In response to Donald Trump fundraising with election deniers and January 6 enablers Burt Jones and Bill White, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“Look at the company Donald Trump keeps, and who he takes money from: extreme election deniers who supported his assault on our democracy. While Burt Jones was part of Trump’s fake electors scheme to overturn the 2020 election, another one of Trump’s rich backers encouraged January 6 rioters to enter the Capitol and ‘fight for Trump.’ Trump isn’t just putting election denialism and political violence at the center of his campaign – he’s using cash from these same MAGA extremists to fuel his whole operation. The American people are sick and tired of his dangerous MAGA agenda, and they will once again reject Trump’s attacks on our democracy this November.”
Burt Jones was one of the fake electors for Trump’s effort to overturn his loss in Georgia in 2020 and urged Mike Pence not to certify the election results.
New York Times: “Mr. Jones was one of the 16 Republicans who acted as fake electors for Mr. Trump in Georgia in an effort to overturn his 2020 defeat. Three of them are charged with felonies, including violating the state racketeering law.”
WABE: “Jones promoted false claims about election fraud in Georgia. … Over the summer, Georgia’s fake electors, including Jones, were notified they’re targets of Fulton County’s criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.”
Politico: “On Jan. 5, Jones … flew by private jet from Georgia with plans to hand deliver a letter asking [Mike Pence] not to certify the election results. He wanted Pence to delay the certification by two weeks to allow more time to investigate.”
“Jones kept up the election denial drumbeat throughout the primary campaign, including at a rally with Trump in late March [of 2022].”
Bill White helped finance Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and encouraged January 6 protestors to enter the Capitol.
Atlanta Journal Constitution: “In the days following the 2020 election, White helped raise funds to underwrite Trump’s legal team as it questioned vote counts in several states. White called for recounts and court challenges seeking to overturn the election. He told the Washington Examiner that his team raised $800,000 for the effort in 24 hours.”
“In now-deleted tweets, he supported the political rally at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. and urged participants to ‘peacefully enter the Capitol building’ and ‘fight for Trump.’ … He wouldn’t say last year whether he believes the 2020 election in Georgia was legitimate.”
Trump continues to praise and embrace violent January 6 rioters – including calling them “hostages” and “patriots” and vowing to pardon “a large portion” of those who attacked our Capitol.
The Hill: “Trump describes imprisoned Jan. 6 rioters as ‘hostages’”
Washington Post: “Trump vows pardons, government apology to Capitol rioters if elected”
Newsweek: “Donald Trump Salutes Jan. 6 ‘Hostages’ at Ohio Rally”
Business Insider: “Then-President Donald Trump didn’t want to specifically call for the Justice Department to prosecute January 6 rioters or forcefully condemn those who stormed the Capitol as unrepresentative of the MAGA movement.”
Washington Post: “No, Trump did not order 10,000 troops to secure the Capitol on Jan. 6”
NBC News: “Former President Donald Trump promised Wednesday night that if he is elected he will pardon a ‘large portion’ of the people convicted of federal offenses for their participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
Washington Post: “Former president Donald Trump on Thursday praised and embraced a woman convicted of defying police orders on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. … Trump has steadily escalated his advocacy for people charged in the Capitol riot, including by pledging to pardon them if he returns to the White House, praising them as patriots, participating in a recording with Jan. 6 prisoners singing the national anthem, and playing it at his first rally of the 2024 campaign last month.”
Trump: “January 6, it was the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to. And they were there proud, they were there with love in their heart. That was an unbelievable — and it was a beautiful day.”
NBC News: “Trump spoke at a fundraiser for Jan. 6 defendants”
Trump is promising a “bloodbath” if he loses in November.
NBC News: “Trump says there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses the election”
Politico: “Trump says country faces ‘bloodbath’ if Biden wins in November”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Says There Will Be a ‘Bloodbath’ and Elections Will End if He Isn’t Reelected”
New York Times: “Trump Defends His Warning of a ‘Blood Bath for the Country’”
In response to Donald Trump lying about his record of wanting to ban abortion nationwide while demanding credit for ending Roe v. Wade and the resulting extreme abortion bans in states across the country, DNC spokesperson Aida Ross released the following statement:
“Donald Trump is a liar who will say anything to spin the American people, but facts are facts: He backed a national abortion ban as president and said the federal government has a ‘vital’ role in banning abortion nationwide. Women across the country are being denied critical care because Trump was ‘proudly’ able to ‘kill Roe v. Wade’ and ‘terminated’ reproductive freedoms for all Americans. Every cruel abortion ban in effect is Trump’s fault, and voters will see right through his lies and hold him accountable at the ballot box.”
Trump can’t rewrite history — he’s said loud and clear that he’d try to ban abortion nationwide if elected to a second term.
Associated Press: “Trump says he will support national ban on abortions around 15 weeks of pregnancy”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Wants to Ban Abortion Nationwide: Report”
New York Times: “Trump Privately Expresses Support for a 16-Week Abortion Ban”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Floats National Abortion Ban After Claiming He’s ‘On the Side of Women’”
Trump: “There of course remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life. And it’s very important.”
