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January 6, 2021, was a Wednesday. A joint session of Congress was set to convene in the U.S. Capitol to certify Joe Biden's electoral vote win. Meanwhile, thousands of Donald Trump supporters gathered near the White House to hear him speak at noon ET.

Tensions were high on Capitol Hill. Protesters swarmed lawmakers outside.

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., was exasperated as protesters surrounded him on the steps of the Russell Senate Office Building at around 11:30 a.m.

Republican senators are being swarmed by Trump protesters on the Hill. Here's an exasperated @SenToddYoung saying he won't vote against certifying the election.

"I took oath under God... does that still matter in this country?" pic.twitter.com/9nQEbt9Okl
- Rebecca Tan (@rebtanhs) January 6, 2021

"When it comes to the law, our opinions don't matter. The law matters. ... I value your opinion. ... I share your conviction that President [Donald] Trump should remain president. I share that conviction. But the law matters. I took an oath. I took an oath under God. Under God. Do we still take that seriously in this country?" he said, emphatically waving his arms in the air.

As the House select committee on January 6 holds its first hearing on Thursday, we revisit the events of that day - what happened when.

Here's how it unfolded.

12 p.m.

At noon, Trump begins speaking to his supporters at a rally near the White House.

"We will never give up. We will never concede," Trump tells the cheering crowd.

He calls on Vice President Mike Pence - as the president of the Senate - to reject Biden's win and send the votes back to the states.

"Mike Pence, I hope you're going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country," Trump says. "And if you're not, I'm going to be very disappointed in you."

Meanwhile, Trump supporters head to both the Arkansas and Idaho state capitol buildings.

And even before Trump ends his speech, crowds from his rally start to gather outside the U.S. Capitol.

At about the same time, Pence releases a letter, calling his role in the certification of the electoral votes "largely ceremonial," essentially saying he will not act as Trump has asked.

"My oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not," Pence writes.

1 p.m.

An initial wave of protesters storms the outer police barrier around the Capitol.

1:05 p.m.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bangs the gavel to call the joint session of Congress to order.

Shortly after that, Trump ends his speech.

"We're going to the Capitol," he says. "We're going to try and give them [Republicans] the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country."

Trump returns to the White House. He does not go to the Capitol.

About two minutes later, in the House chambers, Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., rises to question the election results from his state.

"I rise for myself and 60 of my colleagues to object to the counting of the electoral ballots of Arizona," Gosar declares.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joins in Gosar's objection.

The House and Senate split to deliberate the objection in separate parts of the Capitol building.

At the same time, in Michigan, hundreds rally in front of the state capitol, which protesters stormed less than a year earlier to decry pandemic restrictions.

In Washington, D.C., a large portion of the crowd at Trump's speech marches toward the Capitol, shouting, "USA, USA, USA!"

1:30 p.m.

On the steps on the backside of the Capitol, protesters overcome the police, who run back into the building. Protesters watching from the sidelines cheer as a mob breaks through the final police barricades.

Inside the building, both the House and Senate proceed, with lawmakers seemingly unaware of the mayhem outside.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell takes the Senate floor.

"Voters, the courts and the states have all spoken - they've all spoken," he says. "If we overrule them, it would damage our republic forever."

Around this same time, suspicious packages are found at the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., and nearby buildings are evacuated. The packages are later confirmed to be pipe bombs.

Shortly after 2 p.m.

Protesters break windows and climb into the Capitol. They open doors for others to follow.

Secret Service agents whisk Pence off the Senate floor.

A few minutes later, Pelosi is ushered off the House floor.

2:20 p.m.

The Senate is called to recess, and the House is called to recess shortly after.

The building goes into lockdown.

Around this same time, Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman saves the Senate from a very close call, waving Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, to safety and then diverting protesters who were steps from the Senate chamber.

2:24 p.m.

Trump tweets: "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution."

He continues with more baseless claims about a fraudulent election.

2:38 p.m.

Trump tweets again, calling for support of the Capitol Police and law enforcement. He urges people to "stay peaceful."

But at that moment, inside the Capitol, the riot continues to unfold.

Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., tweets a video from where he's sheltering in the House chamber. "We were just told that there has been tear gas in the rotunda, and we're being instructed to each of us get gas masks that are under our seats," he says.

Elsewhere in the country, protesters gather - at the Louisiana and Florida state capitols and the Ohio Statehouse. Several other state capitols are evacuated as a precaution.

Shortly before 3 p.m.

Rioters break into the Senate chamber. Many jump from the balcony to the floor below. They climb onto the podium and take photos and selfies, and they rifle through papers lawmakers left behind.

Many also march through the halls of the Capitol. They bang on doors, destroy property and eventually break into lawmakers' offices - most notably, that of Pelosi.

3:11 p.m.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., tweets a video while sheltering in his office, saying that this was the cost of telling people they could overturn the election.

"Mr. President, you have got to stop this. You are the only person who can call this off. Call it off," Gallagher implores. "The election is over. Call it off."

Around the same time, a swarm of rioters chanting, "Break it down! Break it down!" overwhelms Capitol Police officers guarding the Speaker's Lobby, where lawmakers are sheltered.

They break windows and try to force their way in.

A Capitol Police officer shoots Ashli Babbitt as she tries to climb through the doors. She later dies of her injuries.

Simultaneously, Trump tweets again, asking everyone to remain peaceful. Notably, he does not recant any of his claims about election fraud.

3:36 p.m.

More than two hours after protesters first breached the Capitol grounds, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweets that Trump has ordered the National Guard to the Capitol.

At President @realDonaldTrump's direction, the National Guard is on the way along with other federal protective services.

We reiterate President Trump's call against violence and to remain peaceful.
- Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) January 6, 2021

Meanwhile, Trump supporters begin to gather in Sacramento, Calif.; Austin, Texas; Denver and Minneapolis. Denver closes its city offices early, as does the Texas Capitol.

Shortly after 4 p.m.

Biden addresses the nation.

"I call on President Trump to go on national television now, to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege. This is not a protest - it is an insurrection," Biden says.

4:17 p.m.

Trump does not go on TV. Instead, he tweets a video talking to his supporters inside the Capitol.

"I know your pain. I know your hurt," he begins. "We love you. You're very special. You've seen what happens. You've seen the way others are treated. ... I know how you feel, but go home, and go home in peace."

Around the same time, Maryland and Virginia send National Guard and state troopers to the District of Columbia.

In the next hour, protesters in Arizona pound on the state capitol doors and break a window. A demonstration in Salem, Ore., turns violent.

Shortly before 6 p.m.

Almost five hours after the rioting began, police start to clear the Capitol and eventually secure the interior.

6 p.m.

Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, D.C., places the city under a 12-hour curfew.

6:01 p.m.

Trump tweets again.

"These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!"

7 p.m.

Facebook removes Trump's video and one other post from the day. In a statement, the company says, "We removed from Facebook and Instagram the recent video of President Trump speaking about the protests and his subsequent post about the election results. We made the decision that on balance these posts contribute to, rather than diminish, the risk of ongoing violence."

Facebook then bans Trump for 24 hours. He is currently under a two-year ban.

7:02 p.m.

Twitter removes Trump's tweets from the day and shuts down his account for 12 hours. His account is later suspended permanently.

7:54 p.m.

The Republican National Committee condemns the day's violence.

Just after 8 p.m.

Pence reopens the Senate.

"Today was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol. ... Let's get back to work," he says to applause.

And McConnell makes a statement.

"The United States Senate will not be intimidated," he says. "We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs or threats."

Subsequently, the relationship between McConnell and Trump has disintegrated during the last year. McConnell has urged Republicans to move beyond Trump and has signaled his support for the Democratic-led House investigation into the Jan. 6 attack.

The debate over Arizona's ballots continues, more than six hours after it began.

Around 9 p.m.

Pelosi brings the House back into session.

"We always knew this would take well into the night, and we will stay as long as it takes. Our purpose will be accomplished," she says.

9:53 p.m.

In a blazing speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says, "Count me out. Enough is enough." Graham says he hates to see his journey with Trump end this way. Subsequently, Graham has said repeatedly that Trump is essential to the Republican Party's future. Graham was one of Trump's most loyal allies in Congress during Trump's presidency.

11:32 p.m.

The House and Senate come back together to resume the joint session, and the vote that began some 10 hours earlier continues.

3:42 a.m., Jan. 7

Pence calls a majority of the Electoral College votes for Biden.

"The announcement of the state of the vote by the president of the Senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected president and vice president of the United States," Pence says, and officially affirms the election results certifying Biden as the 46th president.

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A timeline of how the Jan. 6 attack unfolded - including who said what and when

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As the House select committee on January 6 holds its first hearing on Thursday, we revisit the events of that day - what happened when.

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We Were Wrong About What Happened to America in 2020 by Eric Klineberg

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Fresh Air for Feb. 29, 2024: The rise of Christian nationalism

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Hear the Fresh Air program for February 29, 2024

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Will Be Wild is a new 8-part series about the forces that led to the January 6th insurrection and what comes next. Through in-depth stories from a wide range of characters - from people who tried to stop the attack to those who took part - hosts Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz explore the ongoing effort to bring autocracy to America, the lasting damage that effort is doing to our democracy, and the fate of our attempts to combat those anti-democratic forces. Because January 6th wasn't the end of the story,...
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Will Be Wild is a new 8-part series about the forces that led to the January 6th insurrection and what comes next.

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In This Episode

Trump and his allies make it clear that a second term would be much more extreme than the first, from Christian nationalists running the White House to military raids and internment camps. The Alabama Supreme Court's ruling that stopped IVF in the state could be a sign of things to come. Nikki Haley says she plans to stay in the race no matter what happens in Saturday's South Carolina primary and Joe Biden provides student debt relief to another 150,000 Americans. Finally, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler joins to talk about the new legislative maps that have finally ended one of the worst gerrymanders in the country.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
SHOW NOTES TRUMP HALEY BIDEN LATEST

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Trump's 2nd Term: Military in the Streets, Mike Johnson in the Sheets | Crooked Media

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Trump and his allies make it clear that a second term would be much more extreme than the first, from Christian nationalists running the White House to military raids and internment camps. The Alabama Supreme Court's ruling that stopped IVF in the state could be a sign of things to come.

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Trump shares bizarre 'God made Trump' campaign video

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What 'the Roger Stone tapes' reveal about Jan. 6

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A team of Danish filmmakers spent more than two years following Trump confidant and adviser Roger Stone. Their footage - and an investigation from The Washington Post - shed new light on Stone's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

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Previously unseen documentary footage shows the longtime Trump adviser working to overturn the 2020 election and, after the Jan. 6 riot, secure pardons for the former president's supporters

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("A Storm Foretold")

As a mob ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Roger Stone, Donald Trump's longest-serving political adviser, hurried to pack a suitcase inside his elegant suite on the fifth floor of the Willard hotel. He wrapped his tailored suits in trash bags, reversed his black face mask so its "Free Roger Stone" logo was hidden, then slipped out of town for a hastily arranged private flight from Dulles International Airport.

"I really want to get out of here," Stone told an aide, as they were filmed at the hotel by a Danish camera crew for a documentary on the veteran Republican operative. Stone said he feared prosecution by the incoming attorney general, Merrick Garland. "He is not a friend," Stone said.

Stone allowed the filmmakers to document his activities during extended periods over more than two years. In addition to interviews and moments when Stone spoke directly to the camera, they also capturedfly-on-the-wall footage of his actions, candid off-camera conversations from a microphone he wore and views of his iPhone screen as he messaged associates on an encrypted app. Reporters from The Washington Post reviewed more than 20 hours of video filmed for the documentary, " A Storm Foretold,"which is expected to be released later this year.

The footage, along with other reporting by The Post, provides the most comprehensive account to date of Stone's involvement in the former president's effort to overturn the election and in the rallies in Washington that spilled over into violence on Jan. 6.

Stone privately coordinatedpost-election protests with prominent figures, and in January hecommunicated by text message with leaders of far-right groups that had been involved in the attack on the Capitol, the footage shows. The filmmakers did not capture conversations between Stone and Trump, but on several occasions, Stone told them or his associates that he remained in contact with the president.

['My heart stopped beating for three minutes': How the filmmakers secured Stone's cooperation]

Stone has refused to give testimony and evidence to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, citing his rights under the Fifth Amendment. Last week, he sued members of the panel to try to block them from using a subpoena to obtain his telephone records.

