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- Pro-Trump rally organizers who planned January 6 protests said they felt abandoned by former President Donald Trump after the Capitol siege.
- They told Rolling Stone they were upset that their protests turned into a violent attack.
- The organizers said Trump was one of the bad actors who caused chaos on that day and made them look bad.
Two organizers of pro-Trump rallies that took place in Washington DC on January 6 – the day of the US Capitol attack – said that former President Donald Trump "abandoned" them after he had made them look bad with his call for protestors to march on the Capitol.
They named Trump as one of the "bad actors" who caused chaos on the day of the violent riots and made them "look like shit," in an exclusive interview by Rolling Stone released Sunday. The pair were kept anonymous because they have been cooperating with a congressional investigation into the Capitol insurrection, per Rolling Stone.
They agreed to speak on details behind the protests because they were upset that the rallies had escalated into a siege on the Capitol.
"The breaking point for me [on January 6 was when] Trump starts talking about walking to the Capitol," one organizer told Rolling Stone. "I was like: 'Let's get the fuck out of here.'"
They also said Trump's administration and former campaign staffers had worked with them to plan the protests, but felt forsaken by the former president following the insurrection.
"I'm actually pretty pissed about it, and I'm pissed at him," one of them said.
Their only shot at clarifying the events of January 6, they said, was through the House select committee investigating the incident - the same committee that Trump has blasted for focusing on the riots instead of his unproven claims that the 2020 election was rigged.
Still, the two organizers told Rolling Stone they support what Trump stands for and doubt the election results. They believe Trump's loss had more to do with voting rules and social media censoring the former president and his allies, not a fraudulent vote count.
Both are willing to testify publicly and share information on the White House's involvement in the attack, Rolling Stone reported.
In the meantime, Trump has called the storming of the Capitol a "day of protesting" the election results, and also said that the rioters posed "zero threat" and were being "persecuted."
On January 6, he was outside the White House speaking to supporters and telling them to walk to the Capitol. "We will never give up, we will never concede," he told the crowd. The former president later called the protesters"very special" but told them to "go home."
His former aides have in recent weeks been the subject of focus for the congressional probe into the Capitol assault, though Trump has reportedly told them not to cooperate with the investigation. On Friday, the House of Representatives voted that one of the aides, former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, be held in criminal contempt for defying a subpoena.
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