Peter Wade
Mon, October 25, 2021
Capitol Breach - Credit: AP
Rolling Stone’s bombshell report that multiple Republican members of Congress met with organizers of the Stop the Steal event preceding the Capitol insurrection has elicited outrage across the nation — and through the halls of Congress. Lawmakers have responded to the story, published Sunday night, in droves, with some Democratic representatives going so far as to push for the expulsion of any members of Congress who were involved in planning the attack on the Capitol that occurred after the rally.
“They tried to overthrow the government, they had a plan, they executed it, and they broke many laws along the way,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) tweeted shortly after the report was published. “The problem won’t naturally fade away,” he added, noting that Trump appears to be gearing up for a 2024 run at the White House. “It must be confronted.”
Rolling Stone engaged in extensive conversations with two people who helped plan the events of Jan. 6 and who are now communicating with the House select committee investigating Jan. 6. These people shared that multiple members of Congress were “intimately involved in planning both Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss and the Jan. 6 events that turned violent.” Those members include Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) — all of whom voted against certifying Joe Biden’s election win.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) noted on Twitter that he called out Gosar on the House floor during the attack on Jan. 6. “That’s why I screamed, ‘THIS IS BECAUSE OF YOU!’ at Paul Gosar on the House floor on Jan 6 as he was undermining our democracy and his traitorous devotees were storming the Capitol,” Phillips wrote.
Multiple members called for the expulsion of any representatives who were involved in the planning of the violence that unfolded at the Capitol. (Rolling Stone’s reporting did not state that the members helped plan the actual attack on the building.)
“Any member of Congress who helped plot a terrorist attack on our nation’s Capitol must be expelled,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted on Sunday.
Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) said the same in tweets of their own.
“Any Member of Congress who plotted with Jan. 6 terrorists must be removed from Congress,” Swalwell tweeted.
“Any Member who had knowledge of or helped plan the January 6 attack on the Capitol needs to be immediately expelled from Congress,” wrote Cicilline. “They cannot be trusted with the future of our democracy and country.”
“Anyone who aided in an attack on Congress should not be permitted to be a Member of Congress,” added Coleman. “Period.”
Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) tweeted a reminder that she has introduced a resolution in the House proposing an investigation and expulsion of any members who may have helped incite the riot. “My resolution to investigate and expel the Members of Congress who helped incite the deadly insurrection on our Capitol is just waiting for a vote,” Bush wrote. “It’s inexcusable to wait any longer.”
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) kept his tweet simple. “Making sure you see this,” he wrote, tagging the FBI and Department of Justice.
Republicans have largely remained silent on the news that their colleagues helped plan the Jan. 6 events that turned violent, although Gohmert, one of the lawmakers who reportedly helped plan the events of Jan. 6, tweeted on Monday that the accusations are “baseless” and that he had nothing to do with “the planning of the really or any criminal activity on January 6.”
Gohmert couldn’t help but push the idea that “FBI operatives” were behind the events of Jan. 6, a conspiracy theory for which there is no evidence
More from Rolling Stone
Rep. Mo Brooks Admits Staff May Have Helped Plan Jan. 6 Events, Says He'd Be 'Proud' of Them If They Did
They Joined an Anti-Government Militia -- With Their Government Emails
What Insurrection? Corporate America Can't Stop Bankrolling the Jan. 6 Sedition Caucus
Rep. Mo Brooks Admits Staff May Have Helped Plan Jan. 6 Events, Says He'd Be 'Proud' of Them If They Did
They Joined an Anti-Government Militia -- With Their Government Emails
What Insurrection? Corporate America Can't Stop Bankrolling the Jan. 6 Sedition Caucus
New, troubling questions about Madison Cawthorn and Jan. 6
New, troubling questions about Madison Cawthorn and Jan. 6
The Editorial Board
Mon, October 25, 2021
Followers of former President Donald Trump have found one conspiracy theory they don’t like: That some Republican members of Congress may have had deeper roles in plans and events that led to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
One reason they don’t like it is that — unlike the bizarre theories of QAnon, the baseless notions of rampant voter fraud and suspicions about COVID vaccines — the concern that members of Congress may have had a hand in efforts to overturn the election appears to be backed by evidence.
