CHICAGO — Among the latest shake-ups in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign’s personnel is the hiring of a political adviser who was deeply involved in the “Stop the Steal” campaign, which aimed to overturn the 2020 election and culminated in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Alex Bruesewitz, CEO of political consulting firm X Strategies, was named an adviser to the Trump campaign – part of a wave of hiring last week as Trump struggled to maintain momentum as his new Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, entered the race.
Bruesewitz’s new role in Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign underscores that Trump is supporting people who are instrumental in efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Raw Story’s review of the January 6 U.S. Select Committee investigative documents shows that Bruesewitz helped organize an effort to mobilize Trump supporters to rallies in state capitals—and, after the 2020 election, at the U.S. Capitol.
Bruesewitz also coordinated his work with members of Congress to encourage them to object when Congress met on Jan. 6, 2021, to certify the election, according to texts and other sources obtained by the now-defunct Jan. 6 committee.
Bruesewitz appeared before the committee on January 6 for a deposit in 2022, but repeatedly refused to answer questions, citing the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects the right to avoid self-incrimination.
Among the questions Bruesewitz declined to answer was: “Did you have any role or knowledge in the lead-up to the violence that would take place on January 6?”
Before his testimony before the committee on January 6, Bruesewitz said spoke with “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” where he complained that the committee was “harassing conservative activists, innocent people who are doing nothing but supporting President Trump to the finish line.”
He added that he wanted to “go on the offensive … because, at the end of the day, the American people have a right to know the truth about what happened on January 6.”
So far, 1,488 defendants have been charged with crimes related to the events at the Capitol on January 6, including 547 for assaulting police officers, according to the US Department of Justice.
At least seven people died on or shortly after January 6 either from injuries or by suicide, and 140 officers were injured. The siege of the Capitol caused a total of $2.8 million in damage.
Since refusing to answer committee questions on January 6, Bruesewitz has not spoken publicly about his involvement in the Stop the Steal campaign or his activities on January 6, 2021.
When Raw Story reached him by phone on August 17, Bruesewitz, who now describes himself as a “Trump campaign adviser” on his social media account X, said he was at an event and unavailable for an interview. He then suggested contacting him via email.
Since then, Bruesewitz has not responded to emails or messages from Raw Story via the contact form on his company website. Voicemail messages also went unanswered.
The Trump team could not be reached for comment on this article.
Other new additions to the Trump campaign include Corey Lewandowski, a former campaign manager who senior consultant; Tim Murtaugh, who served as communications director for Trump’s 2020 campaign; former Trump adviser Taylor Budowich; and former Fox News producer Alex Pfeiffer.
Avoiding questions about January 6
No charges have been filed against Bruesewitz, who used his social media account “X” this week to share Trump’s campaign messages with his more than 439,000 followers during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Bruesewitz has also publicly denied visiting the Capitol on January 6.
But the private texts presented to the committee on January 6 suggest otherwise.
A congressional investigator cited an interview Bruesewitz gave to Super Talk Mississippi after learning he had been subpoenaed by the January 6 committee.
In that interview, according to the investigator, Bruesewitz claimed that he did not go to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and did not organize any of the events that day. The investigator noted that Bruesewitz was not under oath during the interview.
The investigator later confronted Bruesewitz about tweeting on January 6, 2021: “See you at the Capitol in a few minutes.”
Text messages the committee received from Ali Alexander, another leader of Stop the Steal, also strongly suggest that Bruesewitz was in the Capitol.
In a Jan. 6 text message, Alexander wrote to Mike Coudrey, another Stop the Steal organizer who was trying to start a rally at an approved location on Capitol grounds: “We are about to send over 50,000 people there. We are standing at the front of the Capitol trying to de-escalate the situation.”
Coudrey wrote in response: “They have broken through the barriers, they are going in.”
Alexander replied: “I know, we are still two minutes away.
“Alex and I are talking to the police,” he added, apparently referring to Bruesewitz.
Bruesewitz also appears to have personally instructed Trump supporters to come to the Capitol to attend the rally organized by Alexander.
