Two pro-Trump rally organizers who planned election protests across the US, including demonstrations in Washington DC on January 6, said they regularly met with GOP representatives or their top staff in the weeks leading up to the event of the Capitol attack.
In an exclusive interview published by Rolling Stone on Sunday, the organizers said they allegedly spoke to "a dozen" representatives or their teams, naming Rep. Paul Gosar and Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, and Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama.
"We would talk to Boebert's team, Cawthorn's team, Gosar's team like back to back to back to back," said one of the organizers.
"I remember Marjorie Taylor Greene specifically," the same organizer also said. The names of both sources have been kept secret because they are cooperating with the House select committee's probe into the Capitol insurrection, per Rolling Stone. (snip)
It's unclear what was discussed with each representative, but the organizers gave Rolling Stone an example with Gosar, saying he offered them the possibility of receiving a "blanket pardon" to motivate them to plan the rallies.
Three of these representatives - Biggs, Brooks, and Gosar - were previously credited by "Stop the Steal" movement organizer Ali Alexander for helping plan a rally on that day, which Brooks and Biggs denied.
They were led by Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Former chief White House strategist Stephen Bannon was an occasional presence as the effort’s senior political adviser. Former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was there as an investigator. Also present was John Eastman, the scholar, who outlined scenarios for denying Biden the presidency in an Oval Office meeting on Jan. 4 with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. (snip)
In those first days in January, from the command center, Trump allies were calling members of Republican-dominated legislatures in swing states that Eastman had spotlighted in his memos, including Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, encouraging them to convene special sessions to investigate fraud and to reassign electoral college votes from Biden to Trump, two of the people familiar with the operation said.
On Jan. 2, Trump, Giuliani and Eastman spoke to 300 state legislators via a conference call meant to arm them with purported evidence of fraud and galvanize them to take action to “decertify†their election results. “You are the real power,†Trump told the state lawmakers, according to a Washington Examiner report. “You’re the ones that are going to make the decision.â€
"As staffers filed in, some began to shiver. Still, Trump did not close the door... The noise outside grewe louder, almost like a party.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) October 23, 2021
'Isn't that great?' Trump exclaimed. 'Tomorrow is going to be a big day.'" (p. 231)
Both describe Katrina Pierson, who worked for Trump’s campaign in 2016 and 2020, as a key liaison between the organizers of protests against the election and the White House.
“Katrina was like our go-to girl,†the organizer says. “She was like our primary advocate.â€
Pierson spoke at the Ellipse rally on Jan. 6. She did not respond to requests for comment.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill and 33 other House members want an investigation into access given by fellow House lawmakers to visitors to the Capitol on Jan. 5 before the violent attacks on Congress the next day.
The New Jersey Democrat alleged Tuesday night that members of Congress led guests on what she described as “reconnaissance†ahead of the insurrection on Jan. 6.
A letter issued Wednesday asks the acting House sergeant-at-arms, acting Senate sergeant-at-arms, and United States Capitol Police to investigate “suspicious behavior†on Jan. 5 and changes to visitor access.
“The visitors encountered by some of the Members of Congress on this letter appeared to be associated with the rally at the White House the following day,†Sherrill wrote.