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Brad Parscale: Capitol riot committee gets phone records from ex-Trump campaign manager

Former campaign manager does not believe his records will be very useful to the House committee

Andrew Feinberg
Washington, DC
Thursday 16 December 2021 19:44 GMT
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Trump White House chief held in contempt for defying Capitol riot probe

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Former Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale has consented to letting the House select committee investigating the 6 January insurrection have a look at his phone records dating from last November through January of this year.

According to The Daily Beast, Mr Parscale confirmed that the committee had requested the records from his phone carrier, and said he had “just agreed” to allowing their release.

“I had nothing to do with Jan 6 — I have zero to hide,” he said.

Mr Parscale said he thought the select committee wanted him to “turn” on former president Donald Trump, whose actions and inactions in the days before and during the worst attack on the Capitol since 1814 are being examined by the committee of seven Democrats and nine Republicans.

The former collegiate basketball player served as digital director on Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and spent 2018 through July 2020 as the campaign manager on the former president’s failed re-election effort.

But Mr Parscale’s stock dropped in Mr Trump’s eyes after a disastrously low number of supporters turned up for a Tulsa, Oklahoma rally that had been billed as the president’s triumphant return to the campaign trail after sitting out in-person events for months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the Tulsa, Oklahoma fire marshal, fewer than 6,200 attendees were at Mr Trump’s rally, which was at a venue that could seat at least 19,000 people.

Incensed at the low turnout, Mr Trump demoted him to the position he’d held on the 2016 campaign.

In September 2020, Mr Parscale was hospitalised after police arrested and detained him under Florida’s mental health law following a 911 call by his wife.

According to a police report, Mr Parscale’s speech was slurred and he appeared to be crying, while his wife had cuts and bruises visible on her arms.

Despite his personal troubles and their previous falling out over the Tulsa rally, Mr Parscale continues to play a significant role in Mr Trump’s political operation through the Trump-backed “Save America” Political Action Committee’s use of his Campaign Nucleus digital campaign management platform.

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