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- Several organizers who planned the Jan. 6 rally at the Ellipse used burner phones to communicate with Trump's team, per Rolling Stone.
- Kylie Kremer, an official in the "March for Trump" group, told an aide to retrieve three burner phones, according to 3 sources who spoke to Rolling Stone.
- The Jan. 6 panel is investigating the ensuing insurrection and has issued a slew of subpoenas.
Several of the organizers who put together the rally at the Ellipse near the White House on January 6 utilized burner phones for top-level communications with former President Donald Trump's team, which would have effectively made the organizers harder to track, according to a Rolling Stone report.
According to the report, Kylie Kremer, a high-level official in the "March for Trump" group that assisted in organizing the Ellipse rally, told an aide to retrieve three burner phones in the days before January 6, per three sources connected to the event.
One of the sources, who was a participant in the aforementioned group, said that Kremer dictated that the phones needed to be purchased with cash and characterized the move as being "of the utmost importance," per the report.
The sources told Rolling Stone that Kremer retrieved one of the phones and used to it to speak with high-ranking White House officials and top Trump campaign figures including Eric and Lara Trump, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Trump ally Katrina Pierson.
The participant also told Rolling Stone that a second burner phone was was given to Amy Kremer, the mother of Kylie Kremer, who was also a top organizer of the rally, while the designate for third phone remained unknown, per the report.
"That was when the planning for the event on the Ellipse was happening, she needed burner phones in order to communicate with high-level people is how she put it," the March for Trump participant told Rolling Stone, pointing to Kylie Kremer.
Neither Kylie or Amy Kremer responded to a request for comment from Rolling Stone.
Per conversations with the three sources, some of the most consequential talks between the rally organizers and Trump's top circle were conducted on the burner phones.
"They were planning all kinds of stuff, marches and rallies. Any conversation she [Kylie Kremer] had with the White House or Trump family took place on those phones," one of the team members said.
There was no verifiable evidence that the Kremers or the rally organizers planned any sort of violence, according to Rolling Stone. However, Trump has faced continued criticism for goading his supporters with debunked claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential race as then-Vice President Mike Pence was set to certify President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory.
Representatives of Trump and Meadows have not yet replied to requests for comment from Rolling Stone — and Eric Trump, Lara Trump, and Pierson have also not responded to queries from the magazine.
Burner phones, which are prepaid and do not generally require registered accounts, are difficult to trace and are often used to seek anonymity — which could made it hard for investigators on Capitol Hill who are reviewing records related to the January 6 riot.
The House panel, which is led by Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, is currently investigating the insurrection and in recent weeks has issued a slew of subpoenas to members of Trump's inner circle.
source https://www.businessinsider.com/january-6-rally-organizers-burner-phones-trump-team-communications-ellipse-2021-11