[Guilfoyle’s texts, reviewed by ProPublica, represent the
strongest indication yet that members of the Trump family circle were
directly involved in the financing and organization of the January 6
rally.] [[link removed]]

TEXTS SHOW KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE BRAGGED ABOUT RAISING MILLIONS FOR
RALLY THAT FUELED CAPITOL RIOT  
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Joaquin Sapien and Joshua Kaplan
November 18, 2021
ProPublica
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_ Guilfoyle’s texts, reviewed by ProPublica, represent the
strongest indication yet that members of the Trump family circle were
directly involved in the financing and organization of the January 6
rally. _

Donald Trump, Jr. & Kimberly Guilfoyle, by Gage Skidmore is licensed
under CC BY-SA 2.0

 

Kimberly Guilfoyle, a top fundraiser for former President Donald Trump
and the girlfriend of his son Donald Trump Jr., boasted to a GOP
operative that she had raised $3 million for the rally that helped
fuel the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

In a series of text messages sent on Jan. 4 to Katrina Pierson, the
White House liaison to the event, Guilfoyle detailed her fundraising
efforts and supported a push to get far-right speakers on the stage
alongside Trump for the rally, which sought to overturn the election
of President Joe Biden.

Guilfoyle’s texts, reviewed by ProPublica, represent the strongest
indication yet that members of the Trump family circle were directly
involved in the financing and organization of the rally. The attack on
the Capitol that followed it left five dead and scores injured.

A House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 has
subpoenaed more than 30 Trump allies for testimony and documents,
including Pierson and Caroline Wren, a former deputy to Guilfoyle. But
Guilfoyle herself has so far not received any official scrutiny from
Congress.

Guilfoyle’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, denied that Guilfoyle had
anything to do with fundraising or approving speakers. He said the
text from Guilfoyle “did not relate to the Save America rally” on
Jan. 6 and the “content of the message itself” was
“inaccurate” and “taken out of context.” He did not respond to
additional questions asking about the accuracy and context of the
message.

Reached by phone, Pierson declined to comment.

The text messages show that Guilfoyle expressed specific concerns that
she might not be allowed to speak on stage at the Jan. 6 rally.
Pierson responded that Trump himself set the speaking lineup and that
it was limited to people he selected, including some of his children
and Amy Kremer, a grassroots activist who organized the event.

Guilfoyle replied that she only wanted to introduce Trump Jr. and had
"raised so much money for this."

"Literally one of my donors Julie at 3 million,” she added.

Guilfoyle was referring to Julie Jenkins Fancelli, a Publix
supermarket heir who Guilfoyle had developed a professional
relationship with during the campaign.

Until now, Wren has been the only person identified
[[link removed]] as
having worked with Fancelli. As ProPublica reported
[[link removed]] last
month, Wren also boasted in private conversations with colleagues of
raising $3 million for the events of Jan. 6.

It remains unclear whether that amount was really raised and, if so,
how the majority of it was spent. Some of the money raised from
Fancelli flowed to dark money groups that supported the rally,
according to wire transfers described to ProPublica, planning
documents and interviews with insiders.

In a statement from her attorney, Wren acknowledged helping to produce
the rally but did not provide further details about her role in
fundraising.

“To Ms. Wren’s knowledge, Kimberly Guilfoyle had no involvement in
raising funds for any events on January 6th,” the statement said.
“They were both present at a peaceful rally with hundreds of
thousands of Americans who were in DC to lawfully exercise their first
amendment rights, a primary pillar of American democracy.”

The texts between Guilfoyle and Pierson and interviews with Trump
officials also suggest that Guilfoyle attempted to influence the
lineup of speakers scheduled to appear at the event.

On the night of Jan. 5, Trump Jr., Guilfoyle and Wren attended an
event at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, where Trump
donors mingled with prominent figures in the movement to overturn the
election, according to interviews and social media posts
[[link removed]] from
attendees.

