'FIGHT BACK': Riot probe heats up as committee investigates how RNC spread Trump's 'Big Lie'
The House select committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection is looking into how mass fund-raising emails from the Republican National Committee (RNC) could have played a role in Donald Trump's disinformation campaign about the 2020 presidential election results.
As Politico reports, the committee "argues that RNC’s emails took a pernicious turn in the weeks just prior to the Capitol siege. One hour before rioters breached police lines at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a fundraising email — sent jointly by the Trump campaign and the RNC — arrived in the inboxes of thousands of supporters.
“'This is our last chance,” the subject line read above an email urging supporters to “FIGHT BACK.”
The Hill’s insurrection investigators say such emails amounted to a disinformation campaign that fueled the unrest that turned violent at the Capitol. They also want to know who within the RNC authored and approved the fundraising efforts, which helped raise millions on the false claim that then-President Donald Trump’s loss could be reversed.
“This information may assist the Select Committee in assessing the types and quantities of mass email campaigns to target in any potential legislation to combat dangerous political disinformation,” the select committee wrote in a 57-page brief, responding to an RNC lawsuit filed earlier this month.
According to Politico, the committee didn’t subpoena the RNC directly but instead targeted Salesforce, a digital platform that organizations like the RNC use to reach donors and subscribers. The RNC and Trump campaign — through a joint entity known as the Trump Make America Great Again Committee — used its Salesforce platform to blanket supporters with emails ahead of Jan. 6, 2021.
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