Payment processor Stripe cuts ties with Trump campaign

Payment processing company Stripe cut ties with President Trump’s campaign after his supporters rioted at the Capitol last week, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to The Hill on Sunday. 

Stripe, a San Francisco-based company that manages online card payments for several businesses, will stop processing payments to the campaign, saying the campaign violated its policies against encouraging violence after a pro-Trump mob stormed and vandalized the Capitol. 

The company requests that users not collect payments for “high-risk” activities, including for any business or organization that “engages in, encourages, promotes or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property,” according to its website. 

The Wall Street Journal first reported that the company was ending its relationship with the campaign. 

The Trump campaign did not immediately return a request for comment. 

The news of Stripe separating from the president’s campaign came after other technology firms punished Trump and his campaign. 

Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account, and Facebook declared the president could not have access until at least President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. The email vendor that helped the campaign distribute its emails suspended access as well following the riots. 

Apple and Google also stopped offering Parler, the right-wing social media site frequented by conservatives and Trump supporters, in its app stores, saying the platform does not monitor its content and Amazon Web Services said it would not host the site until it ramps up content moderation. 

Businesses are responding after pro-Trump rioters broke into the Capitol building last week, forcing lawmakers to flee to secure locations and both chambers to halt their debates on the Electoral College. 

Trump had called his supporters to flock to D.C. on Jan. 6 to protest Congress’s certification of the Electoral College results confirming Biden’s victory. Ahead of the riots, he encouraged his supporters in a speech to march to the Capitol and reiterated his unfounded claims that widespread voter fraud affected the election.

Marriott International Inc. and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association both announced they would halt company donations to any lawmakers who voted to oppose the Electoral College vote after the riots.