Ed Martin, the deputy policy director of the convention platform committee, was in the mob outside the Capitol on Jan. 6. At least three other people photographed in that mob are serving as delegates. So are five people who previously served as alternate electors, including four who have been charged with fraud, forgery and conspiracy.
Their roles in this convention show how much election denial has permeated the party and its institutional acceptance of the first disruption to the peaceful transfer of power since the Civil War. Even before Saturday’s assassination attempt led leaders of both parties to urge restraint of violent language, the convention organizers were working to avoid making Jan. 6 central to the week’s programming, in contrast to the typical emphasis in Trump’s speeches and interviews.
“The overall viewpoint we have right now is looking forward,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in an interview last week, before the assassination attempt. Asked whether Jan. 6 would be on the agenda, Whatley said, “No, not at all.”
Trump’s advisers don’t view Jan. 6 and election fraud claims as favorable issues for the voters Trump needs to win, instead framing the convention around Republican polling strengths such as the economy, crime, immigration and foreign policy. Still, the presence of Jan. 6 participants and critical responses from Democrats are poised to complicate those efforts as the shadow of Trump’s efforts to overturn the last election remains a driving force of his candidacy and party.
“It’s stupid,” said Marc Short, a top aide for former vice president Mike Pence, who refused Trump’s pressure to try to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. “Don’t do anything at the convention that takes away attention from Biden. Doing something controversial that involves the fake electors does that.”
The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee are planning billboards, bus wraps, news conferences and surrogates on the ground in Milwaukee to counterprogram the convention with messages, including about Trump’s pledge to pardon people convicted in the Jan. 6 riot and his threats of further political violence if he loses again.
“Trump’s Republican Party is based on election denialism and loyalty to him over everything,” DNC spokeswoman Hannah Muldavin said. “Trump’s far-right MAGA policies have fully taken over the Republican Party and their platform.”
Trump’s rallies sometimes start with a rendition of the national anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance featuring his voice alongside inmates charged in the riot, including some convicted of assaulting police. Over the years since the riot, he has steadily increased his glorification of the defendants, hailing them as mistreated patriots. His mention of “the J6 people” at a rally in Florida last week prompted cries of “Release the hostages!”
“All of their persecution is only happening because I am running for president,” he said at the Florida rally. About 1,000 people have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial in connection with the riot, a third of them for felonies and two-thirds for misdemeanors such as trespassing in the restricted Capitol building or on its grounds. Four people died in the melee.
The danger of escalating political violence in America reached another tragic milestone with Saturday’s shooting at a Trump rally, narrowly missing the former president and killing one attendee, with two more injured. Authorities are investigating Saturday’s shooting as an assassination attempt but are yet to make any determinations about the shooter’s motive or find evidence of any ideological connection. Trump has responded by calling for unity. Biden has asked to tone down heated political language.
Trump’s call, when he stood up after the shooting — to “fight!” — became a recurring chant during Monday’s convention proceedings.
Monday’s prime-time programming also included a prerecorded video of Trump encouraging supporters to vote early or by mail even as he repeated false claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent and said he ultimately wants one-day voting with paper ballots.
Amy Kremer, one of the organizers of the Jan. 6 rally on the Ellipse who was recently elected a national committeewoman from Georgia, said she was not aware of any Jan. 6-related programming at the convention and believes voters are focused on the economy, crime and immigration. “January 6th is not on the hearts and minds of [a] majority of Americans,” she wrote in a text message. But she predicted the convention will probably touch on other issues prioritized in the new GOP platform, such as “election integrity” and the “weaponization of government.”
“President Trump is going to say what President Trump wants, and he’s going to be honest, and that’s what we love about him,” she said.
Some family members of Jan. 6 defendants said they were disappointed, though not surprised, to be excluded from the convention plans. Geri Perna, whose nephew took his own life while awaiting sentencing for charges including disorderly and disruptive conduct, said she was not invited and the convention should address the Supreme Court decision striking the obstruction charge used against some Jan. 6 defendants.
“People of power on both sides know they are culpable, and would just soon have it forgotten,” said Nicole Reffitt, whose husband is serving an 87-month sentence for charges including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a firearm. “It is a mistake not to address it.”
Texas delegate Trisha Hope, who attended the rally but didn’t go to the Capitol, said in an interview Friday that she planned to come to Milwaukee wearing a “J6 prisoners of war” jacket and promoting a proposal for a blanket pardon proclamation. Trump’s campaign has said pardons would be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Arizona state Sen. Janae Shamp was recorded in a crowd along the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace on Jan. 6. Asked if she planned on participating in anything at the convention to mark Jan. 6, she said she was hoping to commemorate the first public demonstration of the telegraph machine on Jan. 6, 1838, or the death of Theodore Roosevelt on Jan. 6, 1919.
Bob Ide, a Wyoming state senator serving on the Republican convention platform committee, was photographed on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, reaching the scaffolding set up for the inauguration. He did not respond to requests for comment.
Another Arizona state senator, Anthony Kern, who is serving as a delegate and running for Congress in the battleground state, was indicted as an alternate elector falsely claiming Trump won the state in 2020. Kern said he has “bigger fish to fry” during the convention than focusing on the aftermath of the 2020 election.
“I’m not focused on any of that stuff,” he said. “We’re focused on the future, getting President Trump elected.”
Other Arizona delegates who served as alternate electors did not respond to requests for comment. Kraulidis said she was not available to comment. Martin referred questions to the convention and the Trump campaign.
McDonald, the Nevada GOP chairman, spoke Monday as part of formally nominating Trump. After the 2020 election, McDonald worked with attorney Kenneth Chesebro to organize alternate electors falsely claiming Trump won the state. He was deposed by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, and the FBI searched his phone. He has not been charged with a crime.
Another Nevada delegate is national committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid, who worked with Chesebro to coordinate the alternate electors, according to emails obtained by the Jan. 6 committee. McDonald and DeGraffenreid did not respond to requests for comment.
From Michigan, former state party co-chair Meshawn Maddock was elevated on Monday from an alternate to a delegate. Maddock signed on as an alternate elector falsely claiming Trump won Michigan in 2020 and was charged in the scheme by the state attorney general last year. Maddock pleaded not guilty.
The Wisconsin delegation includes state chair Brian Schimming, who spoke with Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Chesebro about organizing alternate electors in that state, and Pam Travis, who served as an alternate elector and who was elected as a national committeewoman. The Wisconsin attorney general charged Chesebro with conspiracy in June. Schimming and Travis have not been charged.
“Our main focus is on the economy, on the competency of Joe Biden and restoring security to the border,” Wisconsin state party spokesman Matt Fisher said. “I don’t think anyone here is going to be weighing in on that in terms of Jan. 6.”
Hannah Knowles and Patrick Marley contributed to this report.
