Part 2: Campaign 2016
January 24, 2015
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In Des Moines, Iowa, Donald Trump says he is "seriously thinking of running for president." “The last thing we need is another Bush,” he says. Trump slams President Obama for using a teleprompter, but later he looks down at paper to read his priorities, including “repealing Obamacare and replacing it with something far better” where “everybody can be covered.”
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The same day, Trump is asked by Bloomberg Politics about his abortion position. Calling himself “pro-life,” Trump advocates for exceptions, and says disallowing abortion “depends when” in the stage of pregnancy. Trump declines to call abortion “murder.” He escapes making any commitment against same-sex marriage by saying either states or the Supreme Court “will make that determination.”
"Three exceptions . . ."
February 11, 2015
Trump Taj Mahal Associates LLC is ordered to pay a $10 million fine (a casino record), for “willful and repeated violations” of federal laws designed to prevent money laundering. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Treasury Department found the Trump casino, now bankrupt, was used “to facilitate criminal activity.”
June 16, 2015
Donald Trump officially announces his run for president, as a Republican. Trump had switched parties several times in previous years, between Republican, Reform, Democrat, and independent. A sharp critic of George W. Bush and the war in Iraq, over which he thought Bush should be impeached for “lying” about “weapons of mass destruction,” Trump was officially a Democrat from August 2001 until September 2009.
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In his speech, Trump says “the American Dream is dead” because of illegal immigrants. “But,” he promises, “if I get elected president, I will bring it back—bigger, and better, and stronger than ever before. And we will make America great again!”
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July 10, 2015
At the libertarian FreedomFest in Nevada, Russian spy Maria Butina—later caught infiltrating the NRA—asks Donald Trump a question about sanctions on Russia. Trump answers, “I know Putin. And I’ll tell you what, we get along with Putin. Putin has no respect for President Obama. Big problem. Big problem.” He repeats, “I believe I would get along very nicely with Putin,” and disagrees that the U.S. “would need the sanctions. I think that we would get along very, very well” with Putin.
Trump hears a question from Russian spy Maria Butina
(Three years later, Butina would plead guilty to charges related to spying and cultivating U.S. political connections for the benefit of the Russian Federation. She served eighteen months in prison before being deported to Russia. The guilty plea prevented further exposure of her activities. Butina, on a U.S. student visa, reported to Alexander Torshin, a lawmaker in Russia. She developed romantic relationships with Republican operative Paul Erickson and Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne. She met Don Trump, Jr., at the 2016 NRA convention.)
July 18, 2015
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At the FAMiLY Leadership Summit in Iowa, Donald Trump is asked by Frank Luntz, “Have you ever asked God for forgiveness?” Trump: “That’s a tough question. I don’t think in terms of—I’m a religious person, shockingly, because people are so shocked when they find this out. I’m Protestant. I’m Presbyterian. And I go to church, and I love God, and I love my church. And Norman Vincent Peale—the great Norman Vincent Peale—was my pastor. ‘The Power of Positive Thinking.’ Everybody’s heard of Norman Vincent Peale. He was so great.” Luntz: “But have you ever asked God for forgiveness?” After laughter from the audience, Trump says, “I’m not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so. If I do something wrong, I think I just try to make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.” Trump says he feels “cleansed” taking “my little wine” and “my little cracker” at church. “I do that as often as possible.”
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At the FAMiLY Leadership Summit, 2015
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At the same event, Trump makes fun of John McCain for being a POW: “He’s not a war hero. He was a ‘war hero’ because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
July 21, 2015
At a campaign rally in South Carolina, Donald Trump “doxxes” Sen. Lindsey Graham by intentionally reading his personal cell phone number into the microphone. “I don’t know—it’s three or four years ago—maybe it’s an old number,” Trump says, and he calls Graham an “idiot” for making derogatory comments against him.
Trump ends speech with Nixon-like gesture after doxxing U.S. Senator
July 22, 2015
On CNN, Anderson Cooper asks Donald Trump whether forgiveness is a “central tenet” for him. Trump: “Well, I like to work where I don’t really have to ask for forgiveness.” Trump says he takes communion and goes to church: “The great Norman Vincent Peale was my minister for years. ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ was fantastic.”
Cooper: “So, forgiveness—that notion of forgiveness—that’s not a central tenet for you?” Trump: “Well, I try not to make mistakes where I have to ask for forgiveness, for one thing. So, when I’m asked a question like that, it’s like, you know, I don’t like to make a lot of mistakes.” Cooper: “So—and I would never ask the detail—but the idea of repentance, is that something that is important to you?” Trump: “I think repenting is terrific. I mean, it’s great.” Cooper: “But is that—but do you feel the need to?” Trump winces and says, “If I make a mistake, yeah, I think it’s great. But I try not to make mistakes. I mean, why do I have to, you know, repent? Why do I have to ask for forgiveness if you are not making mistakes? I work hard. I'm an honorable person.”
Trump: "Why do I have to repent?"
August 19, 2015
At a press conference in New Hampshire, Donald Trump criticizes Jeb Bush for being “bad on women’s health issues.” Trump says, “Nobody’s going to be better on women’s health issues than Donald Trump.” Trump says polls show he has more Democrat support than any other Republican in the race.
August 21, 2015
At a rally, Donald Trump speaks of North and South Korea, and says, “Saudi Arabia and I get along great with all of them, they buy apartments from me, they spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.” Trump says countries should pay for American support: “We defend the whole world—and we want to be nice. Somebody said, oh, that’s like the Mafia defense. I said, don’t worry about it, OK? The Mafia is not so stupid. All right?”
September 2015
Pollster Frank Luntz meets privately with Senators Mitch McConnell, John Thune, John Cornyn, John Barrasso, and John McCain. Luntz says focus groups are indicating Donald Trump will likely win the Republican nomination, and possibly the presidency. If Republicans want to stop Trump, he says, now is the time. (Luntz would later observe: “The truth is, it was already too late. . . . The more you criticized Donald Trump, the stronger he got. The more you showed him to be a hypocrite, the more [his supporters] justified his changing of his mind.” Luntz said he considers the moment Trump locked the nomination to be the moment Trump made fun of John McCain for being a POW: “What I saw was astonishment from the press and nods of approval from the audience.”)