Roger Stone watches news coverage of the Capitol riot in his suite at the Willard hotel on Jan. 6, 2021. (Kristin M. Davis)

On the day of the attack, as he packed his bags, Stone told the filmmakers the riot was a mistake and would be "really bad" for the pro-Trump movement.

On the eve of the 2020 election, however, he seemed to welcome the prospect of clashes with left-wing activists. In a recorded conversation, as an aide spoke of driving trucks into crowds of racial justice protesters,Stone said: "Once there's no more election, there's no reason why we can't mix it up. These people are going to get what they've been asking for."

Stone declined requests for an interview. In response to questions, he said in an email that he had no involvement in the Jan. 6 riot. "Any claim, assertion or implication that I knew about, was involved in or condoned the illegal acts at the Capitol on Jan 6 is categorically false and there is no witness or document that proves otherwise," he wrote.

Without providing specifics, Stone accused The Post of employing "a clever blend of 'guilt by association,' insinuations, half truths, anonymous claims, falsehoods and out of context trick questions." He suggested that video clips of him reviewed for this article could be "deep fakes."

"You attribute things to me I never said," Stone wrote, without citing any examples.

Stone moved quickly after Trump's defeat to help mobilize the protest movement that drew thousands to the nation's capital on Jan. 6, 2021, The Post found. He privately strategized with former national security adviser Michael Flynn and rally organizer Ali Alexander, who visited Stone's home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in late November 2020 for a dinner where Stone served pasta and martinis.

A few hours before the Jan. 6 attack, the video shows, a member of the far-right Oath Keepers group - who has since pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy - was in Stone's suite at the Willard. Other rooms in the same hotel were used as a "command center" by Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and other advisers involved in the fractious battle to overturn the election. Stone was not part of their effort, the footage indicates, and he said he feared that top organizers were trying to exclude him from the rally.

Oath Keepers member Joshua James, left, provides security for Roger Stone on Jan. 5, 2021, the day before the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

Stone used an encrypted messaging app later in January to communicate with Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, who is also charged with seditious conspiracy, and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, the footage shows. Prosecutors have said that Rhodes erased some messages from his phone before it was taken by the FBI.

A federal judge considering lawsuits filed against Trump by Democrats and Capitol Police officers over the Jan. 6 riot said in an order in February that Stone's connection to Trump, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers may prove to be "an important one."

Stone did not permit the filmmakers to record him for a 90-minute period covering the height of the violence on Jan. 6. A Stone aide blocked a cameraman from entering his hotel suite, claiming that Stone was napping, the cameraman said. When he eventually got inside, Stone was speaking on his phone.

After he left Washington, Stone lobbied for Trump to enact the "Stone Plan" - a blanket presidential pardon to shield himself, Trump's allies in Congress and "the America First movement" from prosecutionfor trying to overturn the election, according to the footage and additional documents reviewed by The Post.

But the plan, along with a bid by Stone to win pardons for other Trump backers including convicted mobsters, was ultimately thwarted by White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Stone said in several conversations that were filmed.

"Clearly, Cipollone f---ed everybody," Stone told Steven Brown, a friend then in federal prison in Oregon for a fraud conviction, during a call on Jan. 19, 2021. Cipollone was aware of Stone's requests for pardons and opposed them, according to a person familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential matters.

"See you in prison," Stone wrote that evening in a message to another Trump associate.

In an Inauguration Day call with a friend,Stone directed his rage at the man who had confided in him and consulted with him for decades, denouncing Trump as "a disgrace" and expressing support for him to be impeached. "He betrayed everybody," Stone said.

Footage from Jan. 15, 2021, shows Stone using an encrypted messaging app. ("A Storm Foretold")

Stone, 69, has been a combative Republican strategist for almost half a century. He became notorious for dishonest political attacks when Watergate investigators revealed he was paid to carry out "dirty tricks" for President Richard M. Nixon's 1972 reelection campaign, though he was not charged with any crime.

Stone frequently complained to the Danish filmmakers about reports that inaccurately called him a "self-described" dirty trickster, but he remains unapologetic for doing whatever necessary to win.

"One man's dirty trickster is another man's freedom fighter," he wrote in his 2018 book " Stone's Rules," a collection of career lessons including how voters will believe a "big lie" if it is kept simple and repeated often enough.

Stone has been friends with Trump for more than 30 years. He worked as a consultant to Trump's businesses in the 1980s and served as an informal adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign. That year, Stone founded the "Stop the Steal" initiative to fight efforts by some Republicans to wrest the presidential nomination from Trump at their national convention.

Stone's relationship with Trump took on a lower profile after it came under scrutiny by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who probed Stone's communications regarding Wikileaks after it published hacked Democratic Party emails. Stone was eventually convicted on charges of impeding a congressional investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. He was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, but Trump commuted the sentence in July 2020. The filmmakers followed Stone as he sought a full pardon.

Stone said in his statement to The Post that its questions for this article were "typical of the Washington Post's coverage over the last two years in which your newspaper insisted that I was a Russian Intelligence asset in league with Wikileaks to aide the Trump campaign - a lie."

Stone departs a Dec. 17 deposition with the House committee investigating the Capitol riot. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

A day before the announcement that Stone's sentence was commuted, the Danish filmmakers' footage shows, he told his staffer Enrique Alejandrothat Trump should use the powers of his office to reject official results inthat year's election and secure victory in the courts with help from federal judges who owed him fealty.

"It's going to be really nasty," Stone said at home on July 9, 2020, predicting that Democrats would try to steal the election. "If the electors show up at the electoral college, armed guards will throw them out," he said, apparently referring to ceremonial meetings of electors in state capitals.

" 'I'm the president. F--- you,' " Stone said, imagining Trump's remarks. " 'You're not stealing Florida, you're not stealing Ohio. I'm challenging all of it, and the judges we're going to are judges I appointed.' "

On election night, Nov. 3, Stone attended a party in Fort Lauderdale thrown by an associate. In a speech, Stone urged Trump supporters to prepare for a disputed result, echoing Trump's own statements.

On Nov. 5, as vote counts in key states slipped away from Trump, Stone coordinated a response during a rapid-fire succession of calls. As the filmmakers drove him to his makeshift office space in a strip mall near his home, Stone told one associate to create an account for hunting election fraud on an encrypted email service to avoid surveillance.

Dictating text messages, Stone told an aide to resurrect his Stop the Steal campaign. He predicted to another aide that his brand was about to be "quite a bit hotter" as a result, adding, "We're going to raise money from Stop the Steal - it will be like falling off a log."

That day, working from a desk in his office and surrounded by Nixon memorabilia, Stone directed aides to recruit retired military and law enforcement officials for Stop the Steal. He told them to monitor a group chat on the app Signal titled "F.O.S." - friends of Stone. Tarrio of the Proud Boys was among the group's members, a later shot of Stone's phone showed.

In his statement to The Post, Stone wrote, "Your assertions regarding my text messages or Signal messages only proves the leaking of the partisan Jan 6 witch hunt or illegal methods of collection on your part."

On Nov. 5, Stone drew up a Stop the Steal action plan that was visible on Alejandro's laptop in footage captured by the filmmakers. As protesters were mobilized, the plan said, state lawmakers would be lobbied to reject official results. That tactic later proved central to Trump's efforts.

Also that day, Stone had a 15-minute call with Flynn, the video shows. He told Flynn they could "document an overwhelming and compelling fraud" in each battleground state and urged him to spread the word on social media. That day, Flynn, Trump's campaign and his sons Donald Jr. and Eric began using #StopTheSteal on Twitter.

Stone and Flynn discussed the need to coordinate with the White House and opposedemands by Republicans in some states to stop counting votes. "Our slogan should be 'count every legal ballot.' Much better messaging. More positive," Stone said. After an inaudible response from Flynn, Stone replied: "Well, we both know he often does things he shouldn't do."

That evening, Trump gave a speech from the White House briefing room. "If you count the legal votes, I easily win," he began.

The filmmakers returned to Denmark on Nov. 5 and were away from Stone as Trump's efforts gathered momentum. Demonstrations spread while Trump and his advisers lobbied state lawmakers to intervene, as Stone had proposed.

Though he had privately ordered a revival of his Stop the Steal initiative, Stone publicly played down his role. Stone, who was then still seeking a pardon, wrote in a Nov. 30 blog post that he was "not a participant" in any of the organizations using the Stop the Steal name in 2020.

Much media focus instead fell on Alexander, a young right-wing operative who had launched his own Stop the Steal effort and was traveling the country addressing crowds with a bullhorn. Stone acknowledged in his post that he had met Alexander, but he stressed that he was merely talking to anybody who could help fight election fraud.

Their connection ran deeper than Stone let on. The pair had been photographed together at several Republican events in prior years. During a small Stop the Steal protest in Atlanta on Nov. 20, Alexander patched Stone in via phone for a speech in which he thanked "my friend there, Ali," cellphone video from the scene reviewed by The Post shows. Eight days later, Alexander visited Stone's home for dinner.

On Dec. 19, Trump announced on social media that a "big protest" would be held in Washington on Jan. 6. "Be there, will be wild!" he wrote. The next day, WildProtest.com, a site Alexander used to promote plans for the rally, was registered.

On the evening of Dec. 23, the White House announced that Trump had pardoned Stonefor his convictions in the case brought by Mueller. Alexander celebrated on a live stream, promoting the Jan. 6 rally and boasting of what he and Stone could achieve "now that we can work together publicly."

"Roger's fully in the fight now," Alexander said. "Roger wasn't allowed to be fully in the fight. We've taken the leash off the pit bull. So, this is something Roger and I have been planning for a long time. And, finally, he's off the leash. So, you know, it's a knife fight, and your two knife fighters are Ali Alexander and Roger Stone. And you either fight with us or you get slashed."

An attorney for Alexander, Paul Kamenar, told The Post that Alexander and Stone were "friends and brothers-in-Christ" but had no part in the violence on Jan. 6 and did not anticipate it. "Ali has never participated in a literal knife fight nor advocated one," said Kamenar.

Stone was added to the top tier of the lineup for Alexander's Wild Protest, which eventually joined forces with a parallel Jan. 6 organizing effort led by Women for America First.

By Dec. 30, Stone had launched a Jan. 6 fundraising drive, urging supporters to help fund the rallies and pay for private security. The fundraising page suggested donations of up to $2,500, which could be made to recur.

The effort raised about $40,000, according to a person familiar with it. The funds were directed to an online account in the name of a lawyer who has worked extensively with Stone, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential matters.

Stone dines at the Palm restaurant in Washington. (Frederik Marbell/"A Storm Foretold")

Stone smokes a cigar at Macabi Havana Lounge in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Jan. 19, 2021. (Frederik Marbell/"A Storm Foretold")

LEFT: Stone dines at the Palm restaurant in Washington. (Frederik Marbell/"A Storm Foretold") RIGHT: Stone smokes a cigar at Macabi Havana Lounge in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Jan. 19, 2021. (Frederik Marbell/"A Storm Foretold")

In early January, the filmmakers rejoined Stone as he and thousands of others poured into D.C. for rallies aimed at pressing Vice President Mike Pence and Republicans in Congress to block the certification of Joe Biden's victory.

Stone stationed himself close to the White House at the five-star Willard, which at the time was a hive of pro-Trump activity. He took Room 500, a one-bedroom suite with a living room.

Elsewhere in the hotel, Trump's outside lawyers, including Giuliani and John C. Eastman, ran their separate command center from another one-bedroom suite. Alex Jones, the Infowars founder, was in one of the Willard's higher-end suites, where he met with Flynn and Stone on Jan. 5, photographs posted online show.

In his statement to The Post, Stone defended the efforts to press Congress to reject the election result. "When Hillary Clinton sought to stop the certification of Trump's election by the Electoral College in 2017 the Washington Post found it neither seditious or illegal," he wrote. A handful of House Democrats unsuccessfully raised objections to the certification of Trump's 2016 win.

In the eveningon Jan. 5, Stone appeared at the Rally to Save America at Freedom Plaza, near the Willard. He told the crowd he would stand with them "shoulder to shoulder" the next day, in what he called a fight between good and evil.

In his remarks, Alexander thanked "my friend Roger Stone" for his guidance. "I am here to say it couldn't be done without Roger Stone," Alexander said.

Stone was transported and guarded on Jan. 5 by multiple Oath Keepers, the filmmakers' footage and other video posted online show, and four Oath Keepers escorted Stone back to the Willard after his speech at about 8 p.m.

