Major Update on January 5 Trump War Council Expands Its Potential Size Significantly

The list of insurrectionists at Trump's private residence on the evening of January 5 is growing—and may include at least one foreign national under criminal investigation.

With a new report by Olivia Little of Media Matters on claims by Mike Lindell about who he met with on the evening of January 5, and moreover about the people he spent the “two days” prior to Insurrection Day with, the list of those attending the infamous Trump “war council” at Trump’s “private residence” in Trump International Hotel is now growing to a degree that no one could have anticipated.

Here’s the current, seemingly ever-expanding list, with more explanation as necessary:

Confirmed by meeting attendee Charles W. Herbster:

• (1) Donald Trump Jr., eldest son of the president

• (2) Eric Trump, second-eldest son of the president

• (3) Michael Flynn, former National Security Advisor to the president

• (4) Peter Navarro, Assistant to the President, Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, and National Defense Production Act Policy Coordinator

• (5) Corey Lewandowski, 2016 Trump campaign manager, Defense Business Board member

• (6) David Bossie, 2016 Trump deputy campaign manager, Defense Business Board member*

• (7) Adam Piper, executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association

• (8) Tommy Tuberville, United States senator from the State of Alabama

• (9) Charles W. Herbster, Republican gubernatorial candidate from Nebraska

{* = Bossie has since claimed he did not attend, though he has not provided any corroboration for his self-declared alibi nor explained why Herbster would have said unambiguously, and in a public forum—Facebook—that he was there.}

Confirmed by meeting attendee Daniel Beck, who in addition to identifying (1) Trump Jr., (4) Navarro, and (8) Tuberville, adds the following names to the Trump war council meeting attendee list:

• (10) Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney to the President of the United States*

• (11) Kimberly Guilfoyle, girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr.

• (12) Michael Lindell, Trump donor and MyPillow CEO

• (13) Daniel Beck, CEO of Txtwire and owner of Combat Armor Defense, an armored-vehicle company with a factory in Brazil

• (14) an unnamed U.S. senator, the second of three such present at the meeting**

• (15) an unnamed U.S. senator, the third of three such present at the meeting**

{* = In his initial Facebook post about the meeting, Herbster acknowledged that (10) Rudy Giuliani was at the meeting, confirming the identical claim by Beck.}

{** = There may have been more than three senators at the meeting. However, because Beck says “several,” Proof conservatively sets the number at the lowest tally for “several”: three.}

Strongly suggested by photographic evidence from Trump International Hotel on January 5 (see here for more):

• (16) Phil Waldron, self-described intel analyst and aide to (10) Rudy Giuliani

• (17) Doyle Beck, 2016 Trump elector, Idaho GOP official, dad of (13) Daniel Beck

• (18) Layne Bangerter, 2016 Trump elector, Idaho GOP official, friend of (17) Doyle Beck

Strongly suggested by (12) Michael Lindell, who says that (a) he met with “[Brazilian president Jair] Bolsonaro’s son last night” (saying so on January 6, meaning that he would have met with a son of Jair Bolsonaro during the meeting at Trump’s “private residence” described by Herbster), and (b) Sidney Powell had been with him and Flynn for the last “two days” (with Flynn’s attendance at the January 5 meeting implying that Powell, if Lindell’s claim is true, would have been there with both Lindell and Flynn):

• (19) an unnamed son of Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president*

• (20) Sidney Powell, former federal prosecutor and attorney for (3) Michael Flynn

{* = Bolsonaro, like Trump, is a self-described corruption crusader and would-be autocrat whose family is corrupt. All Bolsonaro’s sons appear to be accused criminals. Flávio Bolsonaro faces embezzlement charges, and Carlos Bolsonaro and Eduardo Bolsonaro face allegations of “financial irregularities and illegal dissemination of disinformation,” per the Guardian. Jair Bolsonaro’s last son, Renan Bolsonaro, has been enmeshed in scandal since it was revealed he “dated the daughter of [a] police officer arrested for [a] murder” who is tied to the investigation into all three of his brothers. Meanwhile, Bolsonaro’s wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, faces bribery allegations, which she responded to, initially, by telling a reporter she wanted to “smash [his] face in.” It therefore matters little which Bolsonaro son was with Lindell and apparently in Trump’s DC residence the night before Insurrection Day. None of Flávio, Carlos, Eduardo, and Renan—all of whom might’ve had reason to seek aid from Trump’s administration on January 5—had any business being in his residence the night before an insurrection. That Mike Lindell mentions the Bolsonaro “son” while speaking of Trump’s post-election efforts suggests their January 5 meeting involved this topic; as Lindell was at a meeting on that topic that very night at Trump’s residence outside the White House, the odds of the events being discrete is remote.)

