By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
During the fall gathering of the Republican Attorney General’s Association held in Charleston, South Carolina in November of 2022, attendees had the opportunity to play golf, go to a spa, take a dolphin watching boat tour, or enjoy time on a shooting range.
One of those attendees was New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, who had assumed his position as the Granite State’s top law enforcement officer in April of 2021. Formella’s $3,500 trip to the South Carolina resort was paid for by an organization connected to the planning of the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot and attempted coup, the Rule of Law Defense Fund.
Since President Donald Trump stoked the riots to overturn the 2020 Presidential election results, Formella has accepted $24,100 in reimbursements for eight trips from the Rule of Law Defense Fund. All of Formella’s RLDF-funded trips paid for him to attend Republican Attorney General’s Association meetings.
That includes his trip in June to the summer meeting of the Republican Attorney General’s Association held at the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach resort in Dana Point, California. There, attendees were offered rounds of golf, whale watching tours, wine tasting, and pool hospitality. Formella was reimbursed $3,000 for the June trip to Dana Point by the RLDF. He’s typically reimbursed between $3,000 and $3,500 per trip funded by the RLDF.
But Formella wasn’t alone in taking RLDF cash for RAGA trips. InDepthNH.org reviewed publicly available expense reimbursement reports filed with the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s Office showing Formella, Department of Justice Communications Director Michael Garrity, and Senior Assistant Attorney General Christopher Bond all went to meetings and conferences on the RLDF dime.
The public reports include documents from 2026, 2025, and 2024. InDepthNH.org obtained reports for 2023, 2022, and 2021 via a Right-to-Know request through the Secretary of State’s Office.
Garrity was reimbursed $17,100 for eight trips since the start of 2023. Bond received $29,950 for 14 RAGA trips reimbursed by RLDF. One of Bond’s RLDF-funded trips, an October, 2025 excursion to the Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina, is listed as an RLDF staff meeting. Bond was reimbursed $1,500 for making it to that meeting.
Garrity said Tuesday that Bond was not and is not a staffer for RLDF.
“While RLDF is affiliated with RAGA, no member of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office is a staff member of RLDF. RLDF does sometimes host meetings of senior staff from AG offices,” Garrity said in his email responding to InDepthNH.org’s questions.
RLDF staffing questions aside, that still means Formella and his top two aides have been getting more than $71,000 in free resort stays from a group that was part of an attempted coup, according to multiple reports.
According to the Associated Press, the executive director of both RLDF and RAGA organized more than 20 “War Game” meetings with Republican attorneys general and their staffers starting in the fall of 2020, before the elections.
According to the Associated Press, a Sept. 24, 2020, email from RAGA and RLDF Executive Director Adam Piper addressed to “Generals,” called the first meeting, a two-day Atlanta, Georgia event, “WAR GAMES” described as a “series of conversations planning for what could come if we lose the White House.”
“It was a fast paced, productive series of war games, which hopefully will not have to be utilized in November,” Piper said in an email sent the next day, addressed to “Generals,” and obtained by the AP.
The 501 (c)4 RLDF serves as the public policy arm for RAGA. The partisan RAGA works to elect Republicans to Attorneys General positions. The two groups share staff and the majority of RLDF board members are Republican attorneys general.
Multiple police officers died and more than 100 were injured during the riots, which started at the Trump “March to Save America” rally in Washington D.C. during which Trump falsely claimed that the election was stolen.
The mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building in an attempt to stop Congress from legally certifying Biden’s election. When former Vice President Mike Pence refused to take part in the election fraud, mob members began chanting “Hang Mike Pence.”
Piper resigned when it was revealed RLDF deployed a recorded message through robocalls to Trump supporters encouraging them to attend the Jan. 6 rally and to stop Biden’s election.
“We will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal,” the message said in part. “We are hoping patriots like you will join us to continue to fight to protect the integrity of our elections,” according to documented.org, which obtained a copy of the audio.
According to March to Save America’s cached website, RLDF