Two of the Oath Keepers who were with Stone, Joshua James and Brian Ulrich, were later charged with seditious conspiracy after allegedly storming the Capitol. James pleaded guilty this week and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. A third, Mark Grods, admitted in a plea deal that he traveled to the D.C. area from Alabama with two guns and joined fellow members in the Capitol riot.

At about 8:50 p.m. on Jan. 5, after the Danish filmmakers had left him, Stone exited the Willard again with his bodyguard, off-duty New York City police officer Sal Greco, a live-stream video shows. Their destination was unclear, though Stone had said he had a 9 p.m. appointment to have his hair dyed.

An attorney for Greco declined to comment.

The Willard hotel, seen in 2011. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

Early on Jan. 6, as thousands gathered on the Ellipse just south of the White House, Stone tended to a side business: helping felons get requests for pardons on Trump's desk before he left office. Stone's activity was part of a bustling market at the time, in which well-connected lobbyists, lawyers and others brokered large fees to seek clemency for their clients.

In his Willard suite, away from the camera but still wearing a mic, Stone spoke on the phone with a man representing someone named Henry. The man said they were "willing to pay up to $100,000," but stressed: "Everything would have to be legal."

"Actually, it is legal," Stone said of such arrangements, accurately.

"If I didn't have a really good chance of getting this done, I wouldn't take the money," Stone said, claiming he was to meet officials involved in the process that evening. "I'm going to have a little bit of input into the final list," he said.

Over the previous several months, the filmmakers had recorded Stone working to obtain pardons for other felons. In an October 2020 call with one prisoner's representative, Stone stressed the influence of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and aide. "I've got to know that Jared's got the paperwork and he 'gets it,' " Stone said.

Stone drew up a detailed proposal for Trump to pardon Brown, the friend then in federal prison with whom he spoke about Cipollone in front of the filmmakers. Brown had been sentenced in 2018 to more than five years in prison over a $12.5 million scheme to defraud film investors.

Brown declined to comment.

Stone argued Brown's case in a letter to Trump that he began drafting soon after the two met at the president's golf club in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Dec. 27, 2020. The filmmakers recorded Stone as he typed, and his screen and a draft of the letter were briefly visible.

Stone reminded Trump that he had asked for names of clemency candidates who had been "persecuted because of their support for Trump." Brown served as a labor coordinator for Trump's 2016 campaign, Stone explained. Stone told aides he was not paid to lobby for Brown, who ultimately was not pardoned but has since been released from prison.

In a social media post soon after their Dec. 27 meeting, Stone wrote that he had advised Trump on "exactly how" he could remain in power and prosecute Democrats for stealing the election. The post was erased on Dec. 28.

Trump supporters stand near the U.S. Capitol before the riot unfolded. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

Stone was billed by organizers as a top-tier speaker at the main rally on Jan. 6 at the Ellipse. But in the end, he did not appear. His aide Kristin M. Davis was filmed apparently struggling to reach organizers by phone to secure VIP access, and Stone said in footage that they could not otherwise get from the Willard to the stage.

Stone claimed to aides that organizers he did not identify were conspiring to exclude him. Among the organizers were associates of former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon, who had angered Stone by testifying against him at his trial in the obstruction case.

A spokeswoman for Bannon did not respond to a request for comment.

The filmmakers told The Post that Stone appeared to change his plans after an encounter in the Willard lobby around 10 a.m. with Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner working in Giuliani's command center at the hotel. The filmmakers began recording their conversation but were forced to leave by hotel staff. It is unclear what was said.

Footage from the documentary captured Stone encountering former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik in the lobby of the Willard hotel on Jan. 6, 2021. ("A Storm Foretold")

"When we stepped outside, Roger had changed his mind," said Christoffer Guldbrandsen, the director. "Now he didn't want to go to the Ellipse to see Trump speak."

After Kerik left, the footage shows, Davis griped that Kerik had previously misled her by saying he would be dealing with a personal matter away from D.C. that day. Stone appeared to fear he would be publicly snubbed by the organizers. "The point is, I don't want to be turned away. That's what they want. You don't want to reach for something and not get it," Stone said.

In a brief interview with The Post, Kerik said Stone told him that Stone was "not invited" to the rally and did not want to go. Kerik said that the trip out of town was actually on Jan. 5, the previous day, and that Davis may have been mistaken.

James, one of the Oath Keepers seen guarding Stone, told a fellow Oath Keeper late on the morning of Jan. 6 that the speaker he was protecting was "angry because he was not getting VIP treatment," according to an FBI report filed to court. The speaker's name was redacted in the report.

The Danish filmmakers' footage shows James inside Stone's suite and in the hotel lobby with Stone's bodyguard, Greco, during the hours before the riot.

Around noon, as Trump began his 71-minute rally speech, Stone watched on TV in his hotel suite with a group of guests including Pastor Mark Burns, a faith adviser to Trump. Stone told Davis he had complained to Julie Fancelli, the Publix supermarket heiress, that organizers had prevented him and Infowars' Jones from making it onstage.

President Donald Trump's face appears on screens during a rally near the White House before the Jan. 6 riot. (John Minchillo/AP)

"I just caused a little problem for them with Julie Fancelli," Stone said. "I just told her, 'You spent 300 grand and neither Jones nor I are speaking.' "

Fancelli gave $300,000 to Women for America First, The Post previously reported, along with another $350,000 to two other groups that promoted the events. "One of my biggest donors financed this whole thing," Stone explained to one guest. "They conned her."

A representative for Fancelli did not respond to a request for comment.

At about 12:40 p.m., some ofStone's guests left his suite. Stone's team and the filmmakers agreed to separate for lunch and then reconvene two hours later. Stone planned to speak at a smaller rally near the Capitol later that afternoon.

But as the filmmakers ate in their hotel room, they saw news footage of a riot escalating at the Capitol. Around 2:30 p.m., Guldbrandsen headed out to capture the scene while Frederik Marbell, the director of photography, rushed to Stone's room.

"Kristin Davis opened the door and said that Roger was taking a nap, so I couldn't film," Marbelltold The Post.

Outside the room, Marbell attempted to reach Stone by text message starting at 3:03 p.m. The messages went unanswered for 24 minutes, when Stone responded and offered to go to Marbell's room.

Trump supporters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

By about 4 p.m., with the Capitol in chaos, Stone had still not arrived at Marbell's room. Marbell returned to Stone's room and began knocking. About five minutes later, room service arrived and Marbell snuck inside, he said.

"Roger was not taking a nap. He was on the phone with someone," Marbell said.

Stone condemned the riot to the filmmakers at 4:18 p.m., saying: "I think it's really bad for the movement. It hurts, it doesn't help. I'm not sure what they thought they were going to achieve."

In the same breath, however, he suggested that the violence was the inevitable result of election theft. "When you can't get a fair and honest judicial opinion, when you can't get a fair, honest and transparent election, when your legislative process is constipated by fear and threat," he said, trailing off for a moment before slightly misquoting former president John F. Kennedy. "Those who make peaceful progress impossible make violent revolution inevitable."

Stone had said he expected to attend a meeting with administration officials on pardons that had been pushed back to 6 p.m. because Trump had "ruined the schedule for the day." But following the riot, Stone and Davis left D.C. for the private flight.

Before Stone leftthe Willard for Dulles around 5 p.m., he paused for a photo in front of a hotel TV showing coverage of the riot.

"This proves we had nothing to do with this today," Greco said.

Back in Florida, Stone lobbied for the Stone Plan, which called for Trump to preemptively pardon Republicans including Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio), all of whom tried on Jan. 6 to delay or block the certification of Biden's victory.

The Post reviewed a Jan. 16 draft of Stone's plan, which he shared with the filmmakers. Stone did not say whether he had consulted the lawmakers, and some told The Post that he did not. A Cruz spokesman said, "Senator Cruz has no idea what Roger Stone says or does." A Jordan spokesman said, "Mr. Jordan has never spoken to Roger Stone about pardons and he never sought a pardon because he did nothing wrong."

Months later, Gaetz's campaign paid $20,000 to a Delaware firm formed by Stone, campaign finance reports show. The reports said the payments were for "strategic campaign consulting" but did not give additional details. A spokesman for Gaetz did not respond to a request for comment.

Speaking to the filmmakers, Stone likened Trump's obligation to his followers to Franklin D. Roosevelt's responsibility to rescue Jewish people from the Holocaust. He said copies of the plan were given to Trump and banner-name right-wing media figures.

Stone was filmed telling a friend over the phone that he had pressed Trump to enact the plan in two telephone conversations, adding that he raised the cases of "Gaetz and others" during the second call.

"I believe the president is for it," Stone told the filmmakers on Jan. 15. But, he said, the plan faced resistance from "lily-livered, weak-kneed" officials in the White House Counsel's Office.

Stone drafts the "Stone Plan," related to preemptive presidential pardons, at his home in Fort Lauderdale on Jan. 13, 2021. ("A Storm Foretold")

The person who confirmed Cipollone's opposition to the plan said he particularly objected to preemptive pardons for Republicans in Congress who had not been charged with crimes nor sought pardons themselves.

A second person, who was an administration official at the time, said Trump was considering at least some of Stone's pardons, but added that Stone's candidates were among many Trump was considering during a frenzied time. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss government deliberations.

Stone's plan also proposeda pardon for former Seminole County, Fla., tax collector Joel Greenberg (R), who had been indicted on charges that included the sex trafficking of an underage girl. The previous month, Greenberg had written to Stone to ask for help securing a pardon and they discussed a potential $250,000 fee, the Daily Beast has reported. The report said that Stone denied interceding on Greenberg's behalf.

Later in 2021, Greenberg agreed to a plea deal and to cooperate with investigators on inquiries into possible sex offenses allegedly involving Gaetz, previously a friend of his, The Post and other outlets reported. Greenberg's attorney said he declined to comment. Gaetz denies any improper activity with underage girls.

On Jan. 15, Stone told the filmmakers he endorsed a proposal - one that was then not publicly known - for Trump to install Jeffrey Clark, a loyal senior Justice Department official, as attorney general. Stone outlined a scenario in which Trump would order acting attorney general Jeffrey A. Rosen to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Biden. When Rosen refused, Stone said, Trump would oust him and appoint Clark.

"Clark, I think, would carry out the order of the commander in chief," Stone told the filmmakers. News that Trump had indeed considered replacing Rosen with Clark was made public a week later.

Stone's pardon wish list also included Michael Sessa and Victor Orena, former members of the Colombo crime family serving life sentences for murder and racketeering convictions in the 1990s. Their attorney, David I. Schoen, has also represented Stone.

Stone told the filmmakers he hoped to persuade Trump to hire Schoen to represent him in his Senate impeachment trial on charges of inciting an insurrection. With Schoen advising Trump, "all that pardon stuff is easy," Stone said. (After Trump left office, Schoen did join his defense, and Trump was acquitted when less than the required two-thirds of the Senate voted to convict him.)

A letter to President Trump, drafted by Stone, requesting presidential pardons. ("A Storm Foretold")

On Jan. 17, Stone and Schoen exchanged text messages about their talks with Trump. "I think you will hear from the president shortly," Stone wrote. Schoen reported back that he spoke with both Trump and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, saying the president telephoned him for what he called a "long call" and a "great call."

Schoen told The Post that the calls with Trump and Meadows were focused on him joining Trump's impeachment defense team. A spokesman for Meadows did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesman for Trump acknowledged questions from The Post but did not provide responses to them.

But as Biden's inauguration neared, Stone's plan met stiff opposition from White House lawyers.

Schoen told Stone in a text exchange on Jan. 18 that Trump had called him again but was hesitant to commit to pardons. "He started to go down that road, but stopped," Schoen wrote, adding that Trump "sees he is stymied by cip," referring to Cipollone.

Stone's top priority was protection for himself and Kerik, who had been previously pardoned by Trump for felonies including tax fraud before he worked on the effort to overturn the election.

"At this point I'd be happy if he pardoned me and Kerik again," Stone told Schoen later in the same exchange, claiming Trump "would take no heat for it whatsoever" as he had pardoned them before.

"But time is running out," Schoen wrote.

Kerik told The Post he did not know about Stone's effort and did not need a pardon because he had done nothing wrong.

The following afternoon, Schoen sent Stone a link to a new CNN report: Trump had been talked out of issuing preemptive pardons. The Stone Plan had failed.

