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A “Stop the Steal” organizer said he’d ask members of extremist groups to help with security ahead of January 6, 2021.
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Far-right activist Ali Alexander made the comments in since-deleted Periscope videos in December 2020, according to a CNN report.
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A lawyer for Alexander denied that he worked with the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers, and Alexander has denied involvement in the insurrection.
An organizer of the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the insurrection on January 6, 2021, said he would ask the extremist groups the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers to provide security for the event, according to deleted video from December 2020 reported by CNN.
“Don’t worry, I’m gonna make sure so many people are so safe,” the far-right activist Ali Alexander said in a since-deleted December 23, 2020, video posted to the now-defunct video platform Periscope titled “JAN6,” according to CNN. “It’s gonna make your head spin.”
Members of both extremist groups have been among the more than 750 people who have been charged for their involvement in the storming of the US Capitol that took place on January 6 last year. Federal prosecutors have said members of the groups conspired to disrupt the proceedings to certify the results of the 2020 election, which were occurring at the time of the violence.
Last year, members of the congressional select committee tasked with investigating the events of January 6 subpoenaed members of both groups over their involvement on January 6. As Insider previously reported, prosecutors in a recent federal court filing, also alleged members of the Oath Keepers patrolled the Capitol grounds on January 7, 2021, the morning after.
“I’m gonna try to make sure that every 15 minutes — so that you just know in your head, you don’t have to know in a map — that Metro stops are being patrolled,” Alexander added in the deleted video, according to the report. “I’m gonna try to go that deep into it. I’m gonna talk to the Proud Boys. I’m gonna talk to the Oath Keepers and I’m gonna try to get patrols going, okay, of men that go for hours.”
In another deleted Periscope video from December 29, 2020, Alexander said he spoke to members of the Proud Boys to ensure they had a place to stay while in Washington, DC, CNN reported.
“I’ll find you a room,” Alexander said in the deleted video, according to CNN. “My team will find you a room. I talked tonight to the Proud Boys to make sure that they were all covered.”
Alexander has denied any involvement in organizing the storming of the Capitol that occurred after then-President Donald Trump spoke to a crowd of his supporters near the White House.
In December testimony before the January 6 committee, Alexander said: “Anyone who suggests I had anything to do with the unlawful activities on January 6 is wrong. They’re either mistaken or lying.”
Of the newly reported Periscope videos, Baron Coleman, a lawyer for Alexander told CNN that Alexander “did not work with the Proud Boys,” and said his “colorful remarks or exaggerations during playful livestreams contextualize his intentions.”
He did, however, confirm that Alexander offered to help the Proud Boys find lodging and said members of the Oath Keepers did provide security, according to CNN.
“Using tiny clips from the thousands of hours of extemporaneous speaking that Ali produced during the 2020 election cycle seems out of context and without regard to the truth,” Coleman told the outlet.
Read the original article on Business Insider
