A bombshell report from Variety’s sister publication Rolling Stone alleges that organizers of the Jan. 6 protests, which escalated to violence when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, met numerous times with White House staff and members of Congress to strategize in the days prior.
At least three organizers of the Stop the Steal rally are speaking with the House panel investigating the riot, with one saying that Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) even promised them a “blanket pardon” in advance.
“Our impression was that it was a done deal,” the organizer said. “That he’d spoken to the president about it in the Oval … in a meeting about pardons and that our names came up. They were working on submitting the paperwork and getting members of the House Freedom Caucus to sign on as a show of support.”
According to the organizers, the representatives that spoke with the organizers or sent high-level staffers to join also included Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX).
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Two of the three organizers also said they interacted with members of Trump’s team, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
As for why these organizers are speaking to the House panel? “It’s so important is that — despite Republicans refusing to participate … this commission’s all we got as far as being able to uncover the truth about what happened at the Capitol that day. It’s clear that a lot of bad actors set out to cause chaos…They made us all look like shit.”
