Report: Bannon associate fielding questions from January 6 committee
Written by John Whitehouse
Published
Politico reports that Steve Bannon associate Dustin Stockton is fielding questions from the congressional committee investigating the attack of January 6. As Politico notes, Stockton was connected to the “We Build The Wall” effort that ended with Bannon, a former adviser of President Donald Trump, being arrested on his patron’s yacht by postal workers, before Trump later pardoned him.
There is more to say about Stockton and January 6, though.
Stockton and his fiancé, Jennifer Lynn Lawrence, both former Breitbart bloggers, were featured as major players in an extensive New York Times article about how Trump’s repeated lies and conspiracy theories filtered through a series of rallies and other events put on by his supporters in the period between the election and January 6. It also noted they had financial ties to MyPillow’s Mike Lindell:
A onetime organizer for the hard-line Gun Owners of America, according to his LinkedIn page, Mr. Stockton had come to know members of the Three Percenters militia group. He had an online newsletter, Tyrant’s Curse, whose credo was, “A well-armed and self-reliant populace, who take personal responsibility and put their faith in God, can never be oppressed and will never be ruled.” One post featured a photo from the Dec. 12 rally — Mr. Stockton posing with several Three Percenter “brothers” in military-grade body armor.
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“The letdown of the election was kind of put aside,” Mr. Stockton said in an interview. “It was like, ‘We have a new fight to engage in.’”
For the Kremers, Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Stockton, the instrument of that fight would be a reprise of the Tea Party Express, a bus tour to enlist state and federal lawmakers in Mr. Trump’s effort to keep states from certifying results ahead of the Electoral College vote. Equally important, it would be a megaphone to rally the dejected faithful.
The group tapped new veins of financing, with sponsorships from Mr. Bannon’s “War Room,” which paid $5,000, and Mr. Lindell, who said he believed he gave $50,000. It helped the group lease the bus and paint it MAGA red, with a huge photo of Mr. Trump and the logos of MyPillow, “War Room” and other sponsors emblazoned on the sides.
BuzzFeed News also reported on Stockton leading the March for Trump bus tour from after the election through early January.
“If we allow them to steal this election … my kids will not know American freedom,” said Dustin Stockton, a former Breitbart writer and tea party activist and a lead organizer of the March for Trump tour, at a stop in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, on Nov. 30.
Later that day in Savannah, Georgia, Stockton said, “We have to remember the people who betrayed us.”
Stockton advised people to arm themselves, “study tactics,” spend time on the firing range, and pursue self-reliance and self-sufficiency. At times, he evoked images of revenge and violence.
“Right now we still have the power to fix” the election result, he said in Savannah. “But if they allow the election to get stolen, we lose the power to do it. I mean there’s still ways to do it, but it gets a lot, lot uglier and a lot, lot worse. And I don’t think any of us want to go there.”
Stockton told BuzzFeed News the "ugly" option he referred to is state-by-state electoral reform.
On at least three occasions, speakers mentioned violence.
The tour was made possible by Stockton and Lawrence in collaboration with the group 'Women for America First” and its leaders Amy Kremer and Kylie Jane Kremer; it criss-crossed the country spreading lies about the results of the election using violent and revolutionary language.
Media Matters also reported in early February that Stockton and Lawrence were using social media platforms, including Facebook, to plan another bus tour.
Stockton has also praised Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who participated in the January 6 insurrection. And he worked with Bannon previously at Breitbart, where he was central to an effort to persuade Black voters in 2016 to either vote for Trump or not vote at all.