‘A dangerous cancer’: fourth hearing reveals how Trump’s big lie destroyed lives

[BidenPresident]

Donald Trump was the most powerful man in the world. But he was also a paranoid fantasist who did not care how his lies destroyed people’s lives.

Dead people, shredded ballots and a USB drive that was in fact a ginger mint were all part of the delusional narrative of election fraud peddled by Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani. They would have been as comical as flat-earthers but for the way they posed a danger to both individual citizens and American democracy.

“The president’s lie was and is a dangerous cancer on the body politic,” committee member Adam Schiff said at the hearing into how Trump pressured state officials to overturn overturn results.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...ig-lie-donald-trump-fourth-hearing-human-cost

 

[BidenPresident]

4 lessons from Trump’s pressure campaign on election officials

Trump’s request that Raffensperger “find” just enough votes to flip the state should remove any doubt that Trump acted corruptly — especially given Trump’s retweet of a statement from one of his lawyers, L. Lin Wood, that Raffensperger would go to jail, and his unsubtle threats that Raffensperger would face criminal prosecution if he failed to comply.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...mp-pressure-campaign-officials-jan-6-hearing/

 

[BidenPresident]

Trump promoted violence against election officials

Bowers in his testimony described the vicious attacks and threats he was subjected to following the election. Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer for Georgia’s secretary of state, and Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker, similarly detailed how Trump and his deranged followers put them in danger of crazed mobs by promoting the “big lie.”

Moss described the absurd lies from Giuliani that triggered an avalanche of threats. The mob even pushed their way into Moss’s grandmother’s house.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...mp-pressure-campaign-officials-jan-6-hearing/

 

[BidenPresident]

State prosecutors in other swing states should start investigations

Electoral college certificates declaring Trump the winner in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were amateurish at best, but obviously fraudulent. The side-by-side comparison of the shoddy fake slates and the official certification reflects a ham-handed effort to create a phony paper trail that would justify stealing the election from the rightful winner. Nevertheless, sneaking around to create bogus documents should be fodder for criminal investigations in all these states.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...mp-pressure-campaign-officials-jan-6-hearing/