Business

Trump’s chief of staff was warned that a Jan. 6 rally could turn violent but did nothing about it, report says. Then the Capitol riot happened.

mark meadows
Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

  • Mark Meadows was told that a Jan. 6 protest could turn violent, Rolling Stone reported.
  • Two pro-Trump rally organizers told the outlet Meadows was “aware” of what was going on.
  • Meadows was subpoenaed by the House select committee last month.

Pro-Trump rally organizers who helped plan the “Save America” protest on January 6 said they told then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that it had the potential to turn violent but he did nothing about it, Rolling Stone reported.

The two unnamed sources, who were involved in organizing the main pro-Trump rally at the Ellipse, a park near the White House, told Rolling Stone that Meadows played a major role in their conversations.

The rally, which included a speech by then-President Donald Trump, was one of many that preceded the attack on the US Capitol.

“Meadows was 100 percent made aware of what was going on,” one of the rally organizers told Rolling Stone. “He’s also like a regular figure in these really tiny groups of national organizers.”

Both organizers also said that prior to the rally they were in talks with Ali Alexander, the leader of Stop the Steal, one of the main groups promoting efforts to dispute Trump’s 2020 election loss.

They said Alexander initially agreed the main rally should not be held at the Capitol and that the Ellipse would be the main location. But when he went against their plans, both sources said they immediately notified Meadows.

“Despite making a deal … they plowed forward with their own thing at the Capitol on Jan. 6 anyway,” one of the organizers said of Alexander, per Rolling Stone. “We ended up escalating that to everybody we could, including Meadows.”

Both organizers told Rolling Stone they have been in communication with the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack, saying they were cooperating because they were unsettled by how the rally eventually turned violent.

They also listed multiple members of Congress who were involved in the planning of the rally, including Reps. Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorne, and Paul Gosar.

Official paperwork in January also showed that former Trump campaign staffers helped secure the permit for the “Save America” rally and were listed as official event organizers.

Meadows is also one of four Trump advisors who were subpoenaed by the House select committee to provide documents and testimony about their activities on January 6.

He is said to be taking the inquiry seriously, most recently hiring the top Republican lawyer George Terwilliger to represent him, according to Politico.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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