Stamford Republicans: We did not organize ride to D.C. for Trump rally

STAMFORD — A day before a violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol last week, the Stamford Republican Party shared a post on its Facebook page saying seats were available in a group ride to the nation’s capitol to attend a rally for President Donald Trump.

Republican Town Committee leaders this week said they did not organize the trip, and those who did did not intend on engaging in the type of violence that overtook the Capitol, leading to five deaths.

Andrew Krill, the vice chairman of the RTC, said he made the post after he was contacted by Arthur “Cort” Wrotnowski, a 69-year-old Greenwich resident who

organized the ride, according to multiple sources.

Wrotnowski did not respond to requests for comment.

Krill said the trip was comprised of “a bunch of senior citizens” who wanted to defer the cost of a trip to D.C. According to him, about 10 people were part of the ride.

“The post was not put up to drive a bunch of terrorists to Washington to storm the Capitol,” he said.

Krill said he was ashamed of the riot that broke out at the Capitol.

“We’re the ‘Back the Blue’ party,” he said. “We don’t support that kind of stuff.”

With the post was an photograph of a flyer from Washington, D.C., police taped to a pole that stated all firearms were prohibited within 1,000 feet of the sign, in anticipation of the protest in support of Trump on Jan. 6.

That protest turned violent when many rally attendees stormed into the Capitol, which caused extensive damage to the building, led to the evacuation and lockdown of the federal structure, and resulted in five deaths.

Fritz Blau, the president of the Stamford RTC, also said his group did not sponsor the trip.

Blau added that the RTC is looking into adding more controls to the Facebook page going forward.

In the days since the attack, members of the Facebook group have posted theories that those who led the revolt were actually sympathizers of Antifa, a decentralized group of anti-fascist activists. News accounts in the week since have debunked those rumors.

On Wednesday, Blau defended Trump, saying the president didn’t say anything to incite violence.

“We absolutely are against violence,” Blau said.