News

CawthWatch: Rolling Stone sources name Meadows, Cawthorn as Jan. 6 planners

By Bill Moss, Published: October 25, 2021

An article published by Rolling Stone casts the immediate past and the current congressman from Western North Carolina as key players in planning the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Headlined "Protest Organizers Say They Participated in ‘Dozens’ of Planning Meetings With Members of Congress and White House Staff," the magazine's story describes accounts of two organizers about the events leading up to the Stop the Steal rally at the Ellipse and subsequent march to the Capitol that disrupted Congress's certification of Biden's election victory over Trump.

"While there have been prior indications that members of Congress were involved, this is also the first account detailing their purported role and its scope," the report said, quoting two people who are cooperating with House investigators probing the violent insurrection. "The two sources also claim they interacted with members of Trump’s team, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who they describe as having had an opportunity to prevent the violence."

Meadows was chair of the House Freedom Caucus and represented the 11th Congressional District before becoming Trump's chief of staff in March of 2020. In addition to reporting Meadows' active involvement ahead of the rally, the story says his successor, Madison Cawthorn, was one of seven congressional Republicans involved in the rally's planning.

The sources both said members of Congress who participated in planning of the rally or had top staffers join in included Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas).

“We would talk to Boebert’s team, Cawthorn’s team, Gosar’s team like back to back to back to back,” one of the two anonymous sources told the magazine. “Meadows was 100 percent made aware of what was going on. He’s also like a regular figure in these really tiny groups of national organizers.”