堪萨斯州托皮卡。-共和党总检察长协会的一个分支机构，它发送了一个电话会议，敦促“爱国者”支持当时的总统唐纳德·特朗普在1月6日的集会上，在攻占美国国会大厦之前的几周，举行了一次特殊的“战争游戏”会议选举讨论如果特朗普输了它的策略。
2020年9月为期两天的会议是法治国防基金在11月大选前四个月为共和党高级助手举行的20多次会议之一，这些助手是共和党各州的主要执法官员。但与其他活动不同的是，尽管冠状病毒病例激增，疫苗还有几个月才能上市，但活动还是面对面举行，该组织支付了与会者的差旅费。
国防基金是共和党总检察长协会的一个分支，在1月6日起义的前一天，支持特朗普的示威者冲进国会大厦，试图阻挠对乔·拜登获胜的认证，该基金因其自动电话会议而臭名昭著。
来自堪萨斯州和密苏里州的共和党总检察长办公室的电子邮件显示，国防基金每周都会召集州办公室的高级工作人员，7月份与高级企业律师举行“虚拟圆桌会议”，9月份举行面对面峰会。它还在大选后八天举行了Zoom“战略会议”，并在12月1日召开电话会议讨论移民政策。
9月24日，共和党总检察长协会执行主任给“将军们”的一封电子邮件称亚特兰大事件为“战争游戏”(WAR GAMES)和“一系列对话，计划如果我们失去白宫会发生什么。”
当时的执行董事亚当·派珀在第二天发给“将军们”的一封电子邮件中说:“这是一系列快节奏、有成效的战争游戏，希望在11月份不必使用。”
在华盛顿发生暴力事件五天后，在国防基金的电话会议曝光后，派珀从总检察长协会辞职。该呼吁并不主张暴力，也不建议入侵国会大厦。
这些会议和电话会议加在一起，突显出共和党人在试图让特朗普留任或挑战即将上任的拜登政府方面投入了多么大的精力。17名共和党州检察长，包括来自堪萨斯州和密苏里州的检察长，也加入了德克萨斯州总检察长的单独诉讼，寻求推翻基于毫无根据的选民欺诈指控的总统选举结果;最高法院最终拒绝了这一努力。
国防基金亚特兰大峰会的议程列出了三个政策会议和一系列为期两天的分组会议。国防基金执行董事在活动前两天发来的一封电子邮件称，“所有政策对话都是非正式的。”
虽然国防基金也允许人们虚拟参与，但邮件称有30多人亲自参加。
RAGA发言人Johnny Koremenos周四在给美联社的一份书面声明中表示，2020年9月的会议“严格侧重于行政法，并为潜在的拜登政府或特朗普总统的第二个任期准备总检察长团队——这是选举季的常见做法。”
Koremenos说，自拜登1月份上任以来，共和党总检察长已经对他的政策提起了40多起诉讼。这延续了他们在前总统巴拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)执政期间使用的策略，也是特朗普执政四年期间民主党同行经常使用的方法。
密苏里州司法部长埃里克·施密特的发言人克里斯·努埃尔(Chris Nuelle)周四在一封电子邮件中表示:“我们将继续反击美国有史以来最激进、最不负责任的议程。
韩国人没有回答多封电子邮件中提出的问题，即国防基金去年的视频会议是否解决了选举结果可能面临的挑战。
国防基金在提交给美国国税局的税务文件中表示，其使命是在各州的顶级律师之间分享最佳实践，为他们提供一个讨论州和联邦政策问题的论坛，帮助他们制定政策，并就各州的利益“与”联邦官员进行接触。”
在密苏里州，国防基金和施米特办公室下属的州副检察长约翰·绍尔之间的联系今年通过一个政府透明组织的记录请求而公开。
施密特在1月份表示，他不知道国防基金robocall，他的发言人周四表示，他不会“重复”今年早些时候提出的问题。施密特正在竞选2022年美国参议院议员。
堪萨斯州总检察长德里克·施密特的办公室派了两名工作人员参加9月份的“战争游戏”峰会——首席副检察长杰夫·查内和通信主任克林特·布拉斯。他们的活动前旅行授权表显示，国防基金将支付他们的费用——正如它所做的那样——并将他们旅行的目的列为“培训”
沙内在给自己和布拉斯的一封电子邮件中表示，施密特已经得出结论，该活动“符合州政府的合法目的和利益”，否则办公室将支付他们的费用——根据堪萨斯州法律，他们接受国防基金的款待是合法的。
他们的参与本周首次由堪萨斯反射者报道，该组织通过公开记录请求获得了15页的电子邮件。美联社还通过公开记录请求获得了这些电子邮件。
另一封邮件显示，施密特的幕僚长埃里克·蒙哥马利注册了在线会议。
施密特于2010年首次当选，将于2022年竞选堪萨斯州州长。他曾担任国防基金的董事，但于2020年8月离开了该基金的董事会。1月6日起义后，他公开谴责暴力行为“令人作呕”，并告诉《托皮卡首都日报》，他事先并不知道有机器人电话。
施密特的发言人约翰·米尔伯恩在一封电子邮件中说，9月的活动是讨论对拜登政府可能采取的监管或其他行动的可能回应，施密特担心这些行动可能会“对堪萨斯州造成毁灭性后果”
“没有讨论挑战还有六周的选举结果，”米尔伯恩说。
GOP group held 'war games' for state AGs before Trump loss
TOPEKA, Kan. -- An offshoot of the Republican Attorneys General Association that sent a robocall urging “patriots” to support then-PresidentDonald Trumpat the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the storming of the U.S. Capitol held a special “war games” meeting weeks before theelectionto discuss its strategies if Trump lost.
