NH Primary Source: NHDP says report shows Lewandowski ‘may have’ had role in planning Capitol attack
NHGOP chair calls charge by his Democratic counterpart ‘lies, misinformation’
NHGOP chair calls charge by his Democratic counterpart ‘lies, misinformation’
STRONG CHARGES, COUNTER-CHARGES. The New Hampshire Democratic Party says a report that Corey Lewandowski was with Trump family members, other advisers and supporters at the former president’s Washington hotel on the night of Jan. 5 suggests the Windham resident and top Donald Trump adviser “may have had a central role in plotting the violent insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol the following day.
The state Republican Party calls the charge by NHDP Chair Raymond Buckley a continuation of Democratic “lies and personal attacks by spreading misinformation about Trump supporters.”
“Nothing can be further from the truth,” said NHGOP Chair Stephen Stepanek about Buckley’s suggestion that Lewandowski and the others may have been involved in the planning of the insurrection.
Buckley pointed to a report in the Alabama Political Reporter, which cites a Facebook post written on the night of Jan. 5 by Charles W. Herbster, a potential Nebraska gubernatorial candidate who was an agriculture adviser in the Trump administration.
In the post, Herbster wrote that he was at that time “in the private residence of the president at Trump International with the following patriots who are joining me in a battle for justice and truth.”
He goes on to name Lewandowski, Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, an official of the Republican Attorneys General Association and many others.
The post with the full list of names cited by Herbster can be viewed below:
A separate report in the Omaha World-Herald, a newspaper in Herbster’s home state, says, without attribution, that Herbster and the others “discussed how to pressure more members of Congress to object to the Electoral College results that made Joe Biden the winner.”
Based on the Alabama Political Reporter story and the Herbster Facebook post, Buckley early Wednesday issued a press release stating that Lewandowski “may have” been involved in planning the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“Corey Lewandowski needs to tell Granite Staters and law enforcement exactly what he discussed at that meeting," said Buckley.
"It's becoming clearer and clearer that not only did ‘Liar Lewandowski’ support overturning the election results, but he may have played a central role in plotting the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that killed five Americans and put members of Congress, their staff, and others at risk."
Buckley called the people Lewandowski was reportedly with on the night of Jan. 5 “architects of the riot.”
Lewandowski could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but NHGOP Chair Stepanek pushed back.
“There they go again,” Stepanek said. “New Hampshire Democrats continue their lies and personal attacks by spreading misinformation about Trump supporters.”
Stepanek did not deny that Lewandowski was at the Trump's International hotel on the night before the U.S. Senate’s Electoral College count, but he said of the accusation that Lewandowski and the others may have been involved in organizing the deadly riot: “Nothing can be further from the truth.”
“Their press release is riddled with lies and misinformation which is not surprising considering that it is coming from the New Hampshire Democratic Party, who lost the control of the New Hampshire House, Senate, and Executive Council in the last election. It did not take them long to forget about unity and healing.
“Their hatred for anything and anyone who does not fall in line with their leftist cancel culture agenda is on full display,” Stepanek said.
Stepanek said the Democratic Party supports “taking away your second amendment rights, allowing tens of millions of illegal immigrants to become citizens, stopping free speech, burdening small business owners with regulations forcing them to close their doors, increasing taxes, killing 11,000 hardworking jobs (by stopping the Keystone pipeline) and rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement.”
“These values do not align with the people of New Hampshire,” Stepanek said.
Lewandowsky, meanwhile, has filed a new political action committee called Fight Back Now America which is targeting U.S. Rep. Lynne Cheney, who supported the impeachment of Trump. The PAC was reported by Axios.