Stop the Steal

The nationwide "Stop the Steal" movement represented one of the most vocal efforts to contest the outcome of the 2020 election. The name, coined in 2016 by Donald Trump's longtime political adviser, Roger Stone, resurfaced during the 2020 race in a new effort led by far-right activist Ali Alexander, who is now the self-proclaimed national organizer of the "Stop the Steal" movement. Multiple public and private entities -- affiliated and unaffiliated with Alexander -- championed "Stop the Steal," and there were hundreds of "Stop the Steal" events in the weeks following the election, leading up to the Jan. 6 rally in Washington that preceded the attack on the Capitol. Some of those who bankrolled the post-2020 election challenges are known. MyPillow CEO and avid Trump supporter Mike Lindell supported legal efforts to overturn the election results. Publix Super Markets heiress Julie Jenkins Fancelli, a prominent Trump donor, reportedly helped pro-Trump groups fund the Jan. 6 rally on the Ellipse. But beyond the limited information contained in news reports about privately funded efforts, not much else has been publicly revealed about the funding of organizers and events leading up to the Jan. 6 attack. "As the investigation into the Capitol insurrection moves forward, lawmakers and investigators will almost certainly try to follow the money," said Brendan Fischer, the Federal Reforms Director of Washington-based ethics group Campaign Legal Center.