| In response to new reporting on Donald Trump’s golf club twice hosting a convicted January 6 rioter and alleged Nazi sympathizer, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“Donald Trump already disqualified himself when he rallied a mob on January 6 to storm the Capitol – injuring over 140 police officers – and now he’s continuing to show he is unfit for office by tying himself to violent extremists and white nationalists. Trump is a sore loser who has shown no remorse for his attacks on our democracy – instead, he’s doubling down with promises to pardon violent insurrectionists, threats to go after his political opponents, and never-ending election denial lies. Trump lost in 2020 because of his MAGA extremism, and he will lose again this November when the American people choose to stand with democracy and freedom.”
NEW: Donald Trump’s golf club hosted a convicted January 6 rioter and alleged Nazi sympathizer at two events this summer – including an event that was personally endorsed by Trump himself.
NPR: “Trump’s Bedminster club hosted an alleged Nazi sympathizer who stormed the Capitol”
“Twice this past summer, Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J. has featured speeches from a rioter convicted of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, who has a well-documented history of extreme antisemitic and racist rants.
“One of those events — a fundraiser for a controversial nonprofit group that supports Capitol riot defendants — was personally endorsed by Trump himself in a video message that was played for the room.
“‘All of the people there, you’re amazing patriots,’ Trump said in the video.
“As part of his criminal case over Jan. 6, federal prosecutors described the rioter, Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, as a ‘white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer,’ who told his coworkers at a naval weapons station that ‘Hitler should have finished the job’ and ‘babies born with any deformities or disabilities should be shot in the forehead.’
“Court filings featured multiple pictures of Hale-Cusanelli at work with a ‘Hitler mustache.’ A lengthy online video he posted in 2020 attacked what he called a ‘Hasidic Jewish invasion’ of New Jersey and compared orthodox Jews to a ‘plague of locusts.’
“Trump has repeatedly endorsed the nonprofit Patriot Freedom Project, a group founded in direct response to Hale-Cusanelli’s arrest. The group’s founder, Cynthia Hughes, calls herself an ‘adoptive aunt’ to Hale-Cusanelli and spoke about his case at a Trump campaign rally. In 2023, Trump spoke at another Patriot Freedom Project event at Bedminster alongside Hughes.
“Trump has been linked to antisemitic extremists before. In 2022, the former president had dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate with Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist and Holocaust denier, who used a bullhorn to urge Trump supporters on Jan. 6 to ‘break down the barriers and disregard the police’ … Trump told the extremist group the Proud Boys, whose founder has a history of antisemitic remarks, to ‘stand back and stand by’ at a 2020 presidential debate. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump initially declined to disavow an endorsement from David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
“Trump has made support for the Jan. 6 defendants a central plank of his 2024 presidential campaign. His first official campaign rally opened with a rendition of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ sung by Jan. 6 defendants in jail. He has referred to the defendants as ‘patriots’ and ‘hostages,’ and promised to issue pardons to convicted rioters, including those who assaulted police officers. Approximately 140 officers were injured in the attack on the Capitol.”
Trump continues to celebrate and promise pardons for January 6 insurrectionists, who he calls “hostages” and “patriots”…
MSNBC: “Trump vows to pardon Jan. 6 defendants on ‘Day One’ if he wins the presidential election”
Washington Post: “Trump vows pardons, government apology to Capitol rioters if elected”
Rachel Scott, ABC News: “140 police officers were assaulted [on January 6]. Their injuries included broken bones, at least one officer lost an eye, one had two cracked ribs, two smashed spinal discs, another had a stroke. Were the people who assaulted those 140 officers, including those I just mentioned, ‘patriots’ who deserve pardons?”
[Trump refuses to answer]
Scott: “But sir, my question is on those rioters who assaulted officers. Would you pardon those people?”
Donald Trump: “Oh absolutely I would. If they’re innocent, I would pardon them.”
Scott: “They’ve been convicted.”
Trump: “Those people were treated very harshly … nobody was killed on January 6. But I think that the people of January 6 were treated very unfairly … they were there to complain about an election, and you know it’s very interesting, the biggest crowd I’ve ever spoken to.”
The Hill: “Trump describes imprisoned Jan. 6 rioters as ‘hostages’”
TIME: “Trump has sought to recast the insurrectionist riot as an act of patriotism. ‘I call them the J-6 patriots,’ Trump tells TIME. When asked whether he would consider pardoning every one of them, he says: ‘Yes, absolutely.’”
NBC News: “Former President Donald Trump promised Wednesday night that if he is elected he will pardon a ‘large portion’ of the people convicted of federal offenses for their participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
Trump: “January 6, it was the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to. And they were there proud, they were there with love in their heart. That was an unbelievable — and it was a beautiful day.”
… while his running mate JD Vance downplays the violence on January 6.
The Hill: “JD Vance says he is ‘skeptical’ Pence’s life was in danger on Jan. 6”
Politico: “[Vance] downplayed the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, when Pence was forced to evacuate the building as rioters called for his hanging.”
Trump is still pushing lies about his loss by over 7 million votes in the 2020 election. Vance is right there with him – they are both casting doubt on this November’s results.
New York Times: “[Trump] has baselessly and publicly cast doubt about the fairness of the 2024 election about once a day, on average, since he announced his candidacy for president.”
Associated Press: “[Trump] is flooding the airwaves and his social media platform with distortions, misinformation and unfounded conspiracy theories about his defeat.”
NBC News: “Re-litigating the 2020 election, repeating false claims it was stolen and casting aspersions on the security of mail voting remain major fixtures for [Trump] on the stump. … He regularly refers to the 2020 election as ‘rigged’ on his social media channels.”
HuffPost: “[Vance] said he would accept a Biden win only if he considered the election to be legitimate. … Vance’s comments illustrate a new tactic by Republican lawmakers, who are now placing conditions on accepting election results.”
New York Times: “J.D. Vance Says He Would Accept the Election Results, With a Caveat”
Vance: “I think the entire post-2020 thing would have gone a lot better if there had actually been an effort to provide alternative slates of electors, and to force us to have that debate. I think it would’ve been a much better thing for the country. … [Trump] was trying to take a constitutional process to its natural conclusion.
“I think it would’ve been extraordinarily disappointing to a whole host of people that I care a lot about if Trump had just taken it [and conceded the 2020 election before January 6].”
Vance: “No real Republican with any credibility in the party is still blaming [Trump for January 6].”
ABC News: “JD Vance says [he] wouldn’t have certified 2020 race until states submitted pro-Trump electors”
New York Times: “[Vance] has said that, unlike Vice President Mike Pence in 2020, he would have helped Mr. Trump overturn the results, by accepting Trump electors that had not been elected by voters.”
Trump is seeking power to go after his opponents — as he is vowing to be a dictator on “day one,” won’t stop echoing dictators, and has warned of a “bloodbath” if he loses in November.
Washington Post: “Trump pledges to jail opponents, baselessly suggests election will be stolen from him”
Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN: “Many people have lost American presidential elections over the last 230 years – Trump is the only one to say about violence if he loses ‘it depends.’”
NBC News: “Trump says there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses the election”
The Atlantic: “Trump Says He’ll Be a Dictator on ‘Day One’”
Trump: “You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what – it will be fixed, it will be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore.”
Vance: “I think what Donald Trump is simply saying is we ought to investigate the prior administration.”
Associated Press: “Trump declines to rule out abusing power to seek retribution if he returns to the White House”
Washington Post: “Trump calls political enemies ‘vermin,’ echoing dictators Hitler, Mussolini”
The Guardian: “Donald Trump vows to lock up his political enemies if he is president again.” |
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