"This was a free home run that could have saved a lot of loyal lives," Schoen complained. He also lamented the president's refusal to pardon the former Colombo crime family members, noting they had been "vocal Trump supporters."

Schoen told The Post that he never asked Trump to pardon anyone and was not aware of Stone's plan for multiple pardons. Schoen said he did try to get Trump to read an article he'd written that said the former Colombo family members deserved pardons.

"Maybe one reason I wanted him to see the article was so that he could have the people who handle pardons look into it," Schoen said in an email.

That evening, as the filmmakers recorded him puffing on a cigar in a smoke-filled Fort Lauderdale bar, Macabi Havana Lounge, Stone commiserated via Signal with an associate. "Now hearing that Bannon [is] getting one," the associate wrote to Stone in a message that was visible in the footage.

Later that night, the White House confirmed it: Trump had pardoned Bannon, who was under indictment on federal fraud charges. The decision enraged Stone, who called Bannon a "grifter scumbag" and two expletives while he was filmed.

Stone departs after speaking at a Dec. 17 deposition for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

At home on Inauguration Day, wearing a microphone but out of view, Stone ranted to Alejandro about Kushner, whom he also blamed for his plan's failure. Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, had recently bought a $32 million lot on Indian Creek Island, a gated village in Biscayne Bay off Miami, and rented a condo nearby.

"In two weeks he's moving to Miami," Stone told Alejandro, before whispering: "He's going to get a beating. He needs to have a beating. And needs to be told, 'This time we're just beating you. Next time we're killing you.' " Aware the filmmakers were nearby, Alejandro urged Stone to say he was joking. "No, no, it isn't joking. Not joking. It's not a joke," Stone replied.

Later that day, in a car with the filmmakers, Stone returned to the subject of Kushner during a call with a friend named Tom. Stone said Kushner needed to be "punished in the most brutal possible way" and would be "brain dead when I get finished with him."

Stone told Tom that Cipollone was "a target" and that he would spend money to advertise Cipollone's home address, which he apparently did not do.

And Stone unloaded on Donald Trump, saying he had betrayed his friends, deserved to be impeached and was the "greatest single mistake in American history."

Stone added that Trump might be vulnerable to prosecution by federal authorities in Manhattan after declining to preemptively pardon himself.

"A good, long sentence in prison will give him a chance to think about it, because the Southern District is coming for him, and he did nothing," Stone said.

Though months later he would support a possible Trump bid for the White House in 2024, on Inauguration Day he mocked the idea. "Run again! You'll get your f---ing brains beat in," Stone said.
Josh Dawsey, Spencer S. Hsu, Jacqueline Alemany and Emma Brown contributed to this report.
After ending the call, he turned to the filmmakers. "Obviously if you use any of that, I'll murder you," he said.

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New documentary footage shows Roger Stone working behind the scenes to overturn 2020 election, seek pardons after Jan. 6 riot

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Former President Donald Trump is officially selling a patriotic copy of the Christian Bible themed to Lee Greenwood's famous song, "God Bless the USA."

"Happy Holy Week!" Trump announced on social media Tuesday, during the most solemn period of the Christian calendar, the last week of the Lenten season marking the suffering and death of Jesus. "As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless The USA Bible."

The concept of a Bible covered in the American flag, as well as a former president's endorsement of a text Christians consider to be sacred, has raised concern among religious circles. It's also raised questions about Trump's motivations, as the former president finds himself in the middle of several expensive legal battles.

'Sacrilege,' theology, and the shadow of Christian nationalism

The $59.99 Bible, which was first published in 2021, features an American flag and the words "God Bless the USA" printed on the cover. Inside, it has the words to "God Bless the USA" and the text of The Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and other historic American documents. Promotional material for the Bible shows the former president alongside country singer Lee Greenwood.

Responses to Trump's social media announcement called the endorsement " sacrilege," " heresy" and " borderline offensive" and cite lessons directly from the Bible that suggest taking advantage of people's faith for money should be condemned.

"It is a bankrupt Christianity that sees a demagogue co-opting our faith and even our holy scriptures for the sake of his own pursuit of power and praise him for it rather than insist that we refuse to allow our sacred faith and scriptures to become a mouthpiece for an empire," said Rev. Benjamin Cremer on X.

Jason Cornwall, a pastor from South Carolina, said on X that Trump's Bible endorsement was a violation of one of the Ten Commandments of the Hebrew Testament that forbids taking God's name in vain.

However, the criticism doesn't end with whether or not Trump's endorsement is un-Christian or not. In fact, it's just the beginning.

Historian and author Jemar Tisby says the whole project echoes the values of Christian nationalism - the idea that America was founded as a Christian nation and the government should work to sanction Christianity on a national scale. The tenets of Christian nationalism are historically tied to prejudice, nativism and white supremacy.

"There's a very long tradition of what is included and what is not included in the Bible," Tisby told CNN.

"What has caused outrage with this Bible is that it includes the Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, and even the lyrics to a Lee Greenwood song. So it's adding to the Bible, and it's adding specific political documents to the Bible that completely erase the separation of church and state."

Tisby, who holds a Master of Divinity Degree from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, has written about the dangers of Christian nationalism - both for the country and the Christian faith.

"What's so pernicious about this is it plays on people's devotion to God and their love of country, either of which by themselves could be innocuous or even good," he said.

"But in this effort, it is blending the two. And with Trump as the spokesperson, is conveying a very clear message about what kind of Christianity and what kind of love of nation (he is) promoting."

When Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, communications director for the BJC Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation, saw Trump's Bible endorsement, he said he saw a politician using fears rooted in racism and prejudice to promote a specific Christian ideology.

"When I hear 'Make America Pray Again,' I hear Christian nationalist promises that we are going to somehow 'restore' Christianity in this country. And if authoritarianism does come to the United States, it's all but guaranteed it will be done in the name of Christianity, which is a very scary thought."

Graves-Fitzsimmons holds a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City and also works with the group Christians Against Christian Nationalism. He says things like the "God Bless America" Bible overlook the many, many Christians who do not agree with Trump's politics or the blending of patriotism with faith.

"There is a diversity within American Christianity that gets overlooked whenever politics and religion intersect," he told CNN. "There's this false notion that most American Christians are pushing for anti-abortion restrictions, and are anti-LGBTQ, and the opposite is actually true. Christians, I would argue, are the ones who are most concerned about the effects of Christian nationalism in this country."

This version of the Bible has drawn controversy before

The "God Bless the USA" Bible drew controversy from community members and publishers when it was published in 2021. It was originally supposed to be published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, but the company passed on the deal.

HarperCollins said in 2021 that pushback to the concept was not a factor in their decision. (Eagle-eyed Bible buffs will note this is why the Trump-backed tome uses the King James Version of the text, which is in the public domain. ( HarperCollins holds US publishing rights to the bestselling New International Version translation of the Bible.)

Tisby has published three books under Zondervan, the HarperCollins imprint specializing in religious publications. He was among the imprint's writers who tried to discourage them from publishing the "God Bless the USA" Bible when the idea was first introduced.

"We did not want to be associated with a publisher who's going to publish a Bible like this," he said. "And I think it took on an elevated sense of urgency because we're not just talking about someone's book. We're talking about the sacred text of the Bible."

While there are innumerable versions of the Bible - ranging widely in price, theme, and additions like indices, references, maps and graphs - this particular combination of the Bible and a beloved patriotic song is especially potent.

Such a notion doesn't come as a surprise to David W. Peters, an Anglican vicar in Pflugerville, Texas. Peters served as an enlisted Marine Corps and Army Chaplain and was deployed to Iraq in 2005.

"I am reminded of how we closed every Marine Corps boot camp chapel service with Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless the USA'," he told CNN. "We'd all sing and cry. The only emotional release in the week."

He says the range of reactions to something like a patriotic Bible shows just how different American Christianity can be, depending on the denomination or community.

"I think the essence of liberal progressive faith is compassion, so it is mind boggling (to such people) how someone could say they were a Christian and follow a guy who is very much not compassionate."

For people who view Christianity differently, or who are already unshakeable supporters of Trump, Peters says he doubts this latest incident will do anything to shake their faith.

"I think it will confirm(to them) that their critics are out of touch," he said. "Why would anyone object to a Bible?"

It's not clear where proceeds from the Bible's sales will go

In addition to the multitude of theological questions it raises, Trump's endorsement of the "God Bless the USA" Bible coincides with several legal battles that could put the presumptive Republican nominee for president on the line for hundreds of millions of dollars.

The FAQ section of the "God Bless America" Bible website clarifies that no proceeds from the sales of the Bible will go towards Trump's presidential campaign. However, there is no mention of whether any proceeds could be put toward his personal legal troubles.

"No, GodBlessTheUSABible.com is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign. GodBlessTheUSABible.com is not owned, managed or controlled by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization, CIC Ventures LLC or any of their respective principals or affiliates," the site reads.

However, it goes on to say Trump's name, likeness and image are under "paid license from CIC Ventures LLC." CIC Ventures is directly linked to Trump in his 2023 public financial disclosures.

CNN has reached out to EliteSource Pro, the marketing company behind the "God Bless the USA" Bible, for more information.

Trump has been criticized before for his use of the Bible in public settings. In 2020, religious leaders from several Christian denominations condemned his display of the Bible in a "photo-op" in front of an Episcopal church near the White House as racial justice protests raged around the country.

"You just don't do that, Mr. President," televangelist and vocal Trump supporter Pat Robertson said of the incident. "It isn't cool!"

In 2015, Trump also called the Bible his favorite book, but famously declined to share a favorite verse.

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Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible | CNN

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Former President Donald Trump's endorsement of a patriotic Bible during Holy Week has been challenged by some Christians who say it preys on people's faith for profit.

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July 27, 2022, 7:15 p.m. ET

Former President Donald J. Trump and his allies pressed ahead with the so-called fake electors plan even after it became clear that there were no credible claims of widespread election fraud. Credit... Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

The brazen plan to create false slates of electors pledged to former President Donald J. Trump in seven swing states that were actually won by Joseph R. Biden Jr. was arguably the longest-running and most expansive of the multiple efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

It was also one of the most confusing, involving a sprawling cast of pro-Trump lawyers, state Republican officials and White House aides in an effort that began before some states had even finished counting their ballots. It culminated in the campaign to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to use the false slates to subvert congressional certification of the outcome on Jan. 6, 2021 - and in the violent attack on the Capitol that unfolded as he refused to do so.

The scheme had a vague historical precedent and was rooted, at least in theory, in a post-Reconstruction Era law designed to address how to handle disputed elections. But it was deemed illegal by Mr. Trump's own White House Counsel's Office. Even some of the lawyers who helped come up with the idea referred to it as fake and acknowledged that it was of dubious legality, according to a cache of email messages brought to light by The New York Times.

In one of the first legal memos laying out the details of the fake elector scheme, a pro-Trump lawyer named Kenneth Chesebro justified the plan by pointing to an odd episode in American history: a quarrel that took place in Hawaii during the 1960 presidential race between Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon.

The results of the vote count in Hawaii remained in dispute - by about 100 ballots - even as a crucial deadline for the Electoral College to meet and cast its votes drew near. A recount was underway but it did not appear as though it would be completed by the time the Electoral College was expected to convene, on Dec. 19, 1960.

(The winner of the popular vote in nearly all of the states is allocated all of that state's electors, which are apportioned based on population. Maine and Nebraska are the exceptions; they allocate their electors based on the winners in congressional districts. To win the presidency, a candidate has to win a majority of the 538 total electoral votes.)

Despite the unfolding recount, Mr. Nixon claimed he had won the state, and the governor formally certified a slate of electors declaring him the victor. At the same time, Mr. Kennedy's campaign, holding out hope that he would eventually prevail, drafted its own slate of electors, claiming that he had in fact won the race.

In his memo, Mr. Chesebro suggested that this unusual situation set a precedent not only for drafting and submitting two competing slates of electors to the Electoral College, but also for pushing back the latest possible time for settling the election results to Jan. 6 - the date set by federal law for a joint session of Congress to certify the final count of electors.

The competing slate conundrum in Hawaii was ultimately put to rest when Mr. Kennedy prevailed in the recount, and a new governor of Hawaii certified a freshly drafted slate of his electors.

Then, on Jan. 6, 1961, Mr. Nixon, overseeing the congressional certification session in his role as president of the Senate, received all three slates of electors - his own, the initial Kennedy slate and the certified Kennedy slate - but agreed that the last one should be formally accepted.

