CEO claims he rejected $20M offer to recruit anti-Trump protesters
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The CEO of an advocacy group said his organization turned down an offer that he said would have been worth around $20 million to help recruit for a national rally against President Donald Trump.
“Interests aligned with the organizers of the July 17th movement have approached us and, in fact, we rejected an offer that probably is worth around $20 million dollars,” Adam Swart, the CEO and founder of Crowds on Demand, told NewsNation’s Brian Entin in an interview that aired on Tuesday.
On Thursday, protests around the country are being planned against Trump, spearheaded by Good Trouble Lives On, a group that calls itself a peaceful and nonviolent protest and social change organization. They are planning to oppose Trump and what they call on their website “the most brazen rollback of civil rights in generations.”
The protests planned for Thursday also take place on the fifth anniversary of the death of former Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil rights leader who routinely referred to protests as “good trouble.”
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On Thursday, the group, Good Trouble Lives On, which calls itself a peaceful and nonviolent protest and social change organization, is planning protests around the country to protest Trump and what they call on their website “the most brazen rollback of civil rights in generations.” (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Swart said Crowds on Demand — a company based in California that specializes in providing on-demand crowds for protests — rejected the offer because they didn’t think protests like the ones Good Trouble Lives On is hosting on Thursday would be effective.
“I mean this is a nationwide thing, right? It’s not to say I would have made 20 million dollars personally, but the value of the contract would have been worth around that amount nationwide to organize huge demonstrations around the country,” Swart said.
“But personally, I just don’t think it’s effective,” he added. “So it’s not, I’m not trying to call myself virtuous for rejecting it. What I’m saying is, I’m saying I’m rejecting it, not because I don’t want to take the business, but because, frankly, this is going to be ineffective. It’s going to make us all look bad.”
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The Thursday protests, which are happening with at least 1,500 events across the country, also take place on the fifth anniversary of the death of former U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. (Jeff Hutchens/Getty Images)
“President Trump’s America is so successful that blue-haired basement dwellers are paid to stage fake protests against the administration’s remarkable achievements,” Harrison Fields, special assistant to the President and principal deputy press secretary, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Paid agitators should find real jobs instead of selling out for gift cards and meager paychecks that aim to divide the nation and obstruct America’s greatest comeback. Nothing screams a party in disarray more than one that clearly lacks organic support and is forced to astroturf everything.”
Left-wing riots in Los Angeles resulting in violence, including the burning of the American flag and the assault of law enforcement officers, as well as the “No Kings Day” protests across the country, have recently made headlines.
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Riots in Los Angeles resulting in violence, including the burning of the American flag and the assault of law enforcement officers, recently made headlines. (Getty)
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Fox News Digital reached out to Swart for comment but did not immediately receive a response.