Far-right Republican congressman Rep. Paul Gosar (Ariz.) allegedly dangled ‘blanket pardons’ to incentivize Jan. 6 organizers to plan the pro-Trump protests, according to an exclusive report from Rolling Stone.
Two unnamed sources told the magazine that they participated in “dozens” of planning briefings ahead of Jan. 6 with Republican lawmakers, including Gosar who dangled the possibility of a “blanket pardon” in an unrelated ongoing investigation to encourage them to plan the protests.
“Our impression was that it was a done deal, that he’d spoken to the president about it in the Oval … in a meeting about pardons and that our names came up.,”one of the organizers told the magazine. “They were working on submitting the paperwork and getting members of the House Freedom Caucus to sign on as a show of support.”
The organizers claim they received “several assurances” from Gosar. The Arizona congressman reportedly told them: “I was just going over the list of pardons and we just wanted to tell you guys how much we appreciate all the hard work you’ve been doing.”
Though the organizers say they did not plan the protest for the pardon, they were still upset when it did not materialize.
“I would have done it either way with or without the pardon,” the organizer says. “I do truly believe in this country, but to use something like that and put that out on the table when someone is so desperate, it’s really not good business.”
Gosar was not the only Republican member of Congress to be “intimately involved” in with planning the riot.
Three organizers who are cooperating with the Jan. 6 panel investigating the riot told Rolling Stone that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), or top members of their staff were involved as well.
