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A video of former U.S. President Donald Trump from his January 6th Rose Garden statement is played as Cassidy Hutchinson, who was an aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the Trump administration, testifies during House Select Committee a public hearing to investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, at the Capitol, in Washington, June 28, 2022.

Shawn Thew | Pool | Reuters

Support from some of the Republican Party's biggest donors for a 2024 White House run by former President Donald Trump is dwindling, especially after damaging new details of his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, were revealed at a hearing Tuesday by the House select committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Republican financiers and their advisors have been privately meeting since the committee started to release the initial findings of its probe in a series of public hearings earlier this month, according to interviews with top GOP fundraisers who have helped the party raise millions of dollars. Most of the people asked not to be named because they didn't want to provoke retribution from Trump or his allies.

The people have been discussing the November midterms and who they're going to support in 2024. One name that doesn't often get brought up as a potential presidential candidate is Trump, these people explained.

"Donors are very concerned that Trump is the one Republican who can lose in 2024," Eric Levine, an attorney and longtime GOP fundraiser, said after the hearing Tuesday featuring testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. "I think donors were already moving away from Trump," he noted. Levine is co-hosting a fundraising event for the Trump-endorsed former TV host and current Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz in New York in September, according to an invitation reviewed by CNBC.

For Trump, it's a similar theme to his first run for president. At that time, many corporate business leaders backed other Republican candidates like Jeb Bush early on in the race only later to back Trump when it was obvious he was going to capture the nomination.

A person close to some of the biggest real estate executives in New York who backed Trump during both of his runs for the White House said this time is different. Their view is he's taken "major hits" during the Jan. 6 hearings. None from that group are coming to defend him, at least for now.

"The silence is deafening," this person added.

The lack of interest in Trump by some of the wealthiest Republican donors could boost fundraising efforts for other GOP presidential hopefuls. Multiple Republicans could run in 2024, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. Scott is up for reelection in 2022 but recently headlined an event in Iowa, a key state for candidates running for president. Cotton reportedly has huddled with donors to discuss a possible 2024 run.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 24, 2022.

Marco Bello | Reuters

The former president has not publicly ruled out running for the White House again in two years after losing to President Joe Biden in 2020. Despite a lack of support from corporate leaders, Trump has maintained a massive campaign war chest thanks largely to small-dollar donors.

His political action committee, Save America, had over a $100 million on hand going into June, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filing. Trump's affiliated super PAC Make America Great Again, Again saw support from a small group of wealthy donors in May, including $150,000 from real estate mogul Geoffrey Palmer and $250,000 from David Frecka, the founder of Next Generation Films. The super PAC raised over $770,000 in May.

Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for Trump, boasted about the former president's record on endorsing GOP candidates and their fundraising success.

"President Trump's endorsement record stands at 146-10, his Save America political committee continues to raise unprecedented amounts of money and the American people remain hungry for his leadership," Budowich said. "And as another witch hunt is blowing up in the faces of Democrats, President Trump is in a stronger position now than at anytime before."

Still, some potential Republican candidates have already been gathering enough donations that show they can compete against Trump's political juggernaut if they were to run for president.

DeSantis raised just over $10 million in May for his 2022 reelection bid for governor. That brought his total fundraising haul in the current election cycle to over $120 million, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. Meanwhile, Pence has been meeting with political donors as he lays the groundwork for a potential 2024 run. Trump has criticized his former No. 2 for certifying the 2020 election results on Jan. 6, as rioters called for him to be hanged.

Pence spoke to the New York State Conservative Party last week, with tickets going for up to $5,000 per person, according to an invitation reviewed by CNBC. He's also set to meet with dozens of donors at a private retreat in Montana in September, according to a person briefed on the matter. A Pence political advisor confirmed the retreat will take place in support of the former vice president's 501(c)(4), Advancing American Freedom.

In this image from video, Vice President Mike Pence speaks as the Senate reconvenes after protesters stormed into the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021.

Senate Television via AP

"There will be a mix of major donors, conservative thought leaders and elected officials," this advisor said. "The focus will be on the work AAF is doing, plans to impact policy issues important to midterms and a larger discussion on the agenda for the conservative movement."

The group recently launched a video that celebrated the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Similar to a campaign style ad, it also highlighted Pence's positions on abortion and his role in advising Trump on choosing Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The ad notably does not mention Trump by name.

The testimony by Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump's then-chief of staff Mark Meadows, was one of many recent breaking points for Republican megadonors who were waiting to decide whether to help Trump again, according to the people who helped in past campaigns.

