Barnette said she was leading buses to DC for ‘our 1776 moment’ on January 6, 2021

By Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck, CNN

Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Kathy Barnette said she was bringing three buses of “pissed off patriots” for the January 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the US Capitol riot.

Calling it “our 1776 moment,” Barnette promised those attending the rally would make their voices heard, according to previously unreported comments from the time reviewed by CNN’s KFile. In another interview before the rally, Barnette said she helped bring three buses to Washington.

Barnette, best known as a conservative political commentator who recently surged in the polls for Tuesday’s GOP primary, has seen renewed interest in her attendance at the rally after photos of her marching toward the Capitol began circulating on social media on Sunday. CNN’s KFile verified the videos.

“You’re gonna see a bunch of pissed off patriots that are like, ‘We’re not having this anymore,'” Barnette told radio host and conservative activist Ed Martin on January 5, 2021. “You’re gonna have to hear our voices. And so I’m so very grateful that Americans are not rolling over. Democrats are used to, you know, being loud, whining, calling us names and then our side of the aisle, simply roll over and play dead. I am so proud that there are an innumerable number of Americans who are just like, no, we are not rolling over. We’re not going back to sleep. You’re gonna have to hear us.”

“I believe most people realize that this is our 1776 moment,” she later added. “And I’m so grateful to God that back then we had a number of people who were not wimps, weenies and punks, and they stood up against some insurmountable odds. And right now I think a lot of people are looking back to that and recognizing that we are not wimps, weenies or punks, we’re gonna stand up to some — what seems like insurmountable odds. And they’re gonna have to listen to our voices.”

In a since-deleted tweet from the day before the Capitol riot, Barnette boasted of her upcoming attendance at the rally. “Democrats are Demons in Drag… They look like fellow Americans,” she wrote. “But, those Democrats who believe the voices of MILLIONS of Americans should be forced, shamed & bullied into silence carry an agenda straight from the pit of hell. PERIOD #Resist #WildProtest #Jan6th #DCProtests.”

Barnette attended the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the Capitol riot, but a spokesperson has said she did not enter the Capitol building. A spokesperson for Barnette campaign told CNN she did not participate in any destruction of property.

In the videos that circulated on social media by extremism researcher Chad Loder, Barnette appears to march close to the Capitol near the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Constitution Avenue NW.

“Kathy was in DC to support President Trump and demand election accountability,” her spokesman Bob Gillies told CNN in a text message. “Any assertion that she participated in or supported the destruction of property is intentionally false. She has no connection whatsoever to the proud boys [sic]. There is no doubt that 2020 had unprecedented irregularities. America deserves transparency to restore faith in our system.”

Barnette has repeatedly spread the lie that the results of the 2020 election were fraudulent, including those in her own congressional race that she lost that year. She has campaigned alongside Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, a state representative and fellow election denier who was also seen outside of the Capitol on January 6. He was subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating January 6 in February.

CNN’s KFile previously reported Barnette has a history of bigoted statements against Muslims and the LGBTQ community and that she falsely spread the conspiracy that former President Barack Obama is Muslim.

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