Washington — The House select committee probing the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol charted a path Monday showing how the Trump campaign and allies used baseless claims of election fraud to raise millions of dollars from the former president's supporters — money that was then funneled into the pockets of entities with close ties to Trump.
The fundraising roadmap was laid out by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California who played a leading role in the committee's second day of hearings, which focused on how Trump embraced unfounded claims the election was stolen even as close administration and campaign advisers knew that wasn't the case.
The Trump campaign, she said, "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 ripoff."
According to the committee's findings, detailed in a video played near the end of the hearing, the former president's campaign pushed the narrative of a rigged election even as legal challenges raising the same claims had failed before dozens of judges, including some appointed by Trump himself.
Between Nov. 3, 2020, and Jan. 6, 2021, the former president's supporters were hounded with scores of emails — as many as 25 per day — that encouraged them to "fight back" against a "left-wing mob" undermining the election. The missives urged supporters...
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