Rolling Stone reported on Sunday that two organizers of the Jan. 6 protests have told congressional investigators that “multiple members of Congress were intimately involved in planning both Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss and the Jan. 6 events that turned violent.”
Rolling Stone said the organizers, speaking anonymously, named seven Republican members of Congress who joined, either directly or through their staffers, in the effort to overturn the election. Republican North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn was among those named.
Cawthorn spokesman Luke Ball dismissed the report on Monday, saying, “These anonymous accusations are complete garbage. Neither the congressman nor his staff had advance knowledge of what transpired at the Capitol on January 6th or participated in any alleged ‘planning process.’ ”
That Cawthorn was named is hardly a surprise. He spoke at the Jan. 6 rally near the White House where he said, “The Democrats, with all the fraud they have done in this election, the Republicans, hiding and not fighting, they are trying to silence your voice.”
Since then, Cawthorn has suggested that another contested election may require taking up arms. “When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes your duty,” he told a Republican group.
Cawthorn’s remarks are not the only embarrassment for North Carolina. The Rolling Stone report also suggests deep involvement in the Jan. 6 events by White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, a former Republican congressman who preceded Cawthorn in North Carolina’s 11th District. And then there is the shameless behavior of Republican members of the state’s congressional delegation, who opposed formation of the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 events.
Republican links to the Capitol attack are not limited to Republicans in Washington. ProPublica reported last week that at least two Republican members of the North Carolina General Assembly are members of the Oath Keepers, a militant group whose members were among the instigators of the Jan. 6 violence. Meanwhile, WRAL reported that Gaston County Republican Donnie Loftis — the Republicans’ choice to replace the late state Rep. Dana Bumgardner — joined the “Stop the Steal Rally” outside the Capitol on Jan. 6. He was close enough that he “got gassed three times,” according to what WRAL said is a since-deleted Loftis Facebook post.
Anyone who truly cares about democracy knows it is threatened by the authoritarian instincts of Trump and his followers, and by Republicans who are too timid to stand against that threat. Elected officials like Cawthorn are not simply zealots or cranks. They are the start of what could become an anti-democratic wave that would have a white and wealthy minority preside over the nation against the popular will.
The Rolling Stone report adds new urgency to the work of the House select committee investigating who and what drove the events of Jan. 6, and what must be done to end the smoldering danger to our democracy.
Even one of the organizers of the Jan. 6 rally now realizes that urgency. They told Rolling Stone: “The reason I’m talking to the committee and the reason 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.”
Now the committee must uncover who those bad actors are — and how many of them are from North Carolina.
GOP members lash out at Rolling Stone report linking them to Jan. 6 planning
Emily Brooks
Mon, October 25, 2021
BOEBERT COMPLAINS SHE WAS NOT INCLUDED
A number of Republican members of Congress named in a Rolling Stone report as being involved in planning the details of rallies and electoral certification objection on the day of Jan. 6 ahead of the riot at the U.S. Capitol building, either personally or through top staff members, are pushing back on or outright refuting the story.
"No one in my office, including me, participated in the planning of the rally or in any criminal activity on Jan. 6. We did not attend or participate at all,” Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert said in a statement on Monday. “However, I am extremely interested to find out who, besides the FBI operatives, did plan the events on Jan. 6. For the purpose of a potential defamation lawsuit against those making baseless accusations of a crime, I need to know who these persons are who are alleging that I helped.”
A Rolling Stone report published Sunday, citing conversations with two anonymous sources, says that “multiple people associated with the March for Trump and Stop the Steal events” had “communicated with members of Congress throughout this process.”
Specifically, the story names Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Gohmert.
"If you’re talking about someone participating in meetings, setting the agenda, raising the money, I don’t know of anything that suggests my staff as doing that stuff," Brooks told the Montgomery Advertiser in an interview pushing back on the report on Monday.
Brooks also rejected a portion of the Rolling Stone report that said he and Cawthorn spoke with then-President Donald Trump at the rally at the Ellipse outside the White House on Jan. 6.
