Page:Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.pdf/528

 Lie" and relentlessly promoted President Trump's "wild" protest. One of Jones' co-hosts floated the idea of "storming right into the Capitol." Jones himself marched to the Capitol January 6th.

Jones's influence helped shape the planning for January 6th behind the scenes as well. The Select Committee investigated how event organizers and the White House staff planned President Trump's rally at the Ellipse, a park south of the White House. This event was intended to rile up the President's supporters just prior to the joint session of Congress. A wealthy heiress paid for the event after listening to Jones' InfoWars rant about the importance of President Trump's tweet. She spent $3 million with the goal to "get as many people there as possible." It worked—Americans who believed the election was stolen flocked to the Nation's capital.

By January 5th, President Trump's supporters—a large, angry crowd ready for instructions—had assembled in Washington. That evening, he could hear his raucous supporters at a rally not far from the White House. The President knew his supporters were "angry," and he planned to call on them to march on the U.S. Capitol. He even wanted to join them on the march. It was all part of President Trump's plan to intimidate officials and obstruct the joint session of Congress.

"We fight like hell," President Trump told the crowd assembled at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021. "And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore." Some of those in attendance, as well as elsewhere in Washington that day, were already prepared to fight. They had begun preparing two and a half weeks earlier—when President Trump told them it would "be wild!"

President Trump's "be wild" tweet immediately mobilized extremists and conspiracy theorists in the "Stop the Steal" coalition. The phrase "Stop the Steal" was originally coined in early 2016 by President Trump's longtime political advisor, Roger Stone. At the time, Stone alleged first that Candidate Trump's Republican rivals were attempting to steal Candidate Trump's nomination. After Trump became the nominee, Stone repurposed the saying to claim that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would steal the presidency. When President Trump won the 2016 election, "Stop the Steal" was rendered moot—and did not become a significant political movement until President Trump's defeat on election night in 2020. As