WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee has hired a notable follower of the pro- Trump” Cease the Steal” activity, who has since fueled conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, to help build its 2024 party platform.
Past Missouri Republican Party chair Ed Martin was a big supporter of former president Donald Trump’s initiatives to reverse his election loss in 2020. He gave a talk to Trump supporters in Washington on the eve of the Capitol attack, calling on “die- difficult real Americans” to function until their “last breath” to” quit the steal”, according to video posted on social media.
Martin and Martin marched to the Capitol and shared information about it on social media the morning of January 6 when Trump delivered a discourse near the White House. Around 2:20 p.m., according to Capitol movie surveillance footage released by House Republicans, Trump’s supporters had already broken through authorities barriers and stormed the tower itself in an effort to stop Congress from ratifying President Joe Biden’s win.
Martin did not enter the Capitol on confined grounds or in violation of the law that day. However, the new RNC hire’s vocal support for changing the 2020 election results and his subsequent support for those outcomes shows how institutionalized the” Cease the Steal” movement has become in the GOP. Trump is basing his 2024 campaign on the falsehood that he lacked the election, is promising retribution against his political foes, and also proposes imprisoning them if elected, despite the fact that he has been a rioter himself.
Martin was hired by the RNC on May 15 to serve as the party’s system committee’s assistant plan producer. The group will decide the policies the group will support in November. He is also the author of the 2016 book” The Conservative Case for Trump” and the president of the conservative organizations Phyllis Schlafly Eagles and the Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund.
The announcement was in conjunction with the platform panel’s hiring of former Trump White House budget director Russ Vought and Ambassador to Luxembourg Randy Evans as the executive director.
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, who was hand-chosen by Trump, said in a statement that” they each have a proven track record of understanding and putting our party’s America First agenda to the test. Their sound judgment and principled vision will be crucial to helping our party and nation win one of the most significant elections of our lifetimes.”
With Trump’s circle gaining control over the RNC and its activities and attempting to limit far-right language on cultural issues like abortion and the definition of marriage, it’s not clear how much influence Martin will have on the eventual party platform, as NBC News has previously reported. Martin is an avowed opponent of abortion and his group has fought for” traditional” marriage and families, blaming no- fault divorce.
A RNC representative declined to comment on the Martin hire, whether it supports his claims that the 2020 election was a fraud or how much influence he’ll have over the platform. Additionally, Martin did not respond to a request from NBC News.
January 2021
Martin gave a speech on Jan. 5, 2021, outside the Capitol, starting a chant of” stop the steal” and invoking God while accusing Trump’s enemies of stealing the election, according to video of the event.
” No matter what happens tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after, we still need to be in the fight. No springtime patriots or soldiers are present here. There’s the die- hard true Americans”, Martin said. We begin today, continue through tomorrow, and continue each day until we take a last breath before returning to the Lord because we will stop the thief.
The next day, after attending Trump’s speech in the VIP section, Martin marched to the east side of the Capitol, near where he’d spoken the day before, and tweeted the hashtags” #StopTheSteal” and” #DoNotCertify”.
” I’m at the Capitol right now”, Martin tweeted at 2: 53 p. m.” Rowdy crowd but nothing out of hand. Ignore the# FakeNews”.
Minutes later, Martin tweeted,” Like Mardi Gras in DC today: love, faith and joy”.
At the time of Martin’s tweets, Rioters had long since crossed the Capitol. At 2:44 p.m., on the other side of the Capitol, pro-Trump rioters were engaged in a battle with law enforcement at the lower west tunnel, where some of the worst violence of the day took place. As she was trying to climb into the Speaker’s Lobby where members were being evacuated, Ashli Babbitt was shot by an officer. Soon after, a MAGA- hatted rioter named Daniel” D. J”. Rodriguez would veer a stun gun into Michael Fanone’s neck, a former police officer who was kidnapped by the mob.
Later in 2021, Martin was subpoenaed by the House’s Jan. 6 committee, which said it had evidence that he was “involved in the logistical planning” of the” Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, where Trump encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol. The committee claimed that it also had proof that Martin “paid costs associated with vendors hired for that event.” In February 2022, he did not appear for a deposition with the committee.
In the wake of Trump’s election loss, Martin also attended events alongside Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser and a prominent election denier, as well as” Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander. Martin sat behind Trump during a fundraiser for the defendants who were scheduled for January 6 that took place at Trump’s golf course in New Jersey last year. Martin has also spread conspiracies about what transpired on January 6, 2021 on X.
Martin narrated a video in which he said that an individual he dubbed” Mr. Coffee” had set up gallows outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 for a photo- op, suggesting that perhaps” Mr. Coffee” was working for the federal government. The man makes the claim that he walks in the hazy, general direction of the FBI’s Washington Field Office before going to get coffee. One blog post titled” January 6th was Staged by Mr. Coffee” was written by Martin.
At the Capitol that day, Jan. 6 defendants and Trump supporters chanted “hang Mike Pence” in response to the gallows discussion.
Martin questioned why no one had been detained for the gallows ‘ erecting. In this instance, it’s unclear what federal crimes could be investigated or charged with because the gallows were figuratively called “art,” and federal authorities typically only charge hate crimes when there is proof that Black victims were specifically targeted because of their race.
” We have to look at who the real architects of Jan. 6 were”, Martin said in one video. Who organized and staged the now-infamous Jan. 6 optics?
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D- Mich., said she was n’t aware that the RNC had hired an official who promoted the” Stop the Steal” campaign when asked about it.
It demonstrates how far they have fallen in the current state. It falls in the category of unbelievable”, she said. ” I was here on Jan. 6. People lost their lives. People were injured. And it was no joke”.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R- Utah, who is retiring, said the safe space within the party for the” Stop the Steal” movement shows that it continues to cater primarily to Trump’s core supporters.
” I believe that the party needs to grow beyond his base.” And I believe that the party is instead focusing more and more on the base under its current leadership. And that’s typically not a successful strategy, Romney said when asked about Martin’s hiring. ” I would prefer someone to represent a party’s more historical wing, but that wing is shrinking in size.”
