Page:Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.pdf/531

 That same day, Fuentes told the crowd, "Look, we've been in front of the State capitol, maybe we've been trying the wrong approach." Days earlier, at a nighttime event outside the governor's mansion, Alexander, again flanked by Jones and Fuentes, goaded the crowd: "We'll light the whole shit on fire."

While the crowd did not turn violent, the "Stop the Steal" protests in Atlanta, Georgia, prefigured January 6th in important respects. "Stop the Steal" organizers tried to use the mob they had assembled—including extremists from the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters and Groypers—to intimidate lawmakers and overturn the election results in Georgia, which was required to certify former Vice President Biden's victory in the State by the end of that week. They implored their followers to "storm the capitol." As discussed in Chapter 8, this same coalition of radicals did just that on January 6, 2021.

Other "Stop the Steal" events helped pave the way for the events of January 6th. Two rallies in Washington D.C.—on November 14 and December 12, 2020—were critically important. Alexander's "Stop the Steal" was not the only protest organization present at these events. Both were called "Million MAGA Marches" and drew in other rally organizers. One of these other protests was called the "Jericho March" prayer rally. Regardless, the same constellation of actors that appeared in Atlanta also incited Trump supporters in Washington.

For instance, during the Jericho March rally on December 12th, Stewart Rhodes called on President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act as part of a desperate gambit to remain in power. In Rhodes' vision, he would lead militiamen on behalf of President Trump when others tried to remove him from office. If President Trump did not invoke the Insurrection Act, Rhodes warned the crowd, then they would be forced to wage a "much more desperate [and] much more bloody war." Alex Jones also gave an incendiary speech at the Jericho March event, declaring: "I don't know who is going to the White House in 38 days, but I sure know this, Joe Biden is a globalist, and Joe Biden will be removed, one way or another!"

As the crowds gathered in Washington on December 12th, President Trump was publicly lobbying the Supreme Court to hear his fictious claims of election fraud. The President assailed the Supreme Court on Twitter throughout the day. The "Stop the Steal" coalition was eager to help. After the Jericho March event ended, Jones, his InfoWars co-host Owen Shroyer, and Ali Alexander led a march on the Supreme Court. Once there, the crowd chanted slogans such as "Stop the Steal!"; "1776!!"; "Our revolution!"; and "The fight has just begun!!"