1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

Lock her up!

REVEALED: Kimberly Guilfoyle bragged about raising millions for Jan. 6 rally

Series: The Insurrection
The Effort to Overturn the Election



Kimberly Guilfoyle, a top fundraiser for former President Donald Trump and the girlfriend of his son Donald Trump Jr., boasted to a GOP operative that she had raised $3 million for the rally that helped fuel the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

In a series of text messages sent on Jan. 4 to Katrina Pierson, the White House liaison to the event, Guilfoyle detailed her fundraising efforts and supported a push to get far-right speakers on the stage alongside Trump for the rally, which sought to overturn the election of President Joe Biden.

Guilfoyle's texts, reviewed by ProPublica, represent the strongest indication yet that members of the Trump family circle were directly involved in the financing and organization of the rally. The attack on the Capitol that followed it left five dead and scores injured.

A House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 has subpoenaed more than 30 Trump allies for testimony and documents, including Pierson and Caroline Wren, a former deputy to Guilfoyle. But Guilfoyle herself has so far not received any official scrutiny from Congress.

Guilfoyle's attorney, Joe Tacopina, denied that Guilfoyle had anything to do with fundraising or approving speakers. He said the text from Guilfoyle “did not relate to the Save America rally" on Jan. 6 and the “content of the message itself" was “inaccurate" and “taken out of context." He did not respond to additional questions asking about the accuracy and context of the message.

Reached by phone, Pierson declined to comment.

The text messages show that Guilfoyle expressed specific concerns that she might not be allowed to speak on stage at the Jan. 6 rally. Pierson responded that Trump himself set the speaking lineup and that it was limited to people he selected, including some of his children and Amy Kremer, a grassroots activist who organized the event.

Guilfoyle replied that she only wanted to introduce Trump Jr. and had "raised so much money for this."

"Literally one of my donors Julie at 3 million," she added.

Guilfoyle was referring to Julie Jenkins Fancelli, a Publix supermarket heir who Guilfoyle had developed a professional relationship with during the campaign.

Until now, Wren has been the only person identified as having worked with Fancelli. As ProPublica reported last month, Wren also boasted in private conversations with colleagues of raising $3 million for the events of Jan. 6.

It remains unclear whether that amount was really raised and, if so, how the majority of it was spent. Some of the money raised from Fancelli flowed to dark money groups that supported the rally, according to wire transfers described to ProPublica, planning documents and interviews with insiders.

In a statement from her attorney, Wren acknowledged helping to produce the rally but did not provide further details about her role in fundraising.

“To Ms. Wren's knowledge, Kimberly Guilfoyle had no involvement in raising funds for any events on January 6th," the statement said. “They were both present at a peaceful rally with hundreds of thousands of Americans who were in DC to lawfully exercise their first amendment rights, a primary pillar of American democracy."

The texts between Guilfoyle and Pierson and interviews with Trump officials also suggest that Guilfoyle attempted to influence the lineup of speakers scheduled to appear at the event.

On the night of Jan. 5, Trump Jr., Guilfoyle and Wren attended an event at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, where Trump donors mingled with prominent figures in the movement to overturn the election, according to interviews and social media posts from attendees.

Around the time of that event, Wren called rally staff and urged them to allow speaking roles for Ali Alexander, a far-right provocateur and leader of the Stop the Steal movement; Roger Stone, a former Trump advisor; and conspiracy theorist and InfoWars leader Alex Jones, according to a former campaign official who was told details of the call by people who listened to it.

Trump aides had already deemed the men too radical to go on stage, worrying they might embarrass the president.

During the call, Guilfoyle voiced her support for the controversial speakers, the former campaign official was told. She also specifically demanded that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who had sued to challenge election results in four other states, address the crowd. Alexander later said on a newscast that he also received a call from Guilfoyle that same evening.

Tacopina, Guilfoyle's lawyer, said she did not urge staffers to change the speakers. "Your contention that Ms. Guilfoyle approved a speaking list for January 6th is patently false," he wrote. He threatened to “aggressively pursue all legal remedies available" against ProPublica.

But the texts show Guilfoyle and Pierson talking about a “leaked" speaking list — an apparent reference to an article about the Jan. 6 rally published by the conservative news website Breitbart the day before.

That list included Alexander, Stone and Paxton, among others.

“All I know is that someone leaked a list of 'speakers' that the WH had not seen or approved," Pierson wrote. “I've never had so much interference."

Guilfoyle responded: “Yea and this the list we approved."

Tacopina did not answer further questions about what Guilfoyle meant in the text where she said "we" had approved a speaking list.

