By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


Pictures have now surfaced of a candidate for a local city council seat indicating she was present in Washington D.C. on January 6th when the Capitol building was stormed by hundreds of Donald Trump supporters.

Lee Ann Blazejewski is running for a seat on the Howell City Council and is one of six candidates who passed through the August 3rd primary. After a July 15th Tweet by Blazejewski drew attention in which she said she was in the nation's capital on January 6th in which, “the hundreds of thousands…of attendees were praying, singing, hugging and chanting…NOT storming the capitol.” She then ended with the hashtag #IWasThere.

Now pictures have emerged showing Blazejewski in front of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6th. Screenshots of a text conversation titled “BUS to DC on Jan 6th” show Blazejewski exclaiming “OMG! My ride to DC was diagnosed with covid. Does anyone know of any busses at this late time?” The screenshots indicates that was sent on a Monday at 10:40pm, presumably referring to Monday, January 4th, two days prior to the Capitol riot. A woman named Danna then responds with a name and phone number for a “MUSKEGON BUS” and that “**Seats are available**” Another screenshot shows a follow-up conversation with Danna in which Blazejewski says that bus was also filled, but she was able to secure two seats on another bus.

The pictures have made their way across Facebook and Twitter, where an account known as Michigan Tea, which has worked to publicly identify Michigan participants in the riot, published them with the caption “Here is another insurrectionist running for public office in Howell Michigan.”