Right-wing royalty Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. have had a busy few days. The couple appeared to announce their engagement on Friday, but a few days later it was revealed that the devil’s spawn had actually gotten down on one knee a year earlier, but the couple had chosen to keep it a secret. We discovered on Monday that Don Jr. and his sister Ivanka had been served with subpoenas by the New York attorney general and were reportedly defying the directive. Additionally, as the anniversary of the brutal Capitol attack draws near, we are reminded of the ProPublica investigation from last fall, in which text messages sent by Guilfoyle about the rally on January 6 that came before the deadly attack on the Capitol suggested Team Trump was even more closely involved with the planning of “Stop the Steal” than was previously believed. Wishing the happy couple all the best?
Guilfoyle reportedly made her boasts about the millions she brought in in response to objections that she wouldn’t be able to speak on stage at the rally. Pierson claims that the president personally selected the speaker lineup and that there was nothing she could do to change it, according to ProPublica. According to reports, Guilfoyle said she only wanted to present Don Jr. and added that she had “raised so much money for this…. Literally one of my contributors Julie at 3 million.” According to ProPublica, Guilfoyle was reportedly alluding to Julie Jenkins Fancelli, an heir to the Publix supermarket who Guilfoyle had developed a business relationship with during the campaign.
Approximately $150,000 from Fancelli was routed to the Republican Attorneys General Association’s Rule of Law Defense Fund, which later bought a robocall urging Trump supporters to travel to Washington, D.C., and march on the Capitol following the president’s speech, according to ProPublica. Wren allegedly told another rally organiser that she had “parked” funds with dark money groups supporting the event.
Guilfoyle and Don Jr. met with Trump in the Oval Office on January 6 before to the rally, where she allegedly “indulged the delusion that [Mike] Pence would assist overturn the election results,” according to The Washington Post. Guilfoyle reportedly said to the president, “They’re just reflecting the will of the people,” in reference to the crowds gathered at the Ellipse. This is what the people want. We will not allow the liberals and Democrats to steal our dream or our elections, she said later in a speech introducing Don Jr. After then, Don Jr. said to the lawmakers who would be certifying Biden’s victory in the Electoral College, “You have an opportunity today. Either you are a hero or you are a zero. You have the option. However, everyone is looking. People, the entire world is watching. Choose carefully.
The text from Guilfoyle, according to his attorney Joe Tacopina, “did not connect to the Save America rally” and that the “content of the message itself” was “inaccurate” and “taken out of context,” and that Guilfoyle had nothing to do with fundraising or selecting rally speakers. (The outlet followed up with inquiries about the message’s accuracy and context; he did not answer.) Requests for response from Fancelli and Pierson were both rejected. Wren acknowledged helping to organise the event in a statement sent to ProPublica by her lawyer, but she withheld information about her involvement in fundraising.
According to reports, Melania was shooting rugs at the time and was unable to leave her work in order to approve a message to the country. She didn’t publicly address the uprising until almost a week had passed, at which point she essentially asserted that she was the real victim of the day.
Grisham worked for the Trumps for a number of years, beginning as a press assistant to Trump during the 2016 campaign, despite their attempts to portray her as a dissatisfied employee. The first lady told CNN that she was confident Grisham would “excel as chief of staff” when he visited the East Wing again.
The DOJ is not presently engaged in “any large-scale investigation of high-level coup plotters,” according to one legal expert, though.
