About
Leading up to the insurrection, the “war room” at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. was the so-called command center for members of Trump’s inner circle who were among the biggest provocateurs of the stolen election narrative.
Among the key players who gathered there to strategize about how to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and prevent congressional certification of it on Jan. 6, 2021 were Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, former White House strategist Steve Bannon, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, election denier and lawyer John Eastman, and as many as 30 others. Various members of the group gathered on multiple occasions to spread false evidence of election fraud and pressure Republican lawmakers—including Vice President Mike Pence and others from across the country—to object to certifying the Electoral College results on Jan. 6.
January 6, 2021
- In the days leading up to Jan. 6, Eastman and other Trump allies in the war room called Republican lawmakers in swing states to convince them to overturn or negate the results of the election based on false claims of widespread voter fraud.
- On Jan. 6, Guiliani gathered in the Willard war room with Trump allies including Kerik, former Trump campaign advisor Boris Epshsteyn, One America News Reporter Christina Bobb, failed congressional candidate and election conspiracist Russell Ramsland, U.S. Senate candidate and Lev Parnas associate Robert Hyde, Georgia State Senator William Ligon, Atlanta election denier and attorney Preston Halliburton, 1st Amendment Praetorian member Phillip Luelsdorff, and podcaster and far-right political activist Joe Oltmann, among others.