Some of those responsible for organizing the pro-Donald Trump protest in Washington on the 6th – which resulted in the invasion of Congress – had previously worked on the Republican campaign.
The information is part of the responsibility of the campaign itself and was revealed by the Center for Responsive Politics, an entity that analyzes the funding of politicians in the United States.
In total, the act’s organizers received $ 2.7 million from the Trump campaign. The funds were disbursed until November 23 of last year, when the last accountability campaign was updated.
As of this date, the protest in Washington had not yet been officially announced. Thus, it is not possible to determine whether the money the group received was directly related to the march in the capital or whether the Trump campaign was only paying for services already provided and unrelated to the act.
The demonstration was formally aimed at protesting alleged irregularities in the November 3 election, which won over Democrat Joe Biden. In practice, however, the intention was to pressure the US Congress to ignore the election results to allow Trump to stay in the White House for another four years.
During the event, the Republican himself swelled protesters to the Capitol (seat of Congress) to pressure MPs and Senators – who were beginning the process to confirm Biden’s victory.
Crowds not only went to the building, but invaded the seat of the US Legislative Assembly, disrupting the session and forcing members of Congress into hiding.
Exactly for pumping up the crowd against Capitol Hill, Trump faces a second impeachment process, which has already been authorized by the House and is now awaiting trial in the Senate. Despite the invasion, Biden’s victory was confirmed in the early hours of the 7th, and the Democrat took office last Wednesday (20).
The January 6 demonstration took place at the National Mall, a sort of large square in the center of the capital where the main monuments of the city are located, including the Capitol. It is therefore similar to Praça dos Três Poderes, in Brasilia.
Since this is a federal site, the Joe Biden election protest organization had to seek permission from the National Park Service, which manages the area, to carry out the act.
In the documents requesting this clearance, eight people appear to have received money from the Trump campaign in the previous months, according to the Center for Responsive Politics investigation – the information was later confirmed by Bloomberg and the news agency Associated Press.
This is the case, for example, of Maggie Mulvaney, who was the director of financial operations for the Trump campaign (she received $ 138,000 for the position). In the document requesting authorization for the event, she is identified as “VIP Lead” – the combination is usually used to appoint the person responsible for looking after the most important guests of the event.
She is also the niece of Mick Mulvaney, a former Republican MP who was Trump’s chief of staff in the White House and was the United States’ special envoy to Northern Ireland until 6 (he resigned after the invasion of the Capitol). .
Another person cited in the documents is Megan Powers, who was director of operations for the Washington protest and, prior to that, director of operations for the Republican campaign (for which she was awarded $ 290,000).
The name of Caroline Wren, a traditional Republican Party donor, also appears on both lists. She was awarded $ 170,000 to be the Trump campaign’s financial advisor and is cited as a “VIP advisor” in documents from the organization of the march in Washington.
One of those responsible for organizing the protest in the capital, James Oaks, received $ 126,000 to work on the Republican campaign. Ronald Holden, meanwhile, received $ 72,000 from the campaign for a consultant job in early 2020 and then helped behind the scenes at the protest. William Wilson, another cited in the law documents, received $ 6,000 in November for campaign consulting work.
The duo Justin Caporale (production manager of the march) and Tim Unes (stage manager) also played an important role in the 6 protest. They received $ 144,000 and $ 117,000 respectively from the Trump campaign.
In addition, the company the two are partners of, Event Strategies Inc, received payments totaling $ 1.7 million from the Republican campaign.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the involvement of those linked to Trump in the march could be even greater, as many payments are not made directly by the campaign but by other entities.
The main organizer of the protests, for example, was the nonprofit Women for America First, which in turn has already received donations from America First Policies, an entity created shortly after Trump’s election victory. of 2016 and whose stated objective is to promote republican ideas.