- Kimberly Guilfoyle was paid $60,000 from Trump campaign donations for her speech on January 6, 2021.
- A January 6 committee member said Trump raised money by misleading his supporters.
- “It was a big lie, and it was also a big ripoff,” Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren said Monday.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Trump 2020 campaign advisor and Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée, was paid a $60,000 speaking fee for a 146-second speech she made at Trump’s January 6, 2021, rally, according to a lawmaker on the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot, part of what she described as a misleading tactic by the Trump campaign to fundraise off of false election claims.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who serves on the congressional committee, revealed its findings about Guilfoyle’s compensation.
“We know that Guilfoyle was paid for the introduction she gave at the speech on January 6. She received compensation for that,” Lofgren told CNN on Monday. “$60,000 for two-and-a-half minutes.”
Lofgren mentioned the payment as part of the committee’s evidence that Trump and his family members personally benefited from campaign donations raised in the aftermath of the 2020 election, arguing that the president misled supporters by fundraising off of false election claims.
“People were conned by the former president,” Lofgren told CNN. “They were conned into believing that the election had been stolen and that they should go to the Capitol, as the president asked them to.”
"These were people who weren't rich people," she added. "They were conned by the president. It was a big lie, and it was also a big ripoff."
After the election, the Trump campaign asked for donations to an "official election defense fund" that it claimed would help Trump's team pursue legal challenges to overturn the election results. During the committee's Monday hearing, the panel revealed that no such fund existed.
The Trump campaign raised more than $250 million in the two months following Election Day, according to financial disclosures. The committee said that most of this money went to Trump's newly created PAC, Save America, which then gave donations to other pro-Trump groups, such as $1 million to Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows' charitable foundation.
A Trump spokesperson denied that Guilfoyle's payment came from the Trump campaign.
"No funds from either Save America or the Presidential Committee were used to pay for any activities related to Jan 6th," Liz Harrington told Insider in a statement on Monday.
CNN later reported on Monday that Turning Point Action, a conservative pro-Trump group, paid Guilfoyle for her speech on January 6. The Washington Post on Tuesday reported that the sponsoring donor for the payment was Julie Fancelli, the daughter of Publix founder George Jenkins.
Lofgren on Monday also raised questions about the legality and ethics of Trump fundraising off of false election claims and misrepresenting what the donations were for.
"I'm not saying it's a crime, but I think it's a grift," Lofgren said, adding that the January 6 panel is a legislative committee and does not handle criminal proceedings.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren says the 1/6 Committee has evidence that Trump and his family were paid from donations based on the big lie. Lofgren tells Jake Tapper that Kimberly Guilfoyle was paid $60,000 to introduce Trump at the 1/6 rally.
Guilfoyle served as Trump's campaign aide for the 2020 election and appeared at his "Save America" rally at the Ellipse near the White House on January 6, 2021. She took the stage briefly to introduce Donald Trump Jr. to the crowd of Trump supporters.
"Look at all of us out here, God-loving, freedom-loving, liberty-loving patriots that will not let them steal this election," Guilfoyle said in her speech. "President Trump has been the most transformative, impactful president this incredible country has ever seen."
The January 6 panel met with Guilfoyle on April 18 as part of its probe. The committee is revealing its findings in a series of public hearings this month.
