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A conservative group called out Donald Trump for suggesting hed pardon Jan. 6 rioters if hes elected president again in 2024.

The new video from the Republican Accountability Project juxtaposes Trumps pardon comments with video footage of his supporters attacking the U.S. Capitol, assaulting police officers and attempting to stop the certification of the 2020 election.

The organization, run by Republicans opposed to Trump, said the spot will air nationally on Fox & Friends, a show the former president is known to watch:

Trumps pardon promise has been panned by both the left and the right.

My view is I would not be in favor of shortening any of the sentences to any of the people who pled guilty to crimes, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said this week.

If you do the crime, you do the time. You shouldnt be pardoned for that, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said at a separate event.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Trumps remark was pretty revealing.

They go to his intent, Schiff said on MSNBC this week. If this violence against the Capitol wasnt part of the plan, or wasnt something he condoned, then why would he consider pardoning them?

For the past year, the Republican Accountability Project has been calling out the lawmakers who enabled Trump and supported the Jan. 6 insurrection, including 13 members of Congress who are featured in the groups online Hall of Shame. The organization is also looking to support primary challengers to ensure that as few of them as possible return to Congress in 2022.

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Conservative Group Exposes Trump's Latest Threat In Damning Fox News Ad - HuffPost

FILE Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the National Press Club in Washington, Nov. 30, 2021. Pence said Friday in a speech in Florida that the former president is simply wrong when he says Pence had the right to unilaterally overturn the election. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday directly rebutted Donald Trumps false claims that Pence somehow could have overturned the results of the 2020 election, saying that the former president was simply wrong.

In a speech to the conservative Federalist Society in Florida, Pence addressed Trumps intensifying efforts this week to advance the false narrative that he could have done something to prevent Joe Biden from taking office.

President Trump is wrong, Pence said. I had no right to overturn the election.

While Pence in the past has defended his actions on Jan. 6 and said that he and Trump willlikely never see eye to eyeon what happened that day, the remarks Friday marked his most forceful rebuttal of Trump to date. And they come as Pence has been laying the groundwork for a potential run for president in 2024, which could put him in direct competition with his former boss, who has also been teasing a comeback run.

In a statement Tuesday, Trump said the committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol should instead probe why Mike Pence did not send back the votes for recertification or approval. And on Sunday, he blasted Pence, falsely declaring that he could have overturned the Election!

Vice presidents play only a ceremonial role in the the counting of Electoral College votes, and any attempt to interfere in the count would have represented a profound break from precedent and democratic norms.

Pence, in his remarks Friday, described Jan. 6, 2021, as a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol.

Pence was inside the building, presiding over the joint session of Congress to certify the presidential election, when a mob of Trumps supporters violently smashed inside, assaulting police officers and hunting down lawmakers. Pence, who had released a statement earlier that day to make clear he had no authority to overturn the will of the voters, was rushed to safety as some rioters chanted Hang Mike Pence!

Pence framed his actions that day as in line with his duty as a constitutional conservative.

The American people must know that we will always keep our oath to the Constitution, even when it would be politically expedient to do otherwise, he told the group Friday. He noted that, under Article II Section One of the Constitution, elections are conducted at the state level, not by Congress and that the only role of Congress with respect to the Electoral College is to open and count votes submitted and certified by the states. No more, no less.

Frankly there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president, he added. Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election. And Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024.

Pence also acknowledged the lingering anger among many in Trumps base. But, he said: The truth is, theres more at stake than our party or political fortunes. Men and women, if we lose faith in the Constitution, we wont just lose elections well lose our country.

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Trump is wrong: Pence says he had no right to overturn 2020 election - FOX31 Denver

GRAND RAPIDS, MI Ben Carson is the featured speaker Monday at a campaign rally for John Gibbs, a Republican endorsed by former President Donald Trump who wants to unseat Rep. Peter Meijer in the August GOP primary for Michigans 3rd Congressional District.

Doors open for the rally, being held at the Deltaplex in Walker, at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 7.

Gibbs served during the Trump administration as acting assistant secretary for community planning and development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Carson was Secretary of HUD during Trumps presidency.

Free tickets for Mondays rally are available at votejohngibbs.com.