Even if the Kennedy campaign had lost in Hawaii, it would not have affected the ultimate outcome of the election. But the effort by Mr. Trump and his allies to create competing slates of electors in seven different states at once would have dramatically altered the results if it had been successful.

The Trump plan began with an effort to persuade Republican officials in the targeted states - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - to help draft, or to put their names on, documents that declared Mr. Trump to be the victor.

That effort was largely led by lawyers close to Mr. Trump, like Rudolph W. Giuliani and John Eastman, who sometimes communicated directly with local points of contact in the state, or by lawyers who worked in the states themselves and dealt with Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Eastman or with Mr. Trump's campaign aides.

Their stated rationale was that Mr. Biden's victories in those states would be overturned once they could establish their claims of widespread voting fraud and other irregularities, and that it was only prudent to have the "alternate" slates of electors in place for that eventuality.

But, as Mr. Trump had been told by his campaign aides and eventually even his attorney general, there were no legitimate claims of fraud sufficient to change the outcome of the race, and the seven states all certified Mr. Biden's Electoral College victory on Dec. 14, 2020. Mr. Trump and his allies barreled ahead with the electors plan nonetheless, with an increasing focus on using the ceremonial congressional certification process on Jan. 6 to derail the transfer of power.

Ultimately, several dozen of Mr. Trump's allies in the states signed false slates of electors, and most were unequivocal in their contention that Mr. Trump had won. But in Pennsylvania and New Mexico, local officials who drafted the documents included a caveat, saying that they should only be considered if Mr. Trump prevailed in the many lawsuits he and his allies had filed challenging the election, and was legally the winner.

Once the false pro-Trump slates had been created, Mr. Trump and his allies turned to the second part of the plan: strong-arming Mr. Pence into considering them during the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. The point was to persuade Mr. Pence to say that the election was somehow flawed or in doubt.

"We would just be sending in 'fake' electoral votes to Pence so that 'someone' in Congress can make an objection when they start counting votes, and start arguing that the 'fake' votes should be counted," Jack Wilenchik, a pro-Trump lawyer based in Arizona, wrote in an email to his colleagues.

Any number of outcomes could have worked in Mr. Trump's favor.

Most simply, Mr. Trump and his allies sought to convince Mr. Pence to count the pro-Trump slates, reject those saying Mr. Biden had won and thus unilaterally keep the former president in office.

Alternatively, the Trump team hoped that Mr. Pence might declare the election to be irreparably defective and, under the Electoral Count Act of 1887, let state delegations in the House of Representatives decide the election themselves, a process that would also have given Mr. Trump his victory.

In yet a third option, Mr. Trump and his allies thought Mr. Pence could choose to delay the certification of the electors count, providing the former president with more time to prove his claims of fraud or mount a last-ditch challenge in a Supreme Court case.

In Georgia, the Fulton County district attorney, Fani T. Willis, has notified 16 people who identified themselves as the state's pro-Trump electors that they are targets in an ongoing criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the election results in Georgia.

In Washington, the Justice Department's inspector general obtained a warrant to search the home of a former department official, Jeffrey Clark, as part of its 18-month long investigation into attempts by Justice Department employees to undo the election.

Mr. Clark pressured the nation's top prosecutors to send a letter to Georgia state officials falsely stating, among other things, that the legislature should create an alternative slate of electors that supported Mr. Trump.

The warrant indicated that Mr. Clark is being investigated for conspiracy to obstruct the certification of the presidential election, according to a person familiar with the matter. In a related action, the inspector general and the F.B.I. seized the phone of Mr. Eastman.

A federal grand jury this spring issued subpoenas to some pro-Trump electors and Republican officials requesting information about several lawyers closely allied with Mr. Trump and the electors scheme, including Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Eastman, Jenna Ellis, who worked with Mr. Giuliani, and Mr. Chesebro. The subpoenas also sought information about any employees of Mr. Trump or his campaign who knew about the plan.

Some pro-Trump elector slates were filed with the National Archives. It is a federal crime to knowingly submit false statements or documentation to a federal agency for an undue end.

While no prosecutor has criminally charged anyone for their participation in the scheme to submit false slates of electors to Congress, possible ties between Mr. Trump and the plan have come into view over the past few months.

In a lawsuit that Mr. Eastman filed hoping to keep scores of documents from reaching the House committee investigating Jan. 6, court filings established that he and Mr. Trump had worked together on several efforts to undo the election results, including the fake electors plan.

In a ruling against Mr. Eastman, Judge David O. Carter of the Central District of California said that Mr. Trump had facilitated two meetings "explicitly tied" to persuading Mr. Pence to either reject electors or delay the count. Judge Carter said that "the illegality of the plan was obvious."

The Jan. 6 committee has also pinned the effort to assemble slates of electors in key battleground states squarely on the Trump campaign, saying that Mr. Trump's allies "created phony certificates associated with these fake electors and then transmitted these certificates to Washington."

Rusty Bowers, the Republican speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, told the committee that he refused Mr. Trump's directive to create a false slate of pro-Trump electors. "You are asking me to do something against my oath, and I will not break my oath," he testified saying to Mr. Trump.

Last week, Mr. Pence's two top White House aides testified before the federal grand jury investigating the electors scheme. The two aides - Marc Short, Mr. Pence's chief of staff, and Greg Jacob, his counsel - were present in the Oval Office on Jan. 4, 2021, when Mr. Trump and Mr. Eastman tried unsuccessfully to convince Mr. Pence that he could invoke the competing elector slates to derail the congressional certification two days later.

As part of its criminal investigation, the Justice Department has begun asking witnesses in the case about Mr. Trump's involvement.

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July 27, 2022, 7:15 p.m. ET The brazen plan to create false slates of electors pledged to former President Donald J. Trump in seven swing states that were actually won by Joseph R. Biden Jr. was arguably the longest-running and most expansive of the multiple efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

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Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations, speaks at a campaign rally for then-Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) in Cumming, Ga., on Dec. 20. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg News)
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The story of Jan. 6 wound up being an entirely familiar exercise in the modern GOP. Republicans felt emboldened to speak out against President Donald Trump when they believed he had finally gone too far, only to find out the base very much disagreed. So they had to scurry to put the party back together - Trump and all - by softening or disowning their initial verdicts.

That effort has proceeded apace this week, with both former vice president Mike Pence and Nikki Haley attempting to return to Trump's good graces after previously offering some rather unvarnished thoughts on what he did in the lead-up to Jan. 6.

After calling Trump's plot to get him to overturn the election "un-American," Pence on Monday turned his fire on Democrats who have decided it's worthwhile to probe those same un-American events of Jan. 6.

Haley, meanwhile, declared that "We need Trump in the Republican Party" and "I don't want us to go back to the days before Trump," just eight months after declaring Trump was effectively a nonentity now and someone "we shouldn't have followed" in the first place.

That Pence and Haley are doing this is no surprise; it's very much par for the course for anyone who wants a future in the GOP. But it is worth noting just how discordant these statements are, compared to what they said before.

When it comes to the biggest flip-flops and reversals on Trump post-Jan. 6, they're certainly near the top. Let's rank some of the most jarring ones.

1. Nikki Haley

Before: "We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn't have, and we shouldn't have followed him, and we shouldn't have listened to him. And we can't let that ever happen again." ( Politico)

"I think he's going to find himself further and further isolated. ... I don't think he's going to be in the picture. I don't think he can. He's fallen so far." ( Politico)

After: "He has the ability to move the ball, and I hope that he continues to do that. We need him in the Republican Party. I don't want us to go back to the days before Trump." ( Wall Street Journal)

2. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) criticized President Donald Trump in January for not quelling the Capitol riot. Now McCarthy says he did enough. (Video: JM Rieger/The Washington Post, Photo: Astrid Riecken/The Washington Post)

Before: "The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding."

"... These facts require immediate action from President Trump to accept his share of responsibility, quell the brewing unrest and ensure that President-elect Biden is able to successfully begin his term. And the president's immediate action also deserves congressional action, which is why I think a fact-finding commission and a censure resolution would be prudent." ( House floor)

After: "I was the first person to contact him when the riot was going on. He didn't see it. [How] he ended the call was ... telling me he'll put something out to make sure to stop this. And that's what he did; he put a video out later." ( Fox News)

The House minority leader's latter statement, as far as we know, is technically true. It's also a world away from his earlier comments in terms of emphasis - from Trump having failed to "immediately denounce the mob" and deserving to be censured for it, to the idea that Trump kept his word by calling off the mob.

McCarthy has also fought against a bipartisan Jan. 6 commission, despite calling for a "fact-finding commission" and tasking a GOP leader with negotiating it, and he has raised money extensively by hailing Trump's role in the party, despite Trump having never accepted "his share of responsibility."

3. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.)

After condemning President Donald Trump's actions around the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, multiple GOP lawmakers have since thrown their support behind him. (Video: JM Rieger/The Washington Post)

Before: "Trump and I, we've had a hell of a journey. I hate it being this way. Oh my God, I hate it. From my point of view, he's been a consequential president. But today ... all I can say is: Count me out. Enough is enough. I've tried to be helpful." ( Senate floor)

"The president needs to understand that his actions were the problem, not the solution. ... It breaks my heart that my friend, a president of consequence, would allow [Jan. 6] to happen, and it will be a major part of his presidency. It was a self-inflicted wound." ( News conference)

After: "Because he was successful for conservatism and people appreciate his fighting spirit, he's going to dominate the party for years to come. The way I look at it, there is no way we can achieve our goals without Trump." ( The Washington Post)

"I hope President Trump runs again." ( Speech in Michigan last week)

4. Mike Pence

Before: "The truth is, there's almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president." ( Speech at Ronald Reagan library)

After: "So, I know the media wants to distract from the Biden administration's failed agenda by focusing on one day in January. They want to use that one day to try and demean the character and intentions of 74 million Americans who believe we could be strong again and prosperous again and supported our administration in 2016 and 2020." ( "The Sean Hannity show")

Pence's initial comment from June wasn't explicitly about Trump. But we've learned since then just how much Trump was indeed pushing this "un-American" idea before a Capitol riot in which people called for Pence's hanging over his refusal to abide. Pence is now suggesting this most un-American of plots isn't really all that important to emphasize.

5. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.)

Before: "How do we hold a president accountable, that put all of our lives at risk? This was a traumatic event for many members of Congress, and I believe in the days, weeks and months to come, as we learn more, the worse it's going to get." (" Meet the Press ")

"I want to be a new voice for the Republican Party, and that's one of the reasons I've spoken out so strongly against the president, against these QAnon conspiracy theorists that led us in a constitutional crisis. It's just wrong, and we've got to put a stop to it." (" Meet the Press ")

After: Mace has been reluctant to speak directly about Trump. "I want to move forward. I want to win back the House in a year and a half. We can get the majority back, and we've got to stop fighting with each other in public." ( Fox News)

On whether Trump should be disqualified from the party: "It was the day, the time, the place and the message. All that. And the rhetoric - and it was rhetoric from multiple people, multiple entities, organizations, individuals leading up to that moment that led to this horrific event that day on our nation's Capitol." ( The Atlantic)

6. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.)

Before: "The president's rhetoric was irresponsible. I think it was reckless, and I don't think it was remotely helpful." ( CBS19)

"I think the American people don't want some of the overheated rhetoric that we've heard from the president - some of the rhetoric that, particularly [Jan. 6], I think really crossed the line, and it was irresponsible." ( CBS19)

After: "They look at Donald J. Trump, and they look at the millions and millions of people inspired, who went to battle fighting alongside President Trump, and they're terrified. And they want him to go away. Let me tell you this right now: Donald Trump ain't going anywhere." ( CPAC)

Again, not necessarily a direct contradiction. One can think Trump's rhetoric crossed a line without saying he should be banished. But suggesting that a president contributed to a domestic attack on the Capitol and then, a month later, hailing the fact that he is going to continue to lead your party is quite a turn.

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Analysis | Nikki Haley and the biggest GOP flip-flops on Trump post-Jan. 6, ranked

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What they said before vs. what they said when that became inconvenient.

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A team of advisers and lawyers worked at the Willard hotel in Washington seeking to pull off what they claim was a legal strategy to reinstate President Donald Trump for a second term. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)
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They called it the "command center," a set of rooms and suites in the posh Willard hotel a block from the White House where some of President Donald Trump's most loyal lieutenants were working day and night with one goal in mind: overturning the results of the 2020 election.

