Mad Madame Mim pleads the Fifth
Julie Jenkins Fancelli now documented for funding an insurrection. . . and fleeced as a near-senile rube
“Dec 21, 2022
Washington — Today, the Select Committee made public 34 transcripts of witness testimony that was gathered over the course of the Select Committee’s investigation into the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
The list of 34 “witnesses” reads like a Who’s Who of GOP grifters, fascists and bottom feeders, including election truthers, incels, White nationalists, mental cases (Michael Flynn), an old Nixon creeper (Roger Stone), Proud Boys and Groyper Army neo-Nazis, Christians (of course) and convicted seditionists.
Oh! Look! Mixed in with all the marching morons and right-wing trash is an old lady billionaire who’s a groupie of Alex Jones: Julie Jenkins Fancelli.
While her donations of millions to the GOP has been noted by several media sources, her involvement in the January 6 insurrection crossed a line that is now indelibly etched in modern America history and the National Archives.
(Reality Check: Julie Jenkins Fancelli paid $3 million for the pre-riot rally that enraged the mob. Sort of like buying an arsonist gasoline, but not actually striking the match.)
She’ll dodge prosecution, of course, because she’s uber-wealthy, but her name and her interview with the Select Committee is now part of the federal public record that doesn’t fall under the Google program about “the right to be forgotten.”
It’s going to make for some interesting questions from her grandkids:
“Grandma Julie, what’s the Fifth?”
“Grandma Julie, who’s Alex Jones?”
“Grandma Julie, what’s sedition?”
“Grandma Julie, are you going to jail?”
No matter how loud her apologists, and no matter her immense wealth, her family’s name is forever sullied by her generosity to grifting traitors. Her descendants will find her name in the future’s history books that recount the near-death of democracy on January 6.
(Note: Publix Supermarkets have indicated that Julie is not a spokesperson for the grocery store chain. From Publix Twitter account:
“Mrs. Fancelli is not an employee of Publix Super Markets, and is neither involved in our business operations, nor does she represent the company in any way. We cannot comment on Mrs. Fancelli’s actions.”
What Publix doesn’t say is that the Jenkins mob gets 20 cents from every dollar spent at Publix . . . and the way the old lady blows through money, 20 percent might not be enough.)
Julie’s interview is worth the read if for no other reason than it’s highly entertaining to see her answers to questions when she replies that her response is not only pleading the Fifth, but also the First, Fourth and the Fourteenth Amendment. Here’s a sample:
Question: And can you provide your email address that you used from December of 2020 to January of 2021?
Julie: I decline to answer pursuant to the rights afforded to me under the Constitution, including the First, Fourth, Fifth, and 14th Amendments.
Question: Can you provide — did you have an Instagram or a Twitter account from December of 2021 to January of 2021?
Julie: I decline to answer pursuant to the rights afforded to me under Constitution, including the First, Fourth, Fifth, and 14th Amendments.
Question: 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?
Julie: I decline to answer pursuant to the rights afforded to me under the Constitution, including the First, Fourth, Fifth, and 14th Amendments.
Page 8
(First Amendment: the Bill of Rights. Fourth Amendment: search and seizure. 5th Amendment: cannot be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself. 14th Amendment due process.)
I can’t imagine who told the old lady that pleading the Fifth needs to be bracketed by the First, Fourth, and 14th Amendment.
Let’s look at some possibilities:
- The old lady may hope her inclusion of irrelevant amendments will somehow make it seem that she’s a constitutional scholar instead of just another criminal twit like the former president pleading the Fifth.
- Maybe she hopes headlines and news reports include all the amendments instead of just stating Publix Julie Jenkins Fancelli pleads the Fifth.
- Her attorneys may have allowed it because it creates a distraction from the real questions, a technique right out of the MAGA playbook.
- Maybe it was suggested by someone else — maybe Alex Jones? — who Julie is obsessed with. Roger Stone?
- It’s also possible she may be playing a game of not guilty due to diminished capacity.
(“ No. It's hard to remember where my mind would be at, you know, 2 years ago. I have to think about -- I would have to think back into my thoughts 2 years ago, which, you know, is pretty long. It's pretty hard for a 72-year-old to do that.” Julie, page 100.)
What’s very entertaining is that right-wingnut grifters made off with most of Old Lady Julie’s $3 million before the January 6 rally even started.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, for example, was paid $60,000 for a three-minute speech, via Charlie Kirk, who received $1.25 million from Julie. Charlie Kirk deliberately had nothing to do with January 6 except siphon off $1.25 million for his fascist group, Turning Points USA.
Question: In the end, you ended up donating, I believe, about $1.25 million to Turning Point. And Mr. Kirk actually went out of his way to avoid being present or related to the events on January 6th. Did you have any conversations with him about his willingness to donate $1.25 million — or, excuse me — to spend money on the event, crowd-build the event, bus people to the event, and yet his hesitancy to be associated personally with it in any way on January 6th?
Julie: I invoke.
Page 66
Caroline Wren constantly double-dipped from Julie’s donation: $50,000 commission for the first million dollars, then an $80,000 commission for Julie’s donation to Save The Senate PAC.
Question: Now, were you aware that the Save the U.S. Senate PAC paid Caroline Wren over $80,000 as her commission for your donations?
Julie: I invoke.
Page 69
So before the January 6 rally even started, Charlie Kirk made off with $1.25 million, even though he was not involved in the January 6 rally. Caroline Wren pocketed almost $200,000 for her work fleecing Julie.
