Trump’s key allies heading into a possible post-election fight

WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump said yes “every right” to “interfere” he lost the 2020 election in an attempt to overturn them. He has he didn’t want to say he would agree 2024 election result

While out of office, Trump cannot address Justice Department officials to help him try to get it annulled results, how Special prosecutor Jack Smith says that’s what happened last time. But there remains a group of supporters ready to help Trump, including some who have been investigated, charged and even convicted in connection with his failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

Some of Trump’s most ardent alleged co-conspirators from 2020, including former administration officials like the then-White House, play a smaller role this time around, if at all. Chief of Staff Mark Meadows AND advisor Peter Navarrowho went prison for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into January 6, 2021 attack at the US Capitol. Some of Trump’s lawyers and legal advisers, such as Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis, did so He pleaded guilty to the criminal charges brought against him in connection with the plot and they are cooperating in ongoing criminal proceedings against Trump and other alleged co-conspirators.

But other Trump acolytes old and new rallied behind him and indicated they would fight Trump’s defeat at the district level, in Congress and the courts, as well as on social media platforms that influence public opinion.

More: ‘Criminal Team’: Pardoned Criminals, Conspiracy Theorists Supporting Trump’s 2024 Presidential Run

Here are some of the most important people in MAGA World who may be at the center of the post-election battle for the results:

“The Fixer” – Borys Epszteyn

A longtime Trump political advisor, legal strategist, fixer and campaign operative, Epshteyn has been described as a “Trump enemy.”consigliere of war”former Trump White House official Steve Bannon. He was one of 18 people have been charged in Arizona for trying make up for Trump’s loss there in 2020. He pleaded not guilty.

Epszteyn too matches the identified person as unindicted co-conspirator No. 6 in the Justice Department’s anti-Trump federal insurrection case Special Advisor Jack Smith, according to The New York Times. AND other media AND legal analysts. Prosecutors allege that co-conspirator No. 6 played a key role in the scheme to use fake pro-Trump electors to overturn Biden’s victory in as many as seven battleground states and to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to go along with the scheme. (Smith filed a new indictment against Trump on January 6, seeking redress of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that some of his actions as president gave him immunity.)

Epshteyn, now an adviser and senior advisor to Trump, did not comment when asked about his role in the 2024 campaign and his plans to contest his defeat to Trump’s Democratic rival Kamala Harris. He also did not comment to USA TODAY on whether or not he is co-conspirator No. 6 in Smith’s file.

“Billionaire’s supporter” – Elon Musk

Musk, the richest man in the world and founder of SpaceX and other ventures, has turned from an ordinary Trump supporter into a full-fledged campaign substitute and financial sponsor. In recent months, he has been using his influential social media platform X, to reinforce debunked conspiracy theories smearing Harris and to spread false or misleading claims about the elections.

Musk was loudspeaker On Trump On October 5, at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, during which the mega-billionaire wore a black hat with the words “Make America Great Again” and described himself as “Dark MAGANow Musk now appears on Trump campaign billboards alongside the candidate repeating Trump’s threat“If Trump loses, this will be the last election Americans will get.”

Musk did not respond to USA TODAY’s requests for comment about his role in the election in posts sent to his X account and via email.

“Dirty Crook” – Roger Stone

Longtime Trump advisor, political consultant and self-proclaimed “dirty cheater”, Stone was deeply involved in promoting election conspiracy theories. As the founder of the “Stop the Steal” movement, his alleged involvement in efforts to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election results drew attention. deep analysis from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection.

Stone was convicted in 2019 of lying to congressional lawmakers to protect the Trump campaign from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump later commuted the sentence and eventually pardoned him. A frequent guest at Mar-a-Lago, Stone he told USA TODAY in May that he still talks to Trump from time to time but has no formal role in the current campaign. This solution is similar to previous campaigns.

More: Roger Stone’s new video sheds light on role in January 6 Capitol riot and plot to overturn 2020 election

“Everything I do, I do on a volunteer basis and I kind of choose my options,” said Stone, who continues to argue that Trump can only lose in 2024 if the election is stolen.

In the new video, Stone says he wants to ship armed guards to dispute elections in Detroit. He also wants to jail former Attorney General Bill Barr if Trump returns to power. Stone did not respond to requests for comment.

