Washington — Right-wing activist and “Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander testified before a Washington, D.C., grand jury on Friday about his involvement in rallies supporting former President Donald Trump ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, according to his lawyer and a statement obtained by CBS News.
“Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander
screenshot from live stream, via YouTube.com
His testimony — which lasted approximately three hours — came after a grand jury subpoena in April seeking information and documents related to the post-election events which culminated in Trump’s call to his supporters to march on the Capitol and protest the certification of the Electoral College votes.
In the written statement, Alexander said he was “assured” that he was not a target of the investigation, but a “fact witness.”
Alexander obtained a permit to hold a “One Nation Under God” rally on the Capitol Grounds on Jan. 6 but says he was unable to go forward with the planned demonstration because of the violence that day.
In April, Alexander said that the grand jury was investigating “Women for America First” and “Save America” rallies that preceded the breach of the Capitol. Trump spoke on the Ellipse at the latter rally.
“I did not finance the Ellipse equipment. I did not ever talk with the White House about security groups,” Alexander added.
Alexander also testified for eight hours before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot, complying with a congressional subpoena on the same issue. During his testimony, the activist sought to persuade the committee he had “nothing to do with the violence or lawbreaking that happened on January 6,” according to prepared remarks obtained by CBS News at the time.
Shortly after his congressional testimony last year, Alexander sued the committee to stop it from obtaining his Verizon phone records.
Before the mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol, Ali said in the lawsuit that he had attended the former president’s rally as a “VIP guest” and later tried to assist law enforcement in deescalating the violence that erupted on Capitol grounds. He later admitted he was in some contact with members of the far-right Oath Keepers group at the time and had asked them to work as “ushers” at his planned Jan. 6 rally.
Alexander has not been charged with any crime related to Jan. 6 and maintained he was not involved in any of the violence that day.
A spokesperson for U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C. — which is leading the investigation — said the office does not comment beyond what is in the public record.
Alexander’s testimony comes amid a flurry of developments in the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 probe. Earlier this week, there was law enforcement activity at locations connected to people who may have participated in efforts to use “invalid electors” to reverse President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. Federal agents issued subpoenas to individuals connected with the alleged scheme in Georgia, Virginia and Arizona, CBS News has learned.
And on Wednesday, law enforcement authorities searched the home of former Trump-era Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark. Clark is believed to be central to the efforts of then-President Donald Trump and his allies to delay the certification of the 2020 election results and promote baseless claims that Joe Biden had not legitimately won the election.
Alexander’s statement and testimony on Friday also highlighted the divide between the House Select Committee and Justice Department investigators who want access to congressional evidence. In his statement, Alexander said he provided federal investigators with documents and referred them to his testimony before the committee, but they were unable to obtain a transcript of his interview, citing separation of powers concerns.
Prosecutors revealed in a court filing late last week that they sent a letter to committee members asking for access to all transcripts and relevant evidence that may have been collected to assist in the criminal probe related to the riot. The interview transcripts, which the committee says total over 1,000, are “potentially relevant to our overall criminal investigations” and relevant to specific cases already in process, according to the letter from the Justice Department. So far, however, their overtures to Congress have been unsuccessful, in part prompting the judge overseeing the Proud Boys’ seditious conspiracy case to delay the trial until the end of the year.
Jeff Pegues, Ellis Kim and Zach Hudak contributed reporting