AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
- Stripe has stopped processing donations for President Donald Trump’s campaign website, sources told the Wall Street Journal.
- The campaign violated Stripe’s policies against encouraging violence, the sources said.
- Just hours before Trump supporters stormed the Capitol Wednesday, the president urged people to object to the election results and “fight” for him.
- Trump’s campaign has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to help fund legal challenges to the election result.
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Fintech Stripe will stop processing online donations to President Donald Trump’s campaign, sources close to the matter told the Wall Street Journal Monday.
Stripe had made the decision because the campaign violated its policies against encouraging violence, the sources said.
Stripe, which processes payments for the Trump campaign website, joins tech companies including Facebook, Twitter, and Shopify in restricting Trump’s access to their services following Wednesday’s mob attack on the Capitol.
Urged on by Trump’s violent rhetoric and claims of election fraud, rioters stormed the Capitol, just as Congress was due to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory. Five people died.
Stripe, which progresses card payments for millions of online businesses, does not allow payments for “high risk” businesses and organizations. This covers any firm that “engages in, encourages, promotes or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property,” according to its website.
Since November's election, Trump's campaign has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from supporters, including donations to help fund legal challenges opposing the results - donations amounted to at least $150 million in the first month after the election.
Insider has contacted both Stripe and the Trump campaign for comment.
Trump incited his supporters to "stop the steal" at a "Save America" rally just hours before the insurrection, encouraging them to object to the election results and "fight" for him.
"You don't concede when there's theft involved," he told supporters.
"We fight like hell and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore," he added.
Since the siege, companies have distanced themselves from the president.
Twitter permanently suspended Trump's account, Facebook "indefinitely" blocked his account, Snapchat locked his account, and Reddit banned a pro-Trump forum. Twitter and Facebook specifically cited Trump's role in inciting violence in their decision to ban him from their sites.
Apple and Google have both banned Parler, a social media platform popular among Trump supports, from their app stores for failing to remove content that promotes violence, and Amazon has since booted the app off its web-hosting servers, leaving the site offline.
Shopify has also removed accounts associated with Trump, including his official campaign store, and major companies including hoteliers Marriott and Morgan Stanley have cut off donations to GOP lawmakers who objected to certifying Biden as president.