Capitol Hill rioters: ‘US Congress members helped us plan attack’
Protest organisers claim to have met ‘dozens’ of times with lawmakers and White House staff
The organisers of the pro-Donald Trump protest on Capitol Hill claim to have plotted the deadly riot during multiple meetings with members of Congress and staff in the former president’s White House.
According to Rolling Stone, people who helped orchestrate the demonstration “have begun communicating with congressional investigators and sharing new information about what happened when the former president’s supporters stormed the US Capitol”.
And they allege that “multiple members of Congress were intimately involved” in the planning behind “both Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss and the 6 January events that turned violent”, the magazine reported.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Inside job?
Although there have been “prior indications that members of Congress were involved”, said Rolling Stone, the House committee investigating the uprising is now “hearing major new allegations from potential cooperating witnesses” detailing “the purported role and its scope” played by lawmakers.
Two people giving evidence to the congressional investigation reportedly told the magazine that “they interacted with members of Trump’s team, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who they described as having had an opportunity to prevent the violence”.
The two sources, “both of whom have been granted anonymity due to the ongoing investigation”, described being involved in “dozens” of planning meetings. One claimed to recall meeting with Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene “specifically”.
“I remember talking to probably close to a dozen other members at one point or another or their staffs,” they added.
The unnamed organisers also said Republican lawmakers Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, Mo Brooks, Madison Cawthorn, Andy Biggs and Louie Gohmert either “participated in these conversations or had top staffers join in”.
Rolling Stone “separately obtained documentary evidence that both sources were in contact with Gosar and Boebery” on 6 January.
Described as “one of the most prominent defenders” of the rioters, Boebert is also alleged to have floated the possibility of a “blanket pardon” for the two sources “in an unrelated ongoing investigation to encourage them to plan the protests”.
“Our impression was that it was a done deal,” one of the organisers said. “That he’d spoken to the president about it in the Oval Office... in a meeting about pardons and that our names came up.”
Some of those named by the two sources had already been linked to the riots. In January, “conservative talking head and activist Ali Alexander said he worked alongside three Republican lawmakers to plan the attack���, as The Independent reported at the time.
In a quickly deleted video, Alexander named Biggs, Brooks and Gosar, and claimed that their goal “was to put pressure on lawmakers inside to overturn the election in favour of Trump”, the paper added.
“We four schemed up putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting,” Alexander said in the video. “[We hoped to] change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body, hearing our loud roar from outside.”
Biggs and Brooks denied that they had helped Alexander organise the rally, while Gosar did not respond to requests for comment.
Fellow Republican lawmaker Taylor Greene also posted a now deleted video on Twitter in which she said she had been involved in a “great planning session” for the 6 January “objection”.
Other members of Congress have claimed that the attack “was an inside job” too, and that some officers in the Capitol Police aided the rioters, Politico said.
Lawmakers “uniformly praised most Capitol Police officers for their heroic response to the riots”, in which many “suffered injuries defending members, aides and journalists”, the site said.
But videos also “surfaced showing a small number of officers pulling down barricades”. Some members of Congress suggested during a “three-and-a-half-hour caucus call” in the immediate aftermath of the violence that “some Capitol Police officers were not just looking the other way but actually involved”.
Days later, the chair of a House appropriations subcommittee overseeing the law enforcement agency “shared the shocking news that two Capitol Police officers had been suspended and ten to 15 were under investigation for their behaviour during the riot”, Axios reported at the time.
Committee chair Tim Ryan, a Democrat, said that “one was the selfie officer”, who posed for photos with rioters, and “another was an officer who put a MAGA [Make America Great Again] hat on and started directing people around” the Capitol building.
‘No problem testifying’
Congress has voted in favour of prosecuting former Trump aide Steve Bannon over his refusal to testify to the committee investigating the January uprising.
Republican senators also blocked a bill earlier this year to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the violence, arguing that “the riot is already being investigated by congressional panels”, the BBC reported.
The riot is instead being investigated by a congressional inquiry, held by a select committee of the US House of Representatives.
One of the two sources who spoke to Rolling Stone told the magazine that they would “have no problem openly testifying” in front of the inquiry.
Both of the attack organisers reportedly “made clear that they still believe in Trump’s agenda” and “have questions about how his election loss occurred”.
“They are concerned that Democrats gained an unfair advantage in the race due to perceived social media censorship of Trump allies and the voting rules that were implemented as a result of the coronavirus pandemic,” according to the magazine.
But despite “their remaining affinity” for the former president, the duo “say they were motivated to come forward because of their concerns about how the pro-Trump protests against the election ultimately resulted in the violent attack”.
Responding to their claims, Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was evacuated from her office during the riot, tweeted that “any member of Congress who helped plot a terrorist attack on our nation’s Capitol must be expelled”.
“Those responsible remain a danger to our democracy, our country, and human life in the vicinity of our Capitol and beyond,” she added.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why Bhutan hopes tourists will put a smile back on its face
Under The Radar The 'kingdom of happiness' is facing economic problems and unprecedented emigration
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
7 beautiful towns to visit in Switzerland during the holidays
The Week Recommends Find bliss in these charming Swiss locales that blend the traditional with the modern
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Werewolf bill
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
'This needs to be a bigger deal'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
The political latitude of Musk's cost-cutting task force
Talking Points A $2 trillion goal. And big obstacles in the way.
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
John Prescott: was he Labour's last link to the working class?
Today's Big Quesiton 'A total one-off': tributes have poured in for the former deputy PM and trade unionist
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
New York DA floats 4-year Trump sentencing freeze
Speed Read President-elect Donald Trump's sentencing is on hold, and his lawyers are pushing to dismiss the case while he's in office
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Last hopes for justice for UK's nuclear test veterans
Under the Radar Thousands of ex-service personnel say their lives have been blighted by aggressive cancers and genetic mutations
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
'It may not be surprising that creative work is used without permission'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
What message is Trump sending with his Cabinet picks?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION By nominating high-profile loyalists like Matt Gaetz and RFK Jr., is Trump serious about creating a functioning Cabinet, or does he have a different plan in mind?
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Gaetz ethics report in limbo as sex allegations emerge
Speed Read A lawyer representing two women alleges that Matt Gaetz paid them for sex, and one witnessed him having sex with minor
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published