Rally organizers knew about President Donald J. Trump’s plan to have his mob of supporters march to the Capitol on January 6 but repeatedly denied it to federal permitting officials, according to a recent report on an internal government investigation.
The Interior Department’s inspector general on Monday released a 47-page report examining the National Park Service permitting process that allowed tens of thousands of Trump supporters to gather in Washington at the Ellipse, which is located about two miles from the Capitol, before the violence on Jan. 6.
The report concluded that Women for America First, which organized the rally, “intentionally failed to disclose information to the NPS regarding its knowledge of a post-demonstration march. The conclusion is further evidence that Trump’s insurrection was in fact planned in advance and intended to use violence to overthrow the will of the voters.
According to the watchdog agency, “We reviewed the actions of National Park Service (NPS) and U.S. Park Police (USPP) officials in preparing for and responding to events at the Ellipse and the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021.”
“Specifically, we reviewed NPS and USPP officials’ actions before, during, and after Women for America First’s (WFAF’s) demonstration at the Ellipse and the USPP’s response in and around the National Mall and the U.S. Capitol to determine whether their actions complied with applicable laws, regulations, and policies,” said the inspector general’s report. “In addition, we obtained information regarding the NPS and USPP’s interactions, communications, and coordination with other law enforcement entities in managing the events on January 6.”
According to investigators, Women for America First, which is run by mother-and-daughter Amy and Kylie Jane Kremer, repeatedly told Park Service officials there would be no march to the Capitol while privately planning for one.
The Park Service had specifically asked Women for America First more than once whether there would be a march, and the organization “was just adamant there was gonna be no march.”
According to the investigation, private text messages indicated there would be a march and Trump desired to have one.
A White House liaison to the rally organizers sent a text message on Jan. 3 that said, “POTUS expectations are intimate and then send everyone over to the Capitol,” according to the report.
Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson sent a Jan. 2, 2021, email with nearly identical language.
The report was based on information received from the DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Offices of Inspectors General for USCP, DHS, HHS, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)plus publicly available materials from the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Select Committee).
Significantly, the report notes that while speaking at WFAF’s demonstration Trump “states several times that the crowd will march to the U.S. Capitol at the conclusion of the demonstration.”
The inspector general report builds on the evidence released by the Select Committee, which detailed Trump’s scheme to attack the Capitol appear spontaneous even as he and his team intentionally assembled the mob to violently disrupt Congress’ certification of his defeat in a last-ditch effort to overturn his loss.
Since the Capitol attack, Trump and his allies have described the violence as a freewheeling, peaceful protest gone awry.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows even claimed that Trump “ad-libbed” his call for a march to the Capitol but the report is more evidence that the former president planned to direct the mob to Capitol Hill as his supporters worked to hide their intentions.
The organizers lied about a march to the Capitol being part of their plan, Trump wanted the mob to march on the Capitol, and he repeatedly told the crowd to do so during his speech. This sequence of events is clearly the kind of evidence that has been used to argue that the 2020 election loser is barred from holding any office of public trust under Section 3 of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.