October 12, 2015
Soviet-born ex-convict Felix Sater, a real estate advisor working on behalf of the Trump Organization to arrange construction of a new Trump tower in Moscow, emails his childhood friend Michael Cohen, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization and Trump’s personal lawyer. Sater writes: “Kosti[n] who is Putins top finance guy and CEO of 2nd largest bank in Russia is on board and has indicated he would finance Trump Moscow. This is major for us, not only the financing aspect but Kostins position in Russia, extremely powerful and respected. Now all we need is Putin on board and we are golden, meeting with Putin and top deputy is tentatively set for the 14th. See buddy I can not only get Ivanka to spin in Putins Kremlin office chair on 30 minutes notice, I can also get a full meeting.”
October 25, 2015
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Donald Trump tells CNN that the world was “100%” better with Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi in power. Ignoring Saddam Hussein’s terroristic human rights abuses, Trump says Iraq had no terrorism because Saddam “would kill the terrorists immediately. Now it’s the Harvard of terrorism.” He says the United States is “falling to pieces” with debt and “disastrous” roadways and airports: “We have to start thinking about ourselves.”
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November 3, 2015
Felix Sater emails Michael Cohen: “Buddy our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process. . . . We will manage this process better than anyone. You and I will get Donald and Vladimir on a stage together very shortly.” Sater writes another email to Cohen that day: “We can own this election. Michael my next steps are very sensitive with Putins very very close people, we can pull this off.”
Felix Sater and Michael Cohen worked in 2015 on behalf of the Trump Organization in a deal with Russians to build a Trump tower in Moscow. Sater famously arranged for Ivanka Trump to sit in Putin's chair. He later denied knowing Putin.
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November 11, 2015
In the Milwaukee GOP presidential debate, Donald Trump calls Putin his “stablemate”: “I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night.” Meanwhile, Sen. Marco Rubio calls Putin a “gangster.”
November 24, 2015
In South Carolina, Donald Trump contorts his face and shakes his arms in an unusual manner while mocking a disabled reporter: “You gotta see this guy. ‘Uh, I don’t remember!’”
December 2, 2015
Alex Jones hosts Donald Trump on InfoWars. Jones questions Trump about Vladimir Putin, and asks, “Why are we starting a fight with Russia when they’re not doing anything to us?” Trump goes on about keeping the oil from Iraq, because “to the victor belong the spoils,” and then he answers: “I think I get along great with people. I mean, I will probably get along well with him, and if I don’t, somebody else will. And who knows—you know, he’s a difficult cookie. He’s tough and he’s smart.”
Trump: Putin is "smart," a "stablemate"
Trump continues, “I was on the show 60 Minutes with him recently—not together. I mean, they did him and they profiled me at the same show, which was—we were stablemates, right? But I think I get along very well with him.”
December 2015
Michael Flynn sits next to Vladimir Putin at a dinner in Moscow to celebrate RT (Russia Today). Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein sits across the same table. Flynn was paid $45,000 to speak at the dinner.
Michael Flynn, Vladimir Putin, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, 2015
January 5, 2016
Reuters reports that Donald Trump associate Roger Stone has started a Super PAC, “Restore America's Greatness.” (The organization ultimately raised $587,000 in 2016—from small donors only—after which time the PAC was defunct.)
A Roger Stone PAC hosted at StoptheSteal.org
January 17, 2016
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Jake Tapper interviews Donald Trump on CNN: “You said you’ve never asked God for forgiveness. Do you regret making that remark?” Trump: “No. I have [a] great relationship with God. I have [a] great relationship with the evangelicals. In fact, nationwide I’m up by a lot, I’m leading everybody. But I like to be good. I don’t like to have to ask for forgiveness. And I am good. I don’t do a lot of things that are bad. I try and do nothing that’s bad. I live a very different life than probably a lot of people would think. . . . I try to lead a good life, and I have.”
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January 21, 2016
Felix Sater texts Michael Cohen: “Call me when you have a few minutes to chat . . . It’s about Putin they called today.” Sater and Cohen communicate back and forth on the Trump Moscow building proposal, and discuss an invitation from a Russian developer for Trump to visit Moscow.
January 22, 2016
In Russia, Vladimir Putin meets with his national security council, and authorizes a covert operation to use “all possible force” to elect Donald Trump. A report of the meeting reads that “it is urgently necessary by all means to contribute to his election as President of the United States,” to “inevitably weaken the negotiating position of the future president and his administration.” Trump is called “mentally unstable, impulsive,” and “an unbalanced person with an inferiority complex.” The report hints that kompromat in Russia’s possession could be used to manipulate Trump, “given some events that took place during his stay in the territory of the Russian Federation.”
Putin, at Jan. 22, 2016, meeting: Let's help Trump win because we have blackmail on this "unbalanced" person
Google Translate:
"Influencing the political systems of states that occupy a central role in the introduction and expansion of restrictive measures against the Russian Federation implies provoking the emergence of a socio-political crisis in the United States, and can be effectively carried out only by implementing a theoretical scenario, within which the following tasks must be completed: a) Modulation of the socio-political agenda in the United States with a shift in its vector towards delegitimization in the public consciousness of the state system and the future elected president."
"Influencing the political systems of states that occupy a central role in the introduction and expansion of restrictive measures against the Russian Federation implies provoking the emergence of a socio-political crisis in the United States, and can be effectively carried out only by implementing a theoretical scenario, within which the following tasks must be completed: a) Modulation of the socio-political agenda in the United States with a shift in its vector towards delegitimization in the public consciousness of the state system and the future elected president."
