House Jan. 6 committee releases transcript of interview with Lakeland resident Fancelli

Julie Fancelli, a part-time Lakeland resident, was among more than 1,000 people interviewed by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The committee released a 132-page transcript Wednesday of a deposition Fancelli gave on Feb. 18. Though Fancelli repeatedly invoked constitutional rights in refusing to answer investigators’ questions, the transcript is filled with references to evidence — emails, text messages, bank documents and more — indicating that she was deeply involved in planning and funding the “Save America” rally that preceded the march on the Capitol.

Fancelli, now 73, did not attend the rally and has not been charged with any crimes. In the interview, she tells investigators that she has not been questioned by any law-enforcement agencies.

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National outlets have previously reported that Fancelli contributed money used to stage the rally, at which former President Donald Trump spoke, urging his supporters to pressure Congress not to certify the election of Joe Biden. The deposition transcript offers much more detail about Fancelli’s contributions and efforts to insert two controversial figures, Alex Jones and Roger Stone, into the lineup of speakers at the Jan. 6 rally.

Fancelli, the daughter of Publix Super Markets founder George W. Jenkins, participated in a videoconference from Lakeland, according to the transcript. She was joined by her two lawyers, Vincent Citro of Orlando and Jeff Childers of Gainesville. (Childers is affiliated with Polk County Citizens Defending Freedom, a conservative political group based in Mulberry.)

The interview was conducted by unnamed House investigators, and four House members are listed as taking part: Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Winter Park; Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif; Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland; and Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-California. It lasted about five hours, with a few recesses documented.

Among the details from the transcript:

∎ Fancelli gave at least $3 million to various people and groups involved with either planning the Jan. 6 rally or supporting Trump’s efforts to undo Biden’s election.

∎ Fancelli supported efforts to boost attendance at the rally, including financial support to have 75 buses bring Trump supporters to Washington, D.C.

∎ Fancelli communicated directly or indirectly with figures close to Trump, including Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former advisor to Trump, and Caroline Wren, a fundraiser for Trump’s campaign.

∎ Phone records indicate Fancelli also talked to Alex Jones, a Trump supporter known for inflammatory statements, in the days leading up to Jan. 6, 2021.

∎ Fancelli paid for a private plane flight from Fort Lauderdale to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5 with a passenger list that included Stone.

Fancelli could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Many questions, few answers

During the deposition, Fancelli first declines to answer a question when asked to confirm the email address she used from December 2020 to January 2021. (The email address is redacted, covered with a black block, in the transcript, as are many other identifying details of Fancelli and the questioners.)

“I decline to answer pursuant to the rights afforded to me under the Constitution, including the First, Fourth, Fifth and14th Amendments,” Fancelli responds.

An interviewer asks: “Now, Ms. Fancelli, your position appears to be that you’ve not done anything wrong. Is that accurate?”

Fancelli answers with the exact same phrase in reference to the four constitutional amendments.

“Is it your position that answering basic questions, such as with regard to your social media accounts or your email address, would be incriminating for past conduct?” an interviewer asks.

Fancelli again cites her constitutional rights in declining to answer.

Interviewers tried to get Fancelli to explain which elements of those amendments she was invoking in decline to answer questions, but she and her lawyers would not do so. Citro asserts that Fancelli was invoking “the entirety of the rights afforded” under all four amendments, saying any further constitutional discussion would need to take place outside of a deposition setting.

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Fancelli’s lawyers and an interviewer eventually agree that instead of reciting the entire phrase referring to the four amendments, Fancelli will use the “shorthand” response, “I’m invoking.”

Despite Fancelli’s refusal to answer most questions, the transcript contains considerable detail through information cited by investigators. Interviews reveal that the Jan. 6 committee received phone records from Verizon for a three-month period before and after the Washington rally.

Discussions and donations

A long section of the interview involves exchanges between Wren and either Fancelli or her employees with LJ Management Services, the company that handles Fancelli’s finances. Investigators say that the company cooperated with the probe and turned over requested material.

Fancelli declines to say when she first came in contact with Wren, but investigators refer to text messages exchanged between the two as early as Dec. 22, 2020, as Wren was involved in helping to plan the Jan. 6 rally.

An investigator describes a text message sent from Fancelli’s phone number to Wren on Dec. 23 that said, “Hey! Call me! J.” (The transcript mentions multiple emojis included in that and other texts purportedly from Fancelli.)

Subsequent texts indicate that Fancelli invited Wren to visit her and that Wren came to Lakeland on Dec. 26. Investigators cite documents showing that Wren put Fancelli in touch with Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative student organization. Wren says that Kirk has “fabulous ideas” he wants to discuss with Fancelli.

Texts from Wren suggest that Kirk called Fancelli on Dec. 26 and reached her voicemail.

“Hey! Sorry, I was out walking with no phone!” Fancelli responded by text, according to the transcript. “Can you to call now? Or should I try him? Guess I am acting like Alex.”

An interviewer asks if she was referring to Alex Jones, and Fancelli declines to answer. In another text, Fancelli said she talked to Kirk and calls him a “great person.” She tells Wren and Kirk to “work it out with Marianne, but keep me in the loop.”

That is a reference to Marianne Parsons, the president of LJ Management Services. Further questioning reveals that Fancelli offered to donate at least $250,000 to Kirk to cover the cost of taking 75 busloads of Trump supporters to the Jan. 6 rally.

