'Stop the Steal' organizer cooperating with Jan. 6 committee probe

Ali Alexander, a prominent conservative activist who organized "Stop the Steal" rallies after the 2020 election, is cooperating with the House Jan. 6 select committee and appeared behind closed doors on Thursday.

Alexander, who was banned from Twitter over his posts about the presidential election, was expected to tell investigators that he had "nothing to do" with any violence that occurred on Jan. 6 at the Capitol, according to a prepared opening statement obtained by ABC News.

"I had nothing to do with the planning. I had nothing to do with the preparation. And I had nothing to do with the execution," he said in the prepared statement.

Alexander's cooperation with the committee was first reported by The New York Times.

"As a Black and Arab man, an American, it is common for people who look like me to be blamed for things we did not do," he said.

Alexander arrived for his deposition Thursday morning with his lawyers and two boxes full of records, claiming that his appearance before investigators would help "exonerate" former President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers involved in efforts to challenge the election results.

"This evidence actually exonerates those members. This evidence actually exonerates me and this evidence actually is going to exonerate President Donald J. Trump. And I'm really excited about that," he told reporters.

"We provided the committee with thousands of records, hundreds of pages. And, you know, unfortunately I think that this committee has gone way too much into our personal life; way too much into my First Amendment. But I do recognize that they have the legislative duty to conduct and so we're here to cooperate," he said.

In addition to his attorneys, Alexander was accompanied Thursday by another associate and conservative provocateur Jacob Wohl.

Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist who served as acting chief of staff at the Pentagon on Jan. 6 and in the final weeks of former President Trump's term, also appeared at the office of the Jan. 6 committee, as the panel prepared to hold multiple depositions Thursday.

One of the first witnesses subpoenaed by the committee this fall, Patel is of interest to the panel for his role in conversations around securing Capitol Hill before, during and after the riot on Jan. 6, the committee has previously said, pointing to Defense Department records. His appearance suggests he is cooperating with the investigation to some degree, unlike former Trump White House chief staff Mark Meadows and former political strategist Steve Bannon, who like Patel were first subpoenaed in September.

In his statement, Alexander said he attended Trump's address to supporters on the National Mall as a guest. Hinting at disagreements with activists in his circle, he is expected to tell the committee that other organizers removed information from the program that would have instructed rallygoers where to go after the event -- which could have prevented Trump supporters from marching to the Capitol.

Lawmakers issued subpoenas to Alexander and other conservative activists and organizers who were involved in setting up the post-election rallies in support of Trump's challenges to the election results.

Investigators are interested in any communications between organizers, Trump White House officials and congressional Republicans -- and whether the potential for violence was raised before the assault on the Capitol.

In a statement announcing its subpoena to Alexander in November, the committee said Alexander repeatedly referenced the potential for violence at "Stop the Steal" events following the election.

Ahead of the attack on the Capitol, Alexander was in communication with some Republican lawmakers and aides as he organized rallies around the country on Trump's behalf. He spoke at a Jan. 5 rally in Washington with far-right and pro-Trump extremist groups, leading chants of "Victory or death!"

In his opening remarks, Alexander said he had spent more than 100 hours working to gather records to comply with the committee's requests, and called the ordeal "extremely difficult and burdensome."

"But I am voluntarily here to do the patriotic thing," he was expected to tell the panel in his opening remarks.

Ahead of Alexander's appearance, former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sued the committee and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the subpoenas issued for his documents and phone records, after he declined to appear for a deposition and Democrats vowed to hold him in contempt of Congress.

The committee has interviewed more than 275 witnesses, issued dozens of subpoenas and collected thousands of pages of records, along with social media, cell phone and communications data. The panel is expected to start a new round of public hearings as soon as next month.

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, said the committee has also questioned state election officials in key battleground states about efforts to challenge their work and any potential contacts from the Trump administration.