Cassidy Hutchinson, who was an aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump, testifies during a public hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, at the Capitol, in Washington, June 28, 2022.

Andrew Harnik | Pool | Reuters

Hutchinson delivered some of the Jan. 6 committee's most explosive testimony to date. She said she was told Trump lunged at a Secret Service agent after his security detail refused to take the former president to the U.S. Capitol to meet protestors who later rioted in the halls of Congress. Trump and his allies have tried to discredit her claims. The former president took to Truth Social to distance himself from Hutchinson, saying he barely knew her.

A Republican fundraiser, who actively raised money for Trump and the Republican National Committee in 2020, told CNBC after Tuesday's hearing, "I don't think any major donor with business interests would support a Trump presidential run after today's hearing." That person said they wouldn't feel comfortable, based on these findings, working for Trump's campaign again or raising money for another presidential run.

Some of Trump's business supporters had already disappeared from his corner immediately after the Jan. 6 attack. Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, who openly supported Trump's policies when he was president, said after the riot that he felt "betrayed" by him.

Trump had a bevy of big name GOP backers, including members of the Mercer family, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, casino magnates Miriam Adelson and her late husband Sheldon Adelson and Wall Street executive Nelson Peltz. Many of those donors supported Trump in 2016 as the Republican primary came to a close and later his 2020 reelection bid.

Read more here:
GOP megadonors turn on Trump after Jan. 6 hearings, set sights on DeSantis, Pence and other 2024 hopefuls - CNBC

The House select committee investigating Jan. 6 has dominated the news agenda during the past month, holding six public hearings.

The panel, comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans critical of Trump Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) has laid out a compelling case against the former president.

By the panels account, Trump knew his claims of election fraud were bogus, recklessly encouraged the Jan 6. rioters and endangered his own vice president as members of a mob marching on the Capitol called for Mike Pences hanging.

Whether the panel will make a criminal referral of Trump to the Department of Justice has not been settled. And there are still more hearings to go.

Here are five of the most damaging details leveled against Trump during the proceedings so far.

Ivanka Trump accepted there was no widespread election fraud

The first Jan. 6 hearing was carried in prime time on June 9 and drew an audience of around 20 million people.

There was plenty of dramatic testimony from the hearing room but the most telling detail and the one with the most lasting impact came from a video interview with Ivanka Trump.

The presidents elder daughter said that she accepted the view of then-Attorney General William Barr that there was no evidence that fraud altered the outcome of the 2020 election.

It affected my perspective, Ivanka Trump said on the video, referring to Barrs assessment. I respect Attorney General Barr so I accepted what he was saying.

Others in Trumps circle have derided his spurious claims of election fraud, but his own daughter doing so packed a unique emotional force.

The following day, the former president fired back, insisting that Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results.

His post, on his Truth Social network, added: She had long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as Attorney General (he sucked!).

As is often the case with the former president, the ferocity of the response seemed to betray an awareness that hed taken a hit.

Trump allegedly knew the Jan. 6 crowd had weapons and wanted to join them at the Capitol anyways

Cassidy Hutchinson, a 26-year-old former aide to former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, caused a sensation when she testified to a hastily convened meeting of the committee on June 28.

Hutchinson related all kinds of unflattering details regarding Trumps behavior around Jan. 6.

Controversy raged for days over her testimony.

She said she was told a story of Trump lunging for the steering wheel of his vehicle and tussling with a Secret Service agent after being informed he could not go to the Capitol after his rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6.

The Secret Service agent involved and the driver of the vehicle are reported to be willing to testify that Trump did not make such a lunge and that no one was assaulted.

But on Friday, CNN reported that two Secret Service agents confirmed they had heard accounts similar to Hutchinsons.

In any event, the more substantively damning part of Hutchinsons testimony concerned Trumps knowledge that many of the people in the Jan. 6 crowd were carrying weapons.

Hutchinson, who was backstage at the Ellipse rally, said she heard Trump say something to the effect of, I dont effing care that they have weapons. Theyre not here to hurt me They can march to the Capitol from here.

Trump again took to Truth Social to insist that he didnt want or request that we make room for people with guns to watch my speech, adding, Who would ever want that?

But if Hutchinsons testimony is accurate and she says she heard the remarks firsthand it suggests the then-president was acutely aware of the possibility for violence at the Capitol just before he told the crowd at the Ellipse that they should fight like hell.

That raises the stakes politically and could even elevate the chance of criminal prosecution.

Trumps own campaign manager balked at fraud claims and was proud to be on Team Normal

The panels second hearing, held on June 13, made the case that Trump must have known his claims of election fraud were bogus, given how many people within his own inner circle were telling him this.

