ABOVE: Gregory Angelo, Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key.
President Trump, defiant in remarks to reporters after his role in instigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol, spoke Jan. 12 to the media on the White House South Lawn before a crowd of supporters — and the CSPAN camera captured among his supporters a familiar face in the LGBTQ movement.
Gregory Angelo, who served as head of Log Cabin Republicans from 2013 to 2018, can be seen cheering on Trump less than a week after the president’s remarks at the “Stop the Steal” rally, where he made baseless charges about election fraud and instigated the assault on the U.S. Capitol leading to the deaths of at least five individuals.
House Democrats are moving forward with impeachment charges; Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) announced Jan. 12 she will vote to impeach.
Angelo, applauding as Trump exited the South Portico, can be heard emphatically addressing him as “president.” The camera pans away as Trump delivers a wave to the crowd, then returns to show Angelo as he proclaims, “Thank you, President Trump.”
A smiling Angelo, still in the background, looks upon Trump, then appears to snap photos with an iPhone as Trump warns of a surge in illegal immigration. Angelo watches with his hands clasped as Trump is fiery about the prospects of being the only president in history to be impeached twice.
“It’s really a continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics,” Trump said, “It’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely ridiculous. This impeachment is causing tremendous anger, and you’re doing it, and it’s really a terrible thing that they’re doing.”
In June 2020, Angelo landed a job as spokesperson for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. It’s unclear whether White House staffers have any obligation to appear at departures or are expected to cheer on Trump as part of their job. The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Although Log Cabin declined to endorse Trump in 2016 when Angelo was president of the organization, after Trump’s election Angelo engaged with Trump officials, holding meetings with the transition team and the Department of Education on transgender issues. (Log Cabin after Angelo’s departure endorsed Trump in his 2020 bid for re-election.)
After he left Log Cabin, Angelo became a stalwart defender of Trump on Twitter, disputing the notion Trump was anti-LGBTQ by pointing to openly gay appointments like Richard Grenell and the Trump administration’s plan to beat HIV/AIDS by 2030.
Angelo also took to Capitol Hill to lobby against passage of the Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Right Acts of 1964 to explicitly define anti-LGBTQ discrimination as a form of sex discrimination under the law.
