Alexander Opening Statement Dec. 9, 2021
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ABC News PoliticsAlexander Opening Statement Dec. 9, 2021
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ABC News PoliticsSTATEMENT OF ALI ALEXANDER BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE
TO INVESTIGATE THE JANUARY 6TH ATTACK ON
THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL
DECEMBER 9, 2021
Good morning, Chairman Thompson, Members of the Committee, and
Committee Staff:
My name is Ali Alexander.
I want to be crystal clear at the outset. I had nothing to do with any
violence or lawbreaking that happened on January 6.
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.
Any suggestion to the contrary is factually false. Anyone who suggests I
had anything to do with the unlawful activities on January 6 is wrong.
They’re either mistaken or lying.
Period.
It is not uncommon in the aftermath of historic chaos and disruption to look
for a bogeyman. After all, someone must be held accountable, right?
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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. On top of that, my birth
name can sound scary to the uninformed and uneducated. It’s often used
against me as a weapon. Ali Abdul-Razaq Akbar. Someone with a name
that terrifying must have done SOMETHING wrong, right?
Again, I want to be perfectly clear. I did absolutely nothing wrong.
But I don’t hide from who I am. I AM the American dream.
My mother was a Black single mother in Section 8 housing. My father was
an Arab who disappeared when I was two years old. About 15 years ago or
so, I was arrested on two different occasions for petty crimes. I won’t re-
litigate the merits of the offenses in this short time, but two arrests in your
early twenties as a Black man often sets people back so far they never
again find firm footing upon which to succeed. I managed to collect those
two criminal charges as I was just starting out as an adult.
I had every reason to fail in life.
But I refused to fail. My faith in Christ refused to allow me to fail. Instead, I
worked to change a system people insisted was supposed to hold me
down. I got involved in politics and started putting together coalitions and
rallies and raising awareness for a variety of candidates and issues.
I went from riding in a cop car as ‘the accused’ to advising a presidential
administration on criminal justice reform.
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I used a silhouette of my most tragic youthful mugshot on a t-shirt to raise
money for fatherless Black boys, boys who are growing up like I grew up.
I’ve hosted hundreds of rallies with millions of participants in all fifty states.
Not one single rally of mine turned violent. Not one. Ever.
That’s not a coincidence.
I demand non-violence at my events. I demand non-violence among my
membership and leadership. I demand non-violence among my
associates.
My leadership and I work closely with law enforcement at every event to
ensure peace and order. We obey rules and commands. We treat officers
and officials with respect.
Those principles were not compromised on January 6. In fact, I’ve stated
on numerous occasions I support the production of legislative solutions and
recommendations on how to avoid future collapses of civil order and
violence at the Capitol.
I’ve also stated on numerous occasions I support the work of law
enforcement agencies to prosecute those who committed violent acts on
January 6.
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There are a number of videos of my associates and me arriving at the
Capitol on January 6 AFTER the violence had begun but in the early stages
of the lawbreaking. In those videos, our group can be seen working with
police to try to end the violence and lawbreaking. We can be seen yelling
and screaming at people to STOP trying to enter the Capitol and STOP
violent lawbreaking in general.
I believe those videos have been provided to the committee. If they have
not, I will be happy to share them.
While I was actively trying to de-escalate events at the Capitol and end the
violence and lawlessness, it is my belief this may not have been a problem
had the Women for America First Leadership at the Ellipse event not
intentionally removed instructions from the program that were supposed to
be included to provide clarity on exactly where to go following the Ellipse
event on the North East side of the Capitol grounds where we had a permit.
When I protested the removal of those instructions, I was barred from
participating as an organizer or speaker at the Ellipse event that preceded
the Capitol riot. Ultimately, I was just a VIP guest at the Ellipse event.
As a result, civil authority collapsed before the Ellipse Rally was even over,
before I arrived, and before my event was scheduled to begin.
To clarify: My permitted event at Lot 8 never took place on the North East
side of the Capitol Grounds. The “One Nation Under God” event that Stop
the Steal was a part of did NOT start the chaos. The chaos was well
underway before our event was scheduled to begin.
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We never held our event. We weren’t allowed to.
In closing, I want to reiterate my efforts to comply with the Committee’s
subpoena. Over the past few weeks, I have spent more than 80 hours
personally searching through my archives looking for relevant and
responsive documentation to this committee’s requests. I’ve probably
spent another 120 hours preparing to answer your questions. I have hired
attorneys and computer consultants to be as responsive as possible and
provide as much as I could find within the short amount of time I had to
produce documents. We have submitted hundreds of pages of documents,
emails, and texts, even though much that was sought was not pertinent to
the Committee’s purpose or in some cases, subject to privilege.
I did all of this despite not being accused of a crime. I did all of this despite
being a private citizen with Constitutional rights protecting me from
unreasonable searches and seizures and without a warrant entitling
anyone to the documents I’ve voluntarily provided.
It’s prevented me from working. It’s prevented me from sleeping, at times.
It’s been extremely difficult and burdensome.
But I am voluntarily here to do the patriotic thing.
If this committee thinks of anything I haven’t turned over to which you
believe I may have access, I ask you please to let me know and help
refresh my memory. I receive at times hundreds or even thousands of
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texts and emails a day. I appear at all hours of the day and night on media
and social media and do interviews and livestreams and chats. I can’t
possibly remember everything I’ve seen, I’ve heard, I’ve read, or I’ve said.
I went from living the American Dream to experiencing an American
Nightmare where my skin color, birth name, party affiliation, ability to earn a
living, belief that Christ is King, and concerns about election irregularities
have been weaponized against me.
But I can assure you I have nothing to hide because I’ve done nothing
wrong.
We may disagree politically. They call politics a contact sport. People say
all manners of harsh things about political opponents and those with whom
we disagree. I don’t hold against anyone anything they’ve said about me in
order to score political points.
Because—at heart—we are all Americans. We all stand before God and
our fellow man in a great social contract where we promise to do our best
to get it right. May God have mercy on us and grant us peace for how we
treat each other at times in the world of politics.
I thank you for your time. I look forward to answering questions you may
have.
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