According to the book Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History, authored by Washington Post reporters, Trump inquired about sending coronavirus-infected Americans to Guantanamo Bay.
“Don’t we have an island that we own? What about Guantanamo?” Trump reportedly asked in February 2020.
Guantanamo, aside from not being an island, is a military prison commonly used to house suspects of terrorism.
At the start of 2020, Trump downsized the National Security Council by about a third. The NSC advises the President on threats, from international adversaries to terrorism to pandemics.
Amid the COVID19 pandemic, Trump removed several watch dogs tasked with oversight of their respective departments. Most notably, the individual responsible for leading a committee to provide oversight for $2 trillion in coronavirus stimulus, Glenn Fine, was replaced on April 6, 2020. Fine was the Department of Defense’s principal deputy inspector general since June 2015.
Others fired in the 6-week period included inspector generals for the Transportation Department, State Department, and Department of Health and Human Services.
Two days after supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2o21, Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account. The decision was due to their “Glorification of Violence policy, which aims to prevent the glorification of violence that could inspire others to replicate violent acts,” drawing a direct connection between them and the Capitol riot and concern of further unrest.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explained that, while he believed the decision to be right, was concerned about the precedent such a ban might create.
On January 6, 2020, the US Senate was scheduled to certify Electoral College votes, cementing Joe Biden’s victory over Trump. The routine process takes approximately half an hour to complete. Instead, it was interrupted by a mob that overtook the Capitol itself, incited by months of unproven allegations of mass voter fraud.
US Capitol in the evening of January 6, 2021
After months of fraud allegations and over 60 failed lawsuits, Trump delivered a speech on the morning of the 6th in which he refused to concede and promised to join his supporters in a march on the Capitol.
Rudy Giuliani, head of Trump’s legal team, also demanded “trial by combat.”
In the afternoon, Trump supporters began marching to “Stop the Steal.” A noose was erected outside Capitol grounds.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP – Getty Images
Protesters approached the Capitol, breaking through barriers and attacking media present, destroying their equipment.
Even as the protests around the Capitol escalated into riots, Trump fomented his supporters’ anger via Twitter, reiterating past claims that Pence could overturn the Electoral College results. The tweets were removed and his account suspended. Facebook soon followed with a suspension of their own.
Meanwhile, Trump supporters clashed with police and overran the Capitol grounds. In one instance, they replaced the US flag with a Trump flag.
As the violence escalated with police outside, Trump’s supporters breached the building itself, smashing windows and breaking through the main door. Instigated by Trump’s remarks about Pence’s unwillingness to overturn the election, they chanted “hang Mike Pence.”
Congress was evacuated in the middle of their session and taken to a secure location.
While the legislature was evacuated, guards were in an armed standoff at the entrance of the House chamber.
Capitol police ceded most of the building. Trump’s supporters’ occupation marked the first time since the War of 1812 that the Capitol had been seized by a hostile force. Offices were ransacked, while people recorded themselves going through computers and documents. One man was photographed shortly before 2PM, shouting that Trump had won the election in the House chamber. Two hours later another was photographed parading a Confederate battle flag through the halls.
They’re in the chamber. One is up on the dais yelling “Trump won that election!” This is insane pic.twitter.com/p6CXhBDSFT
During the four years of the Civil War, the confederates never got closer to Washington than Fort Stevens. Until today, when insurrectionist supporters of @realDonaldTrump paraded through the U.S. Capitol Building carrying the Confederate battle flag. pic.twitter.com/mPye0ziVlj
Police were eventually able to clear the Capitol, and the city of Washington DC instituted a 6PM curfew. By the end of the night, over 50 officers were injured, with over 60 arrests. A woman attempting to forcibly gain access to a barricaded area was shot and killed. She was later identified as an Air Force veteran of 14 years and a QAnon supporter. Over the course of the day, three others died, attributed to medical emergencies; one was reportedly the result of a man accidentally tazing himself and subsequently suffering a heart attack. That evening, Capitol officer Brian D. Sicknick succumbed to injuries sustained during the riots.
Once the Capitol was secured, the Senate resumed the certification of electoral college votes. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denounced any further intervention in the election results by Congress, saying “it would damage our republic forever.”
While Mitt Romney accused Trump of inciting the riots and Linsdey Graham forcefully asserted that Biden was the lawful winner of the election, not all Senate Republicans agreed. Matt Gaetz baselessly alleged that the rioters were actually Antifa agent provocateurs.
An objection to certifying Georgia’s election results was dismissed after Senators withdrew support because of the day’s events.
Ultimately, at near 4AM, the process concluded and Pence announced that Biden was in fact the winner, and would be the next President of the United States.
In late December 2020, Trump issued a wave of pardons that included four former Blackwater contractors responsible for the Nisour Square massacre. After 7 years of proceedings, they had been found guilty of a 2007 shooting that left 17 dead and 20 others wounded. An FBI investigation determined that 14 of the 17 dead were unarmed and unjustifiably killed.
Pardoned war criminals Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough. AP
The United Nation’s human rights office said in response that the pardons were themselves a violation of international law, and could contribute to the normalization of such crimes.
During a White House press conference on September 23, Trump deflected from a question on whether he would accept the outcome of the election.
SPEAKER: ..Do you commit to making sure that there’s a peaceful transferal of power?
TRUMP: We want to have… Get rid of the ballots and we’ll have a very peaceful… There won’t be a transfer frankly, there’ll be a continuation. The ballots are out of control. You know it, and you know who knows it better than anybody else? The Democrats know it better than anybody else.
Two months after Trump lost the 2020 election and dozens of failed lawsuits, he asserted Vice President Pence’s power to reject election results. The tweet came one day before Pence oversaw the certification of Electoral College votes.
