The group that organized the pro-Donald Trump rally in front of the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, knowingly misled government officials about plans for attendees to march on the U.S. Capitol, according to a new investigation from the Interior Department’s internal watchdog.
The report, published Monday by Interior’s Official of Inspector General, includes text messages from Kylie Kremer ― the rally’s organizer, and a representative of the group Women for America First ― and one potential event speaker. The Interior report does not name the individuals, but the exchange between Kremer and Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO and Trump ally, was previously made public by the House Jan. 6 select committee.
“This stays only between us, we are having a second stage at the Supreme Court again after the ellipse. POTUS is going to have us march there/the Capitol,” Kremer wrote to Lindell on Jan. 4. “It cannot get out about the second stage because people will try and set up another and Sabotage it. It can also not get out about the march because I will be in trouble with the national park service and all the agencies but the POTUS is going to just call for it ‘unexpectedly.’”
“If anyone tells you otherwise, it’s not accurate info,” she continued. “Only myself and [White House liaison] know full story of what is actually happening and we are having to appease many people by saying certain things.”
The Interior report does not identify the White House liaison in question.
Officials with the National Park Service who were involved in permitting and preparing for the rally expressed shock when Interior investigators showed them the text exchange.
“One official stated it ‘bl[ew her] mind’ because the NPS repeatedly asked WFAF whether there would be a march and, according to the NPS official, the WFAF representative ‘was just adamant there was gonna be no march,’” the report states. “Another NPS official with whom we spoke similarly stated, ‘we asked [the WFAF representative] repeatedly if she was going to do a march ... So, um, basically she lied to all of us.’”
“NPS officials stated that, even though knowledge of the march would not have led to denial of WFAF’s permit, it would have affected how they prepared for the demonstration and engaged with other affected jurisdictions and law enforcement officials,” investigators wrote in the report.
“Specifically, NPS officials stated that, had they known there would be a march from the Ellipse to the U.S. Capitol, they would have requested information from WFAF regarding the planned march route and expected time of the march and coordinated with law enforcement and other relevant officials,” the report continues. “They also stated that they would have made sure WFAF had enough marshals to help safely direct people from the Ellipse to the march route and that the appropriate roads were closed. The NPS officials explained that these actions would have been taken to ensure that the march was ‘conducted in a safe manner’ and ’that the Capitol [wa]s aware that there’s a march coming up to their jurisdictions.’”
WFAF declined to speak with Interior investigators, the report notes. The group could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
The report shines new light on how event organizers ultimately hamstrung federal agencies and law enforcement from better preparing for Jan. 6, when a violent pro-Trump mob descended on the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“This report adds important information and context to the historical record of the events leading up to and occurring on that day,” Interior Inspector General Mark Greenblatt said in a statement Monday.
The Interior IG’s review focused both on NPS’s permitting process ahead of the rally, and its law enforcement response on Jan. 6. Along with concluding that “WFAF intentionally failed to disclose information to the NPS regarding its knowledge of a post-demonstration march,” investigators identified several missteps by NPS.
While the park service complied with legal requirements in issuing WFAF a permit for the demonstration, the IG found the agency “did not review WFAF’s fire and life safety documentation or conduct a site inspection as required by NPS Policy.”
NPS also “did not comply with notice requirements regarding prohibited items at the Ellipse, including the prohibition on backpacks and bags,” and “failed to retain pre-demonstration photographs of the event site that could have been used to seek recovery for damages to Federal property,” according to the report.
Meanwhile, investigators “found no evidence that the [U.S. Park Police] failed to exercise its law enforcement responsibilities in accordance with policy on January 6 at both the Ellipse and the U.S. Capitol.”