- Your friends storm the U.S. Capitol.
- People die doing it.
- Paramilitary dudes appear after you agree to talk.
- You see Steve Bannon’s legal costs and know you’re not Steve Bannon.
A pair of Nevada-based MAGA activists who helped organize the Jan. 6 rally at The Ellipse feel they are in a tight spot and have agreed to cooperate with House investigators.
Politico profiled Dustin Stockton and fiancée Jennifer Lynn Lawrence in November, calling them the Bonnie and Clyde of the MAGA world. The two had organized multiple Donald Trump events since Trump’s election loss, reporting that “their rented bus rolled across America, firing up crowds with claims of fraud in the vote-counting.” The Ellipse event would be the capstone.
The Jan. 6 rally was, for them, the culmination of work they had been doing for the past decade — work that long predated the election conspiracy, or QAnon, or Donald Trump’s political career. They surfed the waves of a populist tide that grew larger than anyone imagined, one dedicated to tearing down the establishment of both parties and the government itself, replacing it with a government they saw as closer to the people, closer to God, closer to the Constitution.
Then came the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“To be clear, we had nothing to do with the planning and were not present at the attack on the Capital [sic],” Stockton texted to The Nevada Independent.
Rolling Stone reported Monday night (subscription required) that the couple has decided to fully cooperate with the House investigation into the events of Jan. 6. Facing subpoenas, the two are turning over documents. Mostly logistical, the messages include exchanges with staffers and members of Congress, including Instagram messages with Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC).
“We’re turning it all over and we’ll let the cards fall where they may,” Stockton told Rolling Stone. The report adds that the two were sources for a report that members of Congress were involved in Trump’s efforts to reverse his election loss and retain power.
They’ve seen the trouble in which Steve Bannon finds himself and know they do not have his resources for a legal defense.
Raw Story summarizes:
“They claimed one of these lawmakers, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), suggested the possibility Trump could get them a ‘blanket pardon’ in an unrelated ongoing investigation if they helped protest the election,” the report said.
Gosar has called the claims “categorically false and defamatory.” But Stockton and Lawrence may have proof. They also said that they were coordinating with Mark Meadows and warned him ahead of time that there could be potential violence.
“The people and the history books deserve a real account of what happened,” Stockton said.
“Violent sh*t happened,” Lawrence said. “We want to get to the bottom of that.”
The “unrelated ongoing investigation” involves the We Build the Wall fraud for which Bannon received a pardon from Trump.
“They said that they grew scared when they noticed that a group of paramilitary-looking men showed up after they’d agreed to speak to the House committee. So, they left in the middle of the night to a hideout.” They are living out of their RV.
The House committee voted unanimously Monday night to recommend former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows for prosecution for contempt of Congress. The full House is expected to vote today to approve the resolution and forward it to the Department of Justice.
Stockton’s deposition is scheduled for today and Lawrence will testify Wednesday.
By now, Republican officials who left fingerprints on the rally events in Washington either on Jan. 5th or 6th must be feeling at least some of the heat Stockton and Lawrence feel. How long until that other Trump wall, that of silence, breaks down?
“Innocent people don’t plead the Fifth,” Lawrence says, parroting Trump himself.