Untangling the relationship between Guilfoyle, Wren and Fancelli is key to understanding the financing of the events of Jan. 6.

In January 2020, Guilfoyle was appointed national chair of the Trump Victory finance committee, a leading fundraising vehicle for Trump's reelection campaign. She brought Wren on as her deputy.

Guilfoyle, through her relationship with Trump Jr., had access to the family and a certain star power that appealed to donors. Wren, by all accounts a relentless, high-energy worker, brought fundraising expertise and a Rolodex of wealthy Republicans willing to invest handsomely to keep Trump in office. The duo ultimately brought in tens of millions of dollars toward Trump's reelection.

The pair focused primarily on ramping up the campaign's “bundling" program, a method of fundraising that relies on volunteers collecting money from their personal networks.

Fancelli, a reclusive member of one of the country's richest families, was one of those volunteers, according to interviews and internal Trump Victory records. Splitting her time between Florida and Italy, Fancelli raised at least $72,000 from her friends and family.

She stood out to Wren and Guilfoyle, who in 2020 considered her for a role as Florida state co-chair for the bundling program, according to an internal Trump Victory planning document reviewed by ProPublica. The document highlighted Fancelli as a person Guilfoyle should contact personally.

Tacopina said Guilfoyle had never seen any such document "nor is aware of its supposed existence."

On or just before July 14, 2020, Guilfoyle called Fancelli directly, according to a different set of text messages reviewed by ProPublica. The next day, Fancelli made her largest federal political contribution to date, according to campaign finance records: $250,000 to Trump Victory.

By election night, she had chipped in $565,000 more, records show.

Tacopina did not address the July 2020 phone call in his statement and did not respond to questions about Guilfoyle's relationship with Fancelli. Fancelli did not respond to requests for comment.

After the election, Wren became the main fundraising consultant for a newly formed super PAC run by two of Trump Jr.'s closest aides. The super PAC, called “Save the US Senate PAC," placed ads starring Trump Jr. in which he encouraged Georgians to vote Republican in the bitterly contested runoff elections that would result in Democratic control of the Senate.

That PAC was primarily funded by LJ Management Services Inc., a company closely linked to Fancelli's family foundation. It gave $800,000 to the PAC in several installments, records show.

In late December, Wren became involved in the rally preparations for Jan. 6.

Wren told multiple organizers interviewed by ProPublica that she was carrying out the wishes of the Trump family. Some believed her and feared that defying her would upset the Trumps. Others suspected she was exaggerating.

“Caroline kept talking about her connections to Don Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle," said Cindy Chafian, a rally organizer who told ProPublica she was put in touch with Wren and Fancelli by Alex Jones. “I thought she was full of crap."

As ProPublica previously reported, Wren told Dustin Stockton, another rally organizer, that she had raised $3 million for Jan. 6 and “parked" funds with three Republican dark money groups supporting the rally.

In one case, Wren routed roughly $150,000 from Fancelli to the Republican Attorneys General Association's Rule of Law Defense Fund, which then purchased a robocall instructing Trump supporters to come to Washington and march on the Capitol after the president's speech. The robocall was purchased in order to satisfy the conditions of the donation, a person familiar with the transaction told ProPublica.

ProPublica also reported that Wren had pressured rally organizers to allow Jones and other far-right leaders to speak on stage before the president. The effort grew so intense and volatile that on the morning of Jan. 6, a senior White House official suggested rally organizers call the U.S. Park Police on Wren to have her escorted off the Ellipse. Officers arrived but took no action. Wren has previously declined to comment on the incident.

Around the same time, Guilfoyle sat with Trump and other members of his inner circle in the Oval Office and discussed the growing throngs outside, according to The Washington Post. “They're just reflecting the will of the people," she reportedly told the president. “This is the will of the people."

On stage later that morning, Guilfoyle gave a rousing speech introducing Trump Jr. “We will not allow the liberals and the Democrats to steal our dream or steal our elections," Guilfoyle told the crowd.

Trump Jr. then exhorted the crowd to send a message to the Republican members of Congress who “did nothing to stop the steal."

Trump Jr. did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Jones and Alexander left the rally early. Wren escorted the men away from the White House as they prepared to lead the march on the Capitol.

As the Capitol plunged into chaos later that day — police officers outnumbered and overrun, lawmakers huddled behind makeshift bunkers, tear gas enshrouding the building — Guilfoyle boarded a private jet.

