Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Jul 12, 2026

Trump's Oval Office meeting with 4 election conspiracy theorists spiraled into a chaotic, multihour screaming match

Trump's Oval Office meeting with 4 election conspiracy theorists spiraled into a chaotic, multihour screaming match

"Are you out of your f---ing mind?" the White House advisor Eric Herschmann told Sidney Powell at one point, Axios reported.

A meeting in the Oval Office in December with President Donald Trump and four election conspiracy theorists devolved into a curse-filled screaming match that went well into the night, Axios reported on Tuesday.

The meeting included the lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani; Michael Flynn, a former national security advisor; former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne; Eric Herschmann, a senior White House advisor; and Derek Lyons, the White House staff secretary.

Pat Cipollone, a former White House counsel; Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff; and Robert O'Brien, the national security advisor, also attended at various points.

The New York Times also reported on details of the meeting at the time.

Axios reported that at the beginning of the December 18 meeting, Herschmann said, "How the hell did Sidney get in the building?"

Powell had come presenting what she claimed was evidence of massive election fraud by a cabal of foreign communist countries that had hacked Dominion voting machines to "flip" votes from Trump to Joe Biden.

Powell also claimed that the federal government had the authority to issue an executive order to seize voting machines and said Trump should appoint her to be a special counsel to investigate voter fraud. Several people in the room pushed back on her suggestions, neither of which happened.

Dominion Voting Systems has since filed defamation lawsuits against Powell and Giuliani, seeking $1.3 billion in damages in each case.

In the meeting, Herschmann said Powell seemed to be making completely different arguments than Giuliani, who had argued that Democratic politicians and courts improperly changed election rules before the election in November.

Powell stunned Herschmann by saying that the case was really about election fraud and that Giuliani "hasn't understood what this case is about until just now," Axios reported.

Byrne, Powell, and Flynn claimed that top advisors in the Trump administration were disloyal, fueling more yelling and cursing.

"You're quitting! You're a quitter! You're not fighting!" Flynn said of Herschmann before turning to Trump and adding, "Sir, we need fighters."

According to Axios, Herschmann responded, "Why the f--- do you keep standing up and screaming at me?"

He added: "If you want to come over here, come over here. If not, sit your ass down."

When asked why she had lost so many lawsuits alleging election fraud, Powell reportedly said it was because all the judges, both state and federal, were corrupt.

"That's your argument?" Herschmann responded. "Even the judges we appointed? Are you out of your f---ing mind?"

Byrne, who made several bizarre comments during the meeting, spoke up in support of Powell's and Flynn's claims that the Department of Justice was corrupt, Axios reported.

"I know how this works," he said. "I bribed Hillary Clinton $18 million on behalf of the FBI for a sting operation."

At one point, Giuliani, who was on the phone, told everyone to calm down. As one attendee of the meeting told Axios, "When Rudy's the voice of reason, you know the meeting's not going well."

Later, members of the group went up to the residence, where Herschmann and Meadows unloaded on Powell and Flynn for portraying them as disloyal.

"Don't you dare challenge me about whether I'm being supportive of the president and working hard," Meadows reportedly shouted at Flynn.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
The AI Invoice Shock: Layoffs Didn't Save Managers Money — They Cost Them More
Concern: Sexually Transmitted Bacterium Among Men Develops Antibiotic Resistance
Following Massive Investor Demand: SK Hynix Raises 26.5 Billion Dollars on Nasdaq
Passenger Partially Pulled Out of Ryanair Jet After Cabin Window Fails Mid-Flight
After Four Years, and Under a Heavy Veil of Secrecy: King Charles Meets His Grandchildren, Harry and Meghan's Children
Severe Heatwave Drives Dangerous Ground-Level Ozone Pollution Across Two Thirds of European Union
Westminster in Freefall as Farage's By-Election Gamble Triggers Broader Systemic Crises
Institutional Fractures and Political Volatility Reshape Britain's Domestic Landscape
Deadly Fire, Health Emergencies and Political Upheaval Shape a Volatile Global News Cycle
Flight Instructor Jumped to His Death — Student Landed the Plane: "You Know What You Need to Do"
The Physical and Electronic Barriers Disrupting Domestic Wireless Networks
France and Morocco Open World Cup Quarter-Finals as Collina Defends Refereeing
Prince Harry Suffers Major Court Defeat in Legal Battle Against Daily Mail Publisher
Bonnie Tyler, Welsh Singer Behind Total Eclipse of the Heart, Dies at 75
Tech Pulse: The Future of AI and Screen Culture
Global News Briefing: Escalating Geopolitical Tensions and Corporate Shakeups
Global News Brief: Escalating Conflicts, Public Health Crises, and World Cup Drama
Federal Financial Framework Shifts as Treasury Launches Universal Savings Program for Minors
French Court Allows Le Pen to Run for Presidency, but with an Electronic Tag: "I Will Appeal, and I Will Run"
$1.4 Trillion: The Lawsuit That Could Crush Meta
Europe's Growing Struggle with Extreme Heat and Air Conditioning
UK Daily Briefing: Legal Developments and Social Issues
Political Turmoil and Rising Costs
Anthropic Reengineers Agentic Architecture to Shift Autonomous Workplace Automation to the Cloud
Logic Flaw in Windows 11 Permission Architecture Silently Consumes Hundreds of Gigabytes of Local Storage
Apple Advances Late-Stage Operating Systems with Fourth Beta Deployments
Global Crisis Alert: Escalating Middle East Tensions and UK Political Upheaval
Deep Purple Has Released Its Best Album in Decades
Microsoft Lays Off 4,800 Employees and Xbox Suffers the Hardest Blow
Morocco and France Advance as 2026 FIFA World Cup Enters Quarterfinals.
Historic 2026 Tour de France Opens in Barcelona With Revamped Team Time Trial.
Global Mergers and Acquisitions Approach $4 Trillion Defying Geopolitical Tumult.
Negotiators Advance 20-Point Framework for Gaza Ceasefire and Demilitarization.
OECD Warns Middle East Conflict Will Depress Global Economic Growth.
Ukrainian Drones Strike Major Oil Terminal in St. Petersburg.
World Meteorological Organization Issues Urgent Alert Over Rapidly Intensifying El Niño.
United States Commemorates 250th Anniversary With Diplomatic Summits and Global Flotilla.
Iran Begins Days-Long Funeral for Supreme Leader Khamenei Amid Strait of Hormuz Standoff.
Technology giant reports surging carbon emissions driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure demands.
Artificial intelligence adoption accelerates workforce reductions across the technology and financial sectors.
Global technology and financial conglomerates collaborate to launch a new stablecoin standard.
United States regulators lift export restrictions on a major frontier artificial intelligence model.
Luxury bags take over the World Cup: style, status symbol, or just showing off?
×