Around the time of that event, Wren called rally staff and urged them
to allow speaking roles for Ali Alexander, a far-right provocateur and
leader of the Stop the Steal movement; Roger Stone, a former Trump
advisor; and conspiracy theorist and InfoWars leader Alex Jones,
according to a former campaign official who was told details of the
call by people who listened to it.

Trump aides had already deemed
[[link removed]] the
men too radical to go on stage, worrying they might embarrass the
president.

During the call, Guilfoyle voiced her support for the controversial
speakers, the former campaign official was told. She also specifically
demanded that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who had sued
[[link removed]] to
challenge election results in four other states, address the crowd.
Alexander later said on
[[link removed]] a newscast
[[link removed]] that he also received a
call from Guilfoyle that same evening.

Tacopina, Guilfoyle's lawyer, said she did not urge staffers to change
the speakers. "Your contention that Ms. Guilfoyle approved a speaking
list for January 6th is patently false," he wrote. He threatened to
“aggressively pursue all legal remedies available” against
ProPublica.

But the texts show Guilfoyle and Pierson talking about a “leaked”
speaking list — an apparent reference to an article about the Jan. 6
rally published
[[link removed]] by
the conservative news website Breitbart the day before.

That list included Alexander, Stone and Paxton, among others.

“All I know is that someone leaked a list of ‘speakers’ that the
WH had not seen or approved,” Pierson wrote. “I’ve never had so
much interference.”

Guilfoyle responded: “Yea and this the list we approved.”

Tacopina did not answer further questions about what Guilfoyle meant
in the text where she said "we" had approved a speaking list.

Untangling the relationship between Guilfoyle, Wren and Fancelli is
key to understanding the financing of the events of Jan. 6.

In January 2020, Guilfoyle was appointed national chair of the Trump
Victory finance committee, a leading fundraising vehicle for Trump’s
reelection campaign. She brought Wren on as her deputy.

Guilfoyle, through her relationship with Trump Jr., had access to the
family and a certain star power that appealed to donors. Wren, by all
accounts a relentless, high-energy worker, brought fundraising
expertise and a Rolodex of wealthy Republicans willing to invest
handsomely to keep Trump in office. The duo ultimately brought in tens
of millions of dollars toward Trump’s reelection.

The pair focused primarily on ramping up the campaign’s
“bundling” program, a method of fundraising that relies on
volunteers collecting money from their personal networks.

Fancelli, a reclusive member of one of the country’s richest
families [[link removed]],
was one of those volunteers, according to interviews and internal
Trump Victory records. Splitting her time between Florida and Italy,
Fancelli raised at least $72,000 from her friends and family.

She stood out to Wren and Guilfoyle, who in 2020 considered her for a
role as Florida state co-chair for the bundling program, according to
an internal Trump Victory planning document reviewed by ProPublica.
The document highlighted Fancelli as a person Guilfoyle should contact
personally.

Tacopina said Guilfoyle had never seen any such document "nor is aware
of its supposed existence."

On or just before July 14, 2020, Guilfoyle called Fancelli directly,
according to a different set of text messages reviewed by ProPublica.
The next day, Fancelli made her largest federal political contribution
to date, according to campaign finance records: $250,000 to Trump
Victory.

By election night, she had chipped in $565,000 more, records show.

Tacopina did not address the July 2020 phone call in his statement and
did not respond to questions about Guilfoyle’s relationship with
Fancelli. Fancelli did not respond to requests for comment.

After the election, Wren became the main fundraising consultant for a
newly formed super PAC run by two of Trump Jr.’s closest aides. The
super PAC, called “Save the US Senate PAC,” placed ads
[[link removed]] starring Trump Jr. in
which he encouraged Georgians to vote Republican in the bitterly
contested runoff elections that would result in Democratic control of
the Senate.

That PAC was primarily funded by LJ Management Services Inc., a
company closely linked to Fancelli’s family foundation. It gave
$800,000 to the PAC in several installments, records show.

In late December, Wren became involved in the rally preparations for
Jan. 6.