Trump: “We’ll pick something that’s going to be very, very good for pro-life … I’m going to be in there pushing.”
Trump also backed a national abortion ban during his first term and said that women should be punished for receiving abortion care.
The Hill: “The Trump administration formally backed a House bill Monday that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. … It would make it a crime to perform or attempt an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with the possibility of a fine, up to five years in prison or both.”
Trump: “There has to be some form of punishment [for women who have an abortion].”
Trump loves bragging about how extreme abortion bans across the country are possible because he overturned Roe v. Wade.
Trump: “I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of … Roe v. Wade.”
Trump: “For 54 years they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it, and I’m proud to have done it. … Nobody else was going to get that done but me, and we did it, and we did something that was a miracle.”
Trump: “After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone … Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing. Thank you President TRUMP!!!”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Claims Credit for All Abortion Bans”
Business Insider: “Trump boasts he’s ‘proud’ about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, the issue that has become ballot-box poison for Republicans”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Says He’s ‘Proud’ to Have ‘Terminated’ Abortion Rights”
Trump campaign radio ad: “And Trump nominated conservative judges, leading to Roe v. Wade being overturned.”
FWIW: “This week, we found more evidence that the Trump campaign has no interest in ‘moderating’ on the issue of abortion. On Monday, his team began running new Facebook video ads targeting voters in Iowa, referring to Trump as ‘THE MOST Pro-Life President in history.’”
Trump: “I’m the one that got rid of Roe v. Wade, and everybody said that was an impossible thing to do. I put on three Supreme Court justices. Very few people have had that privilege or honor.”
Trump: “Getting rid of Roe v. Wade was an incredible thing for pro-life because it gave pro-life something to negotiate with. Pro-life had absolutely nothing, being stuck in Roe v. Wade, to negotiate with. … And look, everybody that was president wanted to get rid and tried to get rid of Roe v. Wade … For fifty years, this has been going on. I was able to do it, and I was very honored to do it.”
Here are some of Trump’s cruel abortion bans that women are forced to suffer under across the country:
Alabama: “Abortions became almost entirely illegal in Alabama on June 24. A 2019 state abortion ban took effect making it a felony to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with no exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.”
Arizona: “Arizona court upholds state’s 1864 total abortion ban”
Arkansas: “Arkansas bans nearly all abortions after Roe v. Wade overturned”
Florida: “Florida’s new restrictions will chip away at the little abortion access left in the South”
Georgia: “Georgia abortion ban remains in effect after state Supreme Court ruling”
Kentucky: “Abortion is banned in almost all circumstances.”
Louisiana: “Louisiana abortion ban preserved after lawmakers kill bill to call public vote”
Missouri: “Republicans block attempt to add rape, incest exemptions to Missouri’s abortion ban”
North Carolina: “North Carolina’s abortion law may make traveling to end a pregnancy impossible for some in the South”
North Dakota: “North Dakota court keeps strict abortion ban in place even in cases of medical emergencies”
Oklahoma: “Abortion is banned in almost all circumstances.”
South Carolina: “South Carolina’s new all-male highest court reverses course on abortion, upholding strict 6-week ban”
South Dakota: “Abortions now illegal in South Dakota following Supreme Court’s ruling”
Tennessee: “Amid uncertainty and anger, Tennessee’s abortion ban takes effect”
Texas: “Texas passes law banning abortion after six weeks”
Wisconsin: “Wisconsin Republicans approve bill banning abortions after 14 weeks of pregnancy”
North Dakota: “North Dakota governor signs law banning nearly all abortions”
In response to Donald Trump once again demanding credit for ending Roe v. Wade and the resulting extreme abortion bans in states across the country, DNC spokesperson Aida Ross released the following statement:
“Donald Trump is making it clear: He is loudly claiming credit for the decision to ‘kill Roe v. Wade’ and create a horrifying reality for women across the country living under cruel abortion bans, most of which have no exceptions for rape or incest. Trump is the reason why one-third of American women can’t access reproductive care, and if given the chance, he’ll go even further to rip away basic freedoms from more of us. The American people understand what’s at stake with Trump’s extreme and unpopular anti-choice agenda – and that’s why they will make him a loser once again this November.”
Take it from Donald Trump himself – he is demanding credit for the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the ensuing cruel abortion bans across the country.
Trump: “I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of … Roe v. Wade.”
Trump: “After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade … Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing. Thank you President TRUMP!!!”
Trump: “For 54 years they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it, and I’m proud to have done it. … Nobody else was going to get that done but me, and we did it, and we did something that was a miracle.”
Trump: “I’m the one that got rid of Roe v. Wade, and everybody said that was an impossible thing to do. I put on three Supreme Court justices. Very few people have had that privilege or honor.”
Trump: “Getting rid of Roe v. Wade was an incredible thing for pro-life because it gave pro-life something to negotiate with. Pro-life had absolutely nothing, being stuck in Roe v. Wade, to negotiate with. … And look, everybody that was president wanted to get rid and tried to get rid of Roe v. Wade … For fifty years, this has been going on. I was able to do it, and I was very honored to do it.”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Claims Credit for All Abortion Bans”
Business Insider: “Trump boasts he’s ‘proud’ about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, the issue that has become ballot-box poison for Republicans”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Says He’s ‘Proud’ to Have ‘Terminated’ Abortion Rights”
Trump campaign radio ad: “And Trump nominated conservative judges, leading to Roe v. Wade being overturned.”