The Jan. 6 rally on the Ellipse and the ensuing attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob would draw the world's attention to the quest to physically block Congress from affirming Joe Biden's victory. But the activities at the Willard that week add to an emerging picture of a less visible effort, mapped out in memos by a conservative pro-Trump legal scholar and pursued by a team of presidential advisers and lawyers seeking to pull off what they claim was a legal strategy to reinstate Trump for a second term.

They were led by Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani. Former chief White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon was an occasional presence as the effort's senior political adviser. Former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik was there as an investigator. Also present was John Eastman, the scholar, who outlined scenarios for denying Biden the presidency in an Oval Office meeting on Jan. 4 with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

They sought to make the case to Pence and ramp up pressure on him to take actions on Jan. 6 that Eastman suggested were within his powers, three people familiar with the operation said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Their activities included finding and publicizing alleged evidence of fraud, urging members of state legislatures to challenge Biden's victory and calling on the Trump-supporting public to press Republican officials in key states.

The effort underscores the extent to which Trump and a handful of true believers were working until the last possible moment to subvert the will of the voters, seeking to pressure Pence to delay or even block certification of the election, leveraging any possible constitutional loophole to test the boundaries of American democracy.

"I firmly believed then, as I believe now, that the vice president - as president of the Senate - had the constitutional power to send the issue back to the states for 10 days to investigate the widespread fraud and report back well in advance of Inauguration Day, January 20th," one of those present, senior campaign aide and former White House special assistant Boris Epshteyn, told The Washington Post. "Our efforts were focused on conveying that message."

In seeking to compel testimony from Bannon, the congressional panel investigating Jan. 6 this week cited his reported presence at the " 'war room' organized at the Willard." The House voted Thursday to hold Bannon in contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with the committee's subpoena.

The committee has also requested documents and communications related to Eastman's legal advice and analysis.

Eastman told The Post on Wednesday that he has not yet been contacted by the House select committee investigating the insurrection. Asked about his involvement in the Trump team's operation at the Willard, Eastman said: "To the extent I was there, those were attorney discussions. You don't get any comment from me on those."

In May, Eastman indicated that he was at the hotel with Giuliani on the morning of Jan. 6. "We had a war room at the Willard . . . kind of coordinating all of the communications," he told talk show host Peter Boyles, comments first reported in the newsletter Proof.

Giuliani's lawyer, Robert Costello, did not respond to requests for comment.

Also present was One America News reporter Christina Bobb, a lawyer by training who was volunteering for the campaign at the time, according to people familiar with the operation. Bobb declined to comment.

Kerik said his firm billed the Trump campaign more than $55,000 for rooms for the legal team. The former police commissioner, who was helping to head up efforts to collect and investigate allegations of election fraud, was later reimbursed, records show.

The three people familiar with the operation described intense work in the days and hours leading up to and even extending beyond 1 p.m. on Jan 6, when Congress convened for the counting of electoral votes.

In those first days in January, from the command center, Trump allies were calling members of Republican-dominated legislatures in swing states that Eastman had spotlighted in his memos, including Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, encouraging them to convene special sessions to investigate fraud and to reassign electoral college votes from Biden to Trump, two of the people familiar with the operation said.

On Jan. 2, Trump, Giuliani and Eastman spoke to 300 state legislators via a conference call meant to arm them with purported evidence of fraud and galvanize them to take action to "decertify" their election results. "You are the real power," Trump told the state lawmakers, according to a Washington Examiner report. "You're the ones that are going to make the decision."

A participant on the call, Michigan state Sen. Ed McBroom (R), recalled listening as Trump, Giuliani, Eastman and others described the power state legislators have over the certification of electors. "I didn't need any convincing about our plenary powers," McBroom told The Post. "I was listening to hear whether they had any evidence to substantiate claims" of significant voter fraud that could change the results in Michigan. The callers did not provide additional information, he said, and he did not support a delay in the electoral vote count.

But others appear to have been persuaded. Three days after the call, dozens of lawmakers from Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin wrote to Pence. They asked that he delay certification of Biden's victory for 10 days to allow "our respective bodies to meet, investigate, and as a body vote on certification or decertification of the election."

Many have argued that President Donald Trump's efforts amounted to an attempted coup on Jan. 6. Was it? And why does that matter? (Video: Monica Rodman, Sarah Hashemi/The Washington Post)

Also on Jan. 2, Eastman, Giuliani and Epshteyn appeared on Bannon's podcast to make the case directly to Bannon's pro-Trump listeners. They discussed what Bannon called that day's "all-hands meeting with state . . . legislators that the Trump campaign and also others are putting on." The comments were first highlighted by Proof.

They argued that state lawmakers were legally bound to reexamine their election results. "It's the duty of these legislatures to fix this, this egregious conduct, and make sure that we're not putting in the White House some guy that didn't get elected," Eastman said. He contended that Congress could itself decide on Jan. 6 to select Trump electors in contested states, but that "it would certainly be helped immensely if the legislatures in the states looked at what happened in their own states and weigh in."

Eastman was not the first or the only person in Trump's sphere to argue that Pence was empowered to block or delay certification of Biden's victory. Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn - and Trump himself - suggested as much on Dec. 23, retweeting a post about the possibility of invoking "the Pence card."

But after other efforts failed, as Jan. 6 neared, the Eastman strategy came into bloom. Eastman, a Federalist Society member, law professor and former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, had the conservative legal credentials to burnish the argument.

Eastman's first memo, only two pages long, described a six-point plan by which Pence could effectively commandeer the electoral counting process and enable Trump to win. The memo was first revealed last month in the book " Peril," by Washington Post writers Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.

Eastman has said it was a "preliminary draft" of a more complete and nuanced memo that outlined multiple possible outcomes following the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. The ideas in the memos were the basis for a discussion of options Pence had with Eastman and Trump in the Oval Office on Jan. 4, he has said.

Eastman has more recently distanced himself from the memos, telling the National Review on Friday that the options he outlined did not represent his advice. He said he wrote the memos at the request of "somebody in the legal team" whose name he could not recall.

In the Sacramento Bee, Eastman wrote on Oct. 7 that he advised Pence to delay counting the electoral votes to give the states time to resolve concerns about voting irregularities.

This was the strategy around which the Trump advisers in the Willard command center coalesced, according to two of the people familiar with the discussions there in the early days of January. For that scenario to upend Biden's win, legislatures in those states would investigate alleged fraud and, if they chose, could decertify their results.

But by Jan. 5, Pence was not sold on the plan, according to "Peril." That evening, Trump called over to Giuliani and then to Bannon, who were both at the Willard at the time, according to the book, which reported some details of the events at the Willard that day. Trump told Bannon that Pence had been "very arrogant" when the two discussed the matter earlier in the day, the book reported. The following day, Eastman spoke at the rally on the Ellipse.

"All we are demanding of Vice President Pence is this afternoon at one o'clock he let the legislatures of the states look into this so that we get to the bottom of it and the American people know whether we have control of the direction of our government or not!" Eastman told the crowd. "We no longer live in a self-governing republic if we can't get the answer to this question!"

Pence withstood the pressure. Around 1 p.m., as he prepared to gavel in the joint session, he announced via a letter posted to Twitter that he would count the electoral college votes as they had been cast several weeks earlier.

When the violence erupted a short time later, forcing Congress into recess, some of the most ardent Trump supporters saw an opportunity.

"Congress is adjourned. Send the elector choice back to the legislatures," Kelli Ward, chair of the Arizona GOP, tweeted at 3:30 p.m., more than half an hour after insurrectionists in tactical gear made their way to the floor of the Senate.

Ward did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Epshteyn told The Post, "In line with President Trump's position and message, the Trump legal team immediately made it clear that any and all violence is not acceptable." At 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 6, shortly after the Capitol was breached, Epshteyn tweeted: "To all those protesting, please stay PEACEFUL and respect the LAW."

After the violence began, Trump used his Twitter account to ask his supporters to "Stay peaceful," but notably did not tell them to go home until 4:17 p.m., when he tweeted a video of himself addressing the Capitol rioters. "I know your pain. I know your hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us," he said. "We have to have peace. So go home. We love you, you're very special."

While the lawyers at the Willard were focused on promoting the legal strategy Eastman outlined, Kerik helped head up efforts to sift through allegations of election fraud. Phil Waldron, a retired Army colonel who specialized in psychological operations, led a team of people who provided Kerik with analyses of state data, which purported to show fraudulent voting, according to two of the people familiar with activities at the Willard.

Waldron was working closely with Russell Ramsland, a Texas Republican who had been spreading election-fraud conspiracy theories for months before the election and submitted affidavits to multiple post-election lawsuits claiming fraud, The Post has previously reported. Ramsland was present in one of the Willard rooms on the evening of Jan. 6, according to photographs posted to Instagram that circulated widely after the congressional committee's mention of the "war room."

Waldron and Ramsland did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Kerik said he had been working alongside Giuliani since Nov. 5, two days after the election, and that they continued until Jan. 19. "I believed until Inauguration Day that something could be done - that's why the fight was still going on," Kerik told The Post. "There were a lot of people who thought on the 6th that it was over, but I didn't believe that because the evidence seemed so overwhelming to me."

Kerik and Giuliani set up shop in Washington in early November at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, according to Kerik, and in the third week in December moved to the Willard, closer to the White House. The Willard attracted many pro-Trump figures around that time, including "Stop the Steal" provocateur Roger Stone. Stone was not part of the Giuliani team at the Willard and did not participate in the team's efforts, according to the three people with knowledge of the matter.

On Jan. 8, Kerik billed the Trump campaign for $66,371.54 in travel expenses, including $55,295 on rooms for legal team members at the Willard from Dec. 18 to Jan. 8, according to Kerik and documents reviewed by The Post. The legal team members referenced in the documents include Kerik, Giuliani and Eastman.

Documents also show that Kerik paid for rooms for William Ligon, a Georgia state senator who had chaired two hearings in Atlanta at which Giuliani aired false claims of election fraud, and Preston Haliburton, an Atlanta attorney who had represented a Coffee County Republican leader who claimed to be a whistleblower with evidence about Dominion voting machines.

Ligon and Haliburton did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Kerik initially sought reimbursement from the Republican National Committee, but said he was told the party would not foot the bills. The bills were eventually submitted to the Trump campaign, which agreed to pay them.

Kerik told The Post he was "furious" with the RNC because it collected tens of millions of dollars in support of Trump's legal battle, "yet didn't spend a dime on [Giuliani's] legal team or their expenses."

The RNC has previously said it did not pay the legal bills because neither Giuliani nor Kerik was hired by or represented the organization.

Eastman stayed at the Willard from Jan. 3 until after breakfast on Jan. 8, according to records showing that the hotel charged $1,407 for his lodging and meals during that time.

His arrival at the Willard came on the same day that Trump convened an Oval Office meeting to discuss replacing then-acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen with Jeffrey B. Clark, a Justice Department official friendly with Eastman who proposed that the department encourage investigation of Trump's election fraud claims in Georgia and other states. The three-hour meeting with Trump ended after Rosen, other department officials and White House counsel Pat Cipollone threatened to resign if Clark were appointed.

Clark has been subpoenaed by the House panel investigating Jan. 6 and is required to appear for questioning at the end of this week. He did not respond to requests for comment.

Although Clark's proposal was rebuffed, those working in the Willard command center continued to push the idea that Pence could intervene on Jan. 6 itself. Other legal scholars disagreed.

Two experts - former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig and former Justice Department official John Yoo, both known as stalwart conservatives - advised Pence's staff that there was no basis for the vice president to intervene in the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6.

"I advised that there was no factual basis for Mike Pence to intervene and overturn the results of the election," said Yoo, who now teaches law at the University of California at Berkeley. "There are certain limited situations where I thought the Vice President does have a role, for example in the event that a state sends two different electoral results. . . . But none of those were present here."

Luttig, a former federal appellate judge well known to Trump and for whom Eastman had clerked early in his career, told Pence's staff on Jan. 4 that the analysis Eastman offered in his first memo was "incorrect." Luttig said subsequently that Eastman's advice was wrong "at every turn," including his suggestion that the vice president could delay the electoral vote count.

Dalton Bennett, Alice Crites, Josh Dawsey and Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.