"There was a meeting at the White House about voter fraud and election theft activity," Brooks said. "But I have no recollection of any kind of organizational activity regarding the speeches on Jan. 6."
Boebert also pushed back on the report.
“I had no role in the planning or execution of any event that took place at the Capitol or anywhere in Washington, DC on January 6th,” Boebert said in a statement on Monday. “With the help of my staff, I accepted an invitation to speak at one event but ultimately I did not speak at any events on January 6th. Once again, the media is acting as a messaging tool for the radical left.”
In comments to Rolling Stone, a spokesperson for Greene said that she “and her staff were focused on the Congressional election objection on the House floor and had nothing to do with [the] planning of any protest.”
Much of the lawmakers’ connections to planning certain aspects of Jan. 6 reported in the Rolling Stone story was already public knowledge. Members had publicized that they planned to object to the certification of the Electoral College results. Cawthorn and Brooks spoke at the rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6.
Gosar spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally that Alexander organized in Phoenix on Dec. 19, 2020, and Biggs taped a recorded message that was played at that rally. ProPublica previously reported that Gosar’s chief of staff Tom Van Flein said he was in “regular contact” with Alexander about objecting to the certification of the election results.
Gosar, Greene, and Boebert were all listed as “invited speakers” at a separate “Wild Protest” organized by Alexander that was set to occur near the Capitol, though it is not clear that they accepted any such invitation.
The Rolling Stone report, however, did reveal new information and make new allegations, including that the members or their staffs were involved on planning calls, though it did not specify in great detail how they were involved with the planning.
The outlet reported that it obtained “documentary evidence” that its two anonymous organizer sources were in contact with Gosar and Boebert on Jan. 6.
Its sources also alleged that Gosar floated the idea of Trump issuing a blanket pardon “in an unrelated ongoing investigation to encourage them to plan the protests” and gave the impression that he had spoken to Trump about the idea and was attempting to get Freedom Caucus support for it.
Emily Brooks
Mon, October 25, 2021
BOEBERT COMPLAINS SHE WAS NOT INCLUDED
A number of Republican members of Congress named in a Rolling Stone report as being involved in planning the details of rallies and electoral certification objection on the day of Jan. 6 ahead of the riot at the U.S. Capitol building, either personally or through top staff members, are pushing back on or outright refuting the story.
"No one in my office, including me, participated in the planning of the rally or in any criminal activity on Jan. 6. We did not attend or participate at all,” Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert said in a statement on Monday. “However, I am extremely interested to find out who, besides the FBI operatives, did plan the events on Jan. 6. For the purpose of a potential defamation lawsuit against those making baseless accusations of a crime, I need to know who these persons are who are alleging that I helped.”
A Rolling Stone report published Sunday, citing conversations with two anonymous sources, says that “multiple people associated with the March for Trump and Stop the Steal events” had “communicated with members of Congress throughout this process.”
Specifically, the story names Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Gohmert.
"If you’re talking about someone participating in meetings, setting the agenda, raising the money, I don’t know of anything that suggests my staff as doing that stuff," Brooks told the Montgomery Advertiser in an interview pushing back on the report on Monday.
Brooks also rejected a portion of the Rolling Stone report that said he and Cawthorn spoke with then-President Donald Trump at the rally at the Ellipse outside the White House on Jan. 6.
"There was a meeting at the White House about voter fraud and election theft activity," Brooks said. "But I have no recollection of any kind of organizational activity regarding the speeches on Jan. 6."
Boebert also pushed back on the report.
“I had no role in the planning or execution of any event that took place at the Capitol or anywhere in Washington, DC on January 6th,” Boebert said in a statement on Monday. “With the help of my staff, I accepted an invitation to speak at one event but ultimately I did not speak at any events on January 6th. Once again, the media is acting as a messaging tool for the radical left.”
In comments to Rolling Stone, a spokesperson for Greene said that she “and her staff were focused on the Congressional election objection on the House floor and had nothing to do with [the] planning of any protest.”