Google Translate:
" . . . social explosion [upheaval?], which will inevitably weaken the negotiating position of the future president and his administration; based on the fact that the main and most promising candidate for the position of the Republican President of the United States is Donald John Trump, whose personal characteristics (Appendix 5 personal characteristics of Donald J. Trump) characterizes him as mentally unstable, impulsive, an unbalanced person with an inferiority complex, actually holding conservative views, as well as given some events that took place during his stay in the territory of the Russian Federation (Appendix 5 personal characteristics Donald J. Trump, paragraph 5), it is possible to say that within the current situation, it is urgently necessary by all means contribute to his election as President of the United States . . ."
" . . . social explosion [upheaval?], which will inevitably weaken the negotiating position of the future president and his administration; based on the fact that the main and most promising candidate for the position of the Republican President of the United States is Donald John Trump, whose personal characteristics (Appendix 5 personal characteristics of Donald J. Trump) characterizes him as mentally unstable, impulsive, an unbalanced person with an inferiority complex, actually holding conservative views, as well as given some events that took place during his stay in the territory of the Russian Federation (Appendix 5 personal characteristics Donald J. Trump, paragraph 5), it is possible to say that within the current situation, it is urgently necessary by all means contribute to his election as President of the United States . . ."
January 23, 2016
Campaigning in Iowa, Donald Trump brags his voters are so loyal, they wouldn’t mind if he committed violence: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”
"I wouldn't lose any voters"
February 1, 2016
Sen. Ted Cruz wins the Republican caucuses, the first GOP contest in the nation, picking up eight delegates. Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio tie with seven delegates each.
February 3, 2016
After losing the Iowa Caucuses to Ted Cruz, candidate Donald Trump accuses Cruz of “fraud.” Tweets Trump: “Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it.” Trump demands a “new election” or “Cruz results nullified.”
February 13, 2016
Justice Antonin Scalia dies unexpectedly at age 79, after spending the day hunting quail at Cibolo Creek Ranch, Texas. Scalia and about thirty-four other people had been invited to the ranch by its owner, John Poindexter, who found the late justice’s body lying atop three pillows on a bed. A pillow case reportedly covered the justice’s eyes. No foul play is suspected. The death raises the stakes of the 2016 election.
February 21, 2016
Donald Trump goes on Meet the Press: “Look, I understand that I have many, many friends who are women who understand Planned Parenthood better than you or I will ever understand it. And they do some very good work.” He wouldn’t support public funds for abortion, he says, but he expects only 3-4% of Planned Parenthood’s operations are surgical abortions. Other than that, he supports using taxpayer money for “women’s health issues,” of which all forms of contraception are included.
February 28, 2016
Sen. Ted Cruz says on Meet the Press: “There have been multiple media reports about Donald’s business dealings with the mob, with the mafia.”
March 4, 2016
BBC Newsnight publishes its 2013 report that scratches the surface of two of Donald Trump’s alleged connections to mafia figures. Included is a 2013 clip of Trump walking out of the interview.
BBC investigated Trump's mafia connections in 2013
March 5, 2016
At a rally in Orlando, Donald Trump takes the unusual step of asking his supporters to raise their hands and pledge support: “Let’s do a pledge. Everybody here—who likes me in this room?” After cheers from the crowd, Trump says, “OK. I’ve never done this before. Can I have a pledge, a swearing.” He lifts his hand. “Raise your right hand. ‘I do solemnly swear that I, no matter how I feel, no matter what the conditions—if there’s hurricanes, or whatever, that’s good enough—will vote on or before the 12th for Donald J. Trump for president.” He then says, “Don’t forget. You all raised your hands. You swore. Bad things happen if you don’t live up to what you just did.”
Ted Cruz wins Kansas and Maine, and ties Donald Trump for Louisiana delegates.
March 8, 2016
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New York Trump campaign co-chair Carl Paladino, a wealthy developer with connections to alleged Buffalo mafia boss Joe Todaro, emails his 50,000 contacts in a pressure campaign against New York Republican officials who have not endorsed Trump. Paladino tells the media, “This is the nice one. It’s going to get worse for those that continue to hold out. I’m being nice.” (When Paladino sought the New York governorship in 2010, he hired Roger Stone’s friend Michael Caputo to run the campaign. Caputo, who worked for Boris Yeltsin in Russia, is rumored to have helped Vladimir Putin get elected—but when he sought employment in the White House in 2017, he testified under oath that he only saw Putin at a few political events in Russia, and had no personal contact. Caputo and Paladino headed Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign in New York.)
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March 14, 2016
Trump and Paladino
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Days after calling New York Republican leaders “treacherous” for being slow to support Trump, Carl Paladino, co-chair of Trump’s New York campaign, emails the state’s Republican legislators and members of Congress: “This is our last request that you join Trump for President and try to preserve what’s left of your pathetic careers in government.”
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March 15, 2016
Roger Stone confirms via tweet that he is behind the “Trump Ballot Security Project”: “We at the #Trump Ballot Security Project plan a lawsuit to challenge the Ohio results help us StoptheSteal.org.”
March 17, 2016
Roger Stone and Alex Jones on InfoWars strongly oppose the growing movement among Republicans to select their nominee at the upcoming national convention in Cleveland. “Unprecedented!” Jones exclaims—although the nomination process was traditionally at convention. “Roger Stone, you first warned of this. I know you’ve been talking to Trump recently. He’s concerned. Explain this to us, and where this is going, and how we fight back against it,” says Jones. Stone says it’s “almost irrelevant” to the delegates (“kingmakers” and “party elites”) that Trump is winning primaries. “They’re petrified. And here’s why. Trump is uncontrollable.”
Jones: The traditional means of nominating candidates (at convention) is "unprecedented"
Stone: Delegates who want an open convention are "party elites" and "kingmakers"
March 23, 2016
Donald Trump wins the Arizona primary, but loses Utah to Ted Cruz.
March 28, 2016
Sandy McIntosh, a classmate of Donald Trump’s at the New York Military Academy, writes of “psychological hazing” at the school from the barracks commandant Major Theodore Dobias, a hardened WWII veteran born in Czechoslovakia. Dobias was well acquainted with Trump, who became the cadet captain his senior year.
