COLUMBUS – The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content sharing agreement.
A member of the State Board of Education organized a bus trip to Washington DC to participate in a “Stop the Steal” event, which culminated in a chaotic, incendiary mafia raid on the Capitol when Congress voted in the presidential election.
Kirsten Hill, who was elected to a four-year term in 2018, organized a bus to travel from Elyria, Ohio (departing at 3 a.m. on January 6) to arrive in Washington DC to participate in the event, according to an online events page hosted by a group that runs them.
The site, operated by the Lorain County TEA Party, contains links to the now-defunct site “www.wildprotest.com” to encourage sign-ups. It specifically mentions Hill as the organizer.
“#DoNotCertify # Jan6 #StopTheSteal #WildProtest,” says a graphics event. “President Trump wants you in DC on January 6th.”
The event and riot are inseparable from the untrue claim that President Donald Trump won the November election, not Biden. Supporters of this theory have made unfounded claims to electoral fraud in several states that Biden won despite a lack of evidence, increasingly unhinged theories of fraud that sometimes linked state governors to Hugo Chavez, or dozens of courts rejecting the claims.
Chris Krebs, director of Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency, told 60 minutes that the election was “the safest in US history.” Trump subsequently fired him.
On January 6, a day likely to live in shame in US history, a crowd of hundreds, if not thousands, burst into the Capitol. Five people died, including Brian Sicknick, a Capitol police officer who was reportedly punched in the head with a fire extinguisher, and Ashli Babbitt, a woman who was shot by police trying to break a door inside the Capitol. Dozens of police officers were injured in the raid.
The insurgents attacked officers, destroyed historic properties within a beacon of American democracy, and brutally delayed a Congressional certification of voting in electoral colleges by a few hours as lawmakers were evacuated.
It is unclear what role the Ohio bus patrons played in the riots, if any. Hill did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails on Monday.
The Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, which first reported on Hill’s participation in the rally, quoted her as saying no members of the Ohio bus group had entered the Capitol.
“We don’t damage property,” she told the outlet. “That is high on our list. We respect people’s property and public property. “
“If by chance (or draft) President Trump will be the one to be inaugurated on the 20thour fleet of buses is ready to go ”, it says.
The site’s “Who We Are” page states that it is a declaration of independence from the “New World Order,” written December 20th. The site is full of conspiratorial misinformation.
“We recognize that our country is LITERALLY AT WAR and that the enemy has entered behind our lines of defense through corruption over a long period of decades,” it states. “This war is primarily ideological, but also political, economic, technological, biological and cybernetic. It is a silent war with the most devastating effects of takeover and control, masked by the disinformation campaign unleashed by the globalist media empire. “
Hill is also one of several prosecutors who have filed suit against the Ohio Department of Health, challenging the “absolute tyranny” of state health regulations, such as the mask mandate issued to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The lawsuit is based on conspiracy theories related to COVID-19, including that the government knowingly suppresses the relative harmlessness of COVID-19 compared to other diseases.
Republican parties in some Ohio counties promote bus travel
Several other bus trips that transported Ohioans to the nation’s capital on January 6 were promoted by County Republican Party organizations.
The Republican parties in Ashtabula, Portage and Trumbull counties shared a $ 219 overnight trip flyer. The flyers cite tour operator Cathy Lukasko, who is referred to in several 2020 news reports as the assistant chairman of the Trumbull County Republican Party.
In a separate post, the Ashtabula County page listed January 6 as the date of a “Wild Protest” in DC
The Republican Party in Geauga County shared application information at the www.OHpatriots.org link, while the Republican Party in Van Wert County provided details of a trip from northwestern Ohio. On New Year’s Eve, the Jefferson County Republican Party asked supporters interested in a trip from Steubenville to contact the party via email, “to determine if there are enough people.”
“We’re posting this, but it’s not sponsored by the Jefferson County Republican Party. We will forward your information to the organizer, “the post said, costing” approximately $ 50-75 per person. “
The Hocking County Republican Party shared its own flyer promoting a January 6 rally in the capital with the headline “TAKE AMERICA BACK.”
“BE THERE”, the flyer reads. “WILL BE WILD.”
Tyler Buchanan contributed to this report.