FWIW: “This week, we found more evidence that the Trump campaign has no interest in ‘moderating’ on the issue of abortion. On Monday, his team began running new Facebook video ads targeting voters in Iowa, referring to Trump as ‘THE MOST Pro-Life President in history.’”
Let’s not forget: Trump said he would sign a national abortion ban if elected to a second term.
Associated Press: “Trump says he will support national ban on abortions around 15 weeks of pregnancy”
Trump: “There of course remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life. And it’s very important.”
Trump: “We’ll pick something that’s going to be very, very good for pro-life … I’m going to be in there pushing.”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Wants to Ban Abortion Nationwide: Report”
New York Times: “Trump Privately Expresses Support for a 16-Week Abortion Ban”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Floats National Abortion Ban After Claiming He’s ‘On the Side of Women’”
Trump also backed a national abortion ban during his first term and said women should be punished for getting an abortion.
The Hill: “The Trump administration formally backed a House bill Monday that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. … It would make it a crime to perform or attempt an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with the possibility of a fine, up to five years in prison or both.”
Trump: “There has to be some form of punishment [for women who have an abortion].”
Here are just some of Trump’s cruel abortion bans that women are forced to suffer under across America – most of which have no exceptions for rape or incest:
Alabama: “Abortions became almost entirely illegal in Alabama on June 24. A 2019 state abortion ban took effect making it a felony to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with no exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.”
Arizona: “Arizona court weighs 1864 abortion ban that risks ‘conditions of misery’”
Arkansas: “Arkansas bans nearly all abortions after Roe v. Wade overturned”
Florida: “Florida’s new restrictions will chip away at the little abortion access left in the South”
Georgia: “Georgia abortion ban remains in effect after state Supreme Court ruling”
Kentucky: “Abortion is banned in almost all circumstances.”
Louisiana: “Louisiana abortion ban preserved after lawmakers kill bill to call public vote”
Missouri: “Republicans block attempt to add rape, incest exemptions to Missouri’s abortion ban”
North Carolina: “North Carolina’s abortion law may make traveling to end a pregnancy impossible for some in the South”
North Dakota: “North Dakota court keeps strict abortion ban in place even in cases of medical emergencies”
Oklahoma: “Abortion is banned in almost all circumstances.”
South Carolina: “South Carolina’s new all-male highest court reverses course on abortion, upholding strict 6-week ban”
South Dakota: “Abortions now illegal in South Dakota following Supreme Court’s ruling”
Tennessee: “Amid uncertainty and anger, Tennessee’s abortion ban takes effect”
Texas: “Texas passes law banning abortion after six weeks”
Wisconsin: “Wisconsin Republicans approve bill banning abortions after 14 weeks of pregnancy”
North Dakota: “North Dakota governor signs law banning nearly all abortions”
Trump and MAGA Republicans’ extreme anti-abortion agenda is overwhelmingly unpopular with voters.
USA Today: “Americans overwhelmingly oppose the next goal of many anti-abortion activists, to enact a federal law banning abortion nationwide. By 80%-14%, those surveyed opposed that idea, including 65% of Republicans and 83% of independents.”
Axios: “Most Americans support abortion access one year after Roe v. Wade: poll” CNN: “A 64% majority of US adults say they disapprove of last year’s Supreme Court ruling that women do not have a constitutional right to an abortion, with half strongly disapproving – an assessment that’s almost entirely unchanged from CNN’s poll last July in the immediate wake of the decision.”
In response to Trump again taking credit for ending Roe v. Wade and endorsing all of the GOP’s extreme state abortion bans, DNC spokesperson Aida Ross released the following statement:
“Donald Trump bragged about it himself: He is ‘proudly’ responsible for ending Roev. Wade and is the reason for extreme abortion bans across the country. Now, Trump is endorsing every single abortion ban his MAGA allies are pushing in the states, including those without basic exceptions for rape, incest, or to save a woman’s life. While women are being turned away from emergency rooms and denied critical care as a result of his abortion bans, Trump continues to campaign on ripping away reproductive freedoms — and there’s no question that he’d sign a national ban if it landed on his desk. Voters see his dangerous agenda for the cruel and extreme assault on our basic rights it truly is, and will reject Trump loud and clear this November.”
Here are some of Trump’s cruel abortion bans that women are forced to suffer under across the country:
Alabama: “Abortions became almost entirely illegal in Alabama on June 24. A 2019 state abortion ban took effect making it a felony to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with no exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.”
Arizona: “Arizona court weighs 1864 abortion ban that risks ‘conditions of misery’”
Arkansas: “Arkansas bans nearly all abortions after Roe v. Wade overturned”
Florida: “Florida’s new restrictions will chip away at the little abortion access left in the South”
Georgia: “Georgia abortion ban remains in effect after state Supreme Court ruling”
Kentucky: “Abortion is banned in almost all circumstances.”