McIntoch recalls: “Dobias was a master of psychological hazing, although I doubt that he knew it. One of his efforts to educate us involved posting signs that featured contradictory words of wisdom. One read: ‘When the Great Scorer comes to write against your name, He writes not whether you’ve won or lost, but how you played the game.’ The sign adjacent to it declared: ‘Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing!’ Today Donald offers the same kind of garbled, contradictory communication, which means he can never be held accountable. A case in point was his recent response to Ben Carson’s claim that he recognized ‘two Donald Trumps.’ The candidate said both, ‘I think there are two Donald Trumps,’ and ‘I don’t think there are two Donald Trumps.’”
In addition to Trump and McIntosh, other alumni of NYMA include Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola and mobster John A. Gotti, Jr.
April 2, 2016
Maureen Dowd writes to the New York Times that she asked Donald Trump if he was “ever involved with anyone who had an abortion,” and he replied, “Such an interesting question. So what’s your next question?”
April 4, 2016
Roger Stone, longtime friend and informal advisor to Donald Trump, threatens to dox Republican delegates who abandon Trump at the national convention to be held in Cleveland in July. Says Stone, “We’re going to have protests, demonstrations. We will disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates who are directly involved in the steal.” He alleges there was “massive voter fraud” in every state that went to Ted Cruz: “It is interesting to me that in every primary or caucus where Ted Cruz won, we have certified, proven, sworn evidence of massive voter fraud, which will later be presented to the credentials committee in Cleveland in an attempt to unseat delegates who were illegally elected.” Stone says Trump considered suing the Cruz campaign, but changed his mind. Stone predicts “anti-Trump hacks” at the convention “will vote against Trump on procedural matters.” He calls on Trump supporters to “march on Cleveland” to intimidate delegates who might try to “snatch this nomination from the candidate who was overwhelmingly selected by the voters.”
The same day, Donald Trump slams Ted Cruz at a rally in Wisconsin: “I've met people that are much tougher than Ted Cruz, but I’ve never ever met anybody that lied like him. This guy lies so much, right? Do you remember the voter—remember Iowa? Remember what he said? It looked like he came right out of the IRS. Voter fraud.”
April 6, 2016
Roger Stone’s PAC raises money on the claim of election fraud. “Restore America’s Greatness” states at its StoptheSteal.org site that Trump was the real winner of the Utah caucuses: “The Trump Ballot Security Project is now investigating hundreds of complaints of voter fraud in the Utah Republican Primary won by Ted Cruz.” The fundraiser alleges fraud in six counties in Texas: “In virtually every case votes cast for Donald J. Trump were tallied for Senator Marco Rubio.” The appeal for money also names Oklahoma, Kansas, Maine, Ohio, and Hawaii as potential candidates of fraud. (With the exception of Hawaii, these states were lost by Trump.)
April 8, 2016
Ted Cruz receives 21 of 37 delegates in Colorado.
April 9, 2016
At the state GOP convention in Colorado, Ted Cruz secures the states’ remaining 16 delegates.
April 10, 2016
At a rally in Rochester, New York, Donald Trump thanks his friend Carl Paladino who, among others, “asked me to run for governor,” but Trump had told him “I’m sorry but I’m doing something else—I didn’t want to say this [running for president] is what the something else was.” Trump says he is receiving votes from people who never voted before and “people that are Democrats” who are crossing over. He calls the Republican delegate system “corrupt”—meaning, it should not exist—because, “We’re supposed to be a democracy.” Trump complains the establishment is against him and Bernie Sanders. “We’ve got to change the system. . . . We’ve got to have a system where voting means something.” Trump says if he had been elected in 2000, he would have seized Osama bin Laden before the towers fell: “I promise you, I would have taken that guy out, and you would have had the World Trade Center stand.”
April 11, 2016
Colorado GOP chair Steve House says he is receiving fifty-sixty calls an hour, and even death threats, from angry Trump supporters, after all Colorado delegates chose Ted Cruz at the state GOP convention.
Facebook post from April 11, 2016
April 12, 2016
Indiana police are investigating threats against delegates to the RNC convention to be held in July. One threat mentioned burial and said, “Good luck being a delegate. We are watching you.” Another warned, “Think before you take a step down the wrong path.” The threats came after Indiana delegates publicly expressed opposition to Trump.
Tweet showing a threat against an anti-Trump delegate
On the Glenn Beck Show, Sen. Ted Cruz says Donald Trump has a pattern of claiming fraud when he loses. “He’s willing to say things that he knows are false. And he’s willing to say things, regardless of the consequences.” Cruz says Trump appears to be “inciting violence” at his rallies, and now has “henchmen pushing for violence.”
Cruz explains, “You know, you look at Roger Stone, one of Trump’s key henchmen. Roger Stone is threatening in Cleveland to put out the hotel room of any delegate that dares cross Donald Trump. That is the tactic of union thugs. That is violence. It is oppressive.” He says the Trump campaign “put out publicly to his supporters the phone number of the [Colorado Republican] state chairman. He’s received over 3,000 calls and death threats.”
“Donald needs to understand he’s not Michael Corleone [of The Godfather]. I understand Donald has had some very shady business deals with people who are currently in prison,” says Cruz, “but the presidency should not be ‘La Cosa Nostra.’”
“Donald needs to understand he’s not Michael Corleone [of The Godfather]. I understand Donald has had some very shady business deals with people who are currently in prison,” says Cruz, “but the presidency should not be ‘La Cosa Nostra.’”
April 14, 2016
Asked to name his favorite Bible verse, Donald Trump tells WHAM 1180 radio, “I mean, you know, when we get into the Bible, I think many. So many. And some people—look, an eye for eye, you can almost say that.”
April 16, 2016
Donald Trump tweets a notice of an upcoming interview, saying, “I will be talking about the rigged and boss controlled Republican primaries!”
