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This morning, Rolling Stone released an in-depth report on Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s close relationship with Jim Worthington, a donor and close confidant who organized a January 6th bus trip and this summer hosted a major fundraiser for Fitzpatrick, featuring Mike Pompeo.
The story details:
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Fitzpatrick donor Worthington helped bus “hundreds of people” to Washington, D.C. on January 6th to “march [on] the National Mall and proceed to the Capitol for the Electoral Votes.”
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When the FBI showed up to interview Fitzpatrick donor Jim Worthington, Worthington called Rep. Fitzpatrick — a former FBI agent — for advice. “Brian, you’re an FBI guy, what should I do? They’re at my house.”
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Worthington and his associates are top donors to Fitzpatrick, giving more than $100,000 to campaign committees supporting the Congressman.
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Fitzpatrick allegedly called Worthington — one of his top donors — for advice on at least one political vote and has even sponsored legislation co-written by Worthington
Highlights of the story here:
GOP ‘Moderate’ Blasted Capitol Riots — and Cozied Up to a Jan. 6 Bus Trip Organizer
Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick called Jan. 6th a “coup attempt,” but that didn’t stop him from attending a fundraiser at the home of a man who helped bus hundreds of people to Washington for a “Million MAGA March”
By HUNTER WALKER
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation was at Jim Worthington’s house and, he says, his girlfriend answered the door with a weapon in hand. It was January 2021, and the Feds wanted to talk to Worthington, a fitness empresario in the Philadelphia suburbs, about his involvement in the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally that precipitated the storming of the U.S. Capitol building. While Worthington acknowledges he was in D.C. for the rally and that he helped bring busloads of people to the event, he has insisted “we never went to the Capitol.” Worthington, who reportedly founded and led the political action committee People4Trump and spent $30,000 of his own money to serve as a delegate to the Republican convention in 2016, had organized buses to carry hundreds of people to the rally. But he wasn’t available when the agents arrived at his house. He was in his office, on the phone with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a sitting three term member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Fitzpatrick is known as a moderate Republican who boasts of having an “all-time record in bipartisanship.” He represents a swing district that went against Donald Trump in last year’s election. In other words, he’s not one of the far right members of the GOP who have eagerly embraced Trump’s false narrative about his election loss. Nor has he publicly cozied up to the mob that fought to defend that lie on January 6. In a tweet that day, Fitzpatrick called it “nothing short of a coup attempt” and criticized Trump for “lying to his supporters with false information and false expectations.” He also spoke out against the riot and backed a resolution condemning Trump’s “reprehensible conduct.” But that hasn’t stopped Fitzpatrick from maintaining a close relationship — personally and financially — with Worthington, a man who helped bus hundreds of people to Washington for a “Million MAGA March” on Jan. 6. New reporting from Rolling Stone reveals how Worthington has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Fitzpatrick and committees that support him. And, less than five months after Fitzpatrick counseled Worthington on his dealings with the FBI, Worthington hosted a fundraiser for the congressman in his home, according to posts on Worhtington’s Facebook page.
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Fitzpatrick’s office did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Pompeo. Worthington immediately hung up when asked for comment, but in a January 15 appearance on a local conservative talk radio show, he detailed his encounter with the FBI and his phone call that day with Fitzpatrick. When Worthington’s girlfriend, Kim Levins, informed him that the law was on their doorstep, he was lucky to have Fitzpatrick — “a friend” and a former special agent — on the line. “Brian, you’re an FBI guy, what should I do?” Worthington says he asked, adding, “They’re at my house.” Levins did not respond to a request for comment. In his radio interview, Worthington claimed she was armed when answering the door because of backlash he claimed they received for the January 6 bus trips. “They knocked on the door,” Worthington said of the FBI. “She’s smart. She said, ‘Hold on.’ She ran upstairs, got her … weapon, and came down to the door, said, ‘Show me your badge.’”
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According to Worthington, Fitzpatrick encouraged him to get a lawyer as he faced the bureau’s questions about four buses that his group organized to ferry about 200 people from Bucks County, Pennsylvania to attend protests in Washington D.C. on January 6. “He said, ‘Well, you should probably get an attorney, just not because you need one, but that’s probably the right thing to do,” Worthington said of Fitzpatrick. “So, I called my attorney.” After getting Fitzpatrick’s advice, Worthington said he arranged an interview that day where the FBI spoke to him for nearly two hours. According to Worthington, they asked about his “whereabouts” on January 6. Worthington, who took a separate car to Washington, attended the speech on the national mall on January 6 where Trump urged the crowd to “fight like hell” just before many of his supporters stormed the Capitol building. That riot led to over 100 police officers injured and more than 600 arrests.
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People4Trump’s advertisement for the trip, which has since been deleted, indicated it would include more than just attending Trump’s speech. That ad declared, “March will start at the National Mall and proceed to the Capitol for the Electoral Votes.” There’s no public report of anyone taking the People4Trump buses to the rally and later storming the Capitol.
