The attack on the Capitol by MAGA supporters to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College votes left many wondering if the mob had inside help.
The answer is “yes,” according to an organizer of the protest that led to the storming of the Capitol building.
Right-wing activist Ali Alexander was one of the organizers of the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” mob and he is claiming three Republican congressmen helped plan the whole thing, The Raw Story reported.
According to Alexander, Representatives Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Mo Brooks (R-AL), and Paul A. Gosar (R-AZ) helped him plan the protest, reported the Washington Post.
“We four schemed up by putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting,” Alexander said in a video that has since been deleted. “(We hoped to) change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body, hearing our loud roar from outside.”
Alexander’s video sparked response on Twitter.
“he is admitting to conspiracy to over throw the government,” one person tweeted.
During the rally, Alexander, who pleaded guilty more than 10 years ago to property theft and credit card abuse, suggested that protesters take the protest to Congress and the Capitol. Alexander was known as Ali Akbar before changing his name.
“Everyone can guess what me and 500,000 others will do to that building,” Alexander tweeted in December, according to The Daily Beast. “1776 is *always* an option.”
Rep. Biggs denies any contact with Alexander. Through a spokesperson, Biggs said he has not “knowingly been in contact with Alexander.”
“Congressman Biggs is not aware of hearing of or meeting Mr. Alexander at any point — let alone working with him to organize some part of a planned protest,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
But Rep. Gosar described Alexander as a “true patriot” after they both spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally on Dec. 19 in Phoenix. Alexander played a video message at that event from Biggs, who called him a “friend” and “hero” for challenging Joe Biden’s electoral win in Congress.
“When it comes to Jan. 6, I will be right down there in the well of the House with my friend from Alabama Representative Mo Brooks,” Biggs said in the recording.
On top of this, Trump retweeted a post from Alexander which included Biggs’ message, on Dec. 26.
A Biggs spokesperson told CNN that the lawmaker had recorded the video at the request of Gosar’s staff.
In a lengthy, defiant statement, Brooks said he also bore no responsibility for the riot.
“I take great offense at anyone who suggests I am so politically inexperienced as to want to torpedo my honest and accurate election system effort I spent months fighting on,” Brooks wrote.
Speaking of the riot in a video on Periscope over the weekend, Alexander said he wished people had not entered the U.S. Capitol or even gone on the steps, The Washington Post reported. But he said he didn’t feel the rioters had broken the law.
“Conflating our legally, peaceful permitted events with the breach of the US Capitol building is defamatory and false,” he said in an email to the Washington Post. “People are being misled and then those same people are fomenting violence against me and my team.”
Alexander was suspended from Twitter on Jan. 10. In an Instagram story, he revealed that the suspension was permanent. And on the far-right platform Parler, Alexander said he was also banned from PayPal and Venmo. A representative for PayPal, which owns Venmo, told Business Insider that the account was “closed due to a violation of our Acceptable Use Policy.”
“I think people should be rowdy, I think people should be messy,” Alexander also said in a video posted on Twitter, according to the Daily Beast. “I do believe that we own that U.S. Capitol. So I’m not apologizing for nothing.”
In another Instagram story, he posted a screenshot showing that several of his stories were removed over “violence or dangerous organizations.”
HuffPost reported in January 2019 that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Alexander had met. Dorsey said he thought Alexander had some “interesting points.”
“I was introduced to him by a friend, and you know, he’s got interesting points,” Dorsey said of right-wing activist.
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Party’s sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.
Dorsey told the Huffington Post that he privately sought business advice from Alexander when Twitter pondered if it should permanently ban conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from its platform, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Alexander advised Dorsey against banning Jones, “who has used his reach on Twitter and other platforms to provoke and harass (Sandy Hook) mass shooting survivors and victims’ families.”
