Kimberly Guilfoyle was paid $60,000 from Trump supporters' donations for her 2-minute January 6 speech, committee says

• Kimberly Guilfoyle was paid $60,000 from Trump campaign donations for her speech on January 6, 2021.
• A January 6 committee member said Trump raised money by misleading his supporters.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Trump campaign advisor and Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancée, was paid $60,000 by former President Donald Trump's "official election defense fund" for a brief speech she made at his January 6, 2021, rally, according to the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who serves on the congressional committee, revealed the panel's findings about Guilfoyle's compensation.

"We know that Guilfoyle was paid for the introduction she gave at the speech on January 6. She received compensation for that," Lofgren told CNN on Monday. "$60,000 for two-and-a-half minutes."

After the November 3, 2020 election, the Trump campaign called on supporters to donate to an "official election defense fund" that it claimed would help Trump's team pursue legal challenges to overturn the election results. Financial disclosures showed that Trump raised more than $250 million in the two months after Election Day. Lofgren on Monday said that the committee learned that most of this money went to Trump's newly created PAC, Save America, and other pro-Trump groups and allies, including Guilfoyle.

Trump misled his supporters who made the contributions and his election misinformation encouraged them to storm the Capitol, Lofgren argued.

"People were conned by the former president," Lofgren told CNN. "They were conned into believing that the election had been stolen and that they should go to the Capitol, as the president asked them to."

"These were people who weren't rich people," she added. "They were conned by the president. It was a big lie, and it was also a big ripoff."

Lofgren raised questions about the legality and ethics of Trump fundraising off of false election claims and misrepresenting what the donations were for.

"I'm not saying it's a crime, but I think it's a grift," Lofgren said, adding that the January 6 panel is a legislative committee and does not handle criminal proceedings.

A Trump spokesperson denied the January 6 committee's claims about Guilfoyle's payment.

"No funds from either Save America or the Presidential Committee were used to pay for any activities related to Jan 6th," Liz Harrington told Insider in a statement.

Guilfoyle served as Trump's campaign aide for the 2020 election and appeared at his "Save America" rally at the Ellipse near the White House on January 6, 2021. She took the stage briefly to introduce Donald Trump Jr. to the crowd of Trump supporters.

"Look at all of us out here, God-loving, freedom-loving, liberty-loving patriots that will not let them steal this election," Guilfoyle said in her speech. "President Trump has been the most transformative, impactful president this incredible country has ever seen."

The January 6 panel met with Guilfoyle on April 18 as part of its probe. The committee is revealing its findings in a series of public hearings this month.

This report has been updated with a comment from Trump's spokesperson.