Sen. Ted Cruz secures Wyoming’s 14 delegates at the state GOP convention.
April 17, 2016
Donald Trump tweets that the delegate system is “rigged.”
April 19, 2016
Donald Trump wins the New York primary with 59% of the vote. John Kasich has 25% and Ted Cruz 15%.
Carl Paladino, Donald Trump, and Tiffany Trump
Trump says in his victory speech, “It’s close to 70%.” He continues, “Sen. Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated.” He complains of the party delegate system: “Nobody should take delegates and claim victory unless they get delegates with voters and voting.” He says the popular vote, not the party, should determine the nomination: “The people aren’t going to stand for it. It’s a crooked system. It’s a system that’s rigged. . . . We’re going to go into the convention, I think, as the winner. And nobody can take an election away” at the convention.
April 21, 2016
Donald Trump says he would change the anti-abortion plank of the Republican platform to include three exceptions.
April 23, 2016
Roger Stone appeals for money to “Stop the Steal.” He calls for Trump supporters to march on Cleveland July 18-21, 2016, during the GOP convention, where some delegates are planning to oppose the nomination. Stone writes: “anti-Trump quislings are being planted in various delegations that will be free to betray Trump on subsequent ballots.” He says “peaceful” demonstrators should lobby delegates “face to face.” “We must send the GOP a clear signal thru our sheer numbers that we will not vote Republican nor work for the ticket if Donald Trump is robbed,” he writes. Although the fundraiser includes the footer “Paid for by the Committee to Restore America’s Greatness PAC,” Stone assures donors: “We are NOT a SuperPAC, or any other kind of PAC. ’Stop the Steal’, which is organized under the Internal Revenue Code and so all contributions, in any amount, including corporate donations, are legal and gratefully accepted.”
April 28, 2016
The FBI arrests an Oregon man for making online threats against President Obama. In his home, they discover several pipe bombs. The man is an avid Trump supporter who, along with making racially-charged threats, posted online: “The establishment is trying to steal the election from Trump.”
April 29, 2016
Indiana Governor Mike Pence endorses Ted Cruz for president.
Donald Trump tweets, “system is rigged!”
April 30, 2016
Ted Cruz picks up 10 of 13 delegates at the Virginia state convention.
May 3, 2016
Sen. Ted Cruz suspends his campaign after losing Indiana. Earlier in the day, Cruz called Trump “utterly amoral” and “a narcissist,” and railed against Trump’s suggestion his father had something to do with the Kennedy assassination: “I’m gonna tell you what I really think of Donald Trump. This man is a pathological liar. He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies, practically every word that comes out of his mouth. And in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying.” He warns that if Trump wins, “This country could very well plunge into the abyss.”
May 4, 2016
Donald Trump complains on Twitter that the “dysfunctional system is totally rigged against” Bernie Sanders.
May 16, 2016
Donald Trump tweets: “Bernie Sanders is being treated very badly by the Dems. The system is rigged against him. He should run as an independent!”
May 17, 2016
Donald Trump tweets “System rigged!” against Bernie Sanders.
May 18, 2016
Donald Trump tweets, “Democrat Primaries are rigged, e-mail investigation is rigged,” and asserts, “Bernie Sanders is being treated very badly by the Democrats - the system is rigged against him. Many of his disenfranchised fans are for me!”
June 13, 2016
Donald Trump calls the Pulse Nightclub shooting a “strike at the heart and soul of who we are as a nation,” because it targeted “sexual orientation.”
June 14, 2016
Donald Trump tweets: “Thank you to the LGBT community! I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs.”
June 17, 2016
NBC News reports of a growing movement within the Republican Party to stop Donald Trump from being nominated at the July national convention.
June 21, 2016
Buffalo News reports of “Republican rumblings” against Trump, and quotes his New York campaign co-chair, Carl Paladino: “If there is any attempt in the rules committee to somehow allow delegates to go away from their pledged duty, there’s going to be a war. I’d certainly whack them if they went off the reservation.”
The press reports Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker saying delegates are not bound to Donald Trump at the Republican national convention, and are free to nominate someone else for president: “I think historically, not just this year, delegates are and should be able to vote the way they see fit.”
June 28, 2016
Sen. John McCain lends support to the idea that Republican delegates can nominate someone other than Trump at the national convention. Says McCain: “I think it’s up to every delegate to make up their own minds.”
The same day, McCain’s former running mate, Sarah Palin, makes fun of establishment Republicans who oppose Trump out of “ideological, lily-white purity.” She admits Trump has fed the “anger” of the grassroots, but she says it’s “righteous indignation” under a “building-up-the-people agenda.” Borrowing from Obama, she adds, with emphasis, “And that’s good change.” Palin says NeverTrumpers are rats: “I call them Republicans Against Trump—or RAT, for short.”
Palin: You're a "RAT" if you oppose Trump
July 1, 2016
Donald Trump again defends Bernie Sanders, and tweets: “The system is totally rigged.”
July 3, 2016
Donald Trump tweets: “The system is totally rigged & corrupt!” “THE SYSTEM IS RIGGED!”
July 4, 2016
Donald Trump tweets: “Crooked Hillary Clinton is ‘guilty as hell’ but the system is totally rigged and corrupt!”
July 5, 2016
Donald Trump again tweets: “The system is rigged.”
July 6, 2016
Donald Trump tweets: “I don't think the voters will forget the rigged system that allowed Crooked Hillary to get away with ‘murder.’ Come November 8, she’s out!” “The rigged system may have helped Hillary Clinton escape criminal charges, but….” “Let today be devoted to Crooked Hillary and the rigged system under which we live.”
At a rally in North Carolina, Trump praises Saddam Hussein for killing alleged terrorists: “He was a bad guy, a really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. He didn’t read them their rights. They were terrorists. It was over.” He suggests Iraq was better off under Saddam: “Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism. You want to be a terrorist? Go to Iraq. It’s like Harvard, OK? So sad. Sooo sad. OK? So sad.”