The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.
Pence had reportedly already explained to Trump that he does not have the power to change election results. The Constitution’s 12 Amendment states on the Vice President’s role as President of the Senate:
The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted; — The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed;
Amid the Capitol riots the following day on January 6, 2021, Trump tweeted about Pence’s refusal to break the bounds of his Constitutional role. It was removed by Twitter shortly after.
On the evening of Election Day on November 3, 2020, Trump announced victory. However, over the next four days, Biden pulled ahead in several battleground states until his victory was announced on November 7. The Trump campaign launched a series of lawsuits alleging mass fraud across the nation.
The Claims
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lead lawyer, held a press conference at Four Seasons to highlight claims of fraud and their upcoming legal battles. The primary assertion was that fraud likely took place because of an influx of mail-in ballot votes, and a supposed lack of access by the Republican poll watchers for oversight in vote counting. Giuliani claimed that there had also been thousands of votes from deceased that were improperly counted.
The conference became notable for its location at Four Seasons Landscaping, and for taking place during the announcement that Biden had won. Situated next to a sex shop and crematorium, it was suspected that the location was booked in error, and was intended to be at a Four Seasons hotel. At the time the press conference was taking place, Trump was playing golf. It was then that Biden was announced the winner:
In another press conference on November 19, Giuliani reiterated his claims about fraud and the lack of adequate oversight from poll watchers, referencing the film My Cousin Vinny to make his case.
During the conference, Sidney Powell, another senior Trump lawyer, announced suits in Georgia and Michigan against Dominion, which provided substantial voting infrastructure across the country. Powell also alleged a global communist conspiracy behind the fraud. She was soon after dismissed from the legal team.
The lawsuits asserted a variety of claims. Examples included:
Mail-in ballots that hadn’t been accurately signed and marked on the outside
Mail-in ballots not in their original envelopes
Non-uniform curing, or fixing of ballot mistakes, being unconstitutional
State guidances on mail-in voting
Multiple votes from the same individuals
More votes than the voting population of the corresponding district
Higher rates of machines rejections for Republican ballots
“Over votes” from the use of Sharpies and its bleed through the paper
The Results
Trump’s legal team sought to delay or prevent certification of election results in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada. Certification is the legal process by which states officially submit their results, with deadlines defined by state law.
None of the suits were allowed to prevent certification. The one victory the Trump team achieved – the exclusion of votes in Pennsylvania which were too few to have any influence – was reversed by the state’s Supreme Court. In another instance, the Trump legal team spent $3 million for a recount in a Wisconsin county, only for more Biden votes to be discovered.
By the time a month had passed from the election, with 10 cases still pending, the Trump campaign had won zero out of 32 suits. While the campaign pledged more, the judges’ opinions on many of the dismissed suits – including by judges appointing by Trump – gave clear pictures of how little basis the suits had. One Michigan judge deemed the provided proof as “inadmissible hearsay within hearsay.” A Georgia judge said another suit “would breed confusion and disenfranchisement.” A Pennsylvania judge said of yet another suit, “This claim, like Frankenstein’s Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together.”
Transition & Certification
For three weeks after the election, the administration refused to begin the transition process to the President-elect. However, on November 24, head of the General Services Administration Emily W. Murphy confirmed that she would approve the formal transition process, freeing federal money and allowing security briefings for the Biden team.
On December 1, Attorney General Bill Barr said if there was fraud, there wasn’t enough to change the results of the election. This marked a notable shift for Barr, who had provided Trump legal cover through the Mueller investigation and impeachment over Ukrainian quid-pro-quo. Others who had contradicted Trump’s claims of voter fraud, including the head of the organization responsible for election security, were fired.
By the time a month had passed from the election, all of the battleground states in question had been certified.
The Tweetstorm
Over the course of the month following the election, Trump tweeted dozens of unfounded claims about mass fraud, all flagged by Twitter. While the following are examples of claims about victory, poll observers, fake news, rigging, and individual states, each were reiterated by Trump several times on Twitter.
THE OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED INTO THE COUNTING ROOMS. I WON THE ELECTION, GOT 71,000,000 LEGAL VOTES. BAD THINGS HAPPENED WHICH OUR OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE. NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WERE SENT TO PEOPLE WHO NEVER ASKED FOR THEM!
What does GSA being allowed to preliminarily work with the Dems have to do with continuing to pursue our various cases on what will go down as the most corrupt election in American political history? We are moving full speed ahead. Will never concede to fake ballots & “Dominion”.
Biden can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous “80,000,000 votes” were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. When you see what happened in Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia & Milwaukee, massive voter fraud, he’s got a big unsolvable problem!
The Wisconsin recount is not about finding mistakes in the count, it is about finding people who have voted illegally, and that case will be brought after the recount is over, on Monday or Tuesday. We have found many illegal votes. Stay tuned!
Why won’t Governor @BrianKempGA, the hapless Governor of Georgia, use his emergency powers, which can be easily done, to overrule his obstinate Secretary of State, and do a match of signatures on envelopes. It will be a “goldmine” of fraud, and we will easily WIN the state….
During his Thanksgiving proclamation, Trump suggested that Americans gather for the holidays:
I encourage all Americans to gather, in homes and places of worship, to offer a prayer of thanks to God for our many blessings.
Senior Trump officials also echoed the sentiment, despite it being contrary to the advice of the CDC. Most notably, senior COVID-19 advisor Dr. Scott Atlas suggested that in-person celebrations of Thanksgiving be held with elderly family members, as it may be “their final Thanksgiving.”
Scott Atlas resigned soon after amid the resulting out roar.
That Thanksgiving, the United States had totaled over 13.3 million cases of COVID-19 and suffered nearly 270,000 deaths.