Louisiana: “Louisiana abortion ban preserved after lawmakers kill bill to call public vote”
Missouri: “Republicans block attempt to add rape, incest exemptions to Missouri’s abortion ban”
North Carolina: “North Carolina’s abortion law may make traveling to end a pregnancy impossible for some in the South”
North Dakota: “North Dakota court keeps strict abortion ban in place even in cases of medical emergencies”
Oklahoma: “Abortion is banned in almost all circumstances.”
South Carolina: “South Carolina’s new all-male highest court reverses course on abortion, upholding strict 6-week ban”
South Dakota: “Abortions now illegal in South Dakota following Supreme Court’s ruling”
Tennessee: “Amid uncertainty and anger, Tennessee’s abortion ban takes effect”
Texas: “Texas passes law banning abortion after six weeks”
Wisconsin: “Wisconsin Republicans approve bill banning abortions after 14 weeks of pregnancy”
North Dakota: “North Dakota governor signs law banning nearly all abortions”
Nothing Trump says changes the fact that he actually DID say he’d sign a national abortion ban if elected to a second term.
Associated Press: “Trump says he will support national ban on abortions around 15 weeks of pregnancy”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Wants to Ban Abortion Nationwide: Report”
New York Times: “Trump Privately Expresses Support for a 16-Week Abortion Ban”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Floats National Abortion Ban After Claiming He’s ‘On the Side of Women’”
Trump: “There of course remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life. And it’s very important.”
Trump: “We’ll pick something that’s going to be very, very good for pro-life … I’m going to be in there pushing.”
Trump loves bragging about how extreme abortion bans across the country are possible because he overturned Roe v. Wade.
Trump: “I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of … Roe v. Wade.”
Trump: “For 54 years they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it, and I’m proud to have done it. … Nobody else was going to get that done but me, and we did it, and we did something that was a miracle.”
Trump: “After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone … Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing. Thank you President TRUMP!!!”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Claims Credit for All Abortion Bans”
Business Insider: “Trump boasts he’s ‘proud’ about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, the issue that has become ballot-box poison for Republicans”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Says He’s ‘Proud’ to Have ‘Terminated’ Abortion Rights”
Trump campaign radio ad: “And Trump nominated conservative judges, leading to Roe v. Wade being overturned.”
FWIW: “This week, we found more evidence that the Trump campaign has no interest in ‘moderating’ on the issue of abortion. On Monday, his team began running new Facebook video ads targeting voters in Iowa, referring to Trump as ‘THE MOST Pro-Life President in history.’”
Trump: “I’m the one that got rid of Roe v. Wade, and everybody said that was an impossible thing to do. I put on three Supreme Court justices. Very few people have had that privilege or honor.”
Trump: “Getting rid of Roe v. Wade was an incredible thing for pro-life because it gave pro-life something to negotiate with. Pro-life had absolutely nothing, being stuck in Roe v. Wade, to negotiate with. … And look, everybody that was president wanted to get rid and tried to get rid of Roe v. Wade … For fifty years, this has been going on. I was able to do it, and I was very honored to do it.”
Trump also backed a national abortion ban during his first term and women should be punished for getting abortions.
The Hill: “The Trump administration formally backed a House bill Monday that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. … It would make it a crime to perform or attempt an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with the possibility of a fine, up to five years in prison or both.”
Trump: “There has to be some form of punishment [for women who have abortions].”
Today, in response to a bombshell report that Kennedy’s New York State Director was caught on tape – now deleted on YouTube – discussing the campaign’s top goal of “blocking Biden from winning the presidency,”DNC Spokesperson Matt Corridoni said the following:
“RFK Jr.’s campaign is saying the quiet part out loud: he is a spoiler for Donald Trump. RFK Jr. was recruited into this race by Trump allies, his candidacy is propped up by Trump’s largest donor, and now his own staff admits that their number one goal in this election is stopping Joe Biden. As the saying goes, when people show you who they are, believe them: RFK Jr.’s campaign isn’t building a plan or a strategy to get 270 electoral votes, they’re building one to help Trump return to the Oval Office.”
ICYMI: CNN: RFK Jr.’s New York state director says her ‘No. 1 priority’ is preventing a Biden victory
By: Aaron Pellish and Eva McKend
A New York-based campaign official for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pitching Republican voters to support his independent presidential bid by arguing that Kennedy will help Donald Trump defeat Joe Biden if he’s on the ballot in New York.
Rita Palma, the Kennedy campaign’s state director in New York, has repeatedly made the case, including in a meeting with Empire State Republicans, that efforts to put Kennedy on the ballot in New York will help “get rid of Biden,” which she called her “No. 1 priority,” and make it easier for Trump to win the historically Democratic state.
“Just because you sign a petition to get him on the ballot, you can vote how you like on November 6. We’re just spicing up the election. We’re just making it more interesting, giving us more choices, supporting the democratic process and eventually hopefully getting rid of Joe Biden out of the deep-blue states,” Palma said.