The hearing rendered an unflattering portrait of Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who served as Trumps personal lawyer.

Trump campaign general counsel Matt Morgan recalled how law firms were not comfortable making the arguments that Rudy Giuliani was making publicly because of the dearth of evidence to back them up.

White House lawyer Eric Herschmann said he thought that the overall thrust of the arguments put forth by Giuliani and other Trump backers such as attorney Sidney Powell was nuts.

A memorable phrase from Trump 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien best summed up the schisms that were developing in the then-presidents orbit.

I didnt mind being characterized as being part of Team Normal, as reporters kinda started to do around that point in time, Stepien said in a video deposition.

Stepien said he hoped that he had earned a good reputation for being honest and professional over many years in Republican political consultancy.

I didnt think what was happening was necessarily honest or professional at that point in time, he added.

The Election Defense Fund that didnt exist

The second hearing also focused on the Trump campaigns fundraising efforts in the immediate aftermath of the election.

The Big Lie was also a big rip-off, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) contended.

Lofgren cited the barrage of fundraising emails Team Trump sent to supporters between Election Day and Jan. 6. On some days, more than 20 such emails were blasted out.

Many encouraged the recipients to contribute to an Election Defense Fund, the suggestion being that the money would be used to push Trumps claims of fraud in court.

One problem: the Election Defense Fund didnt exist.

I dont believe there is actually a fund called the Election Defense Fund, the former digital director for the Trump campaign, Gary Coby, acknowledged.

The nonexistent fund was, at best, a marketing ruse.

It was also an effective one. Between the election and early December 2020, the joint fundraising efforts of Trump and the Republican National Committee raised about $207 million.

Much of the money seemed to go to Trumps main post-election political action committee, Save America PAC.

According to the panel, this PAC in turn made millions of dollars of contributions to pro-Trump organizations.

Trump reportedly thought Mike Pence deserved to hang

One of many shocking occurrences on Jan. 6 was the call from some in the crowd to hang Pence, who resisted urgings from Trump and his allies to help overturn the election.

Trump had sought both publicity and privately to ratchet up the pressure on Pence, including in his speech at the Ellipse.

According to Hutchinsons testimony, the then-president was blithely unconcerned with Pences fate even after serious violence broke out.

Hutchinson recounted witnessing a conversation between Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone soon after the two had been in Trumps presence.

Cipollone, she said, urged more direct action to quell the violence because they are literally calling for the vice president to be effing hung.

Meadows, according to Hutchinson, said something to the effect of, You heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesnt think theyre doing anything wrong.

More:
The five most damaging allegations against Trump from the Jan. 6 hearings so far - The Hill

As the nation observes the 246th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we will often hear mention of patriots and patriotism. But, just what does it mean to be a patriot?

The dictionary defines the term as a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors. That definition clearly fits many people who Americans hold dear in their hearts.

Some of Americas very first patriots were those who put their signatures to that revered Declaration. We swell with pride for this country when hearing these stirring words: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Those words were followed by a long list of grievances against King George, many of which would have condemned the signers to prison or death, as they well knew. They concluded the Declaration, saying, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. All of those precious things were truly at risk.

Those who fought in the Revolutionary War and all who have fought in our countrys wars since, save and except those who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War, are American patriots. Many who have labored tirelessly to support and safeguard American ideals fit the definition. Abraham Lincoln, who led the fight to preserve the Union and abolish the stain of slavery, was one of our greatest patriots.

There have been patriots worthy of mention in just the last few years people who have put their safety and security at risk to protect the American form of government. Although Ive had little regard for the man in the past, recent revelations put former Vice President Mike Pence in the patriot category. He literally risked his life resisting extreme pressure to overturn the results of a fair and honest election.

Two Trump appointees at the U.S. Department of Justice, acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen and his deputy Richard Donoghue, kept our government from careening into chaos in a heated White House meeting on Jan. 3, 2021. When the former president asked them what they would do if he replaced them with a sycophant whod agreed to cooperate in trying to overturn the presidential election, they were prepared. They informed Trump that the top leadership in the Justice Department would resign en masse, which stopped the plot in its tracks. Rosen and Donoghue are true American patriots for putting themselves at risk to protect the country.

U.S. Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney are rare examples of federal elected officials willing to risk their positions and even their lives by standing up for America. They have certainly earned patriot status.

The interesting thing about patriots is that they rarely give themselves that title. Beware of those who do proclaim themselves to be patriots (apparently because nobody else will). Numerous of the unconscionable insurrectionists who defiled the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, falsely claimed to be patriots. Nothing could be further from the truth they were common criminals, at best.

