The January 6 Committee’s fishing expedition is now targeting grannies.
The House committee investigating the riot on January 6, 2021 has now focused its attention on 72-year-old Julie Fancelli, a low-profile daughter of Publix founder George Jenkins who donates to conservative candidates and causes when she isn’t growing grapes in Italy or visiting her grandchildren.
Eight days before the January 6 rally, Fancelli wired $650,000 to three groups involved in organizing the event, records show.
Family and acquaintances of Fancelli describe the elderly heiress as leading a quiet, private life. Unlike other members of the Jenkins clan, she has never served on the public board of directors or as a company executive. She used to own a business that sold millions of dollars’ worth of food to Publix, but left that company in 2017. Because Publix is privately-held, information about Fancelli’s stake is not publicly available.
Fancelli reportedly spends most of her time in Italy, where she met her husband while studying abroad. But she remains interested in conservative politics and is a fan of Alex Jones.
While Fancelli has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to GOP candidates and party organizations over the last two decades, it was with Donald Trump’s entry to the White House that she became a top-tier donor.
“We’d never heard of her.… She only came into the picture once Trump was president,” a Republican National Committee (RNC) insider told the Washington Post. “She is basically just a right-winger, smarter than a lot of donors, but has an affinity for Alex Jones and conspiracy theories and that sort of thing.”
The outlet notes that Fancelli’s donations helped get the rally that preceded the riot off the ground:
On Dec. 29, 2020, Fancelli donated $300,000 to Women for America First, a nonprofit group that helped organize the Jan. 6 rally, and $150,000 to the nonprofit arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, which paid for a robocall touting a march to “call on Congress to stop the steal.”
On the same day, Fancelli gave $200,000 to State Tea Party Express, according to Sal Russo, a top consultant to the conservative group. Russo told The Post last week that he gave the House committee records of Fancelli’s donation, which he said was used for radio ads and social media urging supporters of President Donald Trump to attend the rally and subsequent march. He condemned the violence at the Capitol.
Representative Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the January 6 Committee, told The Post that he believes Fancelli “played a strong role” in helping to finance the rally.
“We’re trying to follow the money,” he said.
Fancelli has not spoken to the media except for a statement she put out 10 months ago, in which she said “I am a proud conservative and have real concerns associated with election integrity, yet I would never support any violence, particularly the tragic and horrific events that unfolded on January 6th.”
In the leadup to the rally, Fancelli e-mailed relatives and friends links to the program of Alex Jones, who believes Joe Biden stole the 2020 election. Fancelli reached out to Jones and spoke with him by phone between December 27 and January 1.
Records show that Fancelli donated roughly $1 million to a joint account for the Trump campaign and Republican Party in 2019 and 2020. She told RNC executives that she believed the election was stolen and supported the January 6 rally “to fight for Trump.”
She has continued to donate to candidates since January 6. In September, she contributed $5,800 to Representative Matthew M. Rosendale of Montana, one of 21 House Republicans who opposed awarding the congressional gold medal to police officers involved on January 6.
In July, Fancelli gave $1,000 to an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Lakeland, Florida (her hometown), who thanked the right-wing One America News for “correctly” referring to Trump as the president following Biden’s inauguration.
The January 6 Committee has subpoenaed a number of Trump allies and associates. Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is suing the committee, asking a federal court to block enforcement of the subpoena, as well as the subpoena it issued to Verizon for his phone records.
Thompson has said he plans to move ahead next week with a criminal contempt referral against Meadows.