She was off to Florida with at least two major Trump donors, Nebraska gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster and California entrepreneur Richard Kofoed, who had chartered the jet. The plane left Dulles International Airport at 3:47 p.m., according to aviation records. It dropped Herbster off on Florida's Amelia Island before heading for West Palm Beach. Wren listed both Kofoed and Herbster as her VIPs for the rally in planning documents. Planning documents show Cassidy Kofoed, Richard Kofoed's 23-year-old daughter, also worked with Wren on preparations for Jan. 6.

Herbster confirmed that he was on board the plane with Guilfoyle. Richard and Cassidy Kofoed did not respond to requests for comment.

In response to questions about the flight, Tacopina said that Guilfoyle lived with Kofoed and his wife at a rented property in Mar-a-Lago from approximately December 2020 through July 2021.

Guilfoyle has continued her role as a major Trump fundraiser. In October, she was put at the helm of Trump's super PAC, called Make America Great Again, Again!

https://www.propublica.org/series/the-insurrection

[Rick Plant]

What a joke!

Jailed MAGA rioter seeks release because it’s ‘not healthy’ to be ‘stuck in a bubble’ with other insurrectionists



A violent Capitol rioter is seeking his pretrial release from the DC Jail, arguing that it's "not healthy" to be "stuck in a bubble" with other insurrectionists who share his views.

Robert Gieswein is member of the Three Percenters militia group who's accused of assaulting police officers at the Capitol after traveling to Washington from Colorado "prepared for battle," according to media reports.

In a handwritten letter to U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan filed in court on Thursday, Gieswein wrote that he read a recent Vice News article about the "Patriot Wing" of the DC Jail, where he is housed with other hardcore perpetrators of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

"I am not an expert in anything, but I do know it's not healthy to spend every day in here like it's Groundhog's (SIC) Day, with people with the same viewpoint, in the same situation, because we are all portrayed by much of the media as one type of person," Gieswein wrote. "It is natural in this environment for the conversation to turn to January 6, and for us to look to each other for strength."

Gieswein added that he does participate in nightly singalongs of the national anthem that take place in the Patriot Wing — because it helps him remember that he loves his country.

"And I am saying nothing against the other men in here," he wrote. "Still, most of us do share a lot of the same views, and it's easy to get stuck in your bubble in this environment. ... Outside, I could choose to seek out other perspectives."

Gieswein wrote that he tries to watch "many news sites for perspective" — from CNN to Steve Bannon's War Room.

"But it seems like they try to rile everybody up to make money," he wrote. "What I am missing in here is time away from a bubble, and a real chance to talk to real people I trust who may have different perspectives on January 6."

Read the full letter below:



https://www.vice.com/en/article/akvwjp/january-6-rioters-jailed-together-forming-rituals-fanbase

[Rick Plant]

One of the best articles that I've read which details Trump's coup and insurrection with all the players involved.

Trump Insurrection Timeline: First the coup — and then the cover-up
https://www.rawstory.com/insurrection-act/

[Rick Plant]

GOP-linked nonprofit funneled millions to white supremacists and Jan 6th organizers

According to a report from the Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberger, a dark money nonprofit with ties to the Koch family has been funneling millions of dollars into organizations promoting white supremacy as well as supporters of Donald Trump linked to the Jan 6th insurrection.

Based upon an IRS filing from Donors Trust, reported upon by CNBC, the Beast explains that the nonprofit took in $360 million last year to disperse as it sees fit.

According to the report, beneficiaries of donations have been linked to the organizers of the Jan 6th rally -- that turned into a riot at the U.S. Capitol -- as well private universities.

Calling Donors Trust the "dark money ATM of the right," the report states the organization that does not have to reveal who gives it money, "... gave more than $2 million to groups linked to white supremacists, including the VDARE Foundation."

Government ethics expert Norm Eisen claimed, after reviewing the IRS filing that it is "profoundly concerning for the future of our democracy."

With the Beast reporting, "the group channeled major support for entities which fought to overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 victory and organized the Jan. 6 rallies in Washington, D.C." Eisen claimed, "The Donors Trust is taking advantage of the dangerous opacity of our tax and related laws and regulations to fund alleged white supremacist and white nationalist associated groups, those who were bad actors in wrongly attempting to spread misinformation about or overturn the legitimate 2020 election results, and even groups that were responsible for the rally that helped trigger the Jan. 6 insurrection."

According to the Beast's Sollenberger, "Donors Trust posted record numbers in 2020. The group, which has hauled in more than $1 billion since 2016, raised more than $360 million last year, while spreading around $182 million across 339 organizations. Donors Trust itself held on to about $174 million in contributions, bringing its total assets to $607 million."


The GOP Dark Money Group Giving Big to White Supremacists

Donors Trust raised $360 million last year. They’ve been spreading around that money to white supremacist organizations, Jan. 6 organizers, conservative causes, and universities

Efforts to overturn the election. Jan. 6 organizers. White supremacist groups. And more than a dozen private and public universities.

