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A Wall Street Journal investigation found that a number of key allies of former President Donald Trump – including far-right media personality Alex Jones and Julie Jenkins Fancelli, heir to the Publix supermarket fortune – helped fund the rally that preceded the storming of the United States. Capitol on January 6 which left five dead.
According to reporters Shalini Ramachandran, Alexandra Berzon and Rebecca Ballhaus, Jones pledged $ 50,000 of her own money to the event and organized additional funds, including a $ 300,000 contribution from Jenkins Fancelli, who is one of the main GOP donors.
In total, the rally cost around $ 500,000, according to the report. This event, in which Trump pledged never to concede the November election to President Joe Biden – and stirred up supporters who then took over Capitol Hill – formed the basis for Trump’s second impeachment in the House representatives. Partly because of the comments he made at that rally, Trump has been accused of “inciting insurgency” and will soon face a Senate trial.
The Journal also reports that, according to Federal Election Commission records, “at least five former Trump campaign staff” were involved in the logistics of the event. The rally was especially lucrative for Trump’s fundraising manager Caroline Wren, who received $ 730,000 throughout the 2020 election cycle for her and her company to work on fundraising for the team. Trump’s re-election campaign, according to the Journal.
Jones, a prolific conspiracy theorist who helped promote many discredited claims, such as the idea that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, pledged his funds in exchange for a speech at the rally. He ended up speaking the night before, at another rally, but promoted the Jan.6 event. Both rallies were protests for the ongoing “Stop the Steal” movement, which falsely claims the presidential election was stolen from Trump.
Jenkins Fancelli’s donation was unrelated to any speaking time and was handled by Wren, who Jenkins Fancelli is said to have chosen to coordinate the rally. Beyond her contribution to the Jan.6 event, Jenkins Fancelli donated nearly $ 1 million to the Trump campaign and the Republican Party during the 2020 election cycle.
Organized by a group calling themselves “Women for America First,” the rally was held just south of the White House in an area known as the Ellipse, as congressional lawmakers gathered on Capitol Hill to certify the results of this election. In his remarks, Trump lambasted Republicans he deemed insufficiently loyal, including his own vice president, Mike Pence. He concluded by encouraging the crowd to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to directly challenge these lawmakers.
That afternoon, hundreds of people had entered 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 a policeman; two other police officers present that day have since committed suicide, and at least 140 police officers have been injured, some seriously.
Jones has not been charged with wrongdoing in this regard, nor has Jenkins Fancelli.
Efforts to cancel elections succeeded in activating Trump donors
The large sum of money raised for the January 6 rally is indicative of the fundraising campaign that surrounded the final months of Trump’s presidency – overall, the former president’s opposition to the election results has proven to be a lucrative fundraising opportunity.
Indeed, Trump’s donors were motivated to contribute some $ 86 million to the Republican National Committee and organizations directly related to Trump between Nov. 24 and Dec. 31, 2020, according to a disclosure Friday with the Federal Election Commission.
Bloomberg first reported that, according to WinRed, the online fundraising arm of the Republican Party, a total of $ 207 million was raised for Republican candidates and committees within 19 days of the November 3 election. . Part of that went to competitive elections for Georgia Senate seats, both of which lost the GOP.
But about $ 68 million raised went to Trump Make America Great Again, a joint fundraising committee that divides its contribution 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 as to how Save America’s money can be spent – from running ads in the next election to paying 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 links to the January 6 rally. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign paid more than $ 2.7 million to organizations and individuals linked to the Jan.6 event. Much of this donation was “black money,” making it “difficult to know who paid for the campaign and when,” journalist Anna Massoglia wrote.
The Center for Responsive Politics also found that eight people were hired as staff or contractors to organize the rally, using campaign funds. The campaign, however, said it did not pay for the rally and that these people were not employed by the campaign on the day of the rally and its violent outcome.
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