A member of the Oath Keepers extremist organisation, who served as the group’s lawyer and is facing charges related to the January 6 attack on the Capitol, had contact with a then-TrumpWhite House aide in the weeks leading up to the attack.
According to NBC News, Oath Keepers attorney Kelly SoRelle exchanged text messages with Andrew Giuliani, a Trump White House official, in the days between the November 2020 election and the pro-Trump riot on January 6.
The book also claims that Ms SoRelle unsuccessfully attempted to text a landline phone number belonging to the White House switchboard in late December 2020.
In a statement to NBC, Ms SoRelle acknowledged her contact with Mr Giuliani but said she could not specify details of that contact because her phone had been seized by FBI agents earlier this month. She also confirmed the attempt to text a White House landline, which was first revealed in a new book about the January 6 probe by ex-GOP congressman Denver Riggleman.
Mr Giuliani, who is the son of disgraced Trump attorney and former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, told NBC the name of Ms SoRelle “didn’t really ring a bell” until he looked through his past contacts.
An earlier version of this story misattributed reporting regarding Mr Giuliani to Rep Riggleman’s book rather than to NBC News. The story has been updated and we regret the error.