Here in Idaho, we have seen a number of instances of people self-describing themselves as patriots. The Panhandle Patriots Riding Club threatened to disrupt a peaceful gathering in a Coeur dAlene park on June 11, hardly the conduct you would expect of real patriots. The day of the gathering, 31 misfits, who called themselves the Patriot Front, were caught in a U-Haul truck before they could wreak havoc at the park. Certainly not the stuff of patriots.

As we enjoy our Fourth of July weekend, lets give thanks for the real patriots who have labored, sacrificed and all-too-often died to establish and maintain this country and our marvelous form of government. We certainly have our problems, but if each one of us shoulders some of the patriotic burden, there is nothing we cant overcome in unison. After all, we are the United States of America.

Read more from the original source:
As we celebrate the Fourth of July, just what is an American patriot? - Idaho Capital Sun

Since June 9, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has built a case against former President Donald Trump, members of his administration and Trump allies. The Committee will hold additional hearings this month, keeping the spotlight on a very real, growing and dangerous fascist movement.

This movement did not appear from out of nowhere on Jan. 6, 2021; the election of an openly racist and xenophobic president in 2016 encouraged it. Events like the 2017 Unite the Right mobilization in Charlottesville, Virginia, where one anti-racist was murdered and many were injured, laid the foundation for the attack on the Capitol.

Discussions of the hearings are currently focused on the bombshell testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide and assistant to former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during Trumps administration. She described in detail the former presidents eagerness to join the white-supremacist mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Hutchinson testified that both Meadows and Trump knew in advance that the armed fascists would attempt to enter the Capitol and that she was told by a Secret Service agent that Trump went so far as to assault that agent, while he was attempting to drive the president back to the White House.

But what will be done with all this damning information? (Besides providing material for comedians and late-night talk show hosts!)

For the Democratic Party, both the awful Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and the Select Committees evidence against Trump serve a similar purpose. That is to convince the masses that the way to bar further encroachments on basic democratic rights is to vote blue in Novembers midterm elections. The message pushed at more moderate mass demonstrations against the SCOTUS ruling was the need to elect pro-choice candidates.

But how many pregnant people will die because they fail to obtain a safe abortion between now and November? How many Jayland Walkers and Patrick Lyoyas will be gunned down by racist, trigger-happy cops between now and November? How many trans youth will be bullied to the point of suicide between now and November? How many more migrants will die trying to come to the U.S., due to inhumane immigration policies?

And even after November, SCOTUS will still have a right-wing majority for some time.

Limits of electoral strategies

Voting is not enough. Why cant the Democrats and their backers in organized labor call for a mass mobilization against the ultraright, right now?

The Democrats do not want to see the fascists gain ground. Even moderate Republicans like House Rep. Liz Cheney are alarmed by Trumps extremism. An extremist mob chanted in unison: Hang Mike Pence yes, they were attacking Mike Pence, even though he is anti-reproductive justice and anti-LGBTQ+. The fascist mob would be unkind to all those opposing Trump.

But what the Democrats really favor is a kindler, gentler and by comparison more democratic brand of capitalist exploitation. Even democratic socialist Bernie Sanders is not for abolishing capitalism, much less so mainstream Democrats like President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. On the international arena, both the Democratic and Republican parties have been loyal agents of U.S. imperialist interests, serving the bankers, arms manufacturers and billionaires of all types.

The risk for the Democrats in calling out the masses is that the masses might take the struggle against fascism too far; i.e., they might not settle for just defeating the Trump wing of the ruling class. The masses in motion can have a tendency to stay in motion, which could mean taking the struggle further to one against capitalism as a whole and not just its most oppressive, most repressive, chemically pure form manifested as fascism.

A fascist state is only one form of the capitalist state. A state, as Marxists understand it, is an instrument of class rule. This was true of enslaver states and feudal states in earlier epochs, and it is true of capitalist states, including imperialist so-called democracies in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Regardless of its form the capitalist state serves to keep the working class of the world exploited, so profits keep flowing into the pockets of the ruling class. The capitalists use a combination of the carrot (concessions to the workers and oppressed) and the stick (taking rights and benefits away, brute force). Traditionally Democrats have offered more carrots, and Republicans wielded a bigger stick.

But their aim is the same, and in this late stage of capitalism, the tendency is toward the stick. Fascism is that tendencys ultimate expression in fact the word fascism comes from the Italian word for the binding of a bundle of sticks used as a club. Its goal is to crush every organization and every expression of resistance of the workers and oppressed.

