Tim Unes, a longtime Dole aide who runs a Washington-based event planning company called Event Strategies, Inc., had his contract for Bob Dole’s funeral damaged after it became known that the company had been tasked to put on the event at the White House ellipsis on Jan. 6, 2021.
Text messages between a senior official at the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and the former Dole aide in question received by Breitbart News blame McConnell as the person responsible for focusing on him and his business.
FROM CONTROVERSY TO COMPASSION: DANIEL SNYDER'S JAW-DROPPING GIFT LEAVES NATION IN AWE
The CEO of the foundation also walked back comments he made to the New York Times about the aide — false statements that the text messages hint were written under pressure from McConnell’s office.
When the link between Unes and the Jan. 6 demonstration was publicized in press reports, McConnell staffers raised issues with him planning the funeral with the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, challenging whether it would be more fitting for Unes to be involved in event planning for another function happening in the U.S. Capitol.
WATCH: RFK JR. WILL REVERSE 80 YEARS OF FARM POLICY
When Dole died, McConnell’s team kicked into higher gear on this, pressing the Dole Foundation to give a public statement alienating the former Senate leader’s funeral from Unes — despite his planning position for over a decade.
JAMES CARVILLE'S CONTROVERSIAL CRITIQUE: IS WOKE CULTURE KILLING DEMOCRATIC SUPPORT?
The action was made public in the New York Times, risking business opportunities for Unes and his company.
While some parts of this story have emerged in the New York Times and on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program among other outlets, what happened over the course of the many months between the events of Jan. 6 and Dole’s passing and funeral have not yet been fully reported until now.
FROM CONTROVERSY TO COMPASSION: DANIEL SNYDER'S JAW-DROPPING GIFT LEAVES NATION IN AWE
In the Times on December 8, reporters Michael Shear, Luke Broadwater, and Maggie Haberman reported, “Event Planner Working on Bob Dole’s Funeral Is Let Go for Jan. 6 Ties.”
In the story, they wrote that the Elizabeth Dole Foundation “has cut ties with” Unes “after the Senate’s top Republican complained that Mr. Unes had been subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 Select Committee for his work organizing the rally before that day’s attacks.” The piece cited Dole Foundation CEO Steve Schwab on the subject and stressed that McConnell’s aides had “raised the issue” of Unes’s January 6 Committee subpoena with the Dole Foundation in the days following Bob Dole’s passing.