COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – The executive director of a national group that defends Republican attorney generals resigned following a robotic call asking people to march to the United States Capitol before the violent attack last week.
The Association of Republican Attorneys General and the Rule of Law Defense Fund accepted Adam Piper’s voluntary resignation on Monday, according to a statement obtained by the Associated Press.
“Serving Republican attorney generals was the honor of a lifetime and, honestly, a dream job,” said Piper in a statement.
Piper took office in 2018, after two years as director of policies for the party group, founded in the late 1990s, which works to elect Republicans for key public prosecutor positions across the country. He also led the Rule of Law Defense Fund, a public policy organization affiliated with RAGA.
It’s that political arm that sent a robocall last Tuesday, encouraging “patriots” to participate in an event called the March to Save America, with comments from President Donald Trump before a walk to the Capitol “to continue fighting to protect the integrity of our elections. “
The call did not advocate violence or suggested that protesters should break into the chambers where federal lawmakers met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. Thousands of Trump supporters later invaded Capitol to try to prevent certification.
On Twitter, RAGA posted about the insurrection, writing during Wednesday’s protests that “Americans have a constitutional right to meet and protest peacefully. However, violence and illegality must not be tolerated and must be condemned immediately. “
Ken Paxton, Texas attorney general and member of RAGA, spoke at Wednesday’s rally, promising that “we will not stop fighting” in reference to Trump’s attempts to subvert the election result.
In response to media calls seeking information about the group’s affiliation with the event, Piper told the Alabama Political Reporter that “No Republican AG authorized the team’s decision to amplify a colleague by speaking at the rally” and called the violence “a black day American history. “
On Monday, RAGA President Chris Carr, Georgia’s attorney general, said Piper had a “servant’s heart” and praised his “tenacity, work ethic and vision”.
Piper did not immediately respond to questions from the AP about her potential involvement in the automatic call and feelings about the consequences of Wednesday’s events, pointing instead to her statement.
Piper, a graduate of the University of South Carolina, was the southeastern political director for the 2012 presidential campaign of former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, and in 2007 and 2008 he served as South Carolina’s campaign manager for the White House by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.
He spent five years working for South Carolina’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, was Wilson’s campaign manager and served two terms as the third vice president of the state Republican Party.
Over the weekend, Wilson, a former president of RAGA, tweeted that he “was completely unaware” and disagreed with the group’s involvement in the event.
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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
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