Screencap from Hindustan Times
Mid-July 2016
Illinois experiences a cyberattack on its voter database, resulting in “data exfiltration.” (See the 2019 Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian interference.)
July 14, 2016
The RNC rules committee passes a rule to remove the ability of delegates to vote their conscience at the upcoming national convention in Cleveland. (Delegates would have a chance at the convention to accept or reject this rule.)
July 15, 2016
CNN reports Carl Paladino has threatened a Utah delegate for advocating a conscience vote at the convention. Paladino defends his words: “The person is being treacherous to the party in doing so and as such the colloquialism [‘hung for treason’] is appropriate.”
July 17, 2016
Donald Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, sit down with Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes. Stahl: “You’re not known to be a humble man.” Trump: “I think I am actually humble. I think I’m much more humble than you would understand.”
Moments later, Trump says he was “one of the few that was right on Iraq.” He says “that was a war that we shouldn’t have entered because Iraq did not knock down” the Towers on 9/11. Stahl: “Your running mate voted for it.” Trump: “I don’t care.” He says Pence was “misled.”
July 18, 2016 — RNC Convention (Day 1)
The Republican National Convention begins in Cleveland. A band entertains convention-goers with raunchy lyrics.
Band entertains RNC delegates with inappropriate lyrics
Delegates attempt to bring a roll call vote on the rules to potentially stop a Trump nomination. Mics are cut as delegates ask for a “point of order.” Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli tosses his credentials and Utah Senator Mike Lee voices astonishment when the podium is abandoned and RNC representatives disappear backstage for several minutes. Speaking to the media from the floor, Sen. Lee says, “I’ve never seen anything like this! There is no precedent for this in parliamentary procedure. There is no precedent for this in the rules of the Republican national convention. We are now in uncharted territory. Somebody owes us an explanation. I’ve never seen the chair abandoned like that. They’ve vacated the stage, entirely!”
The Utah delegation with Phil Wright and Sen. Mike Lee seek a floor vote on the rules
Ken Cuccinelli and the Virginia delegation are ignored
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Kendal Unruh and the Colorado delegation are ignored
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When RNC official Steve Womack returns, he holds a voice vote to adopt the rules and bind the delegates. “The ayes have it,” he says, provoking a strong reaction. Phil Wright, chair of the Utah delegation, is allowed a point of order to request a roll call vote on the rules, based on the petition of about nine or ten states, when only seven are needed. However, Womack responds that the petition is disqualified for consideration because some states and delegates have suddenly withdrawn support. He provides no further explanation or proof.
Steve Womack: "The 'ayes' have it"
Some time later, Kendal Unruh, rules member and leader of “Free the Delegates,” tells C-SPAN the RNC “quashed the voice of the people,” by obstructing the roll call vote. “We submitted the petitions. We have a right to see which petitions were not filled. We have the right to know who went through. That is part of the process under the house rules that we have a right to know. . . . So, once again, the system is rigged in order to make sure that Donald Trump gets the nomination. . . . We circulated petitions. The rules require that you get the majority of delegates in seven states. We had submitted ten, just to make sure that we had enough names submitted. So what they’re saying is that they had three states withdraw, and they’re saying they did not have enough signatures from the states in order to qualify. . . . Some stuff I heard was they were pulling delegates out and having them take their name off the list. This is America, and the people should have the sanctity of their vote not threatened, intimidated, and coerced out of them.”
She says some delegates were told they might be “arrested if they did not vote for Donald Trump. So you have a presidential candidate who is winning the nomination that is using threats of arrest, that is using strong-arm tactics, that is using coercion and mandates in order to get a vote of confidence from the delegates.”
She says some delegates were told they might be “arrested if they did not vote for Donald Trump. So you have a presidential candidate who is winning the nomination that is using threats of arrest, that is using strong-arm tactics, that is using coercion and mandates in order to get a vote of confidence from the delegates.”
Unruh concludes Trump has gone from pushing anti-establishment “populism” to becoming the establishment and acting like a “party boss.”
Outside the convention, Roger Stone calls George W. Bush a “war criminal” for Iraq and complains against the war on drugs. “I’m a libertarian,” he says. Asked for thoughts about the Free the Delegates near-revolt against the Trump nomination, Stone says, “It wasn't a near-revolt. It was a handful of misfits. They didn’t have the votes, so they couldn’t get roll call to stall the convention and waste the time of the people.” He says Trump received more primary votes than Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and Dwight Eisenhower. “This is historic. So, um, you know, some people just need to accept defeat and move on.”
Stone attacks Free the Delegates as "misfits": "Accept defeat and move on"
July 19, 2016 — RNC Convention (Day 2)
A Utah delegate writes on Facebook of intimidation from two Trump supporters who confronted her in the bathroom at the convention. She says: “They yelled at me, called me names. They said I should die. They said the police should be pulled from the Utah delegation and we should all die. They never touched me. They did not say they would kill me. They just said I should die.”
Asked about the incident, Trump’s campaign manager running the convention, Paul Manafort, expresses no concern: “I think I have a pretty good sense of what’s going on in this convention, but I haven’t gone into the bathrooms yet.”
Asked about the incident, Trump’s campaign manager running the convention, Paul Manafort, expresses no concern: “I think I have a pretty good sense of what’s going on in this convention, but I haven’t gone into the bathrooms yet.”
July 20, 2016 — RNC Convention (Day 3)
At the RNC convention, Sen. Ted Cruz congratulates Donald Trump and touches on several shared policy views, without an endorsement. Instead, Cruz creates a stir for saying “vote your conscience. Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.” Seated in front of the podium, the New York delegation boos and chants, “We want Trump! We want Trump!” Cruz replies, “I appreciate the enthusiasm of the New York delegation.” One New Yorker seated in front of Cruz is Carl Paladino, who threatened delegates for standing against Trump.
