CLOSED DOORS

Top Trump Appointee Met With Activists Who Pushed ‘Big Lie’ on Jan. 6

A former assistant secretary of state met with two men notorious for spreading baseless theories about the 2020 election.

The very same day MAGA rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, a top Trump official sat down with two activists who pushed baseless claims that Democrats stole the presidential election. Robert Destro was the Trump administration’s assistant secretary of state when he met with podcaster Joe Oltmann and lawyer Matthew DePerno on Jan. 6. After the insurrection, Oltmann and DePerno both acknowledged having met with State Department leaders and claimed they were on board with the idea that there might’ve been a “coup” to overthrow Trump’s leadership. But at the time neither clarified with whom they had met. Both Oltmann and DePerno helped spread the false narrative that the election was stolen from then-President Donald Trump, claims that were ultimately central to the attack on the Capitol. Destro has admitted to meeting with the two men. “I met with hundreds of American citizens and foreign nationals during my time at State, all of whom had foreign-focused issues to discuss,” he said, refusing to go into detail about what was discussed.