Dr. Carson is a very unique individual whose story serves as an inspiration to all of us as to what is possible with hard work and dedication, Gibbs, who worked at HUD from 2017 to 2021, said in a statement. I am honored to call him a friend, and humbled that he is willing to support my campaign.

Carson was appointed chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital at the age of 33, making him the youngest major division director in the hospitals history, according to Carsons bio on the Carson Scholars Fund website.

While at HUD, Gibbs oversaw an annual budget of $8 billion to help fight homelessness and expand economic opportunity, according to his campaign website. He was also nominated by Trump to serve as the director of the Office of Personnel Management. However, the Senate did not confirm his appointment, according to Scott Hagerstrom, a strategist whos advising Gibbs and ran Trumps Michigan campaign in 2016.

In July 2020, after Trump nominated Gibbs to serve as director of the Office of Personal Management, CNN reported that Gibbs, on the social media platform Twitter, spread a false conspiracy theory that claimed Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign chairman took part in a satanic ritual.

The network also reported that Gibbs defended an anti-Semitic Twitter user who had been banned from the platform, and made derogatory comments about Islam and the Democratic Party.

Prior to serving in the Trump administration, worked as a software developer in Silicon Valley on cybersecurity products at Symantec, and on the first version of the iPhone at Apple. He is a graduate of Stanford University, where he earned a bachelors degree in computer science, and a masters degree in public administration from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, his website shows.

Gibbs grew up in Eaton County and moved to Byron Center in October 2021, Hagerstrom said.

Several Republicans are seeking to challenge Meijer in the August primary for Michigans 3rd Congressional District seat, which includes Grand Rapids. Meijer angered Trumps base when he voted to impeach the former president following the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol.

The 3rd Congressional District, as its drawn now, includes Grand Rapids, a large portion of Kent County, part of Montcalm County, as well as Ionia, Barry and Calhoun counties. However, the once a decade redistricting process has changed the shape of the district.

The newly drawn district, in effect for this years election, includes Grand Rapids as well as the surrounding suburbs as far north as Rockford and as far south as Byron Center. It also includes the northern half of Ottawa County, including Grand Haven, Spring Lake, Allendale and Coopersville. The southern portion of Muskegon County, including the cities of Muskegon and Muskegon Heights, is included too.

Political observers say the newly drawn district is a toss up between Democrats and Republicans.

Federal Election Commission records shows Gibbs has $83,246 on hand as of Dec. 31, 2021. Meijer, on the other hand, had $1.2 million on hand. Two other Republicans, Audra Johnson and Gabriella Manolache, also are seeking Meijers seat, FEC records show.

Democrat Hillary Scholten, who was defeated by Meijer in the 2020 election, says shes again seeking the Democrat nomination to run against the winner of the Republican primary in the November election.

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Ben Carson to speak at rally for Trump-backed candidate seeking to replace Peter Meijer in Congress - MLive.com

He preemptively called the California recall election probably rigged.

On Sept. 11, he did not join three other former presidents at the National 9/11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan. He did not speak at Shanksville, Pennsylvania, like a fourth former president, George W. Bush, who cited the unity of America in the immediate aftermath of the attacks of 20 years back and lamented the lack of that now. A malign force, Bush said, seems at work in our common life that turns every disagreement into an argument, and every argument into a clash of cultures. So much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear and resentment.

Trump?

Trump appeared via taped video at a conference at the Unification Church, better known as the Moonies cult, and made a visit to a fire and police station in New York, where he began his opening remarks by criticizing Joe Biden for fleeing Afghanistan, repeating the lie that the election was rigged, and suggesting very strongly that he will run for president in 2024, as my colleague Ruby Cramer wrote. By nightfall, he was at a South Florida casino delivering several hours of commentary on four boxing matches for Triller Fight Club in an alternate telecast available for $49.99 on pay-per-view.

"The World Trade Center came down during his watch. Bush led a failed and uninspiring presidency. He shouldnt be lecturing anybody!"

Donald J. Trump

He heard Bush. Bush, Trump said, led a failed and uninspired presidency. He shouldnt be lecturing anybody.

He called Mark Milley a Dumbass.

He relished the news that Anthony Gonzalez was not going to run for reelection the first of the 10 House Republicans who voted for impeachment to bow out. Gonzalez in making his announcement had called Trump a cancer for the country.

