GOP asked undercover activist to 'recruit' the Proud Boys to interfere with the 2020 election: report

On Thursday, The Daily Beast reported on the saga of Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, a transgender poker player and left-wing activist, who went undercover in Republican circles — and discovered some GOP activists were desperate for an alliance with the far-right Proud Boys to help disrupt the election process.

"In the months leading up to the 2020 election, Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, a self-described progressive activist, embedded herself in GOP circles as part of her research for a book on right-wing extremism," reported Roger Sollenberger. "What she found was a Republican consultant desperate to team the Proud Boys up with the Nevada GOP in order to challenge ballots and flip the presidential election."

"But Ashton-Cirillo was only a couple months into her undercover voyage as a Republican when Woodrow Johnston, the vice president of Las Vegas-based consulting firm McShane LLC, contacted her about getting the Proud Boys involved in efforts to pressure Nevada ballot-counters," continued the report. "On the night after the election, Johnston sent Ashton-Cirillo a message about an Arizona effort — led by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) — to protest the vote-counting process. According to the texts she shared with The Daily Beast, Johnston wanted to stage a similar event in Las Vegas. 'Gosar is leading the charge on a 'Brooks Brothers Riot' down in AZ,' Johnston said, referring to GOP protests in Florida during the 2000 election. 'We might need to do the same here in Nevada. Which means we need to get the Proud Boys out.'"

Former President Donald Trump whipped the GOP base and local activists into a frenzy with conspiracy theories about the election being stolen. This culminated in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, which featured several members of the Proud Boys working with other paramilitary groups like the Oath Keepers to push back police and break into the building.

In recent months, the Proud Boys have embedded themselves into the Republican Party of Nevada, with a group of activists linked to them plotting to take over the state chapter.

You can read more here.