They all have one thing in common: They received anonymous funding funneled through a single conservative dark money behemoth.

That’s the news in the latest IRS filing from Donors Trust—a conservative, Koch-aligned nonprofit which does not need to reveal the names of its donors and has been called the “dark money ATM of the right.”

The disclosure, first obtained by CNBC, shows the group channeled major support for entities which fought to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory and organized the Jan. 6 rallies in Washington, D.C.

Donors Trust also gave more than $2 million to groups linked to white supremacists, including the VDARE Foundation.

Norm Eisen, a government ethics expert and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, analyzed the filing with colleagues and remarked that it was “profoundly concerning for the future of our democracy.”

“The Donors Trust is taking advantage of the dangerous opacity of our tax and related laws and regulations to fund alleged white supremacist and white nationalist associated groups, those who were bad actors in wrongly attempting to spread misinformation about or overturn the legitimate 2020 election results, and even groups that were responsible for the rally that helped trigger the Jan. 6 insurrection,” he told The Daily Beast.

But the same vehicle that quietly fuels white supremacist rhetoric also fanned money out to major educational institutions, including state public schools like the University of Texas, Virginia Tech, Michigan State University, and Florida State University. Leading private colleges like Georgetown, Vanderbilt, and a conservative think tank headquartered at Brown University also drew anonymous support.

At the same time, the fund shipped millions of dollars to right-wing organizations agitating for education reform, including to groups pushing unfounded fears about critical race theory.

The Donors Trust primarily funds right-leaning, libertarian, and free-market advocates. It describes itself as “a charitable savings account”—a go-between that allows wealthy donors to deposit money in lump sums, where it gets invested at tax-free growth. They can later direct contributions at any time while remaining anonymous.

These donor-advised funds are common across the ideological spectrum, and “act as a clearinghouse of donated money,” according to Phil Hackney, a nonprofit law expert at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

“Donors can contribute to these organizations and take a charitable deduction, and they let the group hold the money, invest it, and then contribute to other charitable organizations when the donor advises them to do so,” Hackney explained.

Donors, particularly wealthy ones, often seek anonymity from the public, “particularly where they’re donating to controversial causes,” he said.

Donors Trust posted record numbers in 2020. The group, which has hauled in more than $1 billion since 2016, raised more than $360 million last year, while spreading around $182 million across 339 organizations. Donors Trust itself held on to about $174 million in contributions, bringing its total assets to $607 million.

While the group’s 501(c)3 tax status affords anonymity, reporting has identified several major conservative backers over the years, like the Koch and Bradley families. The biggest single donor this year contributed $158 million, and eight individuals accounted for $270 million in donations—75 percent of the total.

Asked about the money raised for white supremacist and anti-democratic groups, Donors Trust president and CEO Lawson Bader provided a statement touting the fund’s financial success, claiming the organizations they support are “worthy causes” and that the donations “serve the public good.”

“2020 was a year of great uncertainty and change. Despite this, donors stepped up to support public charities, especially those embroiled in alleviating and addressing the vast economic and health challenges facing the country,” the statement said. “Many account holders held ‘rainy day’ charitable funds in their respective accounts, which made it possible for many to extend their generosity and serves as a reminder about the essential nature of donor-advised fund providers during times of crisis.”

Bader, who pulled a $390,000 salary in 2020, said the $186 million distributed last year was “to serve the public good.” He claimed the group has, since its 2001 inception, “distributed more than $1.5 billion to thousands of worthy causes and institutions focused on science, medicine, religion, public policy, the arts, civics and health.”

A representative from a public relations firm that serves the company told The Daily Beast that the organization exists to give legitimate groups “a seat at the table” and “not to advance any cause,” including “those they may disagree with.”

But that appears to contradict with the mission statement on the group’s IRS filing, which states that its purpose is “to promote liberty through limited government, personal responsibility, and free enterprise by providing financial support to other publicly supported charities that share in its purpose.”

It is unclear from Bader’s statement which goals the Donors Trust organization shares with some of its “worthy causes,” including groups that have been associated with white identity and white supremacist movements, like VDARE, Young Americans for Liberty, and the New Century Foundation.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, VDARE, which received $70,000 last year and nearly $2 million in 2019, “regularly publishes articles by white supremacists.” YAL, which received $1.3 million through Donors Trust in 2020, has been affiliated with the white nationalist and the neo-Nazi organization Identity Evropa. The group removed its president after multiple women leveled allegations of sexual assault in January. And another $600,000 went to the New Century Foundation, which SPLC, the Anti-Defamation League, and academics consider a white supremacist group.

