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The Center for Media and Democracy

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Cindy Chafian

About

Cindy Chafian is a longtime conservative political activist who founded the Eighty Percent Coalition (EPC) shortly before the Jan. 6 insurrection—after allegedly being sidelined by the Women for America First organization that she had worked for on and off since 2019, according to ProPublica. Chafian also serves as director of Coalitions and Outreach for Moms for America Action, another group with ties to the Big Lie and the events of Jan. 5 and 6, 2021. She is married to Scott Chafian, a retired U.S. Naval officer who specialized in surface warfare during his service in the military.

WUSA9 reported that Chafian said she founded EPC to unite conservatives around shared beliefs, including questioning the validity of the 2020 presidential election. She named the group based on the late GOP president Ronald Reagan’s maxim that “one should stand with someone if they share 80% of their beliefs instead of focusing on the 20% where they differ,” according to WUSA9.

On September 29, 2021, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued a subpoena for Chafian to provide additional information about her role in organizing the rallies and her interactions with the White House and members of militia groups involved in the insurrection.

January 6, 2021

  • A Twitter thread from an account named “capitolhunters” [sic] detailed Chafian’s movements during the rally at Freedom Plaza, the march to the Capitol and the ensuing attack on and breach of the building itself. According to that thread, Chafian, along with Alex Jones and his wife Erica Wulff, Michael Flynn, Jr. (son of former national security advisor Michael Flynn), Nick Fuentes of America First, and others stood in the VIP section of the rally at the Ellipse. 
  • That same capitolhunters Twitter thread shows video of Erica Wulff and Chafian in golf carts (later joined by Cindy’s husband Scott in another golf cart) headed towards the Capitol after the conclusion of Trump’s speech at the Ellipse.
  • Later in the afternoon, Chafian and others watched events unfold from the northwest risers that had been set up outside the Capitol building for the upcoming presidential inauguration. The capitolhunters Twitter thread shows two videos, one that indicates Chafian cheered when the mob dragged D.C. police officer Michael Fanone into their fight. 
  • At 7:02 p.m. on Jan. 6, Chafian tweeted a response to former InfoWars personality Millie Weaver that said the Senate would reconvene to restart the count of Electoral College votes. Her response indicated that her goal had been to prevent that legal procedure from taking place: “Guess it [sic] time to go back out” Chafian tweeted, referring to the riot at the Capitol that has just been quelled.

The Big Lie

  • Prior to founding the Eighty Percent Coalition, Chafian spoke at pro-Trump events including a Rally for President Trump in Novemeber 2020 and a Women for America First Rally in December 2020, both of which focused on the false claim that Biden had “stolen” the election from Trump.
  • According to ProPublica, by the end of December, Chafian had been sidelined by Caroline Wren of Women for America First and “had had her own falling out with the Kremers, leading her to start her own group, The Eighty Percent Coalition, which held a rally at Freedom Plaza… on Jan. 5 that was largely sponsored by [Alex] Jones…. In a video released the day after the Jan. 6 event, Jones claimed that an unnamed donor covered 80% of the roughly $500,000 it cost” to stage the rally.
  • According to the Washingtonian, Eighty Percent Coalition organized the Jan. 5, 2021 Rally for Revival, which was held at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. Chafian told WUSA9 that EPC organized the rally “to save America.” Some of the video of her speaking at that rally was posted on the capitolhunters Twitter account.
  • According to the New York Times, Chafian kicked off the rally at Freedom Plaza by saying, “We are standing at the precipice of history, and we are ready to take our country back.” AddressingTrump, she said, “We heard your call. We are here for you.” 
  • At the rally, Chafian also voiced support for the Proud Boys, whose leader had been banished from Washington following a previous arrest on charges of destruction of property and illegal weapons possession, the New York Times reported. “I stand with the Proud Boys, because I’m tired of the lies,” she proclaimed, while also applauding other militant nationalist groups in the crowd, including the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters.
  • Chafian has since been linked to the 1st Amendment Praetorian, another far-right group involved in the violence in D.C., according to the New York Times.