Discussion of the Jan. 6 attack did not dominate the Democratic National Convention this week, but the party certainly made an effort to remind the public about the assault on the U.S. Capitol and Donald Trump’s responsibility for the insurrectionist violence. In fact, on the third night of the DNC, attendees and viewers saw a four-minute video devoted specifically to Jan. 6.
A day later, as Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her party’s nomination, she declared, “[C]onsider not only the chaos and calamity when he was in office, but also the gravity of what has happened since he lost the last election. Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes. When he failed, he sent an armed mob to the U.S. Capitol, where they assaulted law enforcement officers. When politicians in his own party begged him to call off the mob and send help, he did the opposite — he fanned the flames.”
It was against this backdrop that The New York Times reported that a group supporting Jan. 6 criminals and defendants will soon hold a fundraising event for rioters at Trump’s golf club in New Jersey.
The event — billed as the J6 Awards Gala and hosted by the Stand in the Gap Foundation — is scheduled to take place at the golf club on Sept. 5, according to an online announcement, with tickets costing up to $50,000 for a table for 12. The money is being raised to pay for legal fees for those being prosecuted for their roles on Jan. 6, when a mob stormed the Capitol to protest Mr. Trump’s loss in the 2020 election.
I’m reasonably certain this news was first reported by the MeidasTouch Network.
To be sure, the former president is listed on the announcement for the event as an “invited guest speaker,” though the Times’ report added that the GOP nominee does not plan to attend.
The article nevertheless added, “Regardless of whether Mr. Trump will be present, it is an unusual — and potentially risky — move to permit a soiree supporting those who stormed the Capitol to be held at one of his most recognizable properties just as his presidential campaign goes full speed for its final few months.”
That’s true, though it’s also worth emphasizing the familiarity of the circumstances.
NBC News reported in June 2023, for example, that Trump spoke at a fundraiser on behalf of Jan. 6 criminals and defendants, held at his private golf club in Bedminster. “I’m going to make a contribution,” the former president said at the time.
Two months later, NBC News ran a separate report, noting that Trump participated in a different fundraiser for Jan. 6 defendants, which was also held at his Bedminster golf club.
These latest developments, in other words, are part of a pattern.
The news also comes roughly three weeks after the Republican reiterated his intentions to issue pardons to convicted Jan. 6 felons — including those who assaulted police officers during the assault on the Capitol.
The Associated Press reported in March that the former president has positioned “the violent siege and its failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election as a cornerstone of his bid to return to the White House.” This coincided with a related Semafor report on the degree to which the Republican has put Jan. 6 rioters “at the heart of his campaign.”
That was true then, and it appears to still be true now.