The Donor Trust’s self-described efforts to “serve the public good” included bankrolling an array of groups which challenged the 2020 election and seeded unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. Those organizations received nearly $10 million in anonymous cash last year, according to an analysis of the filing.

Two of those entities played key roles in the events surrounding Jan. 6. One of them, the Tea Party Patriots, was listed as a rally organizer and received $250,000. The second, Turning Point—the right-wing youth group run by Charlie Kirk—provided buses to D.C. and participated in the “March to Save America” ahead of the event. Turning Point groups took in a total $780,000 from trust contributions in 2020.

Articles on the VDARE website also rejected Donald Trump’s loss and “cheered on” the rioters.

The Center for Security Policy, a group founded by anti-Muslim activist and conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney—who also disputed the election results—received $1.1 million. After the riot, CSP told CNBC that Gaffney no longer ran the organization. But Gaffney also appears on the board of a Texas-based group called Propter Strategies, which was incorporated in June 2020 and raised $5 million last year through Donors Trust, split evenly between Propter’s “Delta Project” and the “Internal Security Project.”

While plenty of the disbursements went to traditional conservative groups, those groups have also increasingly been voyaging into far-right causes, like “election integrity.”

Take, for example, the group FreedomWorks.

FreedomWorks has been a Koch-funded, libertarian-leaning advocacy group for almost two decades.

But after the election, the nonprofit FreedomWorks reportedly led protests against voter fraud. And in the wake of the Capitol riot, it partnered with Newsmax on a Sunday show called “Save Our Nation.” FreedomWorks received roughly $1.1 million in Donor Trust money last year, including for the Keep Elections Great Project and an initiative identified on the IRS filing as “Save Our Country.”

Additionally, FreedomWorks recently hired attorney and conservative activist Cleta Mitchell, who lost her job at Foley Lardner after participating in Trump’s phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Mitchell also now serves on the board at the Conservative Partnership Institute, a think tank which is also now pushing ideological election reforms and took in more than half a million dollars through Donors Trust last year.

Another traditional conservative cause—the Thomas More Society, which is a law firm that routinely files suits on behalf of right-wing interests, like abortion, gay marriage, and now, overturning the 2020 election—saw more than $2 million come its way through the dark money group.

About $1 million of that money was earmarked for the Amistad Project, an aggressive initiative created in August 2020 which litigated the election both before and after votes were cast, including challenges in five states. Donald Trump’s former election lawyer Jenna Ellis served as the society’s special counsel at the time.

And the Government Accountability Institute, a nonprofit co-founded by Trump loyalist Steve Bannon and backed by right-wing billionaire financier Rebekah Mercer, raked in $1.6 million through the fund last year. The GAI has pushed voter fraud claims, including in a “flawed” 2017 report that has since been removed from the White House website.

Still, these groups make up only a small slice of Donor Trust’s grants. The fund, which over the years has received major financial support from Republican megadonors, backs a panoply of influential conservative think tanks, nonprofits, and activists.

A number of universities, which accept anonymous direct donations, also draw support through the backchannel. The top recipient last year was George Mason University, a public institution in Virginia and home to the conservative Mercatus think tank and Antonin Scalia School of Law. GMU pocketed several million dollars in anonymous gifts, and it is unclear whether any donors have independently revealed themselves to the school.

"We need a tax and legal system that prevents these kinds of abuses of secrecy to undermine democracy,” Eisen said. “If we had a proper set of rules that applied to everyone, then the hidden donors, whoever they may be, would probably be ashamed to be associated with organizations that engage in this kind of activity. In the absence of those across-the-board fair and reasonable principles, we can’t benefit from the famous Brandeis maxim that ‘sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.’”

The Donors Trust public relations representative also pointed out that the group only funds “legit” organizations, who have the blessing of the IRS. But last year, Donors Trust gave $1.4 million to Fair Lines America, a group that was targeted in a watchdog complaint that July for misleading the IRS about $225,000 in 2018 revenue from Donors Trust.

Still, Donors Trust contributors support a number of smaller and apolitical groups as well. For instance, last year the fund raised $25,100 for the Special Olympics, and $15,000 for the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-gop-dark-money-group-donors-trust-giving-big-to-vdare-white-supremacists?ref=home

[Rick Plant]

Leaked Texts: Jan. 6 Organizers Say They Were ‘Following POTUS’ Lead’

Rally planners coordinated closely with the White House before Jan. 6 and readied a dinner party while the Capitol was under siege, according to leaked group text messages obtained by Rolling Stone

At 5:30 pm on Jan. 6, police were in their third hour of battle with supporters of former President Trump on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, about a mile away in a suite at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, Amy Kremer, a conservative activist who organized a major pro-Trump rally near the White House that preceded the violence, apparently had hors d’oeuvres on her mind.

