Stuart Stevens Tells CNN’s Jake Tapper ‘Every Level of the Republican Party was Involved’ in Planning Jan. 6: This Was Not an ‘Impromptu Event’

Former Republican strategist Stuart Stevens told CNN’s Jake Tapper that “every level of the Republican Party was involved” in planning the events of January 6th.  Stevens, a prominent “Never Trump” conservative, offered commentary as the House Select Committee seeks to subpoena records and obtain the testimony of a growing list of GOP members of Congress and Republican activists regarding the funding behind the rallies that preceded the riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Tapper introduced the segment with a report from CNN law enforcement correspondent Whitney Wild about the House Select Committee subpoenaing bank records of a spokesman for former President Donald Trump, and the status of the legal battles over those records.

The Lead host asked Bakari Sellers for his reaction, asking him what was the point of figuring out who paid for the rallies, since the rallies themselves were not being investigated, but rather what happened at the Capitol itself.

“Well, you can’t look at one without the other,” Sellers replied, noting that this was how racketeering charges were put forward, by looking at who financed and helped plan projects that made events happen.

“So by digging up and going to find out who financed the rallies, who paid for the buses, who paid for the robocalls, the radio ads, these individuals who actually paid for this rally, which led to an insurrection — they paid for this coup,” he explained, citing the need for accountability not just for those who stormed the Capitol, but for “those individuals who paid for it and elected officials who aided and abetted.”

It was “possible,” Tapper remarked, that the rallies had been funded directly by the Trump campaign or Trump himself, and asked Stevens if that necessarily meant that the funding was provided “to create this coup”?

“Sure, I think it does,” Stevens agreed. “They were very clear about what they wanted to do. They wanted to stop the peaceful transfer of power. I mean, this is what they wanted Pence to do. There’s no secrets here. It’s just a question of whether people are going to be held accountable.”

“Every level of the Republican party was involved in this,” Stevens continued. “White House staff, Congressmen, Senators, their staffs, the Republican Governors Association, was involved. The RNC. Major donors.”

Members of Congress “don’t go out the door without being staffed up,” said Stevens, who had worked on five Republican presidential campaigns.

“This was not just a sort of impromptu event,” he emphasized. “It was long in the planning. And people paid for it and they tried to overthrow the government of the United States.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

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