Newly unsealed witness testimony from the January 6 committee has revealed an extremely questionable remark made by Kimberly Guilfoyle, fiancée to Donald Trump Jr.
The former Fox News personality and Trump campaign surrogate sat down with members of the House Select Committee in April to discuss the lead-up to January 6 and the events of the attack on the Capitol itself. Ms Guilfoyle’s role in the day’s events amounted to helping organise the rally outside of the White House where Donald Trump infamously urged his supporters to “fight” for him to be sworn in as president instead of Joe Biden.
During her testimony, revealed in a transcript released Thursday, Ms Guilfoyle was asked whether she personally knew Ali Alexander, a right-wing conspiracy theorist and activist who organised a separate “Stop the Steal”-themed rally outside of the US Capitol on January 6.
But investigators interviewing Ms Guilfoyle perplexingly used Mr Alexander’s far-lesser-known birth name, Ali Akbar. Mr Alexander used his birth name for part of his career but has been going by Ali Alexander for a number of years. That odd choice of words for the line of questioning led to an awkward moment of misunderstanding between Ms Guilfoyle and the panel.
“I do wan[t] to ask you, do you know somebody named Ali Akbar?” asked an interviewer.
“No,” said Ms Guilfoyle. “Isn’t that what terrorists yell?”
She then added, mispronouncing his name: “I do not know anyone named Allah Akbar.”
A moment later, the investigator clarified that they were talking about Mr Alexander, and Ms Guilfoyle responded that she did know him.
Mr Alexander responded to the news of Ms Guilfoyle and House investigators battling over his name with a short text message to The Independent, calling the moment “hilarious and adorable”.
The January 6 committee has released its final report and is in the process of releasing the remainder of its sealed witness testimony as lawmakers wind down their investigation and prepare for the panel to be dissolved with the assumption of power by the incoming GOP House majority.
Their report, released last week, hammered the former president and his allies for stoking a dangerous scene in Washington DC for weeks if not months, while trying constitutionally-baseless strategies aimed to overturn the lawful and untainted results of the 2020 election. Lawmakers on the panel also recommended criminal charges for Mr Trump and several of his former legal advisors.
Other members of the Trump campaign and the president’s inner circle escaped the committee’s recommendations for formal criminal charges, but Mr Trump and his legal team also were also accused in the document of attempting to influence, coerce or bribe witnesses to the investigation. Lawmakers said that information was being shared with ongoing criminal investigations in Fulton County and at the Department of Justice.
White House Correspondent Andrew Feinberg contributed reporting