The two-day conference in September 2020 was among more than 20 meetings that the Rule of Law Defense Fund held in the four months before the November election for senior aides to Republicans who were their states' chief law enforcement officials. But unlike the others, it was held in-person despite coronavirus cases surging and the vaccine still months from coming to market, and the group paid attendees' travel costs.
The Defense Fund, which is a branch of the Republican Attorneys General Association, gained notoriety for its robocall the day before the Jan. 6 insurrection, when pro-Trump demonstrators stormed the Capitol in an attempt to thwart the certification of Joe Biden's victory.
Emails from the offices of the Republican attorneys general in Kansas and Missouri show that the Defense Fund held weekly calls for senior staffers in state offices, a “virtual roundtable” with senior corporate attorneys in July and the in-person summit in September. It also held a Zoom “strategy session” eight days after the election and a Dec. 1 call to discuss immigration policy.
A Sept. 24 email from the Republican Attorneys General Association executive director, addressed to “Generals,” called the Atlanta event “WAR GAMES” and a “series of conversations planning for what could come if we lose the White House.”
“It was a fast paced, productive series of war games, which hopefully will not have to be utilized in November," then-Executive Director Adam Piper said in an email the next day, again addressed to “Generals.”
Piper resigned from the attorneys general association five days after the violence in Washington and after the Defense Fund's robocall came to light. The call did not advocate violence or suggest invading the Capitol.
Taken together, the meetings and robocalls underscore how deeply elements of the Republican Party were invested in trying to keep Trump in office or to challenge the incoming Biden administration. Seventeen Republican state attorneys general, including those from Kansas and Missouri, also joined the Texas attorney general in a separate lawsuit seeking to overturn the presidential election results based on unfounded claims of voter fraud; the Supreme Court ultimately rejected that effort.
An agenda for the Defense Fund's Atlanta summit listed three policy sessions and a set of breakout sessions over two days. An email two days before the event from the Defense Fund's executive director said, “All the policy conversations are off the record.”
While the Defense Fund also allowed people to participate virtually, the emails said more than 30 people attended in person.
In a written statement Thursday to The Associated Press, RAGA spokesperson Johnny Koremenos said the September 2020 meeting “was strictly focused on administrative law and preparing attorneys general teams for a potential Biden Administration or a second term of President Trump — common practice in an election season.”
Koremenos said GOP attorneys general have filed more than 40 lawsuits against Biden's policies since he took office in January. That continues a tactic they used during former President Barack Obama's administration — and an approach used by their Democratic counterparts regularly during Trump's four years in office.
“We’re going to continue to fight back against the most radical and irresponsible agenda America has ever seen,” Chris Nuelle, a spokesperson for Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, said Thursday in an email.
Koremenos did not answer questions asked in multiple emails about whether Defense Fund videoconferences last year addressed possible challenges to the election results.
The Defense Fund said in tax filings with the Internal Revenue Service that its mission is to share best practices among states' top lawyers, provide a forum for them to discuss state and federal policy issues, help them develop policy and “engage” federal officials “regarding the interests of the states.”
In Missouri, contacts between the Defense Fund and state Solicitor General John Sauer, who is under Schmitt’s office, became public this year through a records request from a government transparency group.
Schmitt said in January that he didn’t know about the Defense Fund robocall, and his spokesperson said Thursday that he wasn’t going to “rehash” issues raised early this year. Schmitt is running for the U.S. Senate in 2022.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt's office sent two staffers to the September “war games” summit — Chief Deputy Attorney General Jeff Chanay and Communications Director Clint Blaes. Their pre-event travel authorization forms showed that the Defense Fund would cover their expenses — as it did — and listed the purpose of their travel as “Training.”
Chanay said in an email to himself and Blaes that Schmidt had concluded the event “serves a legitimate state purpose and interest” and that the office otherwise would have covered their expenses — making it legal under Kansas law for them to accept the Defense Fund's hospitality.
Their participation was first reported this week by the Kansas Reflector, which obtained 15 pages of emails through an open records request. The Associated Press also obtained the emails through an open records request.
Another email showed that Eric Montgomery, Schmidt's chief of staff, registered for online sessions.
Schmidt, first elected in 2010, is running for Kansas governor in 2022. He served as a director of the Defense Fund but left its board in August 2020. After the Jan. 6 insurrection, he publicly condemned the violence as “sickening” and told The Topeka Capital-Journal that he hadn't known of the robocalls beforehand.
Schmidt's spokesperson, John Milburn, said in an email that the September event was to discuss possible responses to regulations or other actions from a potential Biden administration that Schmidt worried might have "devastating consequences for Kansas.”
"There was no discussion about challenging the results of an election that was still six weeks away," Milburn said.