Cruz looks at or near Carl Paladino (pink tie), who had threatened Cruz delegates
After the speech, Paladino claims credit for leading the boos against Cruz, and says, “It was a man destroying himself. I mean, he had an opportunity to be a statesman, and he lost it.” Paladino says Trump will no longer consider Cruz for the Supreme Court.
Paladino: Cruz just lost Trump's consideration for SCOTUS
July 21, 2016 — RNC Convention (Day 4)
The RNC convention presents Donald Trump in rock-n’-roll fashion with hazy blue lighting and Queen’s “We are the Champions.”
Trump appears at the RNC convention
Trump promises, “Nobody knows the system better than me. Which is why I, alone, can fix it. I have seen how the system is rigged against our citizens, just as the system was rigged against Bernie Sanders.” He says Bernie’s supporters “will join our movement,” as will “millions of Democrats.”
Trump: "I, alone, can fix it."
Trump pledges, “I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful, foreign ideology. Believe me.” After applause and chants, he says, with a nod to his longtime support for the gay agenda, as opposed to his party’s traditional stance, “I have to say, as a Republican, it is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said. Thank you.”
July 24, 2016
Donald Trump tweets: “Crooked Hillary Clinton was not at all loyal to the person in her rigged system that pushed her over the top, DWS. Too bad Bernie flamed out.” “Even though Bernie Sanders has lost his energy and his strength, I don't believe that his supporters will let Crooked Hillary off the hook!” “E-mails say the rigged system is alive & well!”
July 26, 2016
Donald Trump tweets: “Sad to watch Bernie Sanders abandon his revolution. We welcome all voters who want to fix our rigged system and bring back our jobs.”
July 28, 2016
Donald Trump tweets: “As President, I WILL fix this rigged system and only answer to YOU, the American people!”
July 29, 2016
Breitbart.com highlights an interview from “Donald Trump confidante” Roger Stone saying the reason he briefly left the Republican Party (in 1999) was that Republicans had rigged the voting machines. Stone claims this is the only explanation for why John Kerry lost the 2004 election to incumbent President George W. Bush. Stone advises Trump to talk about voter fraud “constantly”: “I think we have widespread voter fraud, but the first thing that Trump needs to do is begin talking about it constantly. He needs to say, for example—today would be a perfect example—‘I am leading in Florida. The polls all show it. If I lose Florida, we will know that there’s voter fraud. If there’s voter fraud, this election will be illegitimate, the election of the winner will be illegitimate, we will have a constitutional crisis, we’ll have widespread civil disobedience, and the government will no longer be the government.’” Stone promises a “bloodbath” if Trump loses: “I think he’s gotta put them on notice that their inauguration will be a rhetorical—and I mean civil disobedience, not violence, but it will be a bloodbath. The government will be shut down if they attempt to steal this and swear Hillary in. No, we will not stand for it. We will not stand for it.”
July 31, 2016
Despite prior statements to the contrary, Donald Trump now says, “I have no relationship with Putin. I don’t think I’ve ever met him. I never met him. I don’t think I’ve ever met him.”
Trump defends Putin’s taking of Crimea: “The people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.” He says Putin will not go further into Ukraine: “He’s not going into Ukraine, OK. Just so you understand. You can mark it down. You can put it down.” Trump says, “When Putin says good things”—such as calling Trump “a genius” who is “going to win”—“and when we have a possibility of having a good relationship with Russia, I think that's good.”
Trump: Ukrainians in Crimea prefer Russia
August 1, 2016
At a campaign rally in Ohio, Donald Trump says, “I’m afraid the election’s gonna be rigged, I have to be honest.”
August 5, 2016
Donald Trump tweets: “President Obama should ask the DNC about how they rigged the election against Bernie.”
At 5:00 p.m.: “As President, I WILL fix this rigged system and only answer to YOU, the American people!”
At 6:04 p.m.: “As President, I WILL fix this rigged system and only answer to YOU, the American people!”
At 6:20 p.m.: “As President, I WILL fix this rigged system and only answer to YOU, the American people!”
At 6:36 p.m.: “As President, I WILL fix this rigged system and only answer to YOU, the American people!”
At 11:12 p.m.: “As President, I WILL fix this rigged system and only answer to YOU, the American people!”
At 5:00 p.m.: “As President, I WILL fix this rigged system and only answer to YOU, the American people!”
At 6:04 p.m.: “As President, I WILL fix this rigged system and only answer to YOU, the American people!”
At 6:20 p.m.: “As President, I WILL fix this rigged system and only answer to YOU, the American people!”
At 6:36 p.m.: “As President, I WILL fix this rigged system and only answer to YOU, the American people!”
At 11:12 p.m.: “As President, I WILL fix this rigged system and only answer to YOU, the American people!”
September 8, 2016
Sen. Jeff Sessions, national security advisor for the Trump campaign, meets in his office with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. (In his 2017 confirmation hearing for attorney general, Sessions would deny meeting with “the Russians.”)
September 20, 2016
Donald Trump tweets: “While Hillary profits off the rigged system, I am fighting for you!”
Late-September 2016
Homeland Security officials suspect that “election-related networks” in twenty-one states have been “targeted by Russian government cyber actors.” (See the 2019 Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian interference.)
September 27, 2016
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Frontline publishes an interview with former Trump classmate Sandy McIntosh from the New York Military Academy: “We were in a culture of hazing at the military school. . . . And hazing, when you followed it and you got through it, it would be your entrance into an elite society. . . . I think what Donald did was after Donald went through the hazing, the new-guy hazing at military school, he started learning from [Theodore] Dobias. He started watching Dobias and started getting his modus operandi.” McIntosh says that when he hears Trump speak, “I hear these echoes of the barracks life that we had and that we grew out of.”
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Trump classmate Sandy McIntosh, Frontline
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McIntosh says, “Donald said that Dobias was his mentor. In the beginning, Donald was rebellious when he first came into the school, according to Dobias. Dobias really, according to Donald, slapped him around whenever he needed to. I know there was a lot of violence that went on, because the next year after Donald had been in F Company with Major Dobias, I went in, and I experienced a lot of the same things.”
