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It might not come as a surprise that U.S. Senate candidate Adam Laxalt’s new communications director, Courtney Holland, was in Washington, D.C., attending the Jan. 6, 2021 “Stop the Steal” protest that eventually led to the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol by extremist supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Laxalt has long echoed false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. The Republican and former state attorney general, who served as co-chair of the 2020 Trump campaign in Nevada, led the charge in challenging the results here, where President Joe Biden beat Trump by about 30,000 votes.
Images show Holland being led by men identified as Oath Keepers, a far-right anti-government militia. One of the men was later charged with sedition and another was charged with breaking into the Capitol. At least two others were charged for illegally entering the building, CNN reported.
Holland declined an interview with the Sun, but she shared the statement she gave to CNN, which first reported the news. She said she attended the protest with “expectations of a peaceful gathering.”
Event organizers asked her to speak at a permitted area behind the Capitol and provided her with what she was told were event security. She said in the statement she did not know who they were. When she reached the permitted area, she became aware that the situation was “deteriorating” and decided to go back to her hotel.
“Once it became clear what was happening, I left,” Holland said in the statement. “As I said at the time, it’s shameful that an effort by thousands of well-intentioned people, myself included, to exercise their First Amendment right was ruined by a number of individuals.”
She added that she was never subpoenaed, questioned or accused of any wrongdoing that day.
“I do hope that all evidence, including the 14,000 hours of video footage from that day, will be released to the public so that there will be full transparency into this unfortunate day in our country’s history,” Holland said in the statement.
Holland is vice chair and national committeewoman for the Nevada Young Republicans, and she is also an ambassador for Turning Point USA, a Republican nonprofit organization that works to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government,” according to its website.
When the Sun asked if Laxalt, who is facing incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in the November general election, could provide a statement about Holland’s participation in Jan. 6,the campaign did not respond.
But after the CNN article was published, Laxalt posted on Twitter that Democrats like Cortez Masto were trying to “distract Nevadans from her party’s failed leadership.”
Holland wasn’t the only Nevada Republican to attend the Jan. 6 protest. Assemblywoman Annie Black, who ran against Sam Peters in the Republican Primary for Nevada’s 4th Congressional District but lost, was at the protest. She also did not go into the Capitol.
Reno Attorney Joey Gilbert, who ran and lost in the crowded GOP primary for governor, also was in D.C. that day attending what he called a "medical tyranny conference" before joining in the march.
After the CNN article was published, members of the Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers (NAPSO), which has endorsed Cortez Masto for reelection have called for Holland to be fired.
“It was one of the worst attacks on our democracy,” said Rick McCann, a lobbyist who is the former head of NAPSO and the Nevada Law Enforcement Coalition,. “Our brothers and sisters were injured, and some died. … Now we find out that one of his top spokespeople marched during those horrific events, with people who vowed to dismantle our democracy.”
Not only was law enforcement placed in danger, McCann said, but themember of Congress, senators and their staff were also placed into harm’s way.
“And this young lady, Miss Holland, was a participant in the catalytic process to get this to that point,” he said.
Officers take an oath to protect the U.S. from enemies both foreign and domestic, said Matt Richardson, a Clark County juvenile probation supervisor and member of the police association.
“We believe Laxalt should fire her and immediately apologize to law enforcement for bringing her on in the first place,” Richardson said.
Anthony Gonzales, a criminal investigator with the Nevada attorney general’s office and also a member of the association, wants Laxalt to also denounce the “Big Lie” that the election was stolen, which had led to the riots.
“At the end of the day, I think for all of us, it’s not about politics,” Gonzales said. “It’s about standing with the men and women who put their lives on the line to serve this country and the state of Nevada.”
Other law enforcement officials have stood behind Laxalt. The Nevada Fraternal Order of Police and the Public Safety Alliance of Nevada both have endorsed Laxalt in his run for the Senate.
“As Attorney General, Adam organized the first statewide Law Enforcement summit, took action to combat the spread of illegal drugs, and was tough on crime,” said John Abel, director of the Public Safety Alliance of Nevada, in a previous statement from the Laxalt campaign. “Our organization is proud to support his campaign for the United States Senate, where we know he will continue working with cops to make Nevada’s communities safe.”