“I call on EVERY patriot in Washington DC to march to the Capitol and join @StopTheStealUS on the South Side!” he wrote in a tweet that was archived by independent researchers of the January 6 attack before Bruesewitz deleted it.
The post is part of a series of tweets that have been verified by Raw Story and have not yet been published.
The tweet’s timestamp is 2:10 p.m. By 1 p.m., Trump’s supporters had breached the barriers and entered the Capitol grounds. By 2:13 p.m., they were breaking windows and pouring into the building.
At 2:32 p.m., Bruesewitz tweeted: “What the hell did people expect? The Democrats took everything from these people! Now they’re stealing the election from the ONLY politician (@realDonaldTrump) who cares about them! I do NOT support violence. But that’s not surprising!”
In another tweet at 2:50 p.m. that appears to be referring to the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt, Bruesewitz wrote: “First they rig and steal an election? And now they’re tear gassing and possibly even shooting supporters of @realDonaldTrump? What the hell is happening to our country! Stay peaceful! Stay safe!”
Then, at 3:36 p.m., Bruesewitz signaled for the mob to withdraw.
“My friends @StopTheStealUS have left the Capitol,” he wrote. “We do NOT support violence. We never have and never will. A group of black sheep have hijacked such an important fight! Shameful!”
While Alexander, for his part, played a prominent role in mobilizing right-wing social media influencers to overturn the 2020 election, he is now revelation in 2023 that he had asked teenagers to send him nude photos.
A visit to the White House and consultation with members of Congress
For example, among the questions congressional investigators were keen to answer was why Bruesewitz visited the White House on January 5, the day before the Capitol siege.
White House records show that Bruesewitz visited Camryn Kinsey, a director of external relations in the Office of the President’s Personnel, between August 2020 and January 2021, according to her LinkedIn page.
Bruesewitz declined to give a reason for this – he cited the Fifth Amendment when asked about the visit.
Bruesewitz also declined to discuss members of Congress with whom he had spoken immediately before January 6.
Congressional investigators then showed Bruesewitz a Twitter direct message chat titled “Stop the Steal Leadership,” which included Bruesewitz and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ).
A transcript of Bruesewitz’s testimony shows that Bruesewitz asked Gosar whether he had coordinated with other lawmakers who had objected to the certification.
“As best as possible,” replied Gosar.
Later, on January 6, 2021, at 5:15 p.m., Gosar reported in the Stop the Steal Leadership chat: “We are still in lockdown in the congressional office.”
Bruesewitz’s testimony also shows that he discussed his efforts to gain support for the objection of Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX) and then-Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC), now the junior U.S. Senate senator for North Carolina.
Bruesewitz’ own Remarks during a speech before the U.S. Supreme Court on January 5 indicate that he spoke by phone with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and other lawmakers to discuss the plan to object to the certification of the election.
Bruesewitz said he had “worked with some brave patriots” who work at the Capitol, adding that “dozens” of lawmakers and “some of the senators I work with will object tomorrow.”
But he described Graham as someone who refused.
“I just got off the phone with one of the senators — I’m not going to name names, I’m sparing Lindsey and that person the embarrassment,” Bruesewitz said. “But I hear Lindsey Graham’s voice — his stupid voice. He says, ‘You’re going to start a civil war if you object.’
Then Bruesewitz admonished the crowd.
“You are not starting a civil war,” he said. “We will end it.”
In the same speech, Bruesewitz said: told how Alexander had enlisted his help in mobilizing Trump supporters across the country to protest alleged voter fraud one day after the election, when votes were still being counted in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania.
“On November 4th, I got a text from my good friend Ali Alexander saying, ‘Something terrible is happening. They’re going to steal this thing. We have to stop it,'” Bruesewitz recalls. “So we put together a coalition of patriots and started flying them across the country. Within hours, there were thousands and thousands of people in Arizona and hundreds in the various state capitols across the country. And we said, ‘We’re not going to let the Democrats steal our country.'”
Since 2018, Bruesewitz’s political consulting firm has worked for several other pro-MAGA candidates and committees, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The firm received $54,120 from a pro-Trump super PAC then known as the Committee to Defend the President. Other clients include Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX), Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) and Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), according to federal records.
