The long, strange intersection between former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne and President Donald Trump’s political universe took a new turn this weekend.
According to The New York Times, a Friday night meeting was convened at the White House to discuss Trump’s strategy to reverse his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. According to The Times, the idea of seizing voting machines in several states came up at the meeting by Trump’s attorney Sidney Powell and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. While not included in the initial report, Byrne was also in attendance.
Multiple reports said the meeting occasionally heated up and turned into a screaming contest as White House aides pushed back on Powell and Flynn’s suggestions to reverse the election.
Byrne attacked several White House executives for lacking loyalty to the president as he faces defeat and leaves office on January 20, tweeting, “For the first time in my life, I feel sorry for Donald Trump. He’s in snakes up to his waist. Trust only Rudy and Sidney. “
Just last month, Byrne claimed he was funding an army of “hackers and cybersleuths” who would prove that the election results had been “manipulated” by the Democrats to help Biden win. There is no plausible evidence that the vote totals have been altered or manipulated.
On Sunday, Utah Senator Mitt Romney called Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his defeat and his attempts to reverse the election results as “ sad ” and “ shameful. ”
Since his loss, Trump has repeatedly made misleading claims of voter fraud costing him the election. None of these have been proven. The latest target for Trump and his allies are two companies, Dominion Voting and Smartmatic, which they claim were hacked or part of a large-scale plot to deny Trump victory. Smartmatic has threatened a defamation lawsuit against Fox News and other right-wing media. Fox and Newsmax have released lengthy on-air statements to clarify their coverage of Smartmatic.
The original and subsequent coverage of the Friday rally said that the possibility of using the military to seize voting machines was raised by the participants. Flynn previously called on the president to declare martial law and use the military to hold new elections in a number of states he lost to Biden in November.
Byrne disputed the claim that military intervention had been discussed at Friday night’s meeting, calling that reporting “a 100% fabrication.”
To prove his claim that he was at the White House meeting on Friday, Byrne posted several photos of himself inside and outside the building.
On Monday, Attorney General William Barr said there was “no basis” for the seizure of voting machines, as Trump’s legal team has argued.
This isn’t the first time Byrne’s job has cut Trump. Earlier this year, Byrne claimed he was in a romantic relationship with Maria Butina, who had been convicted as a Russian agent. He said he pursued that relationship at the behest of businessman Warren Buffet and “men in black.” He later resigned from Overstock after his claims confused investors.
Byrne did not respond to requests for comment from The Tribune.