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Worthington’s association with the January 6 rally was well-known and made headlines before Fitzpatrick and Pompeo joined him at his home in June. His Newtown Athletic Club has made him a high profile and controversial figure in the Philadelphia suburbs. Worthington has also increasingly promoted himself as a pundit and activist. He regularly gives interviews on politics. People4Trump, the committee he led, promoted Worthington’s appearances and also staged events including a pro-Trump re-enactment of George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River that took place two days before the election in November of last year. The local news outlet Levittown Now reported on Worthington’s radio interview about interacting with the FBI.
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On Facebook, Worthington’s page is filled with photos indicating he attended several Trump campaign rallies, personally met the former president multiple times, and visited the White House for events during Trump’s tenure. On June 9, Worthington also made a post showing Pompeo attending the fundraiser for Fizpatrick in his home that evening. According to local journalist Tom Scofield, who was first to report the fundraiser, the event at Worthington’s house was one of two Fitzpatrick fundraisers Pompeo participated in. Worthington alluded to Pompeo’s potential presidential aspirations in his post, which contained several typos. “Incredible night hosting the 70th Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at our home … in support of Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick,” Worthington wrote. “Hands down President Trumps choice to endorse for President if he decides not to run. Count me in the same camp.”
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Fitzpatrick, the beneficiary of Worthington’s fundraiser, has been a top target of Democrats thanks to his deeply purple district. And even though the district backed Joe Biden last year, it’s a hotbed of fervent Trump support. Bucks County, is home to six different people who were arrested in conjunction with January 6. According to data collected by George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, as of Sunday, only three other counties in the nation had more residents face charges stemming from the attack. With his seat in the crosshairs, the congressman has tried to have it both ways when it comes to the January 6 attack. Despite his early condemnations, he voted against impeaching Trump in the aftermath of January 6. Fitzpatrick also voted against establishing a bipartisan committee to investigate the attack.
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In the radio interview where he discussed speaking with the FBI, Worthington noted he has some disagreements with Fitzpatrick while also underscoring their close friendship. “People know my relationship with Fitzpatrick, the congressman. This is where, you know, people can agree to have different thoughts, but we’re all Americans,” Worthington said. Worthington described Fitzpatrick as “a friend” and said the congressman called him the day he was visited by the FBI to get “input” on a vote. The pair have worked together multiple times. In 2018, Worthington traveled to Washington to support healthcare legislation backed by Fitzpatrick. Last year, Fitzpatrick’s office put out a statement that said Worthington helped the congressman “draft” a bill to create a $30 billion fund to provide grants for health and fitness facilities affected by the pandemic. Fitzpatrick has co-sponsored a version of that legislation that is currently working its way through Congress. In a Facebook post written in July, Worthington indicated the bill could provide “support” to his Newtown Athletic Club.
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Fitzpatrick has also benefited from his ties to Worthington. In a 2017 interview, Worthington claimed he repeatedly defended the relatively moderate congressmen when he angered pro-Trump conservatives in the district. And Worthington has given tens of thousands of dollars to support Fitzpatrick. According to campaign finance records, since 2016, Worthington has donated at least $77,900 to committees that back Fitzpatrick and Republican organizations in his district. A pair of top executives at Worthington’s gym, Linda Mitchell and Eve Krieger, also gave $18,000 during that time to committees that support Fitzpatrick. Levins, Worthington’s girlfriend, gave committees that support Fitzpatrick $12,700 in the same period.
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Records show that Worthington gave $20,000 to Fitzpatrick’s campaign, a political action committee that backs the congressman, and one that supports Republicans in his district within days of the fundraiser that featured Pompeo. Matthew Hurni, a friend of Worthington who accompanied him to Washington for the January 6 rally also gave $10,000 to Fitzgerald’s campaign and a committee that supports the congressman at the same time. Hurni and Mitchell did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Krieger passed away last year.
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When Rolling Stone called to ask Worthington about the fundraiser and his January 6 buses, Chris Barron, a conservative communications consultant, quickly called back. Barron immediately brought up the fact Worthington sued the author of the petition that referenced the bus trips. “I handle P.R. for Jim Worthington,” Barron said, adding, “I’ll tell you two things right off the bat, one, if you don’t know there is ongoing litigation that Jim has been pursuing against individuals who have printed things about him that have been defamatory about January 6. … You can understand any questions about January 6 are going to raise concerns immediately off the bat.”
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Barron asked Rolling Stone for a written list of “specific questions for Jim.” We sent Worthington a list including queries about whether he stood by the version of events he described on the radio show and whether he had any regret about his actions on January 6. Barron ultimately responded with an angry email on Friday morning. It answered none of the questions. “Your questions make it clear that you have a political agenda at work here and aren’t at all interested in getting the facts correct,” Barron wrote. “Finally, our legal team will be reviewing whatever rushed error-riddled hatchet job you intend to publish.”
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