The grift goes on and on. Next was a $300,000 donation to Women for America First. Then a $200,000 donation to the State Tea Party Express. Of course, not without another GQP flack, Taylor Budowich, pocketing a $15,000 kickback commission from the Tea Party group.
Question: And I will note that the plan says, quote, “They will use targeted ads to promote the website to encourage individuals to attend and sign up via the webpage. This will include both a television, radio and digital campaign to promote the January 6th rally and will geo-target a 180 mile radius to encourage attendance. So Ms. Wren told you that your money going to State Tea Party Express was to increase the crowd size on January 6th, correct?
Julie: I invoke.
Question: And you knew that before you donated the money to Tea Party Express, correct?
Julie: I invoke.
Question: Now, if you recall earlier, I mentioned an individual by the name of Taylor Budowich and showed you his conversations with Ms. Wren. Do you recall that?
Julie: I heard his name earlier. You spoke - Okay, about him a couple times.
Question: Prior to us mentioning him earlier, had you ever heard that name before?
Julie: I invoke.
Question: Are you aware that Taylor Budowich recommended the Tea Party Express to Ms. Wren as an organization that should receive some of your money?
Julie: I invoke.
Question: And are you aware that Mr. Budowich was paid $15,000 out of the money that you donated?
Julie: I invoke.
Question: Did you understand that other individuals were going to make money off your donations in addition to Ms. Wren?
Julie: I invoke.
Page 74
(Note: Budowich is also a snitch. The Daily Beast reported: Taylor Budowich, a flack for former President Donald Trump, has turned over more than 1,700 pages of material and testified under oath before the committee for four hours.)
Next in line is a donation of $150,000 to the Rule of Law Defense. This one’s a bit dicey, since the Rule of Law Defense Fund used Julie’s money to reportedly launch a robocall action that included “marching orders” for the marching morons: “At 1:00 p.m. we will march to the Capitol Building and call on Congress to stop the steal.”
The old lady’s snagged a bit of liability on this one. In my previous comparison to buying gasoline for an arsonist, Julie’s money directly funded a robocall that specifically called for a march on the Capitol. So the old lady paid for the gasoline. She just didn’t strike the match.
Of course, Julie invokes her collection of constitutional amendments, but what’s hilarious is that Caroline Wren grabbed another $12,000 of Julie’s money for facilitating that donation. According to the Select Committee, Wren grifted a total of $198,000 in commission kickbacks from Julie’s donation.
Question: And just to be clear, Ms. Wren never disclosed in any way that she was making nearly $200,000 off of the $3 million that you donated for the event on January 6th, correct?
Julie: I invoke.
page 78
And it goes on and on, from securing a private jet for Roger Stone to discussions about the speakers at the January 6 rally.
Question: Ms. Fancelli, certain witnesses have said that on January 5th there was a call that Ms. Wren and Ms. Guilfoyle made to some of the other rally organizers who were planning the events on January 6th, and during that call it — let me be clear, it was not alleged that you were on this call. But during that call it was alleged that Ms. Guilfoyle and Ms. Wren were screaming at the rally organizers that the donor was demanding that Roger Stone and Alex Jones be on the stage on January 6th, that she donated this $3 million to have those speakers speak. Is that consistent with your understanding of anything that happened in your conversations related to January 6th?
Julie: I invoke.
Page 86
As a scorched earth writer, it’s difficult not to include “LOL” after every quote. It would seem Old Lady Julie may have had the delusional intent to prevent Biden from taking office, but a sizeable chunk of her money disappeared into that great MAGA grift machine before the first marching moron approached the Capitol.
After the riot, the old lady actually texted Caroline Wren asking “Who were the people that ‘stormed’ the chamber? Antifa? Jj,” flag emoji*. (If you read the report, Julie is big on the American flag emoji.)
Not content with finding no Antifa involvement in the attack on the Capitol, Julie then switched to her stand-by authority, Alex Jones.
Question: I’m showing you an email that is from you, from Julie Fancelli, to Caroline Wren, and it’s January 7th at 3:02 p.m. The subject line says, “Alex Jones Lays Out What Really Happened At The US Capitol,” and it has a link. And it says, “WATCH WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN DC! TRUMP AND THE PATRIOTS WERE SET UP!”, both ending with exclamation marks. Do you recall sending this email to Ms. Wren on January 7th?
Julie: I invoke
(Note: “Jones, who has denied without evidence President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 elections, helped obtain at least $650,000 from Julie Fancelli, an heiress to the Publix grocery chain and Infowars fan, to pay for a pro-Trump rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol. Of that money, $200,000 was deposited into one of Jones’ business accounts, according to the U.S. House’s committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack. — Texas Tribune)
The last round of questioning concerns Julie’s communication with the right-wingnut usual suspects. One of the committee members actually reads one of Julie’s emails that includes a link to . . . . wait for it . . . Alex Jones, and Julie invokes.
The old lady’s testimony ends with an investigator’s swipe at Julie’s claim that she only wanted a peaceful rally.
Question: Ms. Fancelli, did you call Mr. Jones and say, this isn’t what I wanted, this invasion of the Capitol, thousands of people marching and kicking in the doors? Did you say to a single person, this isn’t the peaceful event that I donated $3 million for?
Julie: I invoke.
If there is a video of Julie’s testimony, it would certainly need a laugh track.
Cheers!
UPDATE: Old Lady Julie tosses even more cash to the marching morons:
https://jamesleftist-95606.medium.com/the-mad-madame-mim-of-publix-7cad1f06d60f
