MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Big businesses to stop 'treason caucus' donations after Capitol riots, Trump campaign website comes under scanner

The members of the Senate and House who tried to overturn the election results are being slammed as the 'treason caucus'

President Donald Trump has been facing serious flak in the wake of the Capitol Hill violence last week but it is not just him who is in trouble. Politicians and particularly those Republican members of Congress who backed the president’s demand to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election have also come under the scanner and apart from being criticized, they are also being boycotted by big businesses. The members of the Senate and House who tried to overturn the election results are being slammed as the "treason caucus".
 
JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup were among the first major financial organizations to announce that they will pause political action committee donations after followers of Trump ransacked the Capitol, where five people, including one police officer, died. JPMorgan, in fact, is stopping contributions for both the Republicans and Democrats for “at least” the next six months, according to its spokesperson Steve O’Halloran. CNBC reported that the New York-based bank will use that time to think about potential changes to its strategies on political donation. 

“The country is facing unprecedented health, economic and political crises,” Peter Scher, JPMorgan head of corporate responsibility, said in a statement to CNBC. “The focus of business leaders, political leaders, civic leaders right now should be on governing and getting help to those who desperately need it most right now. There will be plenty of time for campaigning later.”

Marriott International, Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance group and Commerce Bancshare, the parent company of Commerce Bank, have also said in the wake of the violence that they would stop donating to GOP lawmakers who backed Trump’s efforts to hamper the congressional certification of the victory of Joe Biden. Other banks, however, have chosen to stop donations to all lawmakers instead of picking only members of the Republican Party. 

“We have taken the destructive events at the Capitol to undermine a legitimate and fair election into consideration and will be pausing political giving from our Political Action Committee to those who voted against the certification of the election,” Marriott spokeswoman Connie Kim said.  

Stripe halts processing payments for Trump campaign site

American digital payments firm Stripe will also stop processing payments for the president’s campaign website after the riot, its spokesperson said. Stripe asked his users to agree that they won’t take payments for “high risk” activities, including for any business or organization that “engages in, encourages, promotes or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property,” according to its website. The Wall Street Journal reported that the company had disabled accounts after acts of violence earlier as well. Following a gunman’s attack on a Pittsburg synagogue in 2018 that saw the deaths of 11 people, Stripe cut off Gab.com -- a right-wing social media platform where the alleged assassin made anti-Semitic posts.

Citigroup Inc told its employees in a memo that it reviewed lawmakers who wanted to disrupt the certification of the Electoral College (EC) votes and discovered that it gave $1,000 to the campaign of Missouri GOP Senator Josh Hawley – one of the Trump loyalists who vowed to challenge the EC results. The report said that Citibank made the contributions since Hawley represented a state where it has ‘significant employee presence’. 

“We want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law,” Candi Wolff, head of Citi's global government affairs, said. 
“We intend to pause our contributions during the quarter as the country goes through the Presidential transition and hopefully emerges from these events stronger and more united.”

Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat said in a statement that he was “disgusted” by the events that unfolded at the Capitol and that people will be held accountable for their actions. 

A source in Walmart said the company carries out a review after every election cycle is completed to “examine and adjust” its “political giving strategy”. It said while making similar reviews during the coming months, it will consider the disturbance at the Capitol. 

Ford, Bank of America and AT&T also said they would also consider the lawmakers’ actions while deciding on whether to make donations while CVS, Exxon Mobil, Target and FedEx said they are also reviewing their political giving. Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway also said the same. 

Meanwhile, voices seeking the ousting of Hawley and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, also a Trump loyalist, grew stronger. The Houston Chronicle, the second-largest newspaper of the Lone Star State, told Cruz in an editorial that he has blood on his hands and should quit. A public protest took place in St. Louis, Missouri, seeking Hawley’s resignation.