From left: Elizabeth and Bob Dole in May 2019.Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP/Shutterstock
Tim Unes was a volunteer on a team organizing events to honor Dole, including a ceremony on Thursday as thelate senator lies in stateat the U.S. Capitol and a funeral on Friday at Washington National Cathedral.
In a Sept. 29letter to Unesnotifying him of the subpoena, the House select committee investigating events on Jan. 6 referred to him as the “stage manager” of a rally in support of former PresidentDonald Trumpand his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, which took place before the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The foundation of Dole’s widow, former North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole, cut ties with Unes,The New York Times reports, because of the committee’s interest in his alleged involvement.
“This evening, I made Senator Elizabeth Dole aware of Mr. Unes’s alleged involvement in the events of Jan. 6, 2021,” Steve Schwab, the chief executive of theElizabeth Dole Foundation, told theTimes. “Senator Dole was previously unaware of his participation and terminated his volunteer role.”
Aides of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly raised concerns with the Dole family over Unes' participation in planning events for the Kansas senator. Other high-ranking Republicans worried that Unes’s involvement would be a distraction as the country remembers Dole and celebrates his political accomplishments and legacy of patriotism and service.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosiand Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumerannounced Mondaythat Dole would lie in state at the Capitol on Thursday. “Senator Dole was an extraordinary patriot, who devoted his entire life to serving our nation with dignity and integrity,” Pelosi said in a statement.
Unes is the founder of Event Strategies, Inc., which “provides cutting-edge event management and production services for clients and events of all types and sizes both in the United States and around the world — from press conferences to corporate conventions, from star-studded product launches to presidential campaigns,“according to the company’s website.
His company bio states that Unes “produced Donald Trump’s campaign announcement tour and helped the campaign establish its operations division and standards” in 2015 and the following year he “officially joined the Trump campaign as its Deputy Director of Advance.”
Unes was also tour director for Sen. Dole’s presidential campaign in 1996, theTimesreports.
source: people.com
