US Chamber says some legislators will lose campaign funding

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is threatening to withhold campaign funds from politicians who railed against approval of Joe Biden's election victory, but it wouldn't identify which ones, nor did it call for the ouster of President Donald Trump after last week's insurrection at the Capitol.

The chamber, among the most powerful business groups in Washington, on Tuesday echoed much of corporate America, which has started to reject the violence and false claims of election fraud put forth by Trump and his allies.

Yet many business leaders have been cautious in their rebukes to not fully alienate Trump's supporters, even though the president and other Republican leaders inspired the mob that invaded the building and killed a police officer. Four others, including one of the rioters who was shot by authorities, also died.

Chamber CEO Thomas Donohue said he didn't think the invasion was a “full coup” attempt, but said the chamber didn't like the mob's conduct.

Trump's name was barely mentioned during the chamber's during a 2 1/2-hour video meeting to discuss the state of American business. In a statement, however, the chamber called the president's conduct unacceptable.

“By his words and his actions he has undermined our democratic institutions and our ideals,” the statement said.

But the chamber deferred to government officials about whether Trump should be impeached or ousted by the vice president and his cabinet under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.

Donohue rejected the notion that the U.S. business community turned a blind eye to the divisions sowed by Trump that led to the violence so that it could get lower taxes and reduced government regulations.

“It's very tough, I think, to make a straight-line connection between lower taxes...