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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Ed Pilkington

The ‘big rip-off’: how Trump exploited his fans with ‘election defense’ fund

Donald Trump David Becker Joe Biden Steve Bannon Mike Pence White House Zoe Lofgren Ellipse
The frenzy of fundraising emails continued right up to January 6.
The frenzy of fundraising emails continued right up to January 6. Photograph: Shawn Thew/UPI/Rex/Shutterstock

At 8.38pm on 4 November 2020, the day after America had gone to the polls to elect its next president, Donald Trump sent out a message to hundreds of thousands of his supporters from the email address [email protected].

By then it was already clear that not only was victory eluding Trump, but that he was heading towards defeat. A couple of hours earlier, Associated Press had called Michigan and Wisconsin for Joe Biden, putting the Democratic candidate just six electoral college votes away from the White House.

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