New York (CNN Business) A meeting President Donald Trump held to discuss overturning the election result alarmed some White House staffers -- people who are used to Trump's inflammatory and anti-democratic rhetoric. But a heated Oval Office meeting Friday in which Trump heard arguments about invoking martial law to stay in office had some Trump officials sounding the alarm to the press. Nevertheless, even the mention of martial law may fan the flames of many supporters clinging to the belief the election result was fraudulent. "In the conspiratorial conservative base of supporting Trump, there are calls for using the Insurrection Act to declare martial law," said Elizabeth Neumann, former assistant secretary of Homeland Security under President Trump and adviser at Defending Democracy Together, on CNN's "Reliable Sources." It's a concept she calls "acceleration," in which violent extremist groups, especially White supremacists, try to overthrow of the United States government.

Source: CNN December 20, 2020 18:33 UTC