The Perils of Fundraising Using the Disinformation of the Big Lie Book Chapter
Date of Publication:
Recommended Citation
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, The Perils of Fundraising Using the Disinformation of the Big Lie, in Disinformation, Misinformation and Democracy (Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr. et al. eds., Cambridge University Press, 2025)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
"After losing the 2020 election, President Donald Trump went on a fundraising binge asking his supporters to give to his legal defense fund so that he could litigate the results of the 2020 election which he fraudulently claimed he had won. According to the January 6th Select Committee, this fund did not exist. Moreover, a stolen electoral loss by Trump in 2020 also did not exist. Trump’s post-2020 election fundraising was thus a fraud within a fraud. Thus, there is a reasonable argument that soliciting millions of dollars based on these two false premises actually violates the federal wire fraud statute and common law fraud."