At one point in her presentation, Palma recommended members of the audience who support the former president to volunteer with the Trump campaign in battleground Pennsylvania.
The messaging from a Kennedy campaign field organizer reinforces the campaign’s frequent attacks on Biden while providing new insight into how it may be looking to attract support from Republicans. Kennedy frequently criticizes Biden on a wide range of issues and recently argued that Biden is a greater threat to democracy than Trump, citing Kennedy’s own suspension from some social media platforms during the Biden administration as evidence.
Today, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign released a statement — his second in two days — attempting to explain away his remarks on January 6th. As he’s done repeatedly in interviews and public comments, he minimized the violent insurrection on the capitol on January 6th. In response, DNC Spokesperson Matt Corridoni said the following:
“After hours of negative press coverage, RFK Jr. used hundreds of words to both-sides the January 6th insurrection. There aren’t two sides to violent rioters who assaulted police officers and tried to overthrow our democracy. Time and again, RFK Jr. has proven he’s a spoiler for Donald Trump, whether it’s having his candidacy propped up by Trump’s largest donor or providing cover for Trump by downplaying the seriousness of January 6th.”
MAGA Republicans stooped to new lows this week with their extremism, hypocrisy, chaos, and — as President Biden would call it — malarkey. In case you missed it: Florida’s extreme abortion ban will rip away access to care for women throughout the South thanks to Donald Trump; Trump continues to praise the January 6 insurrectionists, many of whom have been accused of assaulting law enforcement, as “patriots” and “hostages”; Trump was declared the “biggest loser” of Tuesday night’s primary election in Wisconsin; Trump is still fomenting political violence by promising a “bloodbath” if he’s not reelected; the RNC is promoting Trump’s racist fearmongering and fundraising off of his calls for political violence; and the RNC’s new in-house election denier Christina Bobb is already raising alarms among Republicans at their new “election integrity” unit.
On the Hill, MAGA Mike Johnson is still downplaying January 6 and promising to protect insurrectionists; Republicans continue to beat their anti-choice drum by coming after Americans’ access to IVF; and after blowing up a tough, bipartisan border security deal, House Republicans are wasting their time trying to name an airport after Trump.
Thanks to Donald Trump, Florida’s extreme abortion ban will rip away access to reproductive care throughout the South.
USA Today: “Florida Supreme Court puts abortion on the ballot – and hands Trump a serious problem”
Trump: “For 54 years they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it, and I’m proud to have done it. … Nobody else was going to get that done but me, and we did it, and we did something that was a miracle.”
Trump: “I was able to kill Roe v. Wade … Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing. Thank you President TRUMP!!!”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Claims Credit for All Abortion Bans”
Business Insider: “Trump boasts he’s ‘proud’ about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, the issue that has become ballot-box poison for Republicans”
New reporting detailed the actions of January 6 insurrectionists who Trump repeatedly calls “hostages” and “patriots.”
NBC News: “Meet some of the violent Jan. 6 rioters Donald Trump keeps calling ‘hostages’”
“The way former President Donald Trump tells it, the men and women who stormed the Capitol because they believed his lies about the 2020 presidential election are ‘hostages’ and ‘unbelievable patriots’ who are being mistreated by the justice system.
“But an NBC News review of hundreds of cases against Jan. 6 defendants found that just 15 people charged in connection with the Capitol attack are currently being held pretrial at the order of federal judges. That number of pretrial detainees has decreased in recent months, as more and more Jan. 6 defendants have taken plea deals or been found guilty, and as federal judges have been hesitant to hold new arrestees in pre-trial custody more than three years after the attack.
“Though Trump said on Jan. 7, 2021, that ‘those who broke the law’ during the Capitol riot would ‘pay,’ he has made his defense of incarcerated Jan. 6 defendants a major plank of his 2024 campaign. Trump has called Jan. 6 detainees ‘hostages’ and even opens rallies by playing a recording from the ‘J6 Prison Choir.’ Trump has said he’ll pardon ‘a large portion’ of the rioters ‘very early on’ if he wins in 2024 and recently vowed to ‘free the Jan. 6 Hostages’ as one of his ‘first acts as your next President.’”
Voters continued to voice their opposition to Trump in primaries across the country, this time in the key battleground state of Wisconsin.
“Tuesday should have been a very good day for the former Republican president. He got to lead a rally in Green Bay and then send his audience off to the polls to vote for him.
“But Wisconsin Republicans still aren’t completely sold on Trump. How do we know?
“Because more than 120,000 Republicans in the state went to the polls on Tuesday and voted for someone other than Trump — even though all of his GOP opponents have dropped out. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley pulled in more than 75,000 votes, or nearly 13% of the total.”
Trump doubled down on promising a “bloodbath” if he’s not reelected.
New York Times: “Trump Again Invokes ‘Blood Bath’ and Dehumanizes Migrants in Border Remarks”
“In a speech in Grand Rapids, Mich., Mr. Trump, flanked by law enforcement officers, reiterated his baseless claim that other countries were sending ‘prisoners, murderers, drug dealers, mental patients and terrorists, the worst they have’ to the United States. Immigration officials have said that most of the people crossing the border are members of vulnerable families escaping poverty and violence.
