#SeditionHunters - you may have read Steve Schmidt's bombshell thread tonight detailing Paul Manafort's long-term efforts to aid Russia's interests - first in the McCain campaign in 2008, then Trump's in 2016. So let's remember Manafort's connection to January 6, 2021 too. 1/
Paul Manafort's company ran the Ellipse rally where Trump spoke, that brought 1000s to DC. But rally planning was late and started a mess: Jan 6 was not green-lit til Dec. 19th early AM, and by the 21st it was tangled in a power grab by Cindy Chafian to put herself in charge. 2/
On Dec. 22d - 3 days after green-lighting Jan 6 - Trump pardoned 2016 campaign advisor George Papadopolous (convicted for lying about his Russia contacts), also Blackwater guys convicted of murder. On the 24th, he pardoned Roger Stone & former campaign chair Paul Manafort. 3/
By at least the 29th, Manafort's company Event Strategies had taken over rally planning. His impressively competent machine rolled in and made it happen. Here's Manafort employee Justin Caporale on the 31st, smoothly talking to NPS about developments in the last "several days" 4/
In less than a week Manafort's company produced a 15,000-person event: seating, a giant stage, crowd control, audio equipment, a press pen, overflow lots with video screens. Even industrial-scale matting to protect the lawn. The mob in DC was not possible without that work. 5/
AP wrote an article in Jan 2021 and interviewed Kim Fletcher, who ran the small Moms for America rally on the 5th. Her response suggests amazement at the scale of the production: "when I..saw the size of the stage.. I don't know who was in the background..." That was Manafort. 6/
There's no evidence - yet - that Manafort provided logistics beyond the Ellipse on Jan 6. While someone helped run an organized attack at the Capitol, we can't say who... But for managing the crowd in the AM, Manafort was the one who got it done. The pardon was not random. 7/
Our "lead-up and VIP" timeline details these events and links to sources, including the 1500 page FOIA of NPS emails about the rally. This summary is an effort by many #SeditionHunters working to understand January 6. Manafort is part of that story. 8/
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
We owe much of our understanding of Jan 6 to the photos and videos taken that day. Photo credits here -
Tweet 5: Mark Peterson, Redux
Tweet 7: Jacquelyn Martin, AP
9/
Typo fix: Pardons for Paul Manafort and Roger Stone were issued on Dec. 23rd, not Dec. 24. The Capitol attack happened less than 2 weeks later. 10/
justice.gov/file/1349071/d…
There's a whole lot of January 6 in Trump's December pardons. Both Roger Stone and pardoned Blackwater contractor Paul Slough were in the VIP tent at Freedom Plaza the night before. Stone: "One million Americans are going to come here tomorrow." 11/
The pardoned Paul Slough also used his DC trip to meet up with his former Blackwater buddies, now working as bodyguards for InfoWars' Alex Jones - who climbed the Capitol steps during the attack and gave a speech to the mob. So many connections. 12/
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