McIntosh says Donald helped him gain confidence at school through positive thinking: “I understand that Donald was involved in the Marble Collegiate Church and with the Reverend Peale, and that he did visualize these things, and he was giving me a little insight into doing this. I think that if in fact Donald—the idea behind this is that you see yourself as the winner and you hold that image up to yourself.” But McIntosh says it only goes so far, “I mean, if you’ve lost the battle and the soldiers are all dead on the ground and you’re still holding up and say, ‘We won, we won,’ I mean, you won until the audience walks away.”
October 7, 2016
A media firestorm erupts over eleven-year-old footage of Donald Trump speaking vulgarly about women, because “when you’re a star, you can do anything.” The conversation took place in 2005, months after Trump married his third wife, Melania. Trump’s campaign learns of the scandal while in debate prep with the candidate.
Republicans condemn Trump’s comment, with Rep. Paul Ryan saying he is “sickened” and will no longer campaign for Trump. He immediately disinvites Trump from a scheduled event. Rep. Mike Coffman calls for Trump to drop out of the race. Rep. Jason Chaffetz tells the press, “I’m out. I can no longer in good conscience endorse this person for president. It is some of the most abhorrent and offensive comments that you can possibly imagine.”
Trump issues a statement: “This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course—not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended.”
Republicans condemn Trump’s comment, with Rep. Paul Ryan saying he is “sickened” and will no longer campaign for Trump. He immediately disinvites Trump from a scheduled event. Rep. Mike Coffman calls for Trump to drop out of the race. Rep. Jason Chaffetz tells the press, “I’m out. I can no longer in good conscience endorse this person for president. It is some of the most abhorrent and offensive comments that you can possibly imagine.”
Trump issues a statement: “This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course—not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended.”
October 8, 2016
After midnight, Donald Trump releases a rare admission: “I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.” But he adds, “Let’s be honest, we’re living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction.” He ends his apology by shifting again to Bill Clinton, who “has actually abused women, and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims.”
Sen. Mike Lee
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At 1:05 a.m., Sen. Mike Lee broadcasts a stern message live on Facebook: “It has occurred to me on countless occasions today that if anyone spoke to my wife, or my daughter, or my mother, or any of my five sisters the way Mr. Trump has spoken to women, I wouldn’t hire that person. I wouldn’t hire that person, wouldn’t want to be associated with that person, and I certainly don’t think I would feel comfortable hiring that person to be the leader of the free world.” He calls Trump a “distraction,” and says his conduct “is the distraction from the very principles that will help us win in November. It is for that reason that I respectfully ask you, with all due respect, to step aside. Step down.” Dozens of GOP elected officials voice a similar demand.
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Donald Trump tweets: “The media and establishment want me out of the race so badly - I WILL NEVER DROP OUT OF THE RACE, WILL NEVER LET MY SUPPORTERS DOWN! #MAGA”
October 9, 2016
The second debate is held between Trump and Clinton. After dismissing his 2005 comments as “locker-room talk,” Trump says, “I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do.” He threatens to prosecute Clinton if elected, “Because there have never been so many lies, so much deception.”
October 10, 2016
House Speaker Paul Ryan privately holds a conference call with House Republicans. “I am not going to defend Donald Trump,” he says. “Not now, not in the future.”
October 11, 2016
Donald Trump again dismisses the controversy as “locker room remarks” and tweets: “Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty.” “With the exception of cheating Bernie out of the nom the Dems have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans!” “The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks!”
October 15, 2016
Donald Trump tweets: “Media rigging election!” “Polls close, but can you believe I lost large numbers of women voters based on made up events THAT NEVER HAPPENED. Media rigging election!” “Election is being rigged by the media, in a coordinated effort with the Clinton campaign, by putting stories that never happened into news!” “The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary - but also at many polling places - SAD.”
October 16, 2016
Donald Trump tweets: “This election is being rigged by the media pushing false and unsubstantiated charges, and outright lies, in order to elect Crooked Hillary!” “Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted and should be in jail. Instead she is running for president in what looks like a rigged election.”
October 17, 2016
Donald Trump calls the election “media-rigged,” due to coverage of his Access Hollywood comments.
October 19, 2016
In the third presidential debate, Donald Trump says Putin “has no respect” for Hillary Clinton. She answers, “Well, that’s because he would rather have a puppet as president.” Trump: “No puppet. No puppet. You’re the puppet. No. You’re the puppet.” Clinton: “It’s pretty clear you won’t admit that the Russians have engaged in cyber attacks against the United States of America; that you encouraged espionage against our people; that you are willing to spout the Putin line, sign up for his wish list, rake up NATO, do whatever he wants to do; and that you continue to get help from him, because he has a very clear favorite in this race.”
Clinton: Putin favors Trump in this race because he wants a puppet
October 20, 2016
In Ohio, Donald Trump tells the crowd: “I want to make a major announcement today. I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters, and to all of the people of the United States that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election, if I win.”
Trump: I will accept election results "if I win"
October 22, 2016
Donald Trump says to supporters in Cleveland: “There is the issue of voter fraud. Is it amazing the way they say, ‘There’s no voter fraud.’ Folks, it’s a rigged system, and it’s a rigged election. Believe me.”
October 27, 2016
On Twitter, Donald Trump alleges “vote flipping at the voting booths in Texas.” However, an elections administrator in Texas says, “Absolutely not. . . . It is not happening in any way, shape or form. I stand 100% behind what I do. I stand behind my machines, my staff.”
October 29, 2016
At a rally in Colorado, Donald Trump proudly unfurls a rainbow flag with the writing: “LGBTs for Trump.” He promises to arrest Hillary Clinton.
November 4, 2016
Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton “should not be allowed to run,” because she committed “crimes.” “If she were to win,” says Trump, “it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. She is likely to be under investigation for a long time, concluding, probably, in a criminal trial.” Trump says no one under investigation should be allowed into the White House.
