Trump megadonors keep Northwestern deal despite funding group linked to Jan. 6 riot

Northwestern University will continue doing business with a shipping company owned by right-wing mega-donors Dick and Liz Uihlein, who funded a group that held a rally prior to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The university reviewed its vendor contract with the couple's Uline packaging supplies company after at least one alumnus complained about their significant contributions to a political action committee for the right-wing Tea Party Patriots group, which promoted the "March to Save America" rally that preceded the violent siege, reported The Daily Beast.

"The University investigated the concerns that were raised, and based on the information we have, determined that the Uline company did not play a role in the events at the Capitol," a Northwestern spokesperson told the website.

The Tea Party Patriots are one of three sub-organizations that grew out of the Tea Party Movement founded in 2009 to oppose the Affordable Care Act and other Barack Obama initiatives and later embraced former president Donald Trump, although the group insists it played no role in the Capitol riot.

"The attack on the Capitol was horrific, and we have voiced condemnation of that invasion," said the group's leader Jenny Beth Martin. "[None of the sub-groups] spent any money on, or provided any organizational support to, or was a sponsor of the rally."

Martin heavily promoted the rally on her Twitter account, where she shared a photo of herself with what appeared to be a front-row seat at the event, vowing "we will not allow them to steal this election!"

"I will be speaking at the #StopTheSteal rally in D.C. on Jan. 6," Martin tweeted. "We must demand Congress to challenge the Electoral College votes and fight for President Trump!"

Martin ultimately did not speak at the rally, but her Tea Party Patriots group were among 11 groups listed as participants in the march as part of the "#StopTheSteal coalition," and archived images from the rally website show organizers urged a show of force to stop the certification of the election for Joe Biden.

The organization also worked with California doctor Simone Gold, who was arrested on charges related to the riot, in a public relations effort last year to downplay the coronavirus, which the Uihleins later contracted.