How the election fraud myth was spread by Russell Ramsland

Italygate election conspiracy theory was pushed by two firms led by woman who also falsely claimed $30 million mansion was hers

Sidney Powell's secret 'military intelligence expert,' key to fraud claims in election lawsuits, never worked in military intelligence

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Ahead of Jan. 6, Willard hotel in downtown D.C. was a Trump team 'command center' for effort to deny Biden the presidency

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New details about the operation underscore the extent to which Trump and a handful of true believers were working until the last possible moment to subvert the will of the voters, seeking to pressure Vice President Pence to delay or even block certification of the election.

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Donald Trump reportedly did not expect to win the presidency in 2016, which isn't surprising considering how ill-prepared he and his team were to take control of the country. He appointed established conservatives to key positions before learning some had personal principles that extended beyond indulging the president's ego. Trump wreaked havoc on the United States for four years, but the damage might have been even greater if he wasn't battling career public servants who tried to check his impulses, or if he wasn't such a political neophyte.

Trump will not be the dog that caught the car heading into his second term. He'll be ready and waiting to take the wheel and hit the gas. The former president has now had nearly a decade to burnish his understanding of how Washington, D.C., works, and to assemble a political machine laser-focused on exploiting a federal government full of loopholes to give him the power to enact an authoritarian agenda that could spell disaster for the economy, the environment, human rights, and democracy.

Trump's romp through the primaries has confirmed that he is in total control of the race and barring something unforeseen will be squaring off with Joe Biden in an election to determine the fate of the nation.

Here's what's at stake:

He will indict Biden and his other political enemies

Trump has made abundantly clear that he will use a potential second term in office to take revenge on his enemies. He's planning to do so by helming the Justice Department with a loyal attorney general willing to appoint a slew of special prosecutors to go after everyone he feels has wronged him. These plans have been in the works since 2021, as Rolling Stone reported in August, and focus not just on Biden, whom Trump believes is the primary force behind his myriad legal woes, but also on Special Counsel Jack Smith, Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and plenty of others. "There are almost too many targets to keep track of," one Trump adviser familiar with the discussions says.

Trump's potential revenge tour has already been mapped out in detail. Rolling Stone reported last year, for example, that Trump's team has been exploring legal strategies to criminally charge Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg - who indicted the former president for paying porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election - including by using the DOJ's civil rights divisions to go after Bragg, who is Black, for "racist law enforcement policies," as one source put it. The Washington Post has also reported on the specificity of Trump's plans to take down his haters, noting in November that he even wants to investigate former allies he believes have turned on him, including his former Attorney General William Barr and former chief of staff John Kelly.

The plans for retribution are being hatched behind the scenes, but Trump has been fantasizing publicly about putting them into motion. "The precedent on doing what they did, with the weaponization, using the DOJ and the FBI to go after their political opponents, that is so bad," Trump told Lou Dobbs in January, referring to the idea that all of his indictments and all of the lawsuits he is facing are politically motivated. "That means I can do it too," he continued. "Pandora's Box is open and that means that I can do it too."

Trump: "Doing what they did - using the DOJ & FBI to go after their political opponent .. that means that I can do it too. In other words, the Pandora's box is open, and that means that I can do it too." pic.twitter.com/FYafQE2Wc0
- Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 9, 2024

He will round up, intern, and deport undocumented immigrants

Trump is planning to crack down on illegal immigration - hard. The New York Times reported last November that he is going to "scour" the nation for undocumented immigrants and deport them "by the millions per year." He wants to throw the undocumented into detention camps while their cases are being processed, but will do away with due-process hearings to make it easier to kick them out of the United States. He'll reportedly pull money from the military to fund the effort, if Congress won't comply.

Trump has intensified his rhetoric, telling Newsmax in March that he will order mass deportations of undocumented immigrants on his first day back in office, and that he'll start with the "bad ones." He added that he will enlist local law enforcement to help him root out said "bad ones," and will give police "immunity" to crack down on migrants. He said on Fox News the following morning that migrants are "poisoning" America.

He will send the military to the border

Trump mused late last year that he will be a "dictator" for one day only, should he win reelection. Rolling Stone reported shortly after his comments that part of this authoritarian plot is to send potentially hundreds of thousands of troops to help seal the border and build new detention camps to house migrants. Trump tried to do something similar during his first term, but he was shot down by officials and attorneys due to fears of legal repercussions. He's going to surround himself with more compliant actors in a potential second term, who are already working on ways to make a militarized border "perfectly legal."

He will invade Mexico

Trump was talked out of bombing Mexico to take out drug labs during his first term, but he hasn't let go of the idea. "'Attacking Mexico,' or whatever you'd like to call it, is something that President Trump has said he wants 'battle plans' drawn for," a source familiar told Rolling Stone last year. "He's complained about missed opportunities of his first term, and there are a lot of people around him who want fewer missed opportunities in a second Trump presidency."

He will round up the homeless and send the National Guard into cities to fight crime

Trump claimed last year that our "once great cities have become unlivable, unsanitary nightmares, surrendered to the homeless, the drug-addicted, and the violent and dangerously deranged." His solution is to ban urban camping and corral the unhoused into tent cities, which will be staffed by "doctors, psychiatrists, social workers, and drug-rehab specialists." Trump says he will pay for all this with the money the U.S. saves from "ending mass, unskilled migration."

Trump will crack down on crime by sending the National Guard into American cities, presumably at his own discretion. He's also said he wants to pull federal funding from law enforcement that doesn't use stop-and-frisk policing, a practice prone to racial profiling that has been deemed unconstitutional.

He will ban abortion nationwide

Trump has tried to have his cake and eat it too when it comes to reproductive rights, repeatedly bragging about installing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade while at the same time trying to paint himself as a moderate on an issue he has said is killing Republicans, as Rolling Stone has reported.

The New York Times reported in February, however, that Trump supports a 16-week national abortion ban. Rolling Stone later reported that the former president's team was furious that word of the plan got out, but Trump didn't seem to mind: He floated the idea himself during an interview with Sean Hannity in early March. "More and more I'm hearing about 15 weeks. I haven't decided yet." he said. "The number 15 is mentioned. I haven't agreed to any number. I'm going to see. We want to take an issue that was very polarizing and get it settled and solved so everybody can be happy."

"We're on the side of women," Trump added.

He will bring back the death penalty in a big way

Trump is a big fan of the death penalty. Rolling Stone reported last year on how the Trump administration went on a killing mission during his final year in office, executing 13 people in six months after the federal government had only put three people to death in the previous 60 years. Trump is thirsty for more. Rolling Stone reported subsequently that Trump is committed to expanding the use of the death penalty if he's reelected, and that he's talked about bringing back death by firing squad and hanging, according to two sources. He's even suggested the possibility of executing people by guillotine. He's floated executing anyone convicted of dealing drugs.

He will make stuff more expensive by taxing all imported goods

"When companies come in and they dump their products in the United States, they should pay, automatically, let's say a 10-percent tax," Trump told Larry Kudlow on Fox Business last August.

The Washington Post reported that Trump does indeed want to institute a "universal baseline tariff" to create a "ring around the U.S. economy." The Post notes economists from both sides of the aisle are alarmed at the idea. "On net, this would harm the American economy substantially" and "gum up our whole production process," Chris Clarke, an economist at Washington State University, told the paper. "Producers would have higher costs, and now all the consumers are paying higher prices for goods that used to be imported."

He will reevaluate America's participation in NATO

Trump has long griped about the longstanding military alliance, arguing that European nations aren't paying their fair share. Rolling Stone reported last year that Trump wants to wind down America's participation in NATO to a "standby" role if his demands aren't met, which would be a gift to Vladimir Putin as Russia continues to fight for control of Ukraine.

"It would be a tremendously stupid endeavor, especially at a time when war in Europe rages, and much of Europe is looking to the United States to deter further conflict," Dr. Aaron Stein, a Black Sea Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told Rolling Stone, reacting to Trump's NATO-skeptic policy goals. "Trading away allies based on ignorance, and Trump is ignorant about this issue, is just silly for broader U.S. national security."

The conflict in Europe shouldn't be a problem, however, as Trump has claimed repeatedly that he'll be able to end the war in Ukraine in a day.

His rhetoric around the issue has intensified throughout the campaign. During a February rally in South Carolina, Trump said he would encourage Russia to do "whatever the hell they want" to "delinquent" NATO member nations.

He will roll back all of Biden's climate progress and reinvest in fossil fuels

The United States set a record for oil output during Biden's first term in office, but Trump wants to do even more damage to the environment. He's made clear he's going to "drill, baby, drill" on his first day in office, and that he will roll back clean-energy initiatives, including those included in the Inflation Reduction Act. Trump will also, of course, once again pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Accords, the international agreement to work to hold the global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius.

He will construct "freedom cities" filled with flying cars

Trump laid out a plan early last year to build 10 "freedom cities" on federal land as part of what he described as a "new American future." The cities would feature flying cars so as to ensure that "America, not China, leads the revolution in air mobility."

"We'll actually build new cities in our country again," Trump said. "These freedom cities will reopen the frontier, reignite American imagination, and give hundreds of thousands of young people and other people, all hardworking families, a new shot at home ownership and, in fact, the American dream."

He will try to overhaul the education system in the MAGA image

Trump said last September that he wants to shutter the Department of Education and pass the buck to state governments, claiming that federal education employees "in many cases hate our children." Trump may not want the federal government dictating how schools operate, but he plans to use his office to go after institutions that don't adhere to MAGA ideals, vowing to "cut funding for any school or program pushing critical race theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children," and even to have the Justice Department open investigations into recalcitrant schools.

Trump added during a rally in Virginia in March that he will pull federal funding for schools with vaccine requirements.

He will torch the First Amendment by going after non-MAGA media

Trump has long railed against unflattering media coverage, whether come by way of CNN, MSNBC, or other "fake news" outlets, or from any of his many propaganda arms, including Fox News. He's teased real retribution against the former category, however, raising concerns over the damage another term could do to the First Amendment.

"MSNBC (MSDNC) uses FREE government approved airwaves, and yet it is nothing but a 24 hour hit job on Donald J. Trump," he wrote in November. "It is the world's biggest political contribution to the Radical Left Democrats who, by the way, are destroying our Country. Our so-called 'government' should come down hard on them and make them pay for their illegal political activity. Much more to come, watch!"

A few weeks later, Kash Patel, a former adviser who is still very much in Trump's orbit, emphasized the point, telling former White House strategist Steve Bannon that a new Trump administration "will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media" and "come after them."

"Whether it's criminally or civilly, we'll figure that out," Patel added. "But yeah, we're putting you all on notice. We're actually going to use the Constitution to prosecute them for crimes they said we have always been guilty of but never have."

Trump reminded everyone of the push to crackdown on the media after winning the Iowa caucus in January, complaining about how CNN and NBC didn't air his victory speech. "They are crooked, they are dishonest, and frankly they should have their licenses or whatever they have taken away," he said.

He will legally delegitimize trans Americans

Trump wants to codify the discrimination of trans Americans. He's said he would move to enact a federal law stating that there are only two genders, push Congress to ban gender-affirming care for minors, and punish doctors and hospitals who treat transgender youth. He has also vowed to restore his first administration's ban on trans Americans serving in the military, and work to prevent trans women from competing in women's sports.

He will pardon the Jan. 6 rioters

Trump and his allies in Congress view the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol as a noble effort, and have long lamented how those arrested for breaking into Congress have been treated. Trump said during a town hall last May that he will "most likely" pardon "a large portion of them."

He will gut the federal government and take unprecedented control of what's left

Trump plans to gut the federal government by reclassifying tens of thousands of civil service employees so that he can fire them.

"We will clean out all of the corrupt actors in our National Security and Intelligence apparatus, and there are plenty of them," he said last March. "The departments and agencies that have been weaponized will be completely overhauled so that faceless bureaucrats will never again be able to target and persecute conservatives, Christians, or the left's political enemies."

Trump will ensure that the federal employees that remain are sufficiently loyal to him. Project 2025 - a Trump-oriented transition project helmed by the conservative Heritage Foundation with help from people loyal to the former president - has long been vetting potential staffers.

The former president has also said that if he once again becomes the current president, he will take control of agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, paving the way for Trump to impose his will over trade policy and the media.

The federal government will not be operating on behalf of the people of the United States during a prospective second Trump term; it will be operating on behalf of Trump.

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Donald Trump has made a slew of promises related to the economy, immigration, climate change, and more should he win the 2024 election.

