Washington, D.C. — Weeks before violence erupted at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, a group associated with the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) — a group that encouraged attendance at the insurrection and whose members sowed doubt in the legitimacy of the 2020 election — reportedly held a ‘war games’ event to discuss next steps if Trump lost the election. In response, government watchdog Accountable.US renewed its calls on Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Chairman Bennie Thompson, and other members of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol bring key members of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) and Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF) before Congress to testify about their role leading up to the deadly attack. 

We can’t move forward as a country without accountability for those who helped incite the deadly attack on the Capitol on January 6th. Among those who have paid no price for fanning the flames of sedition are several Republican attorneys general and their staff that schemed for months on how to keep Trump in office — the Constitution be damned. We now know Republican attorneys general didn’t just conduct paid calls driving insurrectionists to the Trump rally that preceded the riot, they also engaged in what they called “war games” to prepare for what came next. To ensure this never happens again, every RAGA member involved needs to testify under oath before Congress about the extent and nature of their plans to undermine the election results.” 

Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US

In an August 2021 letter to Congress, Accountable.US President Kyle Herrig detailed RAGA’s long history of undermining our democracy and inciting violence. The day before the insurrection, RAGA’s fundraising arm, the Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF) sent out robocalls with a message instructing individuals to march to the Capitol and “call on Congress to stop the steal.” To this day, Alabama Attorney General and RLDF Chair Steve Marshall still maintains that he doesn’t know who authorized and paid for the robocalls, and has failed to clarify his whereabouts leading up to and directly following the insurrection. 

Leading up to the attack, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a frivolous lawsuit in an attempt to overturn the results of the election. Despite Paxton’s lack of evidence, 17 other attorneys general supported the case, including RLDF Chair Steve Marshall and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who would later be named RAGA chairman. The lawsuit was tossed out by the Supreme Court for lack of standing. Paxton was also a headlining speaker at the rally that took place before violence erupted at the Capitol and told the crowd “we will not quit fighting.”

As Herrig pointed out, RAGA is deeply entrenched in dangerous attacks against our democracy, and bears a level of responsibility for the events that took place on January 6th. The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol must call on key RAGA and RLDF members to testify regarding their role in the Capitol attack in front of the committee.

Read the full letter here.  

Accountable.US recently launched “Enemies of Progress,” a campaign that seeks to hold conservative attorneys general across the country accountable for using their positions to prevent progress on some of the country’s toughest challenges. Read more about these efforts and the top targets of the campaign here

Read more from AP here or below: 

GOP Group Held ‘War Games’ for State AGs Before Trump Loss

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An offshoot of the Republican Attorneys General Association held a special meeting weeks before the election to discuss its strategies if then-President Donald Trump lost. The Rule of Law Defense Fund later gained notoriety for sending a robocall urging people to support Trump at the January 6th rally that preceded the storming of the U.S. Capitol. Its two-day conference in September 2020 was among 20-plus meetings the group held in the four months before the November presidential election for senior aides to Republican state attorneys general. It was a special event with “off the record” conversations and expenses covered. It was in-person during the COVID-19 pandemic with vaccines months away.

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