“All Hell is Going to Break Loose Tomorrow” – Steve Bannon
PRESS RELEASE Contact: [email protected]
For Immediate Release
Date: July 12, 2022
Washington, DC – In the seventh hearing of the January 6th Select Committee, we learned without a shred of doubt that Trump knowingly planned and promoted the violent attack on the Capitol in order to overturn the results of an election he knew he lost. After it became clear that he lost the election, Trump and his closest allies coordinated with violent extremist groups in order to plan the march on the Capitol.
“Today the committee presented clear evidence that Trump and his MAGA allies planned and promoted the violent attack on the Capitol in a final desperate attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power after his other, also-illegal schemes had failed,” said Defend Democracy Project Communications Director Nicole Haley. “We’ve just heard the testimony and seen the texts: the attack on our country was premeditated.”
1. Trump’s call for his organizers to march on the Capitol was intentional and planned.
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- According to texts from rally organizers, Trump planned to “unexpectedly” call for his supporters to march on the Capitol and planned on joining them on a stage at the Supreme Court. Trump even prepared a draft tweet instructing his supporters to “March to the Capitol after.”
- Former Trump campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson, who helped plan the Ellipse rally, told colleagues that Trump “loves the crazies.” She said some attendees “were very suspect,” and raised concerns about Ali Alexander and Alex Jones, who entered the Georgia state Capitol in November 2020.
- Another event planner, Kylie Kremer, revealed in a text that Trump expected “to have something intimate at the Ellipse, and call on everyone to march to the capitol.”
- Before the Ellipse rally, Representative Mo Brooks told White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, “only citizens can exert the necessary influence” to overturn the election.
2. Trump wanted to use his speech at the Ellipse to attack Mike Pence after Pence refused to overturn the election.
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- Trump ad-libbed multiple references to Mike Pence in his speech, despite knowing that Pence was already going to certify the election.
- Trump also added references to marching down to the Capitol, saying he would join them.
3. Trump’s inner circle had close connections to the Proud Boys and the Oathkeepers.
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- Trump campaign advisor Roger Stone was in close contact with leaders of the Oathkeepers. He also participated in a group chat named, “Friends of Stone,” which included Oath Keeper President Elmer Stewart Rhodes, Proud Boys Chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and ‘Stop the Steal’ movement organizer Ali Alexander.
- Roger Stone spoke directly with Oathkeepers about security for January 6th. Stone spoke directly with Kelly Meggs, the leader of the Florida Oath Keepers, on Jan. 5.
- Roger Stone took the Proud Boys’ creed – an oath required for “the first level of initiation into the group.”
- Trump’s tweet mobilized previously-unaffiliated right-wing militia groups to “work together and shut this shit down.”
4. A man who entered the Capitol on Jan 6 blamed Trump for inciting the violence at the Capitol.
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- Stephen Ayres, who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, confirmed that it would have made a difference if he had known that Trump had no evidence for his lies. He said “we didn’t plan to go down there [to the Capitol]…basically the president got everyone riled up and told us to go down there,” and believed Trump would be marching with them.
- Ayres said that people dispersed once Trump sent the tweet telling supporters to go home,“I was hanging on to every word he was saying.”
5. Former national media director for the Oathkeepers Jason Van Tatenhove said he was afraid of what would come in this next election cycle.
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- He described the group as a militant, alt-right, and white nationalist militia. He said, “the best illustration for what the Oathkeepers are, happened on Jan 6,” and referred to Stewart Rhodes as a “paramilitary leader.” Tatenhove believes that the insurrection, “…was going to be an armed revolution. I mean, people died that day…this could’ve been the spark that started a new civil war.”
- Tatenhove said, “We’ve been lucky that we haven’t seen more bloodshed yet,” “The potential for violence was so much more, and I fear for this next election cycle,” and finally, wondered “What else is he [Trump] going to do if he wins again.”
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The Select Committee will continue to lay out real evidence gathered by non-partisan career prosecutors proving that Trump and his MAGA allies planned, promoted, and paid for a criminal conspiracy to overturn an election they lost.
This criminal conspiracy extends well beyond the violence perpetrated on January 6, 2021, that injured 140 police officers, including making it harder for people to vote, attempting to appoint bogus electors to overturn the will of voters, and intimidating state officials to change the results in contested states.
Getting to the truth during these hearings and then demanding accountability at the courts and the ballot box is how we stop the current MAGA campaign to sabotage future elections by changing state laws, threatening state officials, and packing election administration offices so that they can have the final say over election results – even when they lose.
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