One of the biggest revelations in the second 1/6 Committee hearing was the uncovering of what sounds like criminal fraud in Trump’s big lie fundraising.
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This sounds like a big problem for Trump, “Throughout the committee’s investigation we found evidence the trump campaign and its surrogates misled donors as to where the funds would go and what they would be used for so not only was there a big lie but also the big rip off. ” pic.twitter.com/GZOAbU3dC6
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) June 13, 2022
The Committee found:
The select committee discovered the Save America PAC made millions of dollars of contributions to pro-Trump organizations including $1 million to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows charitable foundation, and $1 million to the American Policy Institute, a conservative institute that has several Trump officials. $204,000 to the Trump hotel and over $5 million to event strategies and the company that ran President Donald Trump’s January 6 rally.
The evidence highlights how the trump campaign aggressively pushed false election claims to fundraise. Telling supporters it will be used to fight voter fraud that did .not exist. The emails continued to January 6 even as President Donald Trump spoke on this. 30 minutes after the last fundraising email was sent, the Capitol was breached.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), “Throughout the committee’s investigation we found evidence the Trump campaign and its surrogates misled donors as to where the funds would go and what they would be used for so not only was there a big lie but also the big rip off.”
Former federal prosecutor Richard Signorelli tweeted:
The fleecing of MAGA in the amount of $250M by falsely claiming voter fraud constitutes wire/mail fraud which should be prosecuted by @TheJusticeDept. WTFU Garland/@LisaMonaco Do your job in a timely & comprehensive manner.
— Richard Signorelli (@richsignorelli) June 13, 2022
Misleading donors about where the money was going is fraud. Trump wasn’t raising money for a campaign, because the presidential campaign was over. He raised money for a legal defense fund that did not exist.
At the end of the day, after all of the investigations, it would be fitting if Donald Trump and his accomplices were brought down by their own greed.
The Committee is following the money, and that road could lead Trump to jail.
Mr. Easley is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association