WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee has hired a prominent supporter of the pro-Trump “Stop the Steal” movement, which has since fueled conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, to help craft the party platform for 2024.
Ed Martin, former chairman of the Republican Party of Missouri, was a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. He gave a speech to Trump supporters in Washington on the eve of the attack on the Capitol, calling on “die-hard real Americans” to work until their “last breath” to “stop the stealing,” according to the video which was posted on social media.
On the morning of January 6, Martin attended Trump’s speech at the White House before joining the crowd that marched to the Capitol and posting about it on social media. Capitol video surveillance footage released by House Republicans shows him arriving on the grounds around 2:20 p.m. By then, Trump’s supporters had already broken through police lines and stormed the building itself in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory.
There is no evidence that Martin was trespassing at the Capitol that day, entered the building or broke the law. But the new RNC addition’s outspoken advocacy for overturning the 2020 election results and his defense of those actions in the years since highlight the extent to which the “Stop the Steal” movement has become institutionalized in the Republican Party. Trump is anchoring his 2024 bid on the false claim that the election was stolen from him, pardoning the January 6 rioters and vowing retaliation against his political enemies — even jailing them — if elected.
Martin was asked by the RNC on May 15 to serve as deputy policy director of the platform committee, which drafts the policies the party will implement in November. The RNC noted that he is the president of the conservative Phyllis Schlafly Eagles and the Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund, as well as the author of the 2016 book “The Conservative Case for Trump.”
The announcement was accompanied by the platform committee’s appointment of Trump’s ambassador to Luxembourg, Randy Evans, as executive director and former White House budget director Russ Vought as policy director on the platform panel.
“They all have a proven track record of understanding and implementing our party’s America First agenda, and their sound judgment and principled vision will be critical in helping lead our party and our country to victory in a of the most important elections of our lifetimes,” said RNC. Chairman Michael Whatley, who was hand-picked by Trump, said this in a statement.
It’s not clear how much influence Martin will have on the final party platform, with Trump’s inner circle consolidating control over the RNC and its activities and seeking to limit far-right speech on cultural issues like abortion and the definition of marriage, as NBC News previously reported reported. . Martin is an outspoken opponent of abortion and his group has fought for “traditional” marriages and families, blaming no-fault divorces.
An RNC spokesperson did not return requests for comment on Martin’s appointment, whether it supports his claims that the 2020 election was stolen or how much influence he will have on the platform. Martin also did not respond to a request from NBC News.
January 2021
Martin gave a speech outside the Capitol on Jan. 5, 2021, starting a chant of “stop the steal” and invoking God as he accused Trump’s enemies of stealing the election, according to video of the event.
“No matter what happens tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after, we still have to be in the fight. There are no summer soldiers and spring patriots here. There are the die-hard real Americans,” Martin said. “We start today, continue until tomorrow and every day until we breathe our last breath and go home to the Lord because we will stop the stealing.”
The next day, after attending Trump’s speech in the VIP section, Martin marched to the east side of the Capitol, near where he had spoken the day before, and tweeted the hashtags “#StopTheSteal” and “#DoNotCertify.”
“I’m in the Capitol now,” Martin tweeted at 2:53 PM “Large crowd but nothing out of hand. Ignore #FakeNews.”
Minutes later, Martijn tweeted“Just like Mardi Gras in DC today: love, faith and joy.”
Rioters had long since breached the Capitol at the time of Martin’s tweets. Ashli Babbitt was shot by an officer as she attempted to climb into the Speaker’s Lobby, where members were evacuated at 2:44 p.m. As Martin was tweeting, pro-Trump rioters on the other side of the Capitol were engaged in a battle with law enforcement in the Lower West Tunnel, where some of the worst violence of the day took place. Shortly afterwards, a rioter in a MAGA hat named Daniel “DJ” Rodriguez would drive a stun gun into the neck of Michael Fanone, a police officer at the time who was kidnapped by the mob.
Later in 2021, Martin was subpoenaed by the January 6 House Committee, which said it had evidence he was “involved in the logistical planning” of the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally, where Trump encouraged supporters to march. to the Capitol. The committee said it also had evidence that Martin “paid the costs associated with the vendors hired for that event.” He did not show up for a statement at the committee in February 2022.
In the wake of Trump’s election loss, Martin also attended events with Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser and a prominent election denier, and “Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander. Last year, Martin stood behind Trump when he spoke at a Jan. 6 fundraiser for defendants held at Trump’s golf club in New Jersey. On X, Martin has also spread conspiracy theories about what happened on January 6, 2021.
Martin narrated a video in which he said that a person he called “Mr. Coffee” had set up a gallows outside the Capitol for a photo op on January 6, indicating that “Mr. Coffee” worked for the federal government. The basis of that claim is that the man goes to get coffee while walking in the vague, general direction of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. Martin mentioned a blog post on the topic “January 6 was staged by Mr. Coffee.”
Discussions about the gallows were not uncommon among January 6 defendants, and Trump supporters chanted “hang Mike Pence” at the Capitol that day.
Martin wondered why no one had been charged with setting up the gallows. It’s not clear what federal crime might be investigated or charged in this case: the gallows was literally referred to as “art,” and hate crime charges involving nooses are typically only brought by federal authorities when there is evidence that black victims were specifically were targeted because of their behavior. race.
“We need to look at who the real architects of January 6 were,” Martin said in a video. “Who planned and staged the now infamous January 6 optics?”
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said she was not aware the RNC had hired an official promoting the “Stop the Steal” campaign when asked.
“It shows how far they have fallen at this point. It falls into the category of unbelievable,” she said. “I was here on January 6. People died. People got hurt. And it wasn’t a joke.”
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who is retiring, said the safe space within the party for the Stop the Steal movement shows that it remains focused on Trump’s core supporters.
“I think the party needs to expand beyond its base. And I think the party under its current leadership is instead focusing more and more on the grassroots. And that’s generally not a winning strategy,” Romney told NBC News when asked about Martin’s appointment. “I would prefer someone who represents a more historic wing of the party, but that wing is getting smaller and smaller.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