RINO Congressman Anthony Gonzalez, who has poorly represented his district in the Great State of Ohio, has decided to quit after enduring a tremendous loss of popularity, of which he had little, since his ill-informed and otherwise very stupid impeachment vote against the sitting President of the United States, me, Trump said.

1 down, 9 to go! he added.

"1 down, 9 to go"

Donald J. Trump

He sued his niece and the reporters she helped.

He sued Twitter to try to get his account turned back on.

"Massive fraud was found in the Arizona Forensic Audit, sometimes referred to as 'Fraudit.' The numbers are Election Changing!"

Donald J. Trump

He doubled down on the lie that he had won even after an audit in Arizona confirmed that he lost. The Fake News is lying about the Arizona audit report! he said in a statement. The Audit was a big win for democracy and a big win for us. Shows how corrupt the Election was a bigger Scam even than anticipated! he said in another. However, the Fake News Media is already trying to call it again for Biden before actually looking at the facts just like they did in November! The audit has uncovered significant and undeniable evidence of FRAUD! Until we know how and why this happened, our Elections will never be secure, he said in another. A majority of Republicans believed it.

He wrote a letter to the Republican governor of Texas demanding a Forensic Audit of the 2020 Election in a state that he won.

He forgave Chuck Grassley.

The reality is, he lost, the Republican senator from Iowa had said in February in his explanation of his vote for acquittal at the end of Trumps second impeachment trial.

Now, though, at a rally in Des Moines, he let Grassley join him on the stage to accept his endorsement.

If I didnt accept the endorsement of a person thats got 91 percent of the Republican voters in Iowa, I wouldnt be too smart, Grassley said.

If we dont solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020 (which we have thoroughly and conclusively documented), Republicans will not be voting in 22 or 24

Donald J. Trump

He all but told Republicans not to vote in 2022 and 2024 if the party didnt solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020.

He told former aides to ignore subpoenas from the House committee investigating Jan. 6.

He sued the committee to try to block the release of the records from his White House related to the Capitol attack.

He announced the launch of his own social media platform funded by hundreds of millions of dollars of other peoples money called TRUTH.

He aimed a brushback pitch at a Florida rival. Even if Ron DeSantis ran for president in 2024, Trump said, Id beat him like I would beat everyone else.

He did the controversial tomahawk chop at a World Series game in Atlanta.

He celebrated the announcement of the retirement from Congress of Adam Kinzinger of Illinois another of the 10 Republicans in the House who had voted for impeachment. 2 down, 8 to go! he said. He blasted in an email with a link to an article from The Hill: Kinzinger retirement underscores Trump dominance over GOP.

He took credit for GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkins victory in Virginia when it was his relative absence from the race that many said led independents to vote for the Republican. I would like to thank my BASE for coming out in force and voting for Glenn Youngkin, he said.

He endorsed a challenger against Peter Meijer of Michigan another one of the 10 House Republicans who voted for his impeachment. And he endorsed a raft of more people for the state legislature and other down-ballot races in Michigan who were in line with him on voter fraud, Election Integrity, stop the steal and the theft of the 2020 Presidential Election Rachelle Smit, Mike Detmer, Mick Bricker, Kevin Rathbun, Jon Rocha, Jacky Eubanks, Angela Rigas and Mike Hoadley. Ditto in Arizona.

He blamed his own son for getting him involved with Sean Parnell after the scandal-ridden Pennsylvania Senate candidate suspended his campaign.

He hosted Kyle Rittenhouse at Mar-a-Lago after the teenager was acquitted of shooting to death two men during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Congratulations, he said, for being found INNOCENT.

"Really a nice young man. What he went through he shouldve, that was prosecutorial misconduct. "

Donald J. Trump

Through his super PAC Make America Great Again, Again! he polled for his looming 2024 comeback run, the results of which showed him leading Biden in all five states he lost in 2020 Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump, a Trump adviser said, wants a rematch so badly with Biden he can taste it.

Iced out of traditional publishing houses, he self-published a coffee table book about his tenure as president Our Journey Together, priced at $74.99 per copy, $229.99 if signed. Its a book of pictures, largely, with statements, Trump told Hugh Hewitt, but a book of pictures. It sold well.

He tried to broker a deal to help his Senate pick in North Carolina.

