The GOP has spent the majority of 2021 either downplaying the events of Jan. 6 or trying to sabotage attempts to investigate it. But the House committee looking into the Capitol siege soldiers on, even indicting at least one of the major players who ignored their subpoenas. We’ll see what happens to the latest batch of people they’ve called on for questioning.
As per The New York Times, they’ve finally come for Roger Stone and Alex Jones. The former is a longtime Republican operative with a tattoo on his back depicting one of his earliest mentors, Richard Nixon. The latter is a conspiracy theorist who’s already in financial trouble over spreading baseless and hurtful misinformation. Both helped draw crowds of Trump supporters to D.C. ahead of that fateful day, whipping them into a frenzy by poisoning their minds with lies about a stolen election. Both were among the many Trump allies shacking up in the same hotel the night before the riot.
Their activities that day were similar but different:
Mr. Stone promoted his attendance at the rallies on Jan. 5 and 6, and solicited support to pay for security through the website stopthesteal.org. While in Washington, he used members of the Oath Keepers as personal security guards; at least one of them has been indicted on charges that he was involved in the Capitol attack.
In a statement, Mr. Stone said he had not yet been served with the subpoena and denied any involvement with the violence.
“I have said time and time again that I had no advance knowledge of the events that took place at the Capitol on that day,” he said.
Mr. Jones helped organize the rally at the Ellipse near the White House before the riot — including by facilitating a donation from Julie Jenkins Fancelli, the heiress to the Publix Super Markets fortune — to provide what he described as “80 percent” of the funding, the House committee said. Mr. Jones has said that White House officials told him that he was to lead a march to the Capitol, where Mr. Trump would speak, according to the committee.
Stone and Jones are one of five newly subpoenaed Trump allies. The committee is also demanding to speak with Dean Stockton and his fiancée Jennifer L. Lawrence — no, not the Oscar-winning actress — who helped organize rallies touting voter fraud. The fifth person is Taylor Budowich, as per NYT, “reportedly solicited nonprofit organizations to conduct a social media and radio advertising campaign encouraging attendance at the rally at the Ellipse and promoting unsupported claims about the election.”
Trump himself has yet to be subpoenaed, but considering the legal hot water that already threatens to consume him, it would behoove him not to blow them off if/when they do.
(Via NYT)
Source: https://uproxx.com/viral/alex-jones-roger-stone-subpoenaed-jan-6-committee-trump/