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Jan. 6 Latest: Trump Team Raised $250 Million on Fraud Claims

Billy House and Chris Strohm

June 13, 2022 at 1:15 PM·6 min read

(Bloomberg) -- The Jan. 6 committee resumed its public hearings Monday with a session focused on Donald Trump’s culpability in the 2021 storming of the US Capitol, seeking to make the case that he kept pushing his stolen-election claim knowing it wasn’t true.

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Witnesses in the more than two hours of testimony included Byung J. Pak, who resigned as an Atlanta-based US Attorney on Jan. 4, 2021; Chris Stirewalt, a former Fox News political editor who’s call Biden had won Arizona raised the ire of Trump; election attorney Benjamin Ginsberg and former Philadelphia city commissioner Al Schmidt.

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It was the second of seven planned sessions by the panel this month.

Key Developments

What the Jan. 6 Committee Has Done, and What’s Next: QuickTake
Jan. 6 Panel Weaves Tale of Lying Trump, Raging Mob, Cop’s Valor

Trump Team Raised $250 Million on Fraud Claims (1:01 p.m.)

Former President Donald Trump and his allies used false election claims to raise about $250 million from donors who were led to believe the election was stolen, according to the House panel investigating the plot to overturn the 2020 election results.

The committee played video testimony from Amanda Wick, a senior investigative counsel, outlining how Trump and his allies raised $250 million with as many as 25 email solicitations a day to supporters seeking money to fight election fraud -- including almost $100 million in the first week after the election – even though they knew the claims were false and the money was often used for other purposes.

“We found evidence that the Trump campaign and its surrogates misled donors as to where their funds would go and what they would be used for,” Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren said. “So not only was there the big lie, there was the big ripoff.”

Philadelphia Republican Calls Fraud Claims ‘Fantastical’ (12:50 p.m.)

Former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt testified that numerous allegations by the Trump team of voting fraud in that city and state were seriously and thoroughly investigated, including that thousands of dead people had cast ballots.

“Not only was it not evidence of 8,000 dead voters in Pennsylvania, there wasn’t evidence of eight,” Schmidt, a Republican, said.

“We took seriously every case that was referred to us, no matter how fantastical, how absurd,” said Schmidt.

GOP Campaign Law Expert Says 2020 Election ‘Not Close’ (12:40 p.m.)

Benjamin Ginsberg, an election law expert who has represented Republicans, said campaigns typically look for voting irregularities but that the 2020 election “was not close.”

“There was never that instance in all the cases that were brought,” that Trump’s claims were validated. Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren, a committee members, says the panel has records of 61 court losses by the Trump team.

“In no instance did the court find the charges of fraud were real,” Ginsberg said.

Trump Claims of ‘Suitcases’ of Georgia Ballots Disputed (12:30 p.m.)

One of the examples of fraud that Trump used as proof the 2020 election was stolen was video surveillance from the vote-counting center in Atlanta showing “suitcases” of ballots being pulled from under a table and “added in secret in Georgia.” But Pak, the former Atlanta, US attorney, testified that’s not what happened.

Pak said Georgia officials and his own review showed the “suitcases” were just boxes of ballots to be counted -- and the video simply shows election workers who had been preparing to go home and had packed up uncounted ballots for the night pulling them out to be counted.

Trump’s Top Advisers Warned of Election Defeat (11:28 a.m.)

Trump’s top advisers knew he hadn’t defeated Joe Biden on election night, and told him so. But Trump made a speech declaring victory anyway on the advice of Rudy Giuliani.

“I told him it was going to be a process, it was going to be a wait and see atmosphere now,” Bill Stepien, who was Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, testified to the committee. Stepien recounted, in a snippet of video testimony aired during the hearing, that he advised Trump on election night to wait for outstanding votes to be counted.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a White House adviser, testified that he told Trump not to follow Giuliani’s advice. “Basically not the approach I would take,” Kushner said in an excerpt of his testimony.

Trump Claimed Fraud ‘Right Out of the Box,’ Barr Says (11:18 a.m.)

Former Attorney General Bill Barr said in video testimony played by the committee that “right out of the box on election night, the president claimed that there was major fraud underway” before any evidence could be examined -- showing that Trump didn’t wait for outstanding ballots to be counted before declaring victory.

The committee elicited testimony about the “red mirage” – the understanding that Trump would be ahead when the votes cast on Election Day were counted because Democrats were using mail-in ballots more than Republicans.

Cheney Claims ‘Inebriated’ Giuliani Guided Trump (10:57 a.m.)

Republican Representative Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice chairwoman, said evidence will be presented that an “apparently” drunk Rudy Giuliani persuaded Trump to reject the advice of advisers to wait for outstanding votes to be counted in the 2020 presidential election and just declare victory based on the votes counted on Election Day.

“You will also hear testimony that President Trump rejected the advice of his campaign experts on Election Night and instead followed the course recommended by an apparently inebriated Rudy Giuliani to just claim he won and insist that the vote counting stop, to falsely claim everything was fraudulent,” Cheney said at the start of the committee’s second hearing on Monday.

Cheney did not offer any evidence that Guiliani was inebriated but Trump senior advisor Jason Miller, in videotaped testimony aired at the hearing, said Giuliani was “definitely intoxicated.”

Lofgren Alleges Trump Ripped Off Donors (11:07 a.m.)

Representative Zoe Lofgren, a Democratic member of the House panel, said Trump not only knew his claims of election fraud were false but duped donors into contributing “hundreds of millions of dollars” for court challenges but didn’t use the money for that purpose.

“The Big Lie was also a big rip-off,” Lofgren said.

Trump Campaign Manager to Miss Hearing (9:45 a.m.)

Bill Stepien, Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign manager, will not testify as scheduled Monday before the House committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol due to a family emergency.

A committee official said Stepien’s wife is in labor and the panel will use video clips from his interview instead. “His counsel will appear and make a statement on the record,” the panel said in a statement.

The committee’s 10 a.m. scheduled hearing start will be delayed for 30 to 45 minutes. Stepien was one of five witnesses listed for the hearing.

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