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How Trump Plans to Wield Power in 2025: What We Know

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TRUMP'S FINANCIAL TIES TO RUSSIA

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Following a series of court developments in 2023 and this month, former President Donald Trump's 2024 legal schedule has come into focus, as has his political one. In the calendar below, we capture significant events in both domains-and how they interrelate. While the full calendar below tracks hundreds of events, here are the top 15 legal and political dates as of now:
1. Thursday, March 28, 2024 2. Monday, April 1, 2024 3. Tuesday, April 2, 2024 4. Thursday, April 4, 2024 5. Monday, April 8, 2024 6. Thursday, April 11, 2024 7. Monday, April 15, 2024 8. Tuesday, April 16, 2024 9. Thursday, April 18, 2024 10. Thursday, April 25, 2024 11. Thursday, May 16, 2024 12. Monday, July 8, 2024 13. Monday-Thursday, July 15-18, 2024
Republican National Convention
14. Monday, August 12, 2024 15. Monday, September 9, 2024
For the legal filings and other materials in the cases see our Trump Trials Clearinghouse .

Turning to the full calendar below, it is largely self-explanatory for readers who simply want to dive in. However, the following keys allow readers to make maximum use of the information it contains.
Color and Format Key:

Political dates (including Republican debates, caucuses, primaries, and convention): Red background

Most important dates: Their above background color and bold with red text

1. DC Trump Case: United States v. Donald J. Trump (1:23-cr-00257)* (criminal)

2. New York 2016 Election Interference Case (NY Election Interference): The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump (IND-71543-23) (criminal)

3. Mar-a-Lago (MAL): United States v. Donald J. Trump, et al. (9:23-cr-80101) (criminal)

4. New York Civil Fraud Case (NY Civil Fraud): The People of the State of New York, by Letitia James, Attorney General of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump et al. (452564/2022) (civil)

5. Georgia (GA): The State of Georgia v. Donald J. Trump, et al. (23SC188947)** (criminal)

GA (Chesebro): The State of Georgia v. Kenneth Chesebro (23SC188947)** (criminal)

GA (Powell): The State of Georgia v. Sidney Powell (23SC188947)** (criminal)

6. Trump Jan. 6th Civil Immunity Case (Blassingame): Barbara Lee et al. v. Donald J. Trump et al. ( 1:21-cv-00400 & ) (civil)

7. Jan. 6th Rioters US Supreme Challenge to Scope of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) (Fischer): Joseph Fischer v. United States (23-5572) (criminal)

8. E. Jean Carroll Suit I (Carroll I): E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump (1:20-cv-07311) (civil)

9. E. Jean Carroll Suit II (Carroll II): E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump (1:22-cv-10016) (civil)

10. Trump Colorado US Supreme Court 14th Amendment Challenge (Trump Colorado SCOTUS 14A): Donald J. Trump v. Norma Anderson, et al. (23-719) (civil)

11. Colorado Republican Party US Supreme Court 14th Amendment Challenge (Colorado GOP SCOTUS 14A): Colorado Republican State Central Committee v. Norma Anderson, et al. (23-696) (civil)

12. Maine 14th Amendment Challenge (Maine 14A): Donald J. Trump v. Shenna Bellow, Secretary of State of Maine et al. (AP-24-01 & Ken-24-24) (civil)

13. Oregon Supreme Court 14th Amendment Challenge (Oregon 14A): Mary Nelson et al., v. Secretary of State of Oregon (S070658) (civil)

14. 9th Cir. 14th Amendment Challenge from D. Ariz. (9th Cir./D. Ariz. 14A): John Castro v. Arizona Secretary of State, Donald J. Trump, et al. (23-3960) (civil)

15. 4th Cir. 14th Amendment Challenge from S.D.W. Va. (4th Cir./S.D.W. Va. 14A): John Castro v. West Virginia Secretary of State (24-1040) (civil)

16. 11th Cir. 14th Amendment Challenge from S.D. Fla. (11th Cir./S.D. Fla. 14A): John Castro v. Donald J. Trump (23-12111) (civil)

17. Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission 14th Amendment Challenge (Massachusetts 14A): Bruce Chafee et al., v. Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission, Donald Trump et al. (SJC-13549 & SJ-2024-0032) (civil)

18. Illinois State Board of Elections 14th Amendment Challenge (Illinois 14A): Steven Anderson, et al. v. Donald J. Trump et al. (2024COEL000013 & 24 SOEB GP 517) (civil)

For those who are checking our calendar frequently, and simply want to know what the most recent updates are since the prior version we published, those updates are listed below. We intend to update the calendar daily or as the legal schedules continue to evolve. We welcome readers' feedback and additional information at ( email address ).

* Judge Chutkan's Jan. 18 order stated that, inter alia, "Until the [DC Cir.] mandate is returned in this case, the parties shall not file any substantive pretrial motions without first seeking leave of court, and any such request for leave shall state whether the proposed motion concerns matters involved in the appeal or is instead ancillary to it." This follows Chutkan's automatic stay last month of any "further proceedings that would move" Trump's "case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation on" him, which shall include all "deadlines and proceedings scheduled" in the court's Aug. 28 pretrial order . In response to that stay order, the government that "in light of the public's strong interest in a prompt trial," it would "continue to meet all of its deadlines" in the court's pretrial order. Approval by the court will now be required to make such filings. The deadlines and proceedings that have stayed and require court approval for any filings have been marked in in the calendar below. bold and purple

** A free account must be made to access this docket. Find a PDF here from 11/28/2023 for GA (Chesebro) and (these links will be updated if and when the respective dockets are updated). Many of Chesebro and Powell's court filings can be found in our Trump Trials Clearinghouse .

Please note that all times are in EST.
NB: Samara Angel and Beth Markman also contributed to co-authoring previous versions of this calendar.
Today's calendar updates (added March 26, 2024) :
March 28, 2024 April 1, 2024 April 4, 2024 April 15, 2024 May 13, 2024
The Calendar is available in two formats: As a standalone PDF (click here) and as a Scribd document below.

IMAGE: Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on August 24, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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Master Calendar of Trump Court Dates: Criminal and Civil Cases

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A public resource that tracks the legal and political milestones in former President Donald Trump's 2023-2024 court and campaign calendar.

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Donald Trump, Blasphemous Bible Thumper

March 30, 2024, 7:00 a.m. ET

Illustration by Sam Whitney/The New York Times

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Donald Trump, Blasphemous Bible Thumper

March 30, 2024, 7:00 a.m. ET

Illustration by Sam Whitney/The New York Times

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Donald Trump, Blasphemous Bible Thumper

March 30, 2024, 7:00 a.m. ET

Illustration by Sam Whitney/The New York Times

On this holy weekend, one man is taking the Resurrection personally.

Donald Trump is presenting himself as the Man on the Cross, tortured for our sins. “I consider it a great badge of courage,” he tells crowds. “I am being indicted for you.” Instead of Christ-like redemption, he promises Lucifer-like retribution if resurrected.

In January, he put up a video on Truth Social about how he is a messenger from God, “a shepherd to mankind.”

Trump is, as the nuns who taught me used to say, “a bold, brazen piece.” He is a miserable human who cheated on his wives, cheats at golf, cheats at politics, incites violence, targets judges and their families and looked on, pleased, as thugs threatened to hang his actually pious vice president.

Yet, more and more, Trump is wallowing in his Messiah complex.

Two-Corinthians Trump wouldn’t know the difference between Old and New Testaments. So he may not realize that, rather than a sacrificial lamb, he is the Golden Calf, the false god worshiped by Israelites when Moses went up to Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments.

Just as the Israelites melted their ornaments and jewelry to make the calf, Trump is trading tacky products for gilt to pay gazillions in obligations. After his $399 golden “Never Surrender High-Top Sneaker,” Trump is selling a $99 “Victory” cologne for “movers, shakers and history makers” with “a crisp opening of citrus blends into a cedar heart, underpinned by a rich base of leather and amber, crafting a commanding presence.” A gold bust of Trump tops the bottle. (“Victory” perfume for women comes in a Miss Universe-shape bottle.)

Sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter  Get expert analysis of the news and a guide to the big ideas shaping the world every weekday morning.

Weaponizing his martyrdom, Trump is selling $59.99 “God Bless the USA” Bibles adorned with a flag and the chorus of Lee Greenwood’s song handwritten by the singer, plus the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Pledge of Allegiance.

“Happy Holy Week!” he wrote on Truth Social. “Let’s Make America Pray Again. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless The USA Bible.”

David Axelrod says that, even as a secular Jew, he’s offended: “This is a guy who has violated 11 of the Ten Commandments.”

Trump posted a promotional video claiming “Christians are under siege” and vowing to “protect content that is pro-God.” He held up the Bible — recalling the appalling moment in 2020 when Ivanka handed him a Bible from her designer bag and he clutched it in front of St. John’s Church, opposite the White House, moments after the police tear-gassed protesters and journalists in adjacent Lafayette Square at a demonstration about George Floyd’s murder.

“All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many,” Trump barked. “It’s my favorite book.” Maybe the Bible has replaced that Hitler book Trump’s ex-wife said he kept by his bed. But it’s all a scam. Running for president is about enriching himself, just as when he peddled NFTs, steaks, ties, suits, bath towels, vodka, water, office chairs, Trump University and mug-shot mugs. He even sold pieces of the suit he was wearing when he took the mug shot.

“I want to have a lot of people have it,” Trump said of his Bible. “You have to have it for your heart, for your soul.”

Just what the world needs: a soul cleanse with a grifter Bible, where the profits could well be going to pay legal costs in trials about breaking commandments — bearing false witness to try to steal democracy, coveting a porn star, then paying the star hush money to keep quiet about the sex.

What could be more Elmer Gantry than that? As Sinclair Lewis wrote about his corrupt, power-hungry, narcissistic, womanizing preacher, “He had, in fact, got everything from the church and Sunday school, except, perhaps, any longing whatever for decency and kindness and reason.”

Religious snake-oil salesmen have a storied history in American literature and films, from Flannery O’Connor’s “Wise Blood” to Peter Bogdanovich’s beloved movie “Paper Moon,” about a conniving Bible salesman and his small helper. But it’s shocking when the charlatan might be in the Oval.

In her 2016 book, “The Confidence Game,” Maria Konnikova explained that we’re easy prey for faux Nigerian princes because of all the chaos in our world. “The whirlwind advance of technology heralds a new golden age of the grift,” she wrote. “Cons thrive in times of transition and fast change.”

If there is one thing Trump knows how to do, it’s exploit chaos he creates.

There has to be a yearning in the populace that the con man can channel; and, at a time when religion and patriotism are waning, people are searching for more. Unfortunately, these days that search often takes the form of conspiracy theories.

As Donie O’Sullivan reported for CNN, no sooner had the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in Baltimore than a bunch of crazy conspiracy tales blossomed about terrorism, D.E.I., Obama, Israel and Ukraine.

Declining faith in religion and rising faith in conspiracies create fertile ground for a faker like Trump. If the profane pol is re-elected, we’ll all reap the whirlwind.

Maureen Dowd is an Opinion columnist for The Times. She won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary. @MaureenDowd • Facebook

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6 Books to Help Understand Trump’s Win (Published 2016)

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Our critics and reviewers on books that analyze the shifts that drove one of the most stunning political upsets in the nation’s history.

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It's still early in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination but Donald Trump's wins in Iowa and New Hampshire so far suggest the former president remains very popular with conservative voters even if he faces a long road back to the White House.

ABC News "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz recently sat down with three self-described Trump voters in Pennsylvania, which is expected to be one of the big battleground states in November's general election, likely against President Joe Biden.

The conversation with the three -- restaurant managing partner George Rivera, public school teacher Angelic Schneider and retired teacher Jim Vinup -- aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

It wasn't designed as a fact check of their beliefs but as a closer look at what does and doesn't influence how they feel about the former president.

Watch what they had to say in the video above.

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What 3 Pennsylvania Trump supporters said about the former president

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ABC News "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz recently sat down with three self-described Trump voters in Pennsylvania

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Attorney General William Barr resigns | CNN Politics

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Attorney General William Barr on Monday said he would resign next week, ending a tenure in which the President Donald Trump loyalist carried the administration's "law and order" message but ultimately dealt the most credible blow to Trump's unfounded claims that the 2020 election was littered with fraud.

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What are the steps that would have to happen for the USA to become and authoritarian dictatoship

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What are the steps that would have to happen for the USA to become and authoritarian dictatoship

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ChatGPT helps you get answers, find inspiration and be more productive. It is free to use and easy to try. Just ask and ChatGPT can help with writing, learning, brainstorming and more.