News & Politics

Report: Members of Congress Helped Plan the January 6 Rally

A Bombshell Article by Rolling Stone Will Likely Drive DC News This Week

The MAGA crowd on January 6. Photograph by Evy Mages

Rolling Stone published a story Sunday night reporting that some of the planners of the January 6 pro-Trump rally on the Ellipse in DC were cooperating with congressional investigators and, according to two rally organizers the magazine spoke to, are saying that several Congressional members were “intimately involved” in the planning of the events taking place that day, which eventually turned violent. The representatives named in the article include Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). 

The article by Hunter Walker says the two witnesses claim that these members or their top staffers were directly involved in conversations planning the event that day. According to the article, “While there have been prior indications that members of Congress were involved, this is also the first account detailing their purported role and its scope. The two sources also claim they interacted with members of Trump’s team, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who they describe as having had an opportunity to prevent the violence.” 

Perhaps the most explosive claim is one about Rep. Gosar: “Both sources say he dangled the possibility of a ‘blanket pardon’ in an unrelated ongoing investigation to encourage them to plan the protests.” One of the witnesses told Rolling Stone they thought the pardon was a “done deal” and “that he’d spoken to the president about it in the Oval.” 

Of the members of Congress named, only Greene provided comment to Rolling Stone. Her communications director Nick Dyer told them via email: “Congresswoman Greene and her staff were focused on the Congressional election objection on the House floor and had nothing to do with planning of any protest.”

There’s been a good deal of reaction across social media. Here’s a taste of what’s been said so far: 

 

 

Jason Fontelieu
Editorial Fellow