An investigation in the Wall Street Journal found that a number of key allies of former President Donald Trump – including the far-right media personality Alex Jones and Julie Jenkins Fancelli, heir to the fortunes of Publix supermarket – helped fund the protest that stormed of the USA. Capitol on January 6, which left five dead.
According to reporters Shalini Ramachandran, Alexandra Berzon and Rebecca Ballhaus, Jones pledged $ 50,000 of his own money to the event and arranged additional funds, including a $ 300,000 contribution from Jenkins Fancelli, who is a key GOP donor.
According to the report, the protest cost a total of about $ 500,000. That event, during which Trump promised never to concede the November election to President Joe Biden – and whipped up supporters who later took over the Capitol – forms the basis of Trump’s second indictment in the House of Representatives. Partly because of the remarks he made during the protest, Trump is charged with ‘inciting insurgency’ and will soon face a trial in the Senate.
The Journal also reports that, according to the Federal Election Commission, “at least five former Trump campaign personnel” were involved in the logistics of the event. The protest was particularly lucrative for Trump fundraiser Caroline Wren, who was paid $ 730,000 during the 2020 election cycle for her and her firm to work on fundraising for the Trump re-election team.
Jones, a prolific conspiracy theorist who helped advance many discredited allegations, such as the idea that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, tied up his funds in exchange for a speech at the protest. Finally, he spoke at another meeting the night before, but promoted the January 6 meeting. Both rallies were demonstrations for the ongoing “Stop the Steal” movement, which falsely claims that Trump’s presidential election was stolen.
The donation from Jenkins Fancelli is not related to any speaking time, and is managed by Wren, who Jenkins Fancelli apparently chose to coordinate the rally. In addition to her contribution to the Jan. 6 rally, Jenkins Fancelli donated nearly $ 1 million to the Trump campaign and the Republican Party during the 2020 election cycle.
The rally was hosted by a group calling itself ‘Women for America First’, and took place just south of the White House in an area known as the Ellipse, while congressional lawmakers gathered at the Capitol to decide the outcome of the election. confirm. In his remarks, Trump blew up the Republicans he considers insufficiently loyal, including his own vice president, Mike Pence. He concludes by encouraging the crowd to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to challenge those lawmakers directly.
By that afternoon, hundreds of people had trampled the building, many waving pro-Trump flags, as well as other far-right emblems, such as the Confederate flag. Five people died during the chaos, including one police officer; two other police officers who were present that day had meanwhile died by suicide, and at least 140 officers were injured, some seriously.
Jones is also not charged in connection with the offense, nor is Jenkins Fancelli.
Attempts to stop the election were successful in activating Trump donors
The large sum of money raised for the January 6 rally is an indication of the fundraising campaign that has surrounded the last months of Trump’s presidency – the former president’s opposition to the election results was a lucrative opportunity to raise money. samel.
Indeed, Trump donors were motivated to contribute approximately $ 86 million to the Republican National Committee and to organizations directly linked to Trump between $ 24 and December 31, 2020, according to a revelation Friday at the Federal Electoral Commission.
Bloomberg first reported that according to WinRed, the Republican Party’s online fundraising arm, a total of $ 207 million was raised for Republican candidates and committees in the 19 days after the November 3 election. A portion of it participated in competitive run-off elections for Senate seats in Georgia, both of which the GOP lost.
About $ 68 million has been raised for Trump Make America Great Again, a joint fundraising committee that divides the revenue between Save America, Trump’s political action committee, and the RNC, according to Bloomberg. As Politico noted, Trump has a great deal of legal flexibility on how Save America’s money can be spent – from advertisements in the upcoming election to the payment of allies and family members for work.
While it remains to be seen exactly how Save America’s money will be used, Trump is currently facing questions about his re-election campaign’s ties with the January 6 protest. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Trump’s re-election campaign in 2020 paid more than $ 2.7 million to organizations and individuals with ties to the January 6 event. A significant amount of these donations were ‘dark money’, making it ‘difficult to know who paid for the campaign and when’, wrote reporter Anna Massoglia.
The Center for Responsive Politics also found that eight people had been appointed as staff members or contractors to organize the rally, using campaign funds. However, the campaign said that he did not pay for the protest and that the people were not employed on the day of the protest and its violent outcome.