Kremer sent her fellow rally organizers a text preceded by three siren emojis. It was an urgent update.

“We ordered dinner again tonight. Sorry, but we forgot to take orders in the chaos of the event this morning, so we just ordered the same thing as last night. I figured that was better than not eating. Lol,” Kremer wrote. “Cheese & Charcuterie should be here at 6PM and dinner around 7PM.”

An emergency curfew took effect and National Guard troops arrived at the Capitol to clear the remaining crowds at roughly the same time Kremer and her fellow organizers received their cured meats. Three sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigations into the rally, told Rolling Stone that, along with food, people were drinking champagne in the suite while rioters skirmished with law enforcement at the Capitol complex.

Kremer’s insurrection night dinner order was detailed in a series of text messages and group chats from January 6 rally organizers that were obtained and reviewed by Rolling Stone. The messages included months of discussions as Kremer’s “March For Trump” group staged a bus tour around the country to protest the former president’s election loss. The conversations revealed new details of the rally organizers’ coordination with the Trump White House.

Kremer’s Jan. 6 rally took place on the White House Ellipse as Trump’s election loss was being certified at the U.S. Capitol. The event featured a speech by Trump where he urged the crowd  to “fight like hell,” and indicated he expected them to march to the Capitol complex. Some of the audience at the rally began making the approximately mile-and-a-half long trek to the Capitol as Trump concluded his remarks. The barricades at the Capitol were breached minutes before the former president finished the speech.

Two sources who were involved in planning the Ellipse rally previously told Rolling Stone they had extensive interactions with members of Trump’s team, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. The text messages provide a deeper understanding of what that cooperation entailed, including an in-person meeting at the White House. Rally organizers also described working with Trump’s team to announce the event, promote it, and grant access to VIP guests. A spokesperson for the former president did not respond to a request for comment on the record.

Group chats also provided a glimpse of tensions between rally planners. And the conversations showed how their core group reacted to the chaos that erupted that day in real time, including Kremer rejecting calls to hold a press conference denouncing the violence.

Rolling Stone reviewed the text messages in a phone where they were originally received and timestamped. The messages from Amy Kremer and her daughter, Kylie Jane Kremer, came from phone numbers that have been used by both women. We are publishing excerpts of these messages as they were originally written including some typos.

Kremer, who began her political career as a Tea Party activist, is the chairwoman of Women For America First, the pro-Trump organization that obtained the permit for the Ellipse rally. Kylie is the group’s executive director.

Along with Women For America First, Amy Kremer was also a leader of March For Trump, a group that was launched in 2019 to protest against Trump’s first impeachment. In late November of 2020, after Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden, March For Trump began a bus tour with events around the country, where Kremer and other conservative activists promoted false conspiracy theories about the election and called for the results to be overturned. On Nov. 28, 2020, the day before the bus tour began, Kremer texted fellow activists in a group chat.

“​​Welcome to the March for Trump bus tour,” Kremer wrote. “We are going to save the world!”

Two days later, Kremer texted some of the organizers to let them know she was temporarily getting off the bus to travel to Washington for a White House meeting.

“For those of you that weren’t aware, I have jumped off the tour for the night and am headed to DC. I have a mtg at the WH tomorrow afternoon and then will be back tomorrow night,” wrote Kremer. “Rest well. I’ll make sure the President knows about the tour tomorrow!”

The message describing Kremer’s White House meeting is one of several where she and Kylie, indicated they were in communication with Trump’s team. Both Amy and Kylie Kremer did not respond to requests for comment on the record. Chris Barron, a spokesperson for the Kremers, called Rolling Stone to insist elements of this reporting are untrue.

“You are printing things that are 100 percent factually untrue that we can prove are not true,” Barron said. “You are printing things that are absolutely, factually untrue and, beyond being factually untrue, for anybody who knows Amy are like hilariously preposterous.”

Barron repeatedly declined to answer specific questions about which aspects of the story he wanted to dispute.

The texts reviewed by Rolling Stone reveal that on December 13, 2020, Kremer texted the group to say she was “still waiting to hear from the WH on the photo op with the bus.” On January 1, before the Ellipse rally was publicly announced, Kylie sent a message to another group chat that said she was still working on the permits and “just FYI – we still can’t tweet out about the ellipse.”

“We are following POTUS’ lead,” Kylie wrote, using an abbreviation for the president.

