Trump Knew He Lost but Continued to Stoke Insurrection & Fleece Followers

Statement of Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn

Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and he knew it. Evidence presented by the January 6 Committee made that very clear today. Trump’s hand-picked loyalists and legal experts from Attorney General Bill Barr on down told him repeatedly that there was absolutely no truth to the fraud allegations that he continued to repeat. Trump’s lies continued to stoke the anger of his staunchest supporters – anger that he would turn loose on the Capitol on January 6, in an effort to overturn the election he lost by force.

He even decided to monetize his lies, raising more than $250 million for a legal defense fund that was never intended to mount a legal defense. That money was used to line the pockets of his inner circle – including paying his son’s girlfriend a $60,000 appearance fee to speak at the January 6^th rally at the White House. It was grift, pure and simple, but on a massive scale. Donald Trump was not content to just ignore the will of the American people and attempt to steal the 2020 election in a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy, he was determined to make a lot of money doing it.