Wren told multiple organizers interviewed by ProPublica that she was
carrying out the wishes of the Trump family. Some believed her and
feared that defying her would upset the Trumps. Others suspected she
was exaggerating.

“Caroline kept talking about her connections to Don Jr. and Kimberly
Guilfoyle,” said Cindy Chafian, a rally organizer who told
ProPublica she was put in touch with Wren and Fancelli by Alex Jones.
“I thought she was full of crap.”

As ProPublica previously reported
[[link removed]],
Wren told Dustin Stockton, another rally organizer, that she had
raised $3 million for Jan. 6 and “parked” funds with three
Republican dark money groups supporting the rally.

In one case, Wren routed
[[link removed]] roughly
$150,000 from Fancelli to the Republican Attorneys General
Association’s Rule of Law Defense Fund, which then purchased a
robocall instructing Trump supporters to come to Washington and march
on the Capitol after the president’s speech. The robocall was
purchased in order to satisfy the conditions of the donation, a person
familiar with the transaction told ProPublica.

ProPublica also reported
[[link removed]] that
Wren had pressured rally organizers to allow Jones and other far-right
leaders to speak on stage before the president. The effort grew so
intense and volatile that on the morning of Jan. 6, a senior White
House official suggested rally organizers call the U.S. Park Police on
Wren to have her escorted off the Ellipse. Officers arrived but took
no action. Wren has previously declined to comment on the incident.

Around the same time, Guilfoyle sat with Trump and other members of
his inner circle in the Oval Office and discussed the growing throngs
outside, according to The Washington Post. “They’re just
reflecting the will of the people,” she reportedly
[[link removed]] told
the president. “This is the will of the people.”

On stage later that morning, Guilfoyle gave a rousing speech
introducing Trump Jr. “We will not allow the liberals and the
Democrats to steal our dream or steal our elections,” Guilfoyle told
the crowd.

Trump Jr. then exhorted the crowd to send a message to the Republican
members of Congress who “did nothing to stop the steal.”

Trump Jr. did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Jones and Alexander left the rally early. Wren escorted the men away
from the White House as they prepared to lead the march on the
Capitol.

As the Capitol plunged into chaos later that day — police officers
outnumbered and overrun, lawmakers huddled behind makeshift bunkers,
tear gas enshrouding the building — Guilfoyle boarded a private jet.

TOP TRUMP FUNDRAISER BOASTED OF RAISING $3 MILLION TO SUPPORT JAN. 6
“SAVE AMERICA” RALLY
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She was off to Florida with at least two major Trump donors, Nebraska
gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster and California entrepreneur
Richard Kofoed, who had chartered the jet. The plane left Dulles
International Airport at 3:47 p.m., according to aviation records. It
dropped Herbster off on Florida’s Amelia Island before heading for
West Palm Beach. Wren listed both Kofoed and Herbster as her VIPs for
the rally in planning documents. Planning documents show Cassidy
Kofoed, Richard Kofoed’s 23-year-old daughter, also worked with Wren
on preparations for Jan. 6.

Herbster confirmed that he was on board the plane with Guilfoyle.
Richard and Cassidy Kofoed did not respond to requests for comment.

In response to questions about the flight, Tacopina said that
Guilfoyle lived with Kofoed and his wife at a rented property in
Mar-a-Lago from approximately December 2020 through July 2021.

Guilfoyle has continued her role as a major Trump fundraiser. In
October, she was put at the helm of Trump’s super PAC, called Make
America Great Again, Again!

_Mollie Simon
[[link removed]] and Kirsten Berg
[[link removed]] contributed
research._

_Joaquin Sapien is a reporter at ProPublica covering criminal justice
and social services._

* _ [email protected]
[[link removed]]_
* _ @jbsapien [[link removed]]_
* _ Signal: 347-573-3042
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_Josh Kaplan is a Reporter at ProPublica._

* _ [email protected]
[[link removed]]_
* _ @js_kaplan [[link removed]]_
* _ 734-834-9383 [tel:734-834-9383]_
* _ Signal: 734-834-9383
[[link removed]]_

_ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.
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