“Field General” – Michael Flynn

Trump He pardoned Flynnhis first (and short-lived) national security adviser after the retired Army lieutenant general pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials in late 2016. After Trump’s loss in 2020, Flynn suggested imposing martial law ” redo” the election because it was stolen from him. He participated in attempts to invalidate the election results, including: fundraising for an election audit in Arizona.

However, Flynn was not among the defendants in the Arizona election case.

Since then, Flynn has continued to spread conspiracy theories about the election and other “deep state” cabals, such as the completely discredited QAnon accusations Democratic pedophiles and child traffickers.

In 2024, Flynn travels the country to support his autobiographical documentary “Flynn“He recently he told the interviewer that if the result is not known by November 6, “I have a feeling that people will go to places where it counts and there may actually be violence because people will be – very nervous after 2020 and what will be very clearly in terms of about rigged elections in some states – and they simply won’t tolerate it anymore.”

AND March 28, film screening and a pool party at Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago club sold out. And Trump has suggested several times that he does intends to find a role for Flynn in his administration if he wins in November.

Flynn did not respond to requests for comment.

“The Operator” – Michael Roman

Roman, a longtime Republican operations researcher and opposition researcher, first of the Koch brothers and then of Trump, was the senior campaign official in charge of Election Day operations in 2020. In that role, Roman allegedly played a central role in the “alternative” voter agenda Trump, who sought to overturn the Electoral College results by recruiting fake voters in battleground states to prevent certification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory, prosecutors then allege that Trump nominated Roman Special Advisor to the President of the White House and director of special projects and research.

In addition to Trump, Meadows and others, Roman was among 18 people charged with voter fraud in Georgia. It was Roman’s court filings that forced lead prosecutor Nathan Wade to drop his case for having an affair with Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis. He pleaded not guilty.

In 2020 Justice Department Special Counsel Smith alleged– insisted a Trump official matching Roman’s description cause riots among Trump supporters outside a polling place in Detroit to stop the vote count as it began to gain in Biden’s favor.

Roman was also a Trump campaign official who provided false election certificates to a Pennsylvania congressman’s chief of state in an attempt to deliver them to Vice President Mike Pence, “Polityka” reports. in 2022

A source familiar with Roman said he is not working for Trump or affiliated organizations during this election.

“The Propagandist” – Steve Bannon

Bannon, a former White House official and Trump’s chief strategist, has for years fueled the political movement behind Trump’s false claims of election fraud and rigged voting systems, encouraging public protests and resistance – using force if necessary.

On his last day in office in 2021, Trump pardoned defendant Bannon non-election fraud. But he is remains in prisonserving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress after rejecting a subpoena issued by the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Still, Bannon’s influential podcast “War Room” reaches millions of people and increasingly irritates Trump’s base with further false claims about another stolen election in 2024 and the need to stand up and fight back.

A former investment banker turned populist was also involved inglorious meetings at a Washington hotel where Trump supporters like Stone, Flynn and others gathered to coordinate efforts to overturn the election in the days before the election January 6 Capitol attack. And he told colleagues this in October 2020 Trump would falsely claim to have won the election even if he lost the next month, which he did.

When recently asked if he was in contact with Trump, Bannon told the Guardian“I don’t want to talk about all the conversations, but I maintain enough contact with the president that there is no separation between the War Room and President Trump. If you watch War Room, you’ll see a lot of things come up in the speeches and what he posts on Truth Social.”

“The Architect” – Rudy Giuliani

In 2020, Giuliani, a former mayor of New York and Trump’s personal lawyer, was the legal architect and public face of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. In this role, he led numerous legal challenges and efforts to promote baseless claims about widespread electoral fraud. He was later indicted in Arizona and Fulton County, Georgia, for his alleged role in an election overturning case and was awarded a separate $148 million civil judgment for defaming two election workers whom he falsely accused of election fraud. He pleaded not guilty and denied committing a crime.

Giuliani was recently deprived of his right to practice his profession in the District of Columbia based on his false information about election fraud while he served as Trump 2020 campaign lawyer He was also disbarred from practicing law in New York.

On 9/11, he appeared with Trump, Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance and others at a memorial service at Ground Zero in Manhattan honoring those killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Giuliani did not respond to requests for comment.