Investigators also cite text messages sent between Wren and Taylor Budowich, described as a spokesman for Trump. On Dec. 26, the transcript says, Wren told Budowich that Fancelli had pledged $3 million for “our bus project.” Wren adds, “she just wanted to wire me the 3 mill lol.”

Budowich replies, “rich people are so odd.”

Wren later sent Fancelli an email describing the budget, contribution information, agenda and flight information for a “Million MAGA March.”

Pushing for Jones, Stone

A subsequent email from Parsons indicates that she and Fancelli reviewed the plans and made revisions, with $1 million pledged to Turning Point. Asked if the document meant that she planned to travel from Lakeland to Washington, D.C., around Jan. 6, Fancelli answers, “It speaks for itself.”

In other documents, Fancelli and her assistant discuss giving money to such groups as Tea Party Express and Save the U.S. Senate PAC.

An email indicates that Fancelli wanted money used for national ad buys in which Donald Trump Jr. would encourage Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Georgia, and Sen. David Perdue, R-Georgia, to “vote to stop the steal in Georgia on Jan. 6.”

The budget detailed in the email indicates Fancelli intended for $200,000 to go to Alex Jones, an interviewer says.

Elsewhere in the transcript, an investigator asks Fancelli about her donations in November or December 2020 to the Defending the Republic Fund, a non-profit run by Sidney Powell, a lawyer who joined legal efforts to challenge the 2020 election results on Trump’s behalf. Fancelli declines to answer.

Rep. Raskin asks Fancelli about phone records showing multiple calls between her number and one for Jones in Texas in the days leading up to the Jan. 6 rally, the transcript shows. Fancelli declines to answer questions about any conversations with Jones and refuses to answer when asked if she had any communications with Roger Stone or his representatives before Jan. 6.

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Stone, Republican consultant and former Trump advisor, was convicted on multiple counts related to the Robert Mueller investigation in 2019 and pardoned by Trump the following year.

Investigators produced records of text messages sent before Jan. 6 between Fancelli and Guilfoyle, a Trump confidant and the romantic partner of Donald Trump Jr.

Investigators cite text messages suggesting that Fancelli expected her donations to ensure that Jones and Stone would speak at the Jan. 6 rally. An interviewer says witnesses have described a phone call on Jan. 5 among Wren, Guilfoyle and other rally planners in which the two women “were screaming” at organizers that Fancelli wanted Stone and Jones to be on stage and speak.

An investigator produces records showing that Fancelli’s management company paid for a private jet flight on Jan. 5 from Fort Lauderdale to Washington, D.C. Stone’s name appeared on the passenger list, an investigator says. The passenger list also included Gina Loudon, a conservative media personality and co-chair of Women for Trump.

'What is really happening?'

An interviewer cites text messages showing that Fancelli was communicating with Wren on Jan. 6, when the latter was in Washington for the rally. At 10:20 a.m., Fancelli texted Wren: “Hey! Are you in the middle of it all? (Kissy face emoji and American flag symbols.) Does Rodger (misspelled) speak this afternoon?”

Fancelli asks three times in further texts if “Rodger” would be speaking, an interviewer says, but Wren ignores the question in her responses. Fancelli also asks about the size of the crowd, according to the transcript.

“Where are all the buses with all of Charlie Kirk's youth?” Fancelli asks Wren in a text at 11:55 a.m.

At 1:50 p.m., Fancelli texts Wren and asks, “What is really happening?” At that point, an interviewer notes, a large group of Trump supporters had gathered outside the Capitol and begun pushing toward the building.

Fancelli later texts, “Who were the people that ‘stormed’ the building? Antifa?”

Some Trump supporters claimed that the mob that broke into the Capitol building, forcing members of Congress to flee their chambers, were actually led by members of Antifa, the name for a loose affiliation of far-left activists. No evidence has emerged to support that claim.

An interviewer mentions a dispute between Wren and Guilfoyle over whether Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle would speak at the rally. Wren indicates that Fancelli paid Guilfoyle $60,000 on the assumption that they would participate.

Asked about that, Fancelli doesn’t refuse to answer but says she doesn’t recall the details.

“No, it's hard to remember where my mind would be at, you know, two years ago,” Fancelli says.”I have to think about — I would have to think back into my thoughts two years ago, which you know, is pretty long. It's pretty hard for a 72-year-old to do that.”

An investigator presents records showing Guilfoyle called Fancelli in October 2021, when Fancelli was in Italy, where she lives part of the year. After the call, an interviewer says, Fancelli sent a fax to an assistant in Lakeland saying, “Newspapers and Kimberly Guilfoyle are looking for me. I am in Russia, you can tell them an unknown return. She did something and they want to drag me in on it. I don't have a clue what exactly she did. But when she called me at 11 p.m. last night out of the blue, she sounded desperate. She wants me to release a statement that she didn't ask for funds for January 6, which isn't true!”

One of the few times Fancelli responded to a question rather than invoking her constitutional rights comes toward the end of the interview. An interviewer asks if she sought to get as many angry people as possible at the Ellipse on Jan. 6.

Fancelli’s lawyer, Childers, rephrases the question for his client, asking if she had any intention for the event to be anything other than a peaceful First Amendment protest.

“Not protest,” Fancelli answers.

“Or –” Childers says.

“Rally,” Fancelli adds.

“Thank you,” Childers says.

“Never heard that word before,” Fancelli says.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.