Katrina Pierson, the former Trump campaign spokesperson who insisted in 2016 that President Obama led the country into the Iraq War (he was a state senator in Illinois at the time), was not given a job in the White House like Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, or Omarosa Manigault-Newman. However, she still served the twice-impeached ex-president who lost the popular vote twice in the background, and was responsible for organizing the January 6, 2021 rally that led to an attack on the Capitol Building.
Pierson did *not* plead the 5th in her interviewhttps://t.co/fN8uT9dyT9
— Betsy Woodruff Swan (@woodruffbets) February 18, 2022
On Friday, reporters discovered that Pierson has testified in front of the January 6th Select Committee about that rally. She was subpoenaed by the committee nearly four months ago and testified in the days immediately following. Unlike other Trump supporters subpoenaed by the committee, she appeared as scheduled and answered questions.
According to POLITICO:
‘Pierson in her committee interview did not invoke her right to not self-incriminate, known as pleading the Fifth, according to one of the sources. The panel revealed last month in a letter to Ivanka Trump that it has obtained some of Pierson’s text messages, noting she called some of the former president’s supporters “crazies.” Pierson later tweeted that the “crazies” were the “ultimate grifters” in Trump’s orbit.’
Former Trump campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson answers questions from Jan. 6 panel: report https://t.co/Pg6MreerxG via @Yahoo
— Friedrich List (@simulator8) February 19, 2022
Texts messages from Pierson to Ivanka Trump indicate that Pierson had some suspicions about the people making plans for the day of the rally, including some controversial figures known for causing trouble and spreading dangerous conspiracy theories. In addition, Pierson spoke with Trump just two days prior to the attack.
‘The panel had sought to ask Pierson about her reported meeting with the former president on Jan. 4, 2021, where he asked about a separate event featuring fringe speakers such as Ali Alexander and Roger Stone.’
Former U.S. President Trump lost a bid to dismiss lawsuits accusing him of inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol https://t.co/Qt0xm0ZEt1 pic.twitter.com/rLoSzNtUMM
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 18, 2022
Pierson herself was seen spreading the Big Lie, the one that says Trump actually won the 2020 presidential election but votes were switched and totals were manipulated by Democrats, Never Trumpers, public officials, election volunteers, Italy, Hugo Chavez, and a vote tabulating machine manufacturer. Pierson stoked the crowd during the rally, telling Trump supporters that Congress was committing a crime by certifying the election of President Joe Biden.
‘Even if they think for a second that they’re gonna get away with it today, they’ve got another thing coming. You better believe, the next two years, we are watching today, we are taking names today. And I don’t know, are you guys going to forget? Because today moving forward, we have hundreds of days for them to hear from us, for them to see us, and for them — to work on replacing them one by one if we have to!’
