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Donald Trump’s adviser, Pat Cipollone, was called into the Oval Office by a desperate employee.
He was greeted by a group of people who tried to get the president to declare a national emergency for electoral fraud.
– Who are you? he told a man he had never seen before.
Then everything turned into a chaos of fighting and screaming.
On Tuesday, Democrats brought their impeachment against Donald Trump to the Supreme Court, which begins next week in the Senate. They believe that the former president with his month-long attacks on the electoral system created the atmosphere that erupted on January 6 with the assault on the Capitol.
On the same day, new information arrives from the White House about how Donald Trump and the people around him desperately tried to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president, even after the Electoral College formally named the opponent as the winner.
Acclaimed political journalist Jonathan Swan ends his Axios series on the post-election collapse of the White House with an article titled “From Inside the Craziest Encounter During Trump’s Presidency.”
Even for those who followed all the reports, where the leaks have revealed how riots and conspiracy theories marked the last time in power, it is astonishing information and provides insight into the process that led to the Supreme Court indictment.
Photo: Evan Vucci / TT
Donald Trump.
A loaded cannon
The Democrats write in the indictment that the long campaign of influence caused the violent mob to be attacked like “a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue” to attack the congressional building.
He also says that Donald Trump’s inciting speech the hour before chaos broke out and his broader attacks on democracy show that he is prepared to do anything to regain power.
“A president who violently attacks the democratic process has no right to participate in it,” the 80-page document reads.
Trump’s new legal team, which has only had time to work for him for a few days, responded that the Senate has no authority to prosecute a president who has already resigned.
In addition, they say that his speech on January 6 is protected by freedom of expression and that the words were not intended to call for violence.
The lawyers did not repeat Donald Trump’s electoral fraud allegations in their response, which the former president wanted to use in his defense. But they argued that he believed that he had won the elections and therefore had every right to “express the opinion that the result of the election was suspect.”
Democrats, for their part, believe there is no “January exception” for presidents to commit criminal acts during the last weeks of their term.
A crazy night at the White House
The meeting described in Axios began on the afternoon of December 18. The following information in the article is based, according to Axios, on various White House sources. All constituencies have been asked to respond to any inaccuracies.
It had been more than a month since Joe Biden was declared the winner of the election, four days after the Electoral College confirmed victory and three days since Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had his last conversation with Donald Trump after also recognize the opponent as the winner.
“How the hell did Sidney get into the house?” Trump aide Eric Herschmann said outside the Oval Office as he watched conspiratorial attorney Sidney Powell and three other figures enter the presidency.
She became famous after a press conference with Rudy Giuliani in November when she first presented her incredible theory of voter fraud.
Herschmann followed silently and sat in a yellow chair near the exit as the group, who were sitting in a row on a couch across from the president’s desk, began trying to get Trump to declare a national emergency.
Then one could get hold of Dominion’s voting machines, which Powell believed had been used in an international conspiracy to steal votes from Donald Trump.
Powell once again generated the now famous Dominion fraud allegations with branches in Venezuela, Iran and China.
Photo: Jacquelyn Martin / TT
Sidney Powell.
Motley collection of people
In addition to Sidney Powell, who is now being sued for nearly $ 10 billion by Dominion, there was General Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign as Trump’s security adviser after admitting he lied to the FBI, Patrick Byrne, an eccentric millionaire. and former CEO. from an online furniture sales company, and Emily Newman, a former Trump aide, on the couch across from the president.
“Wait a minute, Sidney,” Herschmann interrupted from his seat in the corner, according to Axios.
– You’re part of Rudy’s team, right? Is your theory that the Democrats joined forces and changed the rules or did we have foreign influence on our election? I ask.
Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, had primarily targeted corrupt Democrats in his attacks on voter fraud.
– It’s a foreign influence. Rudy hasn’t understood what it is about so far, Powell replied.
A shocked Herschmann called an employee down the hall to take Pat Cipollone, a White House counselor, to the Oval Office immediately. A few minutes later, Cipollone entered the room and found the collection on the sofa.
He looked at the furniture dealer Byrne, who met the president for the first time, and asked:
– Who are you?
The meeting quickly heated up. Powell mentioned a constituency in Georgia where he said he had evidence that Dominion had changed the ballots.
