The organizer of the pro-Trump rally that preceded the Capitol riot handed over his text messages to the Jan. 6 committee, giving a glimpse into the chaos that took place that day, Rolling Stone reports.
"Stop the Steal" organizer Ali Alexander has not faced criminal charges and has not chosen to plead the 5th like many Jan. 6 defendants. According to Rolling Stone, he testified before the committee for hours.
"Alexander served as a central node in the information flow for the events of Jan. 6. He was texting with congressional staffers, GOP consultants, white supremacists, religious zealots, and Oath Keepers, including Kelly Meggs, since convicted of seditious conspiracy," Rolling Stone's report stated. "The texts underscore Alexander’s advance knowledge that Trump would send masses marching on the Capitol."
As Rolling Stone points out, while Alexander futilely tried to calm the crowd before the riot, he told some of his collaborators to lie low after the violence because “the FBI is coming hunting.”
Alexander's text messages shared by the Jan. 6 committee show exchanges with white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, Rep. Paul Gosar's chief of staff Thomas Van Flein, notorious right-wing troll Jacob Wohl, a member of the Oath Keepers militia group, Gen. Mike Flynn’s brother Joe Flynn, Roger Stone, and others.
Read the texts over at Rolling Stone.