Working class must organize independently

Over 2,000 people protest Proud Boys, Nov. 17, 2018. WW Photo

The facts that Trump-endorsed candidates have won a number of Republican primaries and some could be elected in November do not, of course, signal the triumph of fascism but it is cause for alarm. Terrorist groups like the Proud Boys and individual white supremacists are committing murder and threatening activists. This includes the thwarted plot to attack Pride in Idaho and reports of armed Proud Boys near the Akron protests over the police killing of Jayland Walker.

The Democratic Party will use the hearings to expose the Trumpites, but it has a mushy spine. Only the workers and oppressed can defeat the far right and that is who has the most at stake. The fascist threat calls for an organized working class response.

Unfortunately most of the leadership in organized labor is tied to the Democratic Party. But our class is developing its organizing skills, evidenced by a string of union wins at Starbucks, Amazon, Apple, REI and elsewhere. Millions of working-class youth of all nationalities were part of the Black Lives Matter upsurge following the police lynching of George Floyd.

The line from the old union standard Solidarity Forever still rings true. In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold or their mighty clubs. We produce everything in society, and we can bring everything to a halt. We can organize a mass movement in the name of the working class that fights on every front.

That, and that alone, can push back the danger posed by fascism.

Originally posted here:
January 6 hearings and the fascist threat - Workers World

Jack Colwell| Tribune Columnist

When Donald Trump threw his lunch at the wall in dining space off the Oval Office, the ketchup-smearing, plate-shattering came in anger over his attorney general publicly acknowledging that he lost the election.

Was Trumps anger because he didnt want Bill Barr to tell the truth or because he really thought his loyal attorney general was hiding the truth?

For decades to come, historians, political analysts and psychologists will debate whether Trump knew he lost or whether he actually was convinced that he won.

Could be both.

Some Trump critics call him stupid, dumb enough to believe all the crazy conspiracy theories about election rigging. Trump isnt stupid. He has problems, for sure, but stupidity isnt one of them.

He surely knew he lost. Not on election night. No network was yet proclaiming a winner.

Then key states one after another were proclaimed. Results were confirmed by recounts. His campaign team, his White House lawyers and his attorney general told him he lost. Even daughter Ivanka was persuaded by the attorney general. None of 60 court challenges to election results were successful. Some filings, after he turned to nutty outside attorneys, were laughed out of court.

He had to know. Of course, unless you believe he is really, really stupid. Too stupid ever to reach the White House?

Trump does have a problem with accepting any loss. His ego wont let him.

His niece Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist who has written of the family-ingrained disdain for ever admitting losing, has said its impossible for him to believe he lost. When losing before in his career, she says, he always found a way, by hook or by crook, to end up claiming a win.

Sois it possible that Trump, though knowing he lost, convinced himself that his claim of a stolen election is the truth? Or at least a way to make it true that he didnt lose the presidency?

We know more about his plot to retain the presidency because of the dramatic testimony by Cassidy Hutchinson, the young woman who was top aide to the White House chief of staff. Her office was just steps from the Oval Office, where she often attended the highest-level meetings.

Clearly, Trump wanted his claims of election fraud to be believed by angry supporters he brought to Washington and riled to storm the Capitol and fight like hell to prevent certification of election results and enable him to remain in the White House.

Did Trump want harm to Mike Pence, his long-loyal vice president who wouldnt go along with illegally scuttling certification?

Hutchinson, who was there, testified that Trump was angry that many supporters were kept from swelling the crowd for his Ellipse speech because they had weapons knives, guns, bear spray, flagpoles turned into spears and couldnt pass through magnetometers.

She heard Trump, arguing to let everybody in, say, I dont f-ing care that they have weapons. Theyre not here to hurt me. Take the mags away.

Did he care if they were there to hurt others police, members of Congress, Pence?

They chanted, Hang Mike Pence! Hutchinson testified that her boss, Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, said Trumps reaction was, He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesnt think theyre doing anything wrong.

As Pence hid and rioters roamed, Trump made his vice president more of a target, tweeting: Mike Pence didnt have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.

That was a final disillusionment for Hutchinson. It was unpatriotic, she said. It was un-American. We were watching the Capitol Building get defaced over a lie.

She helped to clean the ketchup off the wall. She would not clean up details of the attempt to turn defeat into a blood-on-the-walls re-election win.

Jack Colwell is a columnist for The Tribune. Write to him in care of The Tribune or by email atjcolwell@comcast.net.

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Hutchinson made it clear Trump knew he lost. - South Bend Tribune