An event planner who has done extensive work for Gov. Glenn Youngkin helped organize the Jan. 6, 2021, rally that ended with a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.
There’s no indication Hannah Salem Stone, a consultant who previously worked for former President Donald Trump, participated in the violence that followed the rally. Her name appeared on permit paperwork for the event, which described Stone as an “operations manager for logistics and communications,” according to a subpoena issued by the U.S. House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack.
She held several roles in the Trump administration during a three-year period that ended in February 2020.
Stone went on to help plan Youngkin’s January 2022 inauguration, according to screenshots of social media posts — captured by the Substack newsletter South Arkansas Reckoning — as well as Virginia campaign finance records. She continued to provide consulting and supplies for events throughout Youngkin’s term.
In all, her company, Salem Strategies, has received more than $785,000 from the governor’s inaugural committee and Spirit of Virginia PAC. Stone also accompanied Youngkin on what were publicly billed as official trips to France and the U.S.-Mexico border, according to Stone’s social media posts and photographs taken by the governor’s staff. (Stone’s Facebook page is currently set to private.)
Role in Jan. 6 rally
Although Stone was publicly subpoenaed by the Select Committee, there is no public transcript of an interview with its members. A person familiar with the committee’s work, who asked to remain anonymous because of the terms of their interview with Stone, described her as a cooperative witness.
Former U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria, of Virginia Beach, served on the Select Committee but didn’t remember interviewing Stone. The Democrat said in an interview that the committee focused on interviewing people who were thought to have relationships with those involved in the Jan. 6 rally and subsequent attack, “like concentric circles going outward.”
'Using no taxpayer dollars, Governor Youngkin’s political organization has hired Salem Strategies on a case by case basis as needed for advance and logistics preparation.'
The committee obtained communications involving Stone, including emails from her with a draft list of potential speakers. In one text message, Katrina Pierson, a former Trump campaign official, asked Stone about comments from Ali Alexander. Alexander, one of the main organizers of the rally, had tweeted a call for “vengeance” on a Washington hotel that closed during the rally, and Alexander flagged the post to show Stone.
"Hannah -- do we have anyone tracking these comments to make sure Jan. 6 surrogates aren't blindsided?" Pierson asked. It’s not clear how Stone responded.
Youngkin’s spokesperson, Macaulay Porter, did not respond to questions about whether the Republican was aware of Stone’s work for the rally. She also did not address questions about why Stone accompanied the governor on official trips to France — to court businesses at the Paris Air Show — and Texas — to visit Virginia National Guard soldiers Youngkin sent to the border.
"Using no taxpayer dollars, Governor Youngkin’s political organization has hired Salem Strategies on a case by case basis as needed for advance and logistics preparation," Porter wrote in an email.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership organized Youngkin’s trip to the Paris Air Show. VEDP spokesperson Suzanne Clarke said no department funds during the trip were spent on Stone’s services. Clarke referred all other questions to the governor’s office.
Stone did not respond to most questions sent by VPM News. In a statement, she said her company “has managed over 500 executive events and specializes in building out sets and structures for on-camera events."
Election denialism
At least three GOP candidates on the ballot this fall publicly stated they attended the rally, including Senate candidate and current delegate John McGuire (R-Goochland), Senate candidate Philip Andrew Hamilton, as well as House of Delegates candidate Jim Wright. McGuire has received campaign contributions from the Spirit of Virginia and campaigned with Youngkin. The other two candidates are running in heavily Democratic districts.
A handful of other Virginia GOP hopefuls publicly questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to videos and social media posts compiled by The American Independent, a left-leaning news site.
Youngkin also campaigned for prominent election deniers, including Kari Lake in Arizona, during last year’s midterm elections.
“As a voter in Virginia, I don't think [Youngkin] has condemned what happened on January 6 strongly enough,” Luria said.
Youngkin told CBS’ Bob Costas last year that the attack was a “blight on our democracy” but said it wasn’t an issue that came up in conversation with Virginians.
‘Podiumgate’
Stone’s work history has become a source of political intrigue in Arkansas, where Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is under fire for the use of state funds to purchase a $19,000 lectern in what Sanders’ staff has described as an accounting error. Funds used to buy the lectern were later reimbursed by the Republican Party of Arkansas after a local blogger reported the purchase.
Sanders bought the lectern from the Beckett Events LLC, run by Virginia Beckett. Stone and Beckett said in a 2021 podcast they’d teamed up in coordinating some events, including COVID-19 vaccination clinics. Other Arkansas-focused websites have published photographs showing the pair alongside Sanders at her inauguration, as well as her response to the State of the Union.
The lectern purchase — dubbed “podiumgate” on social media — has sparked a whistleblower lawsuit and an investigation by Arkansas’ legislature.
There’s no indication in Virginia’s procurement database that Beckett or Stone have been paid in Virginia using state funds.