He endorsed David Perdue in his run against Gov. Brian Kemp in Georgia. Kemp has been a very weak Governor the liberals and RINOs have run all over him on Election Integrity, Trump said. Whats Perdues reason to run? That hes Trumps lap dog? a Kemp adviser told POLITICO. That dog dont hunt. Lap dogs dont hunt.

Anybody that doesnt think there wasnt massive Election Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election is either very stupid, or very corrupt! he said.

I havent spoken to him since. Fuck him.

Donald J. Trump

He blasted former Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, it was reported, for congratulating Biden on the day of his inauguration. I havent spoken to him since, Trump said. Fuck him.

He got the RNC to pay for $1.6 million of his personal legal bills.

He got Republican candidates to pay him to come to Mar-a-Lago to raise money for their campaigns. When it comes to raising money for Republican causes and candidates, there are only two seasons that matter, Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich said. Bedminster season and Mar-a-Lago season.

What happened on January 6 was a protest against a rigged election thats what it was"

Donald J. Trump

He went on tour with Bill OReilly to talk about what he always talked about. What happened on Jan. 6 was a protest against a rigged election thats what it was, he said in one of four (sometimes patchily attended) History Tour conversations with Bill OReilly in arenas in Florida and Texas. This wasnt an insurrection.

He endorsed somebody for the state Senate in Alaska.

He endorsed somebody for Texas state representative.

He put on a tux and celebrated New Years Eve at Mar-a-Lago.

He endorsed Viktor Orbn the authoritarian prime minister of Hungary.

Anyone want to run for Congress against Don Bacon in Nebraska?

Donald J. Trump

He trawled for more challengers to Republican members of Congress who voted to impeach him: Anyone want to run for Congress against Don Bacon in Nebraska?

He announced he was going to have a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on the one-year anniversary of Jan. 6 and then canceled it.

He spent the anniversary of the riot at the Capitol sending out frenzied statements. the complicit media just calls it the Big Lie, when in actuality the Big Lie was the Election itself, he said. Never forget the crime of the 2020 Presidential Election. Never give up! he said.

He called Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) a jerk because he called Trumps lies lies.

He hung up on NPRs Steve Inskeep.

He took another shot at Ron DeSantis.

He went to Arizona to have another rally. Most losing presidential candidates are forced into quiet retirement by their parties, the Atlantics Elaine Godfrey wrote from Florence. Trump has bucked the trend, only tightening his grip on the GOP in the wake of his defeat. He has convinced Republican candidates all over the country including those on stage tonight to repeat his election lies, and convinced his rank-and-file supporters to treat those falsehoods as holy writ. By this point, those lies have been circulating for what feels like forever. But at tonights rally, as Trumps fans called for the arrests of poll workers and the reinstatement of the rightful president, I got the sense that this might be just the beginning.

He promoted on Martin Luther King Jr. Day renovations at his golf course in Miami. Check it out! he said.

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145 Things Donald Trump Did in His First Year as the Most Consequential Former President Ever - POLITICO

WASHINGTON (AP) Former President Donald Trump stepped up his election-year effort to dominate the Republican Party, holding a rally in Arizona on Saturday in which he castigated anyone who dares to question his lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, including the states GOP governor, Doug Ducey.

But 2,000 miles to the east in Washington, there are small signs that some Republicans are tiring of the charade. Mike Rounds, the generally unassuming senator from South Dakota, was perhaps the boldest in acknowledging the reality that the election was in fact fair. Instead of being shunned, he was supported by his GOP colleagues, including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. Rounds later said the party needed to get louder in telling voters the truth about the 2020 campaign.

Meanwhile, top Republicans in Washington have engaged in a behind-the-scenes effort to encourage Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, one of Trumps most vocal antagonists in the party, to run for a Senate seat. And on Saturday, Glenn Youngkin became the first Republican since 2010 to be sworn in as Virginias governor after running a campaign that kept Trump at arms length.

Less than two months before the 2022 primary season begins, Trump remains the most popular figure among the voters who will decide which Republicans advance to the fall general election. But the recent dynamics bring new clarity to the debate that will likely animate the GOP all year: how closely candidates should align themselves with Trump and his election lie.

I was very encouraged by the response from a number of different senators supportive of Sen. Rounds, said former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has been a rare Republican urging the party to move on from Trump and his election obsession.

