London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 28, 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

0:00
0:00
Close
Millions of UK Benefit Recipients Receive Payments Early Ahead of August Bank Holiday
UK Prime Minister Meets Northern Ireland Leaders in Belfast Over Budget Crisis
Crypto Tax Gains Reach One Point Three Eight Billion Pounds Among UK Investors, HMRC Data Shows
UK Corporate Confidence Rises to Highest Level Since March, Lloyds Survey Shows
Mike Ashley Attacks UK Government Business Rates and Cost-of-Living Policies
Scottish Universities Face Two Hundred Million Pound Annual Funding Gap, Report Warns
Entertainment Figures Urge UK Government to Protect People From AI Voice Cloning
Manchester Airports Group Confirms Customer Data Breached in Cyberattack
Seven Charged Over Vandalism at Donald Trump’s Turnberry Golf Resort in Scotland
Nearly 23,000 UK Households Expected to Move Home on Busiest Day of 2026
UK Benefit Payments to Arrive Early Ahead of August Bank Holiday
Reform UK Pledges to Replace GDPR and Cut Tax Administration Red Tape
Andy Burnham Launches Work Experience Plan for One Million Young People Outside Education or Work
Andy Burnham Faces Labour Backlash After Dropping Support for Political Donations Cap
Andy Burnham Announces UK-Wide Summit With Leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Met Office Warns of Heavy Rain and Flood Risk Across England and Wales After Summer Heat
Bank of England Warns AI Adoption Could Reduce Demand for Automatable Jobs
UK Confirms National Salmonella Outbreak With More Than 200 Cases
UK Airports Handle Record 81 Million Passengers Despite Middle East Disruption
Ofgem Raises UK Energy Price Cap by Four Percent to £1,723
Cyber Attack Hits Customer Data Systems at Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands Airports
TSA Unveils Major Airport-Security Overhaul as It Drops Gold+ Privatization Plan
CIA Chief Warned Russia Against Attacking NATO in Secret Moscow Mission
Raheem Sterling Charged With Dangerous Driving After Lamborghini Crash
The Secret Dolly Parton Kept Until Her Death: "She Was Much Sicker Than She Let On"
Middlesbrough House Fire Kills Woman and Seven-Year-Old Girl
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Return to UK Amid Renewed Media Attention
Raheem Sterling Charged With Dangerous Driving After London Collision
Greenpeace Threatens Legal Action Over Crown Estate Offshore Wind Leasing
Nvidia Revenue Surges to Ninety-Six Point Two Billion Dollars on Artificial Intelligence Demand
Meta Agrees to Global Youth Safety Changes Following Multi-State Legal Settlement
UK Government Plans Autumn Summit With Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Leaders
CMA Caps Veterinary Prescription Fees at Twenty-One Pounds
Thames Water Pilot Records Forever Chemicals at Thirteen Times the Legal Limit
Kent Meningitis Outbreak Reaches Thirty-Four Confirmed Cases
Forty Children Missing From UK Asylum Accommodation Remain Unaccounted For
UK Court Upholds VAT on Private School Fees
US Designates Palestine Action as Foreign Terrorist Organization
UK Approves Massive New Chinese Embassy Complex in London Amid Security Concerns
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Visits Kyiv and Offers Cruise Missile Designs to Ukraine
Glacier Collapse, Not Earthquake, Triggered Deadly Nepal-Tibet Flood
Andy Burnham Drops Plan to Cap Political Donations
Conservative Leadership Contest Intensifies as Robert Jenrick Attacks Kemi Badenoch
French-Born Defence Secretary Wes Streeting Condemns Homophobic Abuse Since Taking Office
UK Government Delays Commercial Robotaxi Rollout in London Over Regulatory Gaps
NHS Complaints About Autism and ADHD Care Waiting Times Triple Over Five Years
UK Government Launches 10,000 Work Placements for Young People With Sainsbury's
NHS England to Offer Free At-Home Cervical Cancer Screening Kits
EU Biometric Border Checks Cause Delays of Up to Five Hours for British Travellers
US Imposes Economic Sanctions on UK-Based Protest Group Palestine Action
×