycott the tire company Goodyear by launching a TV ad in the battleground state of Ohio.
Trump last week urged supporters not to buy Goodyear tires over a reported ban on Trump campaign apparel by the companys workers. Goodyear has its global headquarters in Akron, Ohio. The firm said it asks employees to refrain from workplace expressions in support of political campaigning for any candidate or political party.
Bidens 30-second ad opens with footage of Trump saying he would be very much in favor of Americans choosing another tire company.
A narrator then intones: A company with a 122-year history in Akron, Ohio, thousands of American workers, and competitors all over the world. And a sitting president whos spinning out of control would risk American jobs to try to save his own.
The ad closes with a shot of Biden in aviator sunglasses, seated in a yellow convertible. He pumps the gas, then turns to the camera and smiles.
The Republican National Convention will be heavy on members of Trumps family, as well as conservative congressional allies of the president, senior administration officials and viral stars who have gained fame and a following on the right.
Nearly three-quarters of Republicans 73 percent said they think the U.S. coronavirus response is going well, while only 38 percent of all voters said the same.
Then Even Normally Reserved News Anchors Responded Swiftly And Strongly To Trumps False Claims About The Election
MSNBC hardly bothered. They cut away from President Donald Trumps press conference on Thursday evening just moments after it started.
Just a few minutes in, ABC pulled out while the president continued talking. Seconds later, NBC pulled the plug on the press conference. CBS then soon followed.
Im not going to repeat exactly what the president said because it would be irresponsible. But the gist: Without evidence, he called the election a fraud. Even normally reserved news anchors responded swiftly and strongly when the networks cut away.
David Muir, ABC World News Tonight anchor, sharply pointed out that Trump planned his press conference for 6:30 p.m. Eastern just as networks were starting to their highly-rated nightly newscasts. He immediately fact-checked the president and said, And it is a surreal moment that were even having this discussion in this country. What America is witnessing right now is the unprecedented early vote in the middle of a historic pandemic in this country. Millions of Americans who wanted to vote safely, who wanted to make sure their vote counted.
He added, Were not witnessing anyone stealing anything tonight. This is democracy and we asked the American people to be patient. They deserve a lot of credit three days into this.
Frankly, the obese turtle remark seemed over-the-top and personal, but you could at least understand the frustration and outrage of any who saw the president make the claims that he made.
Read Also: How Much Does It Cost To Stay At Trump Hotel