There is no evidence to support Trumps claims that the election was stolen. Elections officials and his own attorney general rejected the notion. Trumps arguments have also been roundly dismissed by the courts, including judges appointed by the former president.

Still, dissent from Trumps election lie within the GOP remains rare. From Ohio to Georgia and Arizona, candidates running for Senate, governor and attorney general have fully embraced Trumps falsehoods as they have tried to win over his endorsement, deflect his fury or win over his base. Those efforts were on full display in Arizona Saturday night as Trump-endorsed candidates falsely declared the election had been stolen and Trump the duly elected president.

In the short term, such positioning may help Republican candidates come out on top in primary fields that are often crowded. But there are concerns that it could hurt the party in the fall, especially among suburban voters who have become increasingly decisive in recent campaigns. The further to the right that Republicans go now, the easier it could become for their Democratic rivals to portray them as extreme in a general election.

And any time candidates spend looking backward is time not spent attacking President Joe Biden, who is seen as particularly vulnerable due to rising inflation and coronavirus cases.

Its one of those issues thats quintessentially popular in a primary and unpopular in a general, said Chris DeRose, a Republican attorney and former clerk of the superior court in Arizonas Maricopa County.

He said candidates, who often privately acknowledge the election was fair, were clearly courting the former president by expressing skepticism about the 2020 election.

Donald Trumps obviously the most sought-after endorsement among Republican candidates, he said. That can make all the difference in a Republican primary.

John Shimkus, a Republican and former Illinois congressman, said it was easy for armchair quarterbacks who arent on the ballot to judge candidates doing what they can to win their primaries.

All the races are going to be fought by Trump and highlighted on Fox. So these candidates have to be very, very careful. They have to win the primary to win the general, he said.

The risk, however, is clear in Arizonas Senate race. In a year favoring Republicans, the state should be a relatively attainable pickup and some in the party are eager for Ducey to enter the race against Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly. But Trumps repeated attacks on Ducey, who has refused to back election conspiracies, could make it hard for him to succeed in a GOP primary.

Before his trip, Trump, who continues to tease another run for president in 2024, issued a statement that he would never endorse Ducey. And he continued to rail against him at the rally, which was dominated by his grievances over the election that was held more than 14 months ago.

Hes a disaster, said Trump. Ducey has been a terrible, terrible representative of your state.

Whichever Republicans emerge on top in Arizona and other critical races will have to convince voters that they should participate in an election system Trump has spent years deriding as rigged.

Many Republicans still blame Trump for the partys loss of Georgias two Senate runoff elections in 2021, arguing he depressed turnout by undermining confidence in the voting system, denying them control of the Senate. (Trump has argued that further investigation is the only way to instill confidence in future elections.)

Trump still has this outsized voice and influence and too many candidates fear his wrath, said Charlie Dent, a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania and Trump critic. We know Donald Trump will use his megaphone to condemn those who dont buy his lies and his false narrative on the 2020 election. So these candidates are put in a bind: If they tell the truth, they run the risk of losing their primaries and incurring the wrath of Trump, and if they acquiesce and go along with this nonsense, they run the risk of alienating a lot of voters.

Still, DeRose said he has no concern that the issue will depress turnout, despite what happened in Georgia.

The Republican base is quite enthusiastic, he said, predicting turnout on par with 2010, when Republicans made historic gains in the House. With soaring inflation, ongoing criticism over Bidens pullout from Afghanistan, he said, Things arent going well in this country and I think youre going to see this enormous blowback.

Others disagreed. Barbara Comstock, a Trump critic and former GOP congresswoman from Virginia, warned Republicans risked nominating fringe candidates who would go on to lose in the general.

Republicans feel like theyre going to win no matter whos on the ticket. And I dont agree with that thesis, she said, pointing to Ohio, where Senate candidates have been trying to desperately out-Trump one another. I think you really are taking a chance in blowing reliable races.

Nonetheless, Trump remained fixated on the issue on Saturday in Florence, Arizona, a Republican stronghold about 70 miles southeast of Phoenix. Its the first of what aides say will be a brisker pace of Trump events in the coming months. Trump on Friday announced another rally later in January in Texas, where the March 1 primary formally ushers in the midterm campaign.

___

Associated Press writer Stephen Groves in Pierre, South Dakota, contributed to this report

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Some in GOP begin testing party's lockstep loyalty to Trump - Associated Press