Much of the lawmakers’ connections to planning certain aspects of Jan. 6 reported in the Rolling Stone story was already public knowledge. Members had publicized that they planned to object to the certification of the Electoral College results. Cawthorn and Brooks spoke at the rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6.
Gosar spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally that Alexander organized in Phoenix on Dec. 19, 2020, and Biggs taped a recorded message that was played at that rally. ProPublica previously reported that Gosar’s chief of staff Tom Van Flein said he was in “regular contact” with Alexander about objecting to the certification of the election results.
Gosar, Greene, and Boebert were all listed as “invited speakers” at a separate “Wild Protest” organized by Alexander that was set to occur near the Capitol, though it is not clear that they accepted any such invitation.
The Rolling Stone report, however, did reveal new information and make new allegations, including that the members or their staffs were involved on planning calls, though it did not specify in great detail how they were involved with the planning.
The outlet reported that it obtained “documentary evidence” that its two anonymous organizer sources were in contact with Gosar and Boebert on Jan. 6.
Its sources also alleged that Gosar floated the idea of Trump issuing a blanket pardon “in an unrelated ongoing investigation to encourage them to plan the protests” and gave the impression that he had spoken to Trump about the idea and was attempting to get Freedom Caucus support for it.
Stephen Colbert Shreds 2 Pro-Trump Insurrection Lawmakers By Name In Blistering Takedown
NO MENTION OF BOEBERT
Ed Mazza
Wed, October 27, 2021
Stephen Colbert tore into two of the GOP lawmakers who Rolling Stone said took part in planning sessions with the organizers of the Donald Trump rally that preceded the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) denied any involvement. But as Colbert noted, Brooks not only spoke at the rally, he reportedly wore body armor while there.
“That’s like showing up to your surprise party in a full ballgown and tiara,” Colbert said. “Something tells me you were tipped off.”
Then, Colbert turned his ire toward Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who reportedly dangled blanket pardons from Trump for the rally’s planners. Over the weekend, Gosar posted a meme of himself as James Bond.
“It’s appropriate. After all, Gosar’s IQ is 007,“Colbert said. ”... And, if helped plan the riot, he’ll be lucky to be out on bond. Bail bond.”
See more in Colbert’s Tuesday night monologue:
Ed Mazza
Wed, October 27, 2021
Stephen Colbert tore into two of the GOP lawmakers who Rolling Stone said took part in planning sessions with the organizers of the Donald Trump rally that preceded the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) denied any involvement. But as Colbert noted, Brooks not only spoke at the rally, he reportedly wore body armor while there.
“That’s like showing up to your surprise party in a full ballgown and tiara,” Colbert said. “Something tells me you were tipped off.”
Then, Colbert turned his ire toward Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who reportedly dangled blanket pardons from Trump for the rally’s planners. Over the weekend, Gosar posted a meme of himself as James Bond.
“It’s appropriate. After all, Gosar’s IQ is 007,“Colbert said. ”... And, if helped plan the riot, he’ll be lucky to be out on bond. Bail bond.”
See more in Colbert’s Tuesday night monologue:
How Dumb Are They? Stephen Colbert Describes The Stupidity Of GOP Insurrectionists
Ed Mazza
Tue, October 26, 2021
Stephen Colbert mockingly saluted the “intellectual giants” of the Republican Party who were named in a new Rolling Stone report for helping the planners of the Jan. 6 Donald Trump rally that preceded the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.
And by “intellectual giants,” Colbert meant the exact opposite as he described Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas).
“It’s a real ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ of people who can’t count to 10,” Colbert said. “They have to set reminders on their phone to remind themselves to breathe.”
One Jan. 6 planner told Rolling Stone he specifically remembered the involvement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.).
“Yes,” Colbert said. “I can imagine it’s hard to forget someone who tells you forest fires are caused by circumcised space lasers.”
See more in his Monday night monologue:
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
Ed Mazza
Tue, October 26, 2021
Stephen Colbert mockingly saluted the “intellectual giants” of the Republican Party who were named in a new Rolling Stone report for helping the planners of the Jan. 6 Donald Trump rally that preceded the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.
And by “intellectual giants,” Colbert meant the exact opposite as he described Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas).
