Former President Donald Trump has been accused of inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, and it appears he also profited from it, according to records examined by Forbes magazine.
As Trump touted the coming gathering of his supporters — at one point last December tweeting: “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” — the price of the least expensive rooms in his Washington hotel zoomed from $476 to $1,999. Just over a week later, prices hit $3,600 — and eventually reached an astonishing $8,000 on Jan. 6, Forbes reported.
In-room dining also hit record highs, according to the hotel’s director.
Guests included Trump allies and insiders working to overturn his 2020 election loss from a nearby “war room” at the Willard hotel, Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Forbes noted, basing its report on various social media posts.
Forbes’ article focuses on a timeline of rising hotel rates, along with rising emotions and invective against the government, before the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House that led to the attack on the Capitol as both houses of Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s Electoral College win.
The day before the riot, a video was posted online showing Juan O. Savin — a pseudonym for a QAnon influencer who some acolytes believe is the late John F. Kennedy Jr. now out of “hiding” —with his legs stretched out in a room at Trump’s hotel.
“We are at a critical moment where it’s clear that you can’t get to justice through the Justice Department,” “Savin” warns.
That same day, a hotel guest posted a photo of Flynn in the hotel lobby — not long after he urged Trump to declare martial law to “rerun” the 2020 election so Trump could instead win and stay in the White House.