“Mr. Trump also used his speech, which lasted roughly 45 minutes, to defend his use of dehumanizing language to refer to immigrants accused of crimes. After referring to the man who the authorities say killed a 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia in February, Mr. Trump said: ‘Democrats said please don’t call them ‘animals.’ I said, no, they’re not humans, they’re animals.’”
The RNC is fundraising off of Trump’s dangerous threats of political violence as they promote his racist fearmongering.
“Trump has used the term ‘bloodbath’ on the campaign trail, creating frenzy around the term.
“At a campaign rally in Ohio last month, Trump said: ‘Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s gonna be a bloodbath.’”
The Hill: “Prior to Trump’s rally in Michigan, the Republican National Committee (RNC) announced the creation of a website, BidenBloodbath.com, to highlight the situation at the border and how the surge in migrants has affected battleground states including Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.”
The RNC’s newly tapped fervent election denier Christina Bobb is raising alarms as she begins to run their new “election integrity” unit.
The Guardian: “As Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has cemented its hold on the Republican National Committee (RNC), alarms are being raised about the organisation’s tapping of the fervent election denialist Christina Bobb to run an ‘election integrity’ unit.”
“‘By designating Bobb to the RNC post, they’re beginning to promulgate the same false narrative of widespread election fraud that we saw in 2020 and 2021 but way earlier,’ said John Jones, a former federal judge in Pennsylvania and now president of Dickinson College.
“The former Republican congressman Charlie Dent said the RNC’s hiring of Bobb ‘is a further indication of how the RNC has not only become an arm of the Trump campaign, but an outlet for the most extreme elements of the election denial movement.’ Likewise, the ex-Republican congressman Dave Trott predicted: ‘Bobb will be leading the charge and saying the election was rigged if Trump loses.’
“Still, some lawyers and election veterans are troubled by the RNC’s hiring of Bobb given her history of election denialism and Trump’s obsession with debunked claims of fraud in 2020. ‘I don’t think it’s a good thing when a major party hires fringe characters who don’t understand how elections work,’ said David Becker, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research.”
Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson is once again following Trump’s lead by downplaying the January 6 attack on the Capitol and protecting insurrectionists.
Louisiana Illuminator: “Johnson, who is close to Trump, did not acknowledge that the people who attacked the Capitol were the president’s supporters. He told a reporter that he thought there was a possibly a ‘big mix of people involved in this.’
“‘I don’t think President Trump is any more responsible for what happened at the Capitol today than the congressmen of Portland are responsible for what happened there,’ said Johnson, referring to some violence that erupted in Oregon over the summer. ‘What caused [the Capitol riot] is the same thing that has caused all the unrest over the last many months.’”
2021: “Johnson voted against creating an independent commission to investigate the January 6 attack.”
NBC News: “Speaker Mike Johnson says he’s blurring Jan. 6 footage so rioters don’t get charged”
Washington Post: “Johnson played one of the most significant roles of any member of Congress in the effort to overturn the election.”
MAGA Republicans are still pushing their extreme, anti-choice playbook – and this time they’re coming for Americans’ access to IVF treatments.
Politico: “Republicans are rushing to defend IVF. The anti-abortion movement hopes to change their minds.”
“Anti-abortion advocates worked for five decades to topple Roe v. Wade. They’re now laying the groundwork for a yearslong fight to curb in vitro fertilization.
“Since the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos are children, the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups have been strategizing how to convince not just GOP officials but evangelicals broadly that they should have serious moral concerns about fertility treatments like IVF and that access to them should be curtailed.
“In short, they want to re-run the Roe playbook.
“They plan to appeal to evangelical denominations and their leaders to take a firm stance that IVF as practiced in the U.S. destroys human life. That, they hope, will reshape how conservative Christians — and in turn, the officials they elect — view the issue, just as it did on abortion. Ultimately, it could lead to laws that create a patchwork of IVF access in the United States, where the procedure is more accessible in liberal states and more limited in conservative ones.”
In an ironic tribute, House Republicans are wasting their time and energy trying to rename Dulles International Airport – which received infrastructure funding from a bill some of them voted against – after Trump.
Washington Post: “House Republicans seek to rename Dulles Airport after Trump”
“The bill to name the Virginia airport after the polarizing 2024 presidential candidate faces tough odds. The House has a slim GOP majority and is consumed with pressing matters, including a national security funding package that would support Ukraine, Israel and other allies. Even if the measure did pass the House, it would have to make it through the Democratic-controlled Senate and get the signature of President Biden.
“The measure would change the name of the airport, about 25 miles west of D.C., to Donald J. Trump International Airport. Any reference to the airport on maps, documents, papers or other government records to the airport ‘shall be considered to be a reference to the Donald J. Trump International Airport,’ according to the two-page bill text.”