“It’s a real ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ of people who can’t count to 10,” Colbert said. “They have to set reminders on their phone to remind themselves to breathe.”
One Jan. 6 planner told Rolling Stone he specifically remembered the involvement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.).
“Yes,” Colbert said. “I can imagine it’s hard to forget someone who tells you forest fires are caused by circumcised space lasers.”
See more in his Monday night monologue:
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
The Harshest Punishment Paul Gosar Could Get for Jan. 6
The Daily Beast
Tue, October 26, 2021
Photo Illustration Daily Beast/Getty
Paul Gosar has been basically caught red-handed.
According to bombshell reporting from Hunter Walker for Rolling Stone, the far-right Arizona congressman promised Jan. 6 rioters blanket “pardons.” Not only that, but according to Walker, he was so confident about those pardons he called them a “done deal.”
Walker tells The New Abnormal host Molly Jong-Fast all about it in Tuesday’s episode, including his secret weapon for getting such big scoops: chiefs of staff.
“Oftentimes, they know more, they’re closer to what happened on any given story. And also, they are less schooled in the art of not saying things,” Walker says says.
Case in point: He saw Gosar’s chief of staff hanging out with a Jan. 6 rioter on the social platform Clubhouse. (Walker was also sent strongly worded emails from Lauren Boebert’s chief of staff, but we digress.)
So even though all of these things are coming to light about Jan. 6, what’s next? Molly asks. Well, a lot—but not much at all.
“They have a couple degrees of response. The first one is a reprimand, which is essentially a strongly worded letter that is theoretically a problem I guess if you’re in a competitive district and have a challenger. The next one is a censure, which is a stronger, strongly worded letter,” Walker explains.
At some point, getting booted from one’s position by the House is an option, but with Republican support, “the real cards will lie with the DOJ,” says Walker.
How Marjorie Taylor Greene ‘Basically Bought’ Her House Seat
Plus! The reporter re-enacts actual emails he’s gotten from people on the Hill, and by people we mean GOP-ers like Dr. Sebastian Gorka.
Then, David Pepper, author of Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call from Behind the Lines, tells Molly how Republicans in state houses (like his home state of Ohio) are all slowly burning our democracy to the ground—and passing on the playbook to other states as they go. But not if we do this first.
The Daily Beast
Tue, October 26, 2021
Photo Illustration Daily Beast/Getty
Paul Gosar has been basically caught red-handed.
According to bombshell reporting from Hunter Walker for Rolling Stone, the far-right Arizona congressman promised Jan. 6 rioters blanket “pardons.” Not only that, but according to Walker, he was so confident about those pardons he called them a “done deal.”
Walker tells The New Abnormal host Molly Jong-Fast all about it in Tuesday’s episode, including his secret weapon for getting such big scoops: chiefs of staff.
“Oftentimes, they know more, they’re closer to what happened on any given story. And also, they are less schooled in the art of not saying things,” Walker says says.
Case in point: He saw Gosar’s chief of staff hanging out with a Jan. 6 rioter on the social platform Clubhouse. (Walker was also sent strongly worded emails from Lauren Boebert’s chief of staff, but we digress.)
So even though all of these things are coming to light about Jan. 6, what’s next? Molly asks. Well, a lot—but not much at all.
“They have a couple degrees of response. The first one is a reprimand, which is essentially a strongly worded letter that is theoretically a problem I guess if you’re in a competitive district and have a challenger. The next one is a censure, which is a stronger, strongly worded letter,” Walker explains.
At some point, getting booted from one’s position by the House is an option, but with Republican support, “the real cards will lie with the DOJ,” says Walker.
How Marjorie Taylor Greene ‘Basically Bought’ Her House Seat
Plus! The reporter re-enacts actual emails he’s gotten from people on the Hill, and by people we mean GOP-ers like Dr. Sebastian Gorka.
Then, David Pepper, author of Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call from Behind the Lines, tells Molly how Republicans in state houses (like his home state of Ohio) are all slowly burning our democracy to the ground—and passing on the playbook to other states as they go. But not if we do this first.
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