Jan. 6 panel: Trump campaign used election lie to raise millions from supporters
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection said that President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign used baseless allegations of election fraud to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from supporters who were told their donations were for Trump's legal fight in the courts. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said Monday, “But the Trump campaign didn’t use the money for that. The 'big lie' was a ripoff.”
Video transcript
ZOE LOFGREN: We gave an overview of our investigation into the January 6 attack. The plot to overthrow the election was complex and had many parts which we'll explore in remaining hearings. But today, we examine the false narrative that the 2020 election was, quote, "stolen."
Former President Trump's plan to overturn the election relied on a sustained effort to deceive millions of Americans with knowingly false claims of election fraud. All elements of the plot relied on convincing his supporters about these false claims. Today, we'll demonstrate the 2020 election was not stolen. The American people elected President Joe Biden.
We'll present evidence that Mr. Trump's claims of election fraud were false, that he and his closest advisors knew those claims were false, but they continued to pedal them anyway right up until the moments before a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol.
We'll also show that the Trump campaign used these false claims of election fraud to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from supporters who were told their donations were for the legal fight in the courts, but the Trump campaign didn't use the money for that. The big lie was also a big rip off.
The former President laid the groundwork for these false claims well in advance of the election. As early as April 2020, Mr. Trump claimed that the only way he could lose an election would be as a result of fraud.
