Weeks earlier than the Capitol assault, prime Republican political activists Roger Stone and Ali Alexander recognized the January 6 congressional certification as the ultimate likelihood for Donald Trump to try to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election.
The deal with the congressional certification, in line with sources accustomed to the matter, was one in every of a number of areas they marked as potential flashpoints to take advantage of as leaders of the “Cease the Steal” motion to assist Trump reverse his defeat to Joe Biden.
As Stone and Alexander mounted their political operation, their actions had been recorded by two conservative film-makers within the post-2020 election interval and within the weeks earlier than January 6.
The entry meant the film-makers, Jason Rink and Paul Escandon, captured footage of the leaders of the Cease the Steal motion and their interactions with prime Trump allies, in line with a teaser for the documentary titled The Steal.
In following Cease the Steal, the film-makers’ venture documented key moments within the timeline main as much as the Capitol assault, together with an “occupation” of the Georgia state capitol in November, and rallies in Washington that just about appeared like dry runs for January 6.
Additionally they caught on digicam private and non-private moments at Cease the Steal occasions. Amongst others who seem within the documentary are the Home Republican Paul Gosar, former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and Trump’s former nationwide safety adviser Michael Flynn.
At one level, the footage reviewed by the Guardian exhibits, Alexander seems to presage the flashpoint that will be January 6, saying of Biden: “The Home and the Senate should certify the electoral school. There is no such thing as a president-elect till the electoral school meets.”
Taken collectively, the footage offers an inside have a look at the efforts of Cease the Steal’s leaders – notably Alexander, who was one thing of a protege to Stone, Trump’s longest-serving adviser – to by some means cease Biden from changing into president.
Stone additionally allowed himself to be filmed by a Danish documentary movie crew that recorded his actions in his room on the Willard resort because the Capitol assault unfolded, the Washington Publish reported earlier this yr.
The Home January 6 choose committee emailed a letter earlier in January asking to assessment the footage, however a lawyer for Rink declined the request, citing the necessity to keep journalistic independence and fears the content material would leak from the inquiry.
Home investigators didn't finally pursue the matter after the lawyer indicated he would litigate a subpoena; except film-makers have mentioned they'd solely flip over footage in response to a subpoena, the panel has typically averted that route.
A spokesman for the choose committee declined to touch upon if that place had modified.
The query concerning the footage, nevertheless, just lately resurfaced contained in the choose committee, days after former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified beneath oath that Trump ordered his then chief of employees to name Stone on the night time earlier than the Capitol assault.
Stone has denied that the decision occurred, simply as he has denied that he had something to do with the occasions of January 6. He declined to cooperate with the choose committee in an interview, asserting his fifth modification proper in opposition to self-incrimination.
“Any declare, assertion or implication that I knew about, was concerned in or condoned any unlawful occasion on January 6, or some other date, is categorically false and there's no proof or witness on the contrary,” Stone has beforehand mentioned.
However whereas the total extent of what the film-makers recorded stays unclear, components of the footage reviewed by the Guardian make The Steal Film look like an in depth account of the behind-the-scenes efforts to cease Biden from changing into president.
The documentary presents an account of the Cease the Steal motion after the 2020 election and the way its leaders descended on a number of states to advance discredited claims of election fraud.
The actions of Stone with respect to stopping Biden’s certification is of curiosity to January 6 investigators since he had shut ties to leaders of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers teams that stormed the Capitol and have since been indicted for seditious conspiracy.
Lots of the key moments for the Cease the Steal motion, managed by Alexander however finally managed by Stone, in line with sources accustomed to how they labored in follow, had been captured on tape by Rink and Escandon’s movie crew.
The film-makers adopted Stone and Alexander beginning instantly after the 2020 election and tracked – Cease the Steal leaders descending on a number of states to advance discredited claims of election fraud.
A number of necessary moments in the timeline main as much as the Capitol assault are caught on digicam.
The documentary exhibits Alexander within the Georgia state capitol in mid-November 2020, across the time that he and the far-right activist Alex Jones staged an “occupation” protest of the constructing, in a stunt that echoed plans to “occupy” the US Capitol on January 6.
It then exhibits a rally in Washington on 12 December 2020, the place Michael Flynn, a former Trump nationwide safety adviser turned political operative, spoke at a Ladies for America First-affiliated occasion close to the supreme court docket.
That occasion is critical as a result of the Proud Boys had been in Washington that day, and a contingent marched by means of the Nationwide Mall just like how they did on January 6. The Oath Keepers, one other far-right group, acted as a safety element on the rally, related once more to January 6.
The film-makers are additionally understood to have captured some footage the day earlier than and the day of the Capitol assault, together with discussions between Stone and Alexander, in addition to the destiny of the “Stage 8” rally that Alexander had deliberate on January 6 yards from the Capitol.
Stone by no means went to the Save America rally on the Ellipse the place Trump spoke, after a dispute over VIP passes, in line with folks accustomed to the incident. He additionally by no means went to the deliberate Stage 8 rally on the East Entrance of the Capitol and as an alternative left Washington in a rush.
This text was amended on 8 July 2022 to appropriate that Roger Stone was not current at a rally in Washington on 12 December 2020, and to make clear the character of the film-makers’ venture.
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