Donald Trump surrounds himself with the most out-of-touch extremists he can find – and is already planning to fill his Cabinet with far-right MAGA fanatics ready to push his dangerous agenda. As Trump fundraises with a former Department of Homeland Security official who is an architect of his family separation policy as well as far-right conspiracy theorist and possible future DHS secretary pick Vivek Ramaswamy, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“As Donald Trump tries desperately to raise money tonight by parading around his first-term head of immigration enforcement, Tom Homan, who helped write the book on Trump’s cruel family separation policies that scarred children and sent shockwaves around the country, he is considering installing a terrifying new head of the Department of Homeland Security – Vivek Ramaswamy – if he gets the chance. Ramaswamy cheered on Trump as he tanked the bipartisan border deal while championing Trump’s inhumane and ineffective immigration policies, from mass deportations to the end of birthright citizenship. The fact that Trump is embracing Homan and seriously considering a conspiracy theorist like Ramaswamy for a cabinet position charged with homeland security underlines that Trump is unhinged, unserious and unfit.”
Vivek Ramaswamy supported Donald Trump’s efforts to tank the toughest, fairest bipartisan border deal in decades that is supported by two-thirds of Americans.
Navigator Research: “Two in Three Americans Support the Bipartisan Immigration Deal”
Third Way: “Voters like the deal, both as a whole and individual components.”
Ramaswamy’s immigration agenda includes his extreme and possibly unconstitutional plan to end birthright citizenship and deport American-born children of undocumented immigrants.
Ramaswamy: “I want to be very clear about this. I think that birthright citizenship does not and should not apply to the kids of parents who entered this country illegally.”
NBC News: “Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says that as president, he would deport American-born children of undocumented immigrants. ‘The family unit will be deported,’ said Ramaswamy when asked by NBC News if the deportations would include American-born children, after a packed town hall here Friday.”
Ramaswamy wants to mass deport entire families.
Interviewer: “You said you want to deport the entire family unit of undocumented immigrants.”
Ramaswamy: “Yes, entire family unit.”
Ramaswamy has even pushed for redirecting resources away from our military to the southern border.
Bret Baier, Fox News: “Mr. Ramaswamy, you would not support an increase of funding to Ukraine?”
Ramaswamy: “I would not and I think that this is disastrous that we’re protecting against an invasion across somebody else’s border when we should use those same military resources to prevent across the invasion of our own southern border here in the United States of America.”
Ramaswamy wants to eliminate the H-1B visa system for skilled workers, even though his own company frequently utilized and benefited from the program.
Ramaswamy: “[The H-1B system is] bad for everyone involved. … The lottery system needs to be replaced by actual meritocratic admission. It’s a form of indentured servitude that only accrues to the benefit of the company that sponsored an H-1B immigrant. I’ll gut it.”
Politico: “GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has vowed to ‘gut’ the system for H-1B temporary worker visas if he wins the White House. It’s the very system he’s used in the past to hire high-skilled foreign workers for the pharma company that built much of his wealth. From 2018 through 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved 29 applications for Ramaswamy’s former company, Roivant Sciences, to hire employees under H-1B visas, which allow U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in tech and other specialized jobs.”
The Department of Homeland Security was established in the wake of 9/11 – meanwhile, Ramaswamy has repeatedly entertained dangerous 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Politico: “Ramaswamy: I ‘don’t believe’ the 9/11 Commission report”
NBC News: “Vivek Ramaswamy suggests ‘the truth’ about 9/11 is still unknown”
Fox News: “Vivek Ramaswamy on 9/11: ‘I don’t believe the government has told us the truth’”
NBC News: “While visiting the Sept. 11. memorial Monday in Lower Manhattan, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he stands by the comments he had made regarding the terrorist attacks in a recent interview. ‘So today’s not the day to talk about the comments I made, which I stand by. But it is important to have a government that tells the truth to its people, that people can trust, and trust its people back,’ he said while attending the Fire Department of New York’s pipe and drum tribute at Station 10.”
Ahead of Kari Lake’s fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, DNC spokesperson Aida Ross released the following statement:
“Donald Trump won’t show his face in Arizona, but he is still desperate enough for cash to let his fellow election-denying MAGA extremist fundraise at Mar-a-Lago. Lake is running on the same losing MAGA agenda of banning abortion nationwide, undermining our democracy, and putting fealty to Trump over the American people. Lake and Trump’s delusions that they can win in the general election might play well at Mar-a-Lago, but Arizonans will reject them both again in November.”
Lake is a notorious election denier who STILL won’t accept the results of the 2020 presidential election and her own loss in the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race.
CNN: “Kari Lake has put false claims about the 2020 election at the center of her campaign – repeatedly and falsely declaring the election ‘stolen’ and even calling it ‘disqualifying’ and ‘sickening’ that her top rival in the party primary wouldn’t say the same. In an interview with The New York Times in early August, after primary voters had cast their ballots, Lake said of Biden: ‘Deep down, I think we all know this illegitimate fool in the White House – I feel sorry for him – didn’t win.’”
Axios: “Lake was quick to brandish her Trump endorsement and criticized Robson for not rejecting the results of the 2020 election. Lake said the 2020 election was ‘corrupt and stolen’ and that Biden lost the election.”
