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Supporters of President Donald Trump have been claiming that the January 6 so-called "Save America Rally" — which preceded the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol Building — was entirely a grassroots idea. But according to the Associated Press, allies of Trump's 2020 campaign and GOP insiders "played key roles in orchestrating the Washington rally."
AP reports, "A pro-Trump nonprofit group called Women for America First hosted the 'Save America Rally' on January 6 at the Ellipse, an oval-shaped, federally owned patch of land near the White House. But an attachment to the National Park Service public gathering permit granted to the group lists more than half a dozen people in staff positions for the event who, just weeks earlier, had been paid thousands of dollars by Trump's 2020 reelection campaign."
<p>According to AP, others who planned to be "on sight" during the Save America Rally" have "close ties to the White House." But because of the storming of the Capitol Building, AP reports, "several of them" have since "scrambled to distance themselves from the rally."</p><iframe src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1350895078437486594&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.alternet.org%2F2021%2F01%2Fsave-america-rally%2F&partner=rebelmouse&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px" style="vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%; position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 581px; flex-grow: 1;" title="Twitter Tweet"></iframe><p>During the "Save America Rally," Trump — along with <a href="https://www.ktvn.com/clip/15173704/donald-trump-jr-speaks-at-save-america-rally" target="_blank">Donald Trump, Jr.</a> and former New York City Mayor <a href="https://fox59.com/news/ny-bar-association-launches-inquiry-seeking-rudy-giuliani-ban-over-combat-remarks/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rudy Giuliani</a> — continued to promote the totally debunked conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from him because of widespread voter fraud and declared, "You'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong." And Giuliani told the crowd, "Let's have trial by combat."</p><p>When a violent mob stormed the Capitol Building later that day, the insurrectionists were hoping to prevent Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden's electoral college victory. But the joint session of Congress eventually resumed, and Biden is set to be sworn in as president this Wednesday, January 20.</p><p>AP notes that Megan Powers, who served as the Trump campaign's director of operations, was listed as an operations manager for the "Save America Rally."</p><p>According to AP, "Caroline Wren, a veteran GOP fundraiser, is named as a 'VIP Advisor' on an attachment to the permit that Women for America First provided to the agency. Between mid-March and mid-November, Donald J. Trump for President Inc. paid Wren $20,000 a month, according to Federal Election Commission records. During the campaign, she was a national finance consultant for Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee between the president's reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee."</p>
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‘Dark weeks ahead’: Incoming CDC director expects 500,000 COVID deaths by mid-February
January 18, 2021
The first month of Joe Biden’s administration could be the deadliest period in the nation’s COVID-19 pandemic, one of his top officials warned Sunday. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who is nominated to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, expects the country’s coronavirus death toll to reach 500,000 by mid-February. That would be a jump of about 100,000 in just a few weeks since the number of confirmed deaths was just short of 400,000 on Monday. “By the middle of February, we expect half a million deaths in this country,” she told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. The grim predict...
Secretive billionaire GOP funder claims Josh Hawley 'deceived' him with election fraud stunt: report
January 18, 2021
According to a report from The Guardian, a very private billionaire funder of conservative causes who lives in Pennsylvania expressed dismay with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) for attempting to subvert the will of the voters and throw out votes to keep Donald Trump in office.
Hawley, who is facing demands that he resign over his stunt on Jan. 6th where he objected to certifying the Electoral College votes after insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol, has already lost support from major newspapers in Missouri as well as a wealthy donor who helped him get his start in politics.
<p>Now he can add donor Jeffrey Yass, the co-founder of Susquehanna International Group, to the list of conservatives who are still reeling over the events on Jan. 6th. </p><p>Yass has has donated tens of millions of dollars to hard-right groups. The Guardian reports that Yass "donated about $30m to conservative Super Pacs in the 2020 election cycle, making him the eighth-largest donor in the election, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics."</p><p>According to the report, a former stockbroker who has known the billionaire for over three decades noticed that Yass had contributed to Hawley and emailed him about it.</p><p>In an interview, Laura Goldman explained, "I approached Jeff Yass upset after reading the Guardian's article [about his involvement in donations] because I was shocked he would allow my vote and the vote of his neighbors to possibly be invalidated by politicians to whom he gives millions of dollars."</p><p>She added, "Yass lives here. He knows local politicians … he could simply call them and ask questions if he thought the election results were funky, which they absolutely were not. He doesn't need Josh Hawley, a senator from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/missouri" target="_blank">Missouri</a>, or Ted Cruz, a senator from Texas, to question the election results in the state that he has lived almost 40 years."</p><p>Yass responded, "Do you think anyone knew Hawley was going to do that?" before adding, "Sometimes politicians deceive their donors."</p><p>In a series of tweets, which can be seen below, Goldman added that Yass does not believe the election was stolen and that Joe Biden "won the election legitimately."</p><p>You can see the tweets below:</p><p><br/></p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e813d483dc043eabdc66d0230c5e63b4" id="3d16b"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1350589773367357440"><div style="margin:1em 0">More importantly, Jeff Yass refused to answer if he requested the senators, members of the house, or the… https://t.co/6t0wDP36CB</div> — Laura Goldman (@Laura Goldman)<a href="https://twitter.com/laurasgoldman/statuses/1350589773367357440">1610840669.0</a></blockquote></div><p><br/></p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="468856538650bcaeab9d33a7ef3b38ae" id="42ccd"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1350593632928231424"><div style="margin:1em 0">#billionaire Jeff Yass knows that #JoeBiden won the election legitimately. He wrote: To be clear- I don’t think the… https://t.co/9rupKay0j4</div> — Laura Goldman (@Laura Goldman)<a href="https://twitter.com/laurasgoldman/statuses/1350593632928231424">1610841589.0</a></blockquote></div>
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