Herschmann interrupted to point out that Trump had won that district.
“You mean Dominion deliberately changed the ballots so we could win that constituency?”
For his broader allegations, he demanded evidence and made sure one of Trump’s campaign attorneys was on speaker.
Until the time of the meeting, the participants had started yelling and cursing each other, according to information from Axio.
More people now entered the Oval Room. It was four against four.
They yelled at each other
Michael Flynn was furious that Trump’s advisers questioned his allegations of voter fraud.
– You’re quitting. You are a loser. You’re not fighting, he yelled at Cipollone, Herschmann, and the others.
Herschmann tried to ignore Flynn and concentrated on pressuring Powell on the evidence of the allegations. Finally, he got tired of Flynn’s screaming.
– Why the hell do you stop all the time and yell at me? If you want to come here, come here. Otherwise, sit down, he said according to Axios.
Flynn sat down.
Byrne, a former chief executive of furniture, spoke to Donald Trump, saying his own lawyers and advisers didn’t care. At one point, he stood up and turned to Herschmann and said he was getting into everything and shutting them out of the president.
– Do you even know who the hell I am, idiot? at Herschmann.
“Yes, you are Patrick Cipollone,” Byrne replied.
“Herschmann, you idiot.”
In all this chaos, Donald Trump stood behind his desk and watched the show. At one point, he disappeared into his private dining room behind the Oval Room.
When he returned, White House Secretary Derek Lyons, who had attended the meeting, told Powell that the group’s incompetence went beyond the 60 lawsuits in which they had failed.
– Somehow you’ve managed to misspell the “district” in three different ways in your mood, he said.
In the various documents he had found the word “district” and “distrcoict” in the same sentence. Elsewhere it said “distrct.”
– It was very embarrassing. That would not have happened, Trump said.
Discussed about the FBI
To regroup and remove the focus on the misspellings, Powell targeted the judges who had rejected the lawsuits and claimed they were all corrupt, according to Axios.
– Is that your argument? Even the judges we have appointed? You are completely crazy? at Herschmann.
The fights continued and were fought over by the FBI and the Department of Justice. At one point, furniture dealer Byrne claimed to everyone’s surprise that he had once bribed Hillary Clinton 100 million SEK for an FBI operation.
– You don’t give me anything. In any case, these offer me an opportunity. They say they have the evidence? Why not give it a try? Trump told his advisers.
– How exactly did you intend to do this? he asked Herschmann about the idea of declaring a national emergency and seizing Dominion’s machines.
“There are people with big guns and insignia that can do this,” Byrne said.
– What are you? Three years old? Herschmann replied.
Photo: Screenshot / Youtube
Rudy Giuliani.
Rudy Giuliani joins
In this situation, Donald Trump received his national security adviser Robert O’Brien over the loudspeaker. He received no advance notice of the madness that awaited him, writes Axios.
O’Brien listened briefly before saying that there was nothing to justify the strategy of declaring a state of emergency and confiscating the voting machines.
Trump expressed doubts about Powell’s theories, but said “at least she is there and fighting for us.”
Rudy Giuliani also hooked up on speaker. The discussions were so loud that even Giuliani urged everyone to take it easy.
Later he appeared in the White House. The meeting continued at Trump’s private residence. Herschmann, who was mad at Powell, turned to Rudy Giuliani.
– Rudy. Sidney had just been in the Oval Office and told the president that he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing. Or what about Sidney? Why don’t you tell them directly? at Herschmann.
“But Eric, that’s not appropriate,” Trump said.
I made no decisions
Powell assured that the evidence was there and that he could present it. He continued to insist that the president had the legal space to seize the voting machines.
It was past midnight when the advisers closed the meeting and managed to remove the group. No decisions had been made and they were still prepared for Powell to get away with it and be appointed as a special investigator on Trump’s election fraud.
– You have our advice. You choose who you listen to, they said before leaving the White House.
Donald Trump chose to listen to Rudy Giuliani and his advisers. Three days after the “craziest meeting,” Giuliani told Newsmax television that Powell did not represent the president.
But Trump went on to claim the election was stolen right up to the Capitol storming, and even on video while it was still underway.
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