Lindell also mentions meeting with several unnamed U.S. senators in the 48 hours before the insurrection, which may be taken as a partial corroboration of Daniel Beck’s concurrent claim that he witnessed Lindell meeting with “several” senators—only one of whose names is presently known—at Trump’s private residence on January 5. While it is possible that Lindell, a pillow salesman, had multiple meetings with sitting United States senators in the 48 hours before the insurrection, this seems unlikely (especially if, in the only instance of this occurring that we know of, Lindell had to gain access to Trump’s private residence to be party to such a high-level meeting; it’s hard to imagine the former crack addict and deranged conspiracy theorist getting access to the most powerful men in the U.S. government more than once in just 48 hours in Washington).

According to Ali Alexander, the far-right activist and convicted felon who helped run the Stop the Steal movement with Trump adviser Roger Stone, he spoke to January 5 meeting attendee (11) Kimberly Guilfoyle by phone during the very period we know Guilfoyle was at the “war council,” meaning that Alexander’s name—albeit with the asterisk of “remote” attendance—must be added to the attendance list for the meeting:

• (21) Ali Alexander, Stop the Steal organizer, convicted felon, current fugitive*

{* = Note that Alexander is currently on the run from the FBI.}

One last potential attendee of the war council—though the evidence for his attendance remains circumstantial—is Ali Alexander and Roger Stone’s fellow Stop the Steal organizer, Alex Jones. While it’s clear that Jones was with Flynn a few hours before the war council meeting, and there is evidence that the location Jones was with Flynn in was the Trump International Hotel, it is unclear whether Jones returned to the hotel that evening. While Jones was definitely in the VIP section during Trump’s speech on January 6 along with Lindell, Flynn, Patrick Byrne, and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), among others—and claims to have been asked by the White House to “lead” the march on the Capitol that day, with some video evidence confirming that he, at least, believed this to be true at the time—it’s not known if this offer was extended to him on January 5 at Trump International Hotel. Jones’ inclusion here is consequently only provisional:

• (22) Alex Jones, InfoWars host and Stop the Steal organizer*

{* = Provisional listing only.}

While (10) Rudy Giuliani does appear to have been staying at the same hotel, the historic Willard Hotel, that Roger Stone stayed in the 48 hours leading up to the insurrection, as yet there has been no even circumstantial evidence that Stone was at the Trump International Hotel on January 5, though there is ample reason to believe he was in contact with the then-president in the hours before the insurrection. It is now certain that he was in direct contact with at least two of the far-right militia groups that led the assault on the Capitol, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, and indeed may have been involved in funding both for their assault on the Capitol.

Donald Trump, long known for secretly attending meetings by speakerphone when he knows it would be a scandal for him to attend in person, and even for using phones to eavesdrop and trying to destroy marriages via speakerphone, may have been present at the January 5 war council in the same fashion that Alexander was—telephonically. But unfortunately, thus far there appears to be little appetite among major media to make a conclusive determination on this all-important question.

In view of all the foregoing, while Daniel Beck’s estimate that the January 5 council included “around fifteen” people remains the only attempt so far to circumscribe the full size of the event, it now appears that as many as twenty-one individuals may have been at the event in person, with two or more involved in the war council by telephone.

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While we don’t yet know for sure why the Becks were at the January 5 event or why the son of Brazil’s president might have been present, it’s worth reiterating that—as noted above—the Becks own a company with a Brazilian factory, Combat Armor Defense.

The website for Combat Armor Defense reveals that the company sells police vehicles, military vehicles, and other armored luxury and utility vehicles—including many of the sort used in large-scale crowd-control efforts. A picture from their brochure:

{Note: Neither Combat Armor Defense nor the Becks have been accused of any wrongdoing.}