Erin Lichy reacted after Actual Housewives of New York Metropolis viewers accused her of donating to former President Donald Trump‘s “Cease the Steal” marketing campaign following the 2020 election.
“Relating to the hateful and misinformed social commentary happening about me, I’d wish to dispel these false narratives earlier than they proceed any additional,” Lichy, 36, solely instructed Us Weekly in a press release on Monday, July 31. “I don’t deny the election and have by no means supported ‘Cease the Steal.’ I unequivocally consider that the 2020 presidential election was honest and the president was rightfully elected.”
Lichy beforehand addressed the hypothesis through social media after Instagram commenters started asking her about TikTok movies alleging that she donated cash to Republicans after the 2020 election outcomes have been declared.
“There are tiktoks that you simply donated to assist january 6 white supremacists,” one fan alleged within the feedback part of considered one of Lichy’s latest Instagram posts. Lichy denied the hypothesis in her personal remark, writing, “Unfaithful however joyful to reply questions by means of dm so long as you may be open ❤️.”
The Instagram commenter appeared to be referring to a number of latest TikTok movies that alleged Lichy despatched 4 separate donations to Trump’s marketing campaign after he misplaced the November 2020 election to President Joe Biden. In a single clip, a TikTok consumer shared a screenshot that purported to point out Lichy’s 4 donations to WinRed, a fundraising platform for Republican candidates that’s endorsed by the Republican Nationwide Committee.
One other TikTok video included dates of Lichy’s alleged donations, all of which supposedly occurred after main information organizations appropriately projected Biden, 80, because the winner. Following his defeat, Trump, 77, falsely claimed the other, tweeting, “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” Trump’s marketing campaign then despatched a number of emails to supporters asking for donations “to assist defend the integrity” of the election.
WinRed is primarily used to course of donations for election campaigns, however an October 2021 HuffPost report linked the platform to Kash Patel, who was utilizing WinRed to lift cash for his “Authorized Offense Belief.” On the time, a press release on Patel’s web site stated the funds would “be allotted for functions together with (however not essentially restricted to) legitimate authorized bills.”
As a result of Patel, 43, was not working for workplace, he didn’t must disclose how donations have been spent — and a few critics puzzled whether or not the cash can be used to assist fund authorized defenses for individuals who participated within the January 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
A rep for Patel, in the meantime, stated that Patel was cooperating with the investigation into the rebel. “The Kash Patel Authorized Offense Belief was established a number of months in the past, to help Mr. Patel in elevating funds to assist fellow People who felt they’d been silenced or censored by the media and massive tech,” the spokesperson instructed HuffPost on the time. “Mr. Patel continues to interact with the committee and can at all times inform the reality in regards to the occasions of January 6.”
Final yr, the January 6 committee discovered that Trump raised $250 million in donations within the week after the election for an “Official Election Protection Fund” that didn’t exist. As an alternative, the funds went to Trump’s Save America PAC, which then made contributions to Trump inns and the corporate that organized the rally that preceded the January 6 assault.
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In a deposition, one former Trump marketing campaign staffer described the alleged protection fund as nothing greater than a “advertising tactic.”
