In the aftermath of the recent siege on the U.S. Capitol building by pro-Trump supporters, it’s been discovered that robocalls promoting a march on the Capitol that day were sent out from a branch of the Republican Attorneys General Association.
NBC News reports that the group, which represents many of the top law enforcement officers in the states, has a fundraising department called the Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF). The department sent out automated voice calls about marching to the Capitol to help protest certification of the Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday, which led to a riot on Congress.
The voice recording stated, “At 1 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal.” As previously reported by TheGrio, it was later that day that a mob of several thousand people descended on Capitol Hill and commenced to riot, violently passing through police barricades and breaking into the building where lawmakers were meeting in a joint session to certify the votes.
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Steve Marshall, an Alabama attorney who has been in charge of the RLDF since Nov. 10, said he was “unaware” that the robocalls were sent out, and that the calls were “unauthorized.” He went on to say that “it is unacceptable that I was neither consulted about nor informed of those decisions. I have directed an internal review of this matter.”
President Donald Trump had hosted the rally in Washington, D.C. that preceded the riot on the Capitol. He had created the rally to continue to baselessly contest the results of the 2020 presidential election, as he continued to insist that voter fraud took place.
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Towards the end of his speech, he stated to his throng of supporters intentions to march on the Capitol building to contest the certification of the electoral votes.
“We’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue,” Trump said. “And we’re going to the Capitol.”
He continued, “We’re going to try and give our Republicans — the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need our help — we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So, let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.”
Twitter announced on Friday that Trump’s account with the social media site has been permanently suspended due to his tweets regarding the rally posed “risk of further incitement of violence.”
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