Former New York GOP gubernatorial candidate Andrew Giuliani.
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
A top member of the Oath Keepers texted Andrew Giuliani about election issues, per NBC News.
Attorney Kellye SoRelle communicated with Giuliani in November 2020, per the report.
Ex-GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman told NBC News it’s “so important” for the public to know about such links.
A top member of the far-right Oath Keepers organization who is facing charges related to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, sent text messages to former Trump White House aide Andrew Giuliani regarding election issues, according to NBC News.
The member, attorney Kellye SoRelle, sent the messages to Giuliani – the son of former Trump lawyer and ex-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani — in November 2020, per the report.
SoRelle — the general counsel for the group — also attempted to text a White House phone number on December 20, 2020, according to a newly-released book from former Republican congressman Denver Riggleman of Virginia and coauthored with journalist Hunter Walker.
Since the message was sent to a switchboard line at the White House, it was undeliverable.
Riggleman — who was elected to the House in 2018 but lost renomination to his seat in 2020 to now-Rep. Bob Good — was an advisor for the January 6 committee from August 2021 to April 2022.
The former congressman informed NBC News that he revealed information about the text messages in his book, “The Breach,” so “reporters would follow up on some of the crucial evidence that had not been made public.”
He also told the news organization that he wishes he “could say I was surprised” by the connection between Andrew Giuliani and SoRelle.
“The phone data my team compiled makes clear the militant aspect of the Capitol attack and high-level associates of the former president were inextricably linked together,” Riggleman said. “It is so important for the American people to be aware of the direct links between the Trump White House and militant groups including this newfound connection between Kellye Sorelle and a former White House aide.”
SoRelle told NBC News that she reached out to Andrew Giuliani, a public liaison assistant under former President Donald Trump, but could only remember being in contact with him in November 2020.
Per the NBC News report, SoRelle said she couldn’t verify whether she reached out to Andrew Giuliani beyond November due to the FBI confiscating her phone in September 2021.
Andrew Giuliani — who earlier this year ran unsuccessfully for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in New York — was on leave from his role in the latter part of 2020 to focus on election issues. He left his position in January 2021.
Andrew Giuliani told NBC News that he last communicated with SoRelle on November 20, 2020.
“Until you mentioned her, until I looked it up, it didn’t really ring a bell,” Giuliani told the news organization.
Beginning this week, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and four additional members will go on trial for seditious conspiracy in the Capitol riot.