Roger Stone, Steve Bannon and retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn participated in efforts to announce the January 6 “Stop the Steal” occasion that occasionally became a fatal and messy tumult at the US Capitol. U. S. , he killed five other people and prompted Trump the only president to be charged for a moment.
While none of them spoke at the rally, Stone fanned a crowd of Trump supporters in Washington the night before, telling them that the president’s enemies were “nothing less than the 2020 election heist. “
“And we say, by no way!” Stone said at the January 5 rally.
Flynn promoted the so-called “March of Jericho”, a meeting of Christians to “pray, walk, rush and gather for electoral integrity,” according to the group’s website, which also took a position on January 6 in the shadow of the Capitol. In the weeks leading up to the event, Flynn told his supporters that they “should be brave as Americans. “
Speaking at a demonstration on December 12 in Washington to publicize Trump’s efforts to overthrow the election, Flynn told his supporters that they had reached a “crucial moment” and that “sacrifices will have to be made. “
“We are in a warArray . . . through the center and soul of the country,” Flynn said. “We’re going to win. “
Bannon also played a vital role in the sale of the January 6 rally, co-amphitrion through “March for Trump”, and was in the past one of the main sponsors of the band’s bus tour in December before the rally. Shortly after Trump lost 2020. In the election, Bannon’s “War Room” podcast was banned on Twitter for suggesting that Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray beheaded.
“I’d put my head on beaks. It is ok. I’d put them in every corner of the White House to warn federal bureaucrats,” Bannon said. “Either you stick to the show or you leave. “
A Bannon spokesman told ABC News in a statement that “Mr. Bannon did not need, did not need and never called for violence of any kind. Mr Bannon’s comment was obviously a metaphorical intention. “
The three men played a central role in Trump’s rise to power, only to see his reputation tarnished by a criminal investigation.
Stone, one of Trump’s first political advisers, ran for the genuine real estate tycoon long before he entered electoral politics. After a brief period in which he ran directly for Trump’s presidential candidacy, Stone assumed the role of foreign adviser, even when he maintained normal contacts with Trump.
Stone then joined the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and faced accusations that he had helped coordinate the publication of pirated documents through WikiLeaks that intended to harm Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton. mendacity to Congress and forgery of witnesses, and sentenced to 40 months in prison. Trump commuted the sentence and eventually granted Stone a pardon.
After taking Trump to victory as the most sensible crusader strata, Bannon also served in Trump’s White House. He left after seven months and, like many senior crusaders, swept through the Russian investigation. He has never been charged with irregularities in this investigation. However, last August, he was charged in federal court with an unrelated donor scam as a component of a personal fundraising effort called “We Build the Wall,” which he said was raising a personal budget to help expand the wall along the U. S. -Mexico border. has declared he is not to blame and is released on bail pending trial.
Flynn was, in short, Trump’s first national security adviser before being fired for lying about his conversations with the Russian ambassador. He also has the concentrate of federal prosecutors and pleaded guilty to the lie to investigators. He then retracted before being convicted and was convicted. also pardoned through Trump.
A source close to Flynn told ABC News that the retired general did not incite violence in his comments and did not tolerate it, saying that the insurrection was “the last thing we expected. “
Trump had invited Flynn and his circle of family members to the Jan. 6 rally, but the source said they were disgusted by what the insider said: an unnecessary demonstration on the Ellipse, followed by outrageous political violence on Capitol Hill.
“The election has been stolen 100 percent, no one is going to convince us otherwise,” the source said. “But Michael Flynn never called for violence. What happened there was terrible. “
The three men resurfaced in Trump’s orbit as advisers became involved in Trump losing his re-election by offering Joe Biden and when Trump intensified his drive to convince his supporters that he had in fact won the 2020 race “overwhelmingly. “the three gathered the message and spread it among their followers.
Even before Election Day, Stone argued that the vote count can be trusted. In a September appearance with the extremist agitator Alex Jones, Stone called on Republicans to “be ready to register legal objections and, if necessary, physically obstruct the activity of criminals. “
After the election, Stone encouraged protesters to come to Washington to express their objections to the outcome. He was taken as a guest speaker to the January 6 demonstration that preceded the attack on the US Capitol. But it didn’t seem. He tried to distance himself from the effort, and told ABC News in condemning the violence perpetrated on Capitol Hill through the Mafia.
“I don’t have any paper on January 6 occasions, as I never left my hotel site before leaving for Dulles Airport before curfew at 6 p. m. A thorough examination of my January 5 language indicates that I did not play any role in the sale of violence or at any illegal point or activity,” Stone said in the statement. “Anyone who breaks into the U. S. Capitol, penetrating and destroying assets would only damage the America First motion that I support. “
In the days following Trump’s defeat in the election, Flynn teamed up with Sidney Powell, the lawyer who helped Flynn’s resolve to leave his past to blame the guilty plea. , among others, supporters of the conspiratorial movement known as QAnon.
The two even met with Trump in the Oval Office, shortly after Flynn gave the impression to the conservative Newsmax network of defending Trump from imposing martial law and ordering the army to “relaunch” the election. At a December 12 rally, Flynn falsely told his supporters “that there are still ways” for Trump to stay in the workplace for a while. “There’s still a lot of activity,” he said before Trump flew over the crowd on Marine One.
Mary McCord, a former federal prosecutor and local terrorist team expert, said Flynn had a hero among the extremists. She said Flynn “shook” the teams before the January 6 election rally and “incited the most excessively among the crowd to do something. “
Of the three, Bannon kept his profile lower in the days after the election and only in the last few days emerged as someone who seemed to be in contact with the president about the election, according to Bloomberg News. 501(c) (4), so-called black cash groups, to opposing election results, adding the bus tour.
In public, Bannon has used its platform to announce the January 6 rally, welcoming the rally organizers on his podcast at least 16 times amid the tension to cancel the election results.
Two days before the demonstration and the next attack on Capitol Hill, Kylie Jane Kremer, from the sponsor of the “Women for America First” event, gave the impression on Bannon’s “War Room” podcast to announce the event. “The president of the United States, as we have lately known that, at 11, he will come and manage with the country and then he will: the game will start on Capitol Hill,” Bannon said. “I think one of the highest historical days in American history will be Wednesday. “
Bannon responded to a request for comment from ABC News.
Two of Bannon’s long-time partners also held key positions on January 6, Dustin Stockton, one of the main organizers of the rally, and Jennifer Lawrence led media relations.
Until 2017, Stockton and Lawrence ran as writers for far-right media Brititbart when Bannon was executive chairman, according to his LinkedIn profiles. The couple recently worked with Bannon on their collective funding crusade “We Build the Wall,” which in August 2020 resulted in federal indictments of allegations of donor fraud.
Neither Stockton nor Lawrence responded to requests for comment from ABC News.
Stockton, vice president of strategy and marketing for “We Build the Wall,” according to his LinkedIn and social media posts, while Lawrence was the group’s communications director before joining the March for Trump group. Stockton and Lawrence won arrest warrants for their mobile phone. telephones, as well as subpoenas to appear before a grand jury, as a member of the “We Build the Wall” group, but none have been charged, according to CNN.
Stockton used some of the most incendiary terms in the run-up to January 6, and told his fans at one point in an appearance on Facebook Live to “clean their weapons and be ready. “Things will get worse before they get better. “
In a live broadcast on Facebook Wednesday night after the attack on the Capitol, Stockton gave the impression of not regretting it and said lawmakers were “trying to certify a fraudulent choice. “
“I object to that, ” he said. That’s why I took part in this bus tour. That’s why I organized those occasions in Washington. “
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