Two days later, on January 3, March For Trump activist Dustin Stockton texted one of the team’s groups to ask who was “handling” rally credentials for VIPs. “It’s a combination of us and WH,” Kylie replied.

Stockton’s fiancee, Jennifer Lawrence, had a similar question when she asked a chat group where media credential requests for the Ellipse rally were going after being submitted on the group’s website.

“To campaign,” Kylie responded in an apparent reference to Trump’s re-election team. “They are handling all.”

Stockton and Lawrence did not respond to requests for comment on the record.

On January 3, Trump tweeted an announcement that he would be attending the Ellipse rally. Trump also retweeted posts from Lawrence and Kremer advertising the event. Some of these messages were excitedly shared in a March For Trump group chat.

“Whoop whoop,” wrote Greg Locke, a Tennessee pastor who was a fixture on the bus tour. Locke added a heart, praying hands, and “100” emoji for good measure. Locke did not respond to a request for comment on record.

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack has subpoenaed documents and testimony from both Amy and Kylie Kremer. The pair were asked to give depositions on Oct. 29. The committee has indicated it will consider criminal contempt referrals against individuals who defy its subpoenas. A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment on whether the Kremers have complied with the subpoena.

Multiple members of Trump’s inner circle — including former White House officials — have also been subpoenaed by the committee as it examines the role the former president’s team played in the events of January 6. An attorney familiar with the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the ongoing probe, told Rolling Stone the congressional investigators have obtained “tons of” group chats from organizers.

As the big rally approached, the group chats grew even more excited. On the morning of January 5, Kremer texted the organizers and declared “we are about to be part of a pivotal and historic moment in our nation’s history.”

“Thank you for taking this journey with Women For America First. I love you all and am grateful for each of you,” Kremer wrote, adding, “Let’s go save the Republic!”

But the conversations weren’t all celebratory. The group chats also revealed some of the tensions behind the scenes of the efforts to protest Trump’s election loss.

Kremer and Women For America First weren’t the only ones involved in planning events to protest the election result. Another group, Stop the Steal, which was led by far right activist Ali Alexander, held its own rallies around the country and planned a “Wild Protest” outside the Capitol on January 6. Two sources who were involved in the Ellipse rally planning previously told Rolling Stone they had concerns Alexander’s event could turn violent due to his apparent ties to militia groups and its location directly outside the Capitol. Those sources claimed Alexander initially agreed he would not hold the “Wild Protest” and would allow the Ellipse rally to be the only major pro-Trump event in D.C. on January 6.

The March For Trump group chat conversations hint at some of the tensions between Kremer’s group and the “Wild Protest” planners. On the 6th, the group chats indicate Kremer’s group had a dispute with Alexander over VIP seats at the Ellipse rally.

“Ali trying to rearrange our women for america seats,” wrote one of the group’s volunteers. “Stop that s**t,” replied Stockton.

Alexander did not respond to a request for comment on record.

The group chats also show some of the drama that played out within Kremer’s team. On Dec. 31, as the members of the group realized the “Wild Protest” seemed to be moving forward, Kylie posted a series of angry messages accusing the people who were riding the bus of focusing on irrelevant issues and not sufficiently appreciating the work being done to plan the Ellipse event. Kylie dismissed the “Wild Protest” as “all the people who aren’t invited or POTUS won’t be associated with.”

“How do yall not get it? Seriously. Everyone needs to get off that damn bus because you are all going crazy focused on things that don’t matter.”

A volunteer responded that the group’s supporters were uneasy about a lack of guidance since the Ellipse rally plans had not yet been tweeted. Kylie replied with a pair of messages noting how rare it is for events to take place on the Ellipse. She added that she was working with colleagues and “Team Trump” to get the event squared away.

“I am very frustrated and feel like you guys have NO IDEA the hoops we have been jumping through 24-7 lately. Google events at the Ellipse. Send me pictures that you can find of anything other than the Christmas tree light or menorah lighting that are official WH events. THEY DONT HAPPEN,” Kylie wrote. “Y’all this has got to stop. The back and forth. If anyone doesn’t like what … team trump and I are doing then you don’t have to come to January 6th.”

There were also multiple messages indicating alcohol was a source of controversy among some of the organizers. In one group chat message on Dec. 27, 2020, Kremer admonished her daughter for drinking.

“Kylie, you need to slow your roll on the wine RIGHT NOW,” Kremer wrote. “We have so much work to do and not enough time to get it done.”

At another point, Kremer sent a message to the group declaring, “There will be no more drinking on this trip.”

