Democrats in Congress are once again renewing calls that any Republican member implicated in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building ought to be expelled after a report that some witnesses informed congressional investigators they coordinated with lawmakers, according to a weekend report.
On Sunday, Rolling Stone published a story that didn’t tie some lawmakers to the riot directly but rather quoted two sources who described several meetings with members of Congress in which they were coordinating how to contest the results of the 2020 election while also planning rallies that came before the Capitol assault.
Those same sources, reportedly, have also met with investigators working on behalf of the House committee probing the riot.
The sources talked about “dozens” of planning briefings, listing several Republican lawmakers who either took part in those planning sessions or sent top staff members in their stead. They include Reps. Majorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Paul Gosar of Arizona; Andy Biggs of Arizona; Louie Gohmert of Texas; Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina; and Mo Brooks of Alabama.
“I remember Marjorie Taylor Greene specifically,” one organizer told Rolling Stone. “I remember talking to probably close to a dozen other members at one point or another or their staffs.
“We would talk to Boebert’s team, Cawthorn’s team, Gosar’s team like back to back to back to back,” the organizer added.
In addition, the sources told Rolling Stone that then-President Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, had a leading role in talks regarding protests before Jan. 6, the day lawmakers were to meet to certify the Electoral College results for then-President-elect Joe Biden.
Most of the Republicans mentioned in the Rolling Stone piece have denied any involvement in planning riots or other violent protests. But the report nevertheless led to a torrent of calls from Democrats to kick out any member found to have taken part in the assault.
“Any member of Congress who helped plot a terrorist attack on our nation’s Capitol must be expelled,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York noted on Twitter.
Any member of Congress who helped plot a terrorist attack on our nation’s capitol must be expelled.
This was a terror attack. 138 injured, almost 10 dead. Those responsible remain a danger to our democracy, our country, and human life in the vicinity of our Capitol and beyond. https://t.co/D0qLlaFjTh
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 25, 2021
“This was a terror attack. 138 injured, almost 10 dead,” she went on to falsely claim. “Those responsible remain a danger to our democracy, our country, and human life in the vicinity of our Capitol and beyond.”
Rolling Stone did not report that the lawmakers mentioned in the story were part of a plot to storm the Capitol.
One video clip posted online features Greene leaving the Capitol Building and walking up to a camera in which she says she just left a “great planning session” regarding members’ intention to object to the electoral votes in certain states — as Democrats have done in recent election cycles when a Republican presidential candidate was victorious — before going on to implore Americans to contact their representatives and senators. She does not say the meeting was intended to plan or take part in a riot.
Here's video of Marjorie Taylor Greene at the White House in late December 2020 saying she had a "great planning session for our January 6th objection. We aren't going to let this election be stolen by Joe Biden and the Democrats.” Expel and arrest Greene.pic.twitter.com/oogwe20Z8K
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) October 25, 2021
Her spokesman, Nick Dyer, made those points clear in an email to Rolling Stone.
“Congresswoman Greene and her staff were focused on the Congressional election objection on the House floor and had nothing to do with planning of any protest,” he wrote, according to the magazine.
“She objected just like Democrats who have objected to Republican presidential victories over the years,” Dyer continued. “Just like in 2017, when Jim McGovern, Jamie Raskin, Pramila Jayapal, Barbara Lee, Sheila Jackson Lee, Raul Grijalva, and Maxine Waters tried to prevent President Trump’s election win from being certified.”
He went on to suggest that most Americans, by far, are more interested in issues that affect them daily, like rising inflation under the current administration.
“No one cares about Jan. 6 when gas prices are skyrocketing, grocery store shelves are empty, unemployment is skyrocketing, businesses are going bankrupt, our border is being invaded, children are forced to wear masks, vaccine mandates are getting workers fired, and 13 members of our military are murdered by the Taliban and Americans are left stranded in Afghanistan,” Dyer said in his email.
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Originally from Indiana, she now calls sunny Florida her home.
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