Business Insider: “Arizona Governor candidate Kari Lake, the Republican who recently received an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, said she would not have certified the 2020 election results in the state. Trump lost Arizona by over 10,000 votes. … Lake has routinely echoed Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud. ‘Considering how much already at the time information we had about serious irregularities and problems with the election, I would not have certified it right then,’ Lake said.”
Associated Press: “Kari Lake, the Republican defeated in Arizona governor’s race, is formally challenging her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs, asking a court to throw out certified election results from the state’s most populous county and either declare her the winner or rerun the governor’s election in that county. The lawsuit filed late Friday by Lake centers on long lines and other difficulties that people experienced while voting on Election Day in Maricopa County. The challenge filed in Maricopa County Superior Court also alleges hundreds of thousands of ballots were illegally cast, but there’s no evidence that’s true. Lake has refused to acknowledge that she lost to Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes.”
Jeremy Duda, Axios: “.@KariLake called for @SecretaryHobbs to be imprisoned over fictional election rigging claims. ‘Frankly, I think she should be locked up.’ Crowd starts ‘lock her up’ chant. Lake says, ‘I agree.’”
Just like Trump, Lake is an anti-choice extremist who would rip away reproductive freedoms if given the chance.
Axios: “[Lake said she] would support and enforce Arizona’s pre-Roe ban on abortion, which would prohibit the procedure in nearly all cases and would criminalize doctors who perform it.”
Lake: “I’m incredibly thrilled that we are going to have a great law that’s already on the books. … It will prohibit abortion in Arizona except to save the life of a mother. And I think we’re going to be paving the way and setting course for other states to follow.”
Newsweek: “Lake told Baier that she would ‘very much support’ banning abortion pills in the state. ‘I think it’s really scary that a young, afraid mother could be at home taking a pill without medical supervision,’ Lake said. ‘It could be the end of the mother as well.’ While Lake expressed concern about women undergoing abortions without medical supervision, she supported the closure of all abortion clinics. Lake told Baier if she’s elected governor, she’ll let the Legislature pass laws ‘to protect the unborn.’ She noted that if abortion is illegal, it will be ‘very difficult for abortion clinics to survive and be open.’”
Lake railed against the popular bipartisan border security deal that Trump directed congressional Republicans to reject.
NBC News: “Lake, a longtime Trump acolyte and MAGA star who lost a run for governor in 2022, didn’t mince her words in talking about the bill in Phoenix over the weekend. ‘She is crafting the worst border legislation that I’ve ever heard of,’ Lake said of Sinema. … ‘This is a disgusting plan that includes giving more of our hard-earned tax dollars to Ukraine and nothing to stop people from going across.’”
Arizona Republic: “In Phoenix, Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake, a former TV news anchor who is running for Sinema’s seat, hailed the bill’s failure. She said it didn’t include funding for a needed border wall and would have instead fueled war efforts abroad while ignoring the threat of fentanyl in America.
“Lake called the bill ‘300 pages of pure garbage,’ before tossing it in a waste basket placed near her podium.”
Trump: “I think [Republicans] are making a terrible mistake if they vote for the bill.”
Vox: “Trump made this clear when he reportedly urged Republicans in Congress to turn against the bipartisan Senate border security bill scheduled for a vote Wednesday so that he could keep the issue alive through the presidential election. His supporters have largely fallen in line.”
Navigator Research: “Two in Three Americans Support the Bipartisan Immigration Deal”
“Two in three Americans supported the bipartisan immigration deal reached in the Senate, but that will not be taken up for a vote in the House. … On the Republican approach to the recent immigration package, Americans’ greatest concerns are that they are focused on the wrong issues and playing politics.”
“The immigration deal earns support across party lines, including among three in four Republicans (net +58; 74 percent support –16 percent oppose), two in three independents (net +48; 64 percent support – 16 percent oppose), and three in five Democrats (net +32; 59 percent support – 27 percent oppose).”
As Trump pledges to be a dictator on ‘day one’ and parrots language used by Hitler, Lake is following his lead by spouting white nationalist talking points and embracing dictators.
Media Matters: “Lake’s connections to political extremists in the media are not new. A longtime local TV newscaster who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, she has appeared with a Nazi-sympathizing YouTuber, QAnon activists, and once endorsed a far-right, antisemitic streamer running for Oklahoma state Senate.”
Media Matters: “Kari Lake has embraced numerous antisemitic media figures in the relatively short time that she has been in politics. These figures have said that Jewish people are ‘lethal enemies of Americans’ and ‘must be stopped and then scoured from the continent’; defended the Nazis as ‘protecting their sovereignty’; and said, ‘I’m not beholden to Jews.’”
Newsweek: “Lake added that U.S. media is going after what she called ‘the truth tellers and the peacemakers,’ which she said included Trump and Hungary’s populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán. ‘I hear those two men talking about peace, but I hear the saber-rattling and the drum beat of “let’s start a war” from a lot of these countries with globalist-type political leaders,’ Lake said.”
Arizona Republic: “Kari Lake’s immigration remark plays into racist ‘Great Replacement Theory,’ scholar says”
Business Insider: “Speaking at a convention of Georgia Republicans, Lake told hundreds of delegates that the ‘75 million Americans’ who voted for Trump are armed and ready to defend him.”
