DSCC Statement On Bombshell Report That Leading Laxalt Staffer Marched With Oath Keepers On January 6th

In response to new bombshell reporting from CNN revealing that Nevada GOP Senate nominee Adam Laxalt’s top spokesperson “marched to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, with two members of the far-right extremist group the Oath Keepers,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Patrick Burgwinkle issued the following statement: 

“Adam Laxalt led the effort to overturn the 2020 election in Nevada for Trump and is already preparing to challenge the 2022 results before a single vote has even been cast. Now we know his campaign is being led by an insurrectionist who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with violent extremists who tried to overthrow our government – making it clearer than ever that Laxalt is a threat to our democracy and unfit to serve in the Senate.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

CNN: Top spokeswoman for Nevada Republican Senate nominee marched on Jan. 6 with Oath Keepers, including one charged with sedition
By Andrew Kaczynski
July 19, 2022

• The new communications director for the Republican Senate nominee in Nevada — a key state that could determine control in Washington — marched to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, with two members of the far-right extremist group the Oath Keepers including one who was later charged with sedition and another with breaking into the Capitol and at least two others who were charged for illegally entering the building, according to videos reviewed by CNN’s KFile.

• Courtney Holland, a Nevada-based political activist who does not appear to have entered the Capitol building herself and has not been charged with crimes related to January 6, was named Adam Laxalt’s top spokeswoman in early July.

• Holland traveled to Washington, DC, for the January 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally where she was listed as a speaker for a rally to be held near the Capitol following then-President Donald Trump’s speech near the White House.

• She had previously spoken at a November event in Washington, DC, and was photographed with several “Stop the Steal” organizers who also spoke. The “Stop the Steal” movement believes Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

• Early on the morning of January 6, Holland walked with a group to the main rally, which featured Trump, according to a video in a since-deleted tweet on her account archived on the Internet Wayback Machine. The group included three other speakers listed for the rally near the Capitol.

• Following Trump’s rally, Holland was part of a group that now-included four other scheduled speakers for the second rally that made their way toward the Capitol guided by three Oath Keepers, according to videos and photos reviewed by CNN’s KFile.

• Pictures posted by amateur sleuths last year tracking Capitol rioters appear to show Holland in a restricted area in front of the Capitol. Holland later repeatedly downplayed the attack, retweeting false claims suggesting the riot was the work of the far-left group Antifa and a tweet calling the protest “the largest civil rights protest in history.”

• Videos on social media and YouTube show Holland marching to the Capitol with her hand on Harrelson’s shoulder. The group appears to be led at points by an unidentified man in a blue blazer wearing an Oath Keepers sweatshirt. The group walked in a “stack” formation that the Department of Justice said the Oath Keepers used to move through crowds on January 6, 2021.

• One video — from the amateur sleuth YouTube account “Hunting Insurrectionists,” which was verified by CNN’s KFile by watching the original videos — tracking their group’s march to the Capitol shows Holland walking from behind with her hand on an Oath Keeper’s shoulder that appears to be Harrelson as someone yells, “make a hole ladies and gentlemen,” for their group to pass. Strand can also briefly be seen talking to Gold. Another YouTube video shows Harrelson, Gold and Strand all marching together with Holland. Dolan appears at the front of the group as well.

• A year later, Holland maintained on Instagram the riot was “not an insurrection.”

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