There was plenty of drinking on Jan. 6 at Kremer’s Willard suite, according to multiple sources. The text messages include a menu for a dinner for the organizers on the night before the rally. Menu options included a “Willard Burger” with truffle aioli, red wine braised Angus short rib Beef Bourguignon, steak frites, and a salmon filet with aged balsamic. Based on Kremer’s text about the charcuterie plate, she chose options from the same menu for the organizers on the evening of Jan. 6. The options in the Willard suite also included champagne that Kremer’s guests were drinking just as her organization issued a press release denouncing the violence and calling the group “saddened and disappointed.”

Pam Silleman, the coordinator for the Napa Tea Party in California and one of the VIP guests invited to the event, previously told the website The Uprising, which is written by this reporter, that she drank champagne in the suite with the Kremers and other organizers after the Ellipse rally as the storming of the Capitol played on TV. A member of the March For Trump team suggested some in the suite were “totally sloshed that night.”

According to the March For Trump team member, the Kremers booked one of the nicest suites at the hotel and had a variety of special requests for staff, including fresh lightbulbs. And the team member further suggested the lavish spread at the Willard may have attracted the attention of law enforcement.

"I got the call from someone at the FBI asking why I used my card at the Willard in DC. … It was an exorbitant bill. The suite they were in, it was ungodly expensive because Kylie had to have the presidential suite. That was what made her comfortable,” the March For Trump team member says. “She had to have her waffles every morning. She would check the lightbulbs at every hotel. She would have maintenance change the lightbulbs.”

Another person who worked on the rally and spoke on the condition of anonymity claimed there were approximately 12 to 15 people in the suite on the evening of Jan. 6 and that it was “stocked up with wine.”

“She was sh**faced that night Kylie Kremer was,” the person says.

On the morning after January 6, the group chats show some of the Ellipse rally organizers wanted to hold a press conference or make a statement denouncing the violence. Shortly before noon, Kremer replied that she felt her initial Women For America First statement was sufficient.

“I don’t think it is wise for us to talk to the press or have a press conference. Our statement yesterday was strong enough and we need to leave it at that,” Kremer wrote to the group chat on January 7. “Nothing god will come from us talking to CBS or any other mainstream media outlet. I hope you guys understand and agree.”

About twenty minutes later, Kremer had another problem on her hands at the Willard. She texted the group for urgent help.

“Someone pls come let me out of my bathroom,” Kremer wrote. “I’m locked in here."

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/j6-white-house-rally-organizers-trump-cooperate-1260849/

[Rick Plant]

Good! More anti American traitors are being subpoenaed. Criminal Roger Stone doesn't have Criminal Donald to protect him anymore.

Capitol riot committee subpoenas Alex Jones and Roger Stone

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots has issued subpoenas to Trump allies Alex Jones and Roger Stone, reports Politico's Kyle Cheney.

Both Jones and Stone encouraged their supporters to attend the January 6th "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the riots.

Stone was convicted in 2019 of several charges related to his efforts to obstruct special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He was subsequently pardoned by former President Donald Trump.

Jones last week lost a massive defamation case filed by families of children who were murdered in the 2012 massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Jones had falsely accused the parents of being "crisis actors" who lied about their children being murdered as a pretext for taking away Americans' guns.

In addition to Stone and Jones, the committee also subpoenaed Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich, as well as pro-Trump activists Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lawrence.

https://www.rawstory.com/roger-stone-alex-jones/

[Rick Plant]

'What liars!' Morning Joe busts GOP apologists after Jan 6 rioter admits he brought a gun to kill Nancy Pelosi

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough blasted Republicans who downplayed the violent threat from the Jan. 6 insurrectionists after new proof emerged of their violent intentions.

Mark Mazza, a 56-year-old Indiana man charged with carrying a loaded firearm to the U.S. Capitol riot, suggested to investigators that he intended to kill House speaker Nancy Pelosi during the chaos, and the "Morning Joe" host unloaded on GOP lawmakers who have insisted those Donald Trump supporters were merely protesters or even tourists.

"We have another person who was there with a gun proving what liars those Republican apologists are, saying they looked like a bunch of tourists," Scarborough said. "This criminal defendant, said he went to Jan. 6 with a gun if he had found Nancy Pelosi, they'd be talking to him about something else completely different."

"This whole idea that people were going after Mike Pence and saying, 'Hang Mike Pence,' that it was, like, a football cheer or something or people screaming, 'Nancy, where are you, Nancy' -- no, it's very clear this was not a group of tourists," Scarborough added. "There were people inside this group that were mobs, rioters who wanted to find and kill Nancy Pelosi and wanted to find and kill the sitting vice president of the United States."