A top official with the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) resigned on Monday amid controversy over a robocall that had urged listeners to march on the Capitol on Wednesday.
NBC News reported that the board chairman of the group’s fundraising arm, the Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF), confirmed the resignation of RAGA Executive Director Adam Piper.
“Every decision Adam made on behalf of RLDF was with the best of intentions and with the organization’s best interests in mind,” said Steve Marshall, head of the Rule of Law Defense Fund.
Piper and the group faced sharp criticism in the days following Wednesday’s riot on the Capitol, which left five people dead and led to lawmakers huddling in fear for their lives for hours before authorities were able to secure the building.
Rioters descended on the Capitol directly after being urged to do by President Trump at a nearby rally objecting to Congress’s certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory; both the rally and the march on the Capitol were advertised in a robocall RAGA sent to supporters ahead of the Jan. 6 chaos.
“At 1 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal,” a voice is heard on a recording obtained by NBC News.
Piper’s resignation follows calls by the rival Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) for GOP state attorneys general to leave RAGA over the robocall and subsequent violent assault on the Capitol.
“The continued peddling of conspiracy theories and pandering to President Trump’s dangerous lies by the Republican Attorneys General Association, the Rule of Law Defense Fund, and some current and former Republican Attorneys General has gone unchecked for too long,” said DAGA in a statement on Friday.