Talking Points Memo reports that another rally was scheduled to take place on Jan. 6, and it was planned by the same individuals that organized the deadly riot at the Capitol. According to text messages and invoices obtained by the outlet, a rally outside the Supreme Court was planned for the afternoon of Jan. 6, with some of the same speakers to be featured. TPM handed the text messages and invoices to the House select committee investigating the insurrection.
“But now TPM’s reporting suggests that the Ellipse rally organizers intended to hold a separate 2 p.m. ET event on the steps of the Supreme Court, across the street from the Capitol, where Congress began certifying the Electoral College vote at noon ET,” the outlet reports. “It suggests that organizers wanted to keep up the pressure on Congress through an event far closer to the Capitol.”
“And to get there, Big Lie supporters would have had to walk past the Capitol building, traversing a geographic bit of irony: Constitution Avenue,” the report continues. “In the end, the organizers delayed, then aborted the Supreme Court rally as the assault on the Capitol unfolded and roads around the building were blocked.”
“But the picture this new information paints is of a pressure campaign directed at lawmakers by Trump-aligned activists that would continue well after election certification was underway,” the report continues. “It included the two big D.C. rallies that have already been reported — Jan. 5 at Freedom Plaza and Jan. 6 at the Ellipse — as well as a third in that set: a rally at the Supreme Court later on the day of the insurrection.”
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Conservative activists Women for America First, run by Tea Party activist Amy Kremer and her daughter, Kylie Jane Kremer, planned both events on Jan. 6. The committee subpoenaed the Kremers in late October.
“Security guards working the Supreme Court rally were first told to be ready for the event to begin at 2 p.m. ET, while speakers and special guests were set to begin at 3 p.m., ET texts say,” according to TPM.
‘”We were there freezing our butts off until after the speeches — when they started the insurrection,” one security guard who worked the event told TPM, referring to the speeches at the Ellipse,’ the report adds.
At 1:40 p.m. ET, the Kremers and Diamond and Silk still hadn’t reached the Supreme Court. Rather, texts say, they had made it to the Willard Hotel — the Trump team’s “command center” in its bid to block Biden from taking office.
“We should be good to collapse back to the hotel, regroup and prep for SCOTUS,” one text message concludes.
That didn’t happen in the end after the riots broke out. Seven hundred twenty-seven individuals have been charged over their alleged crimes when a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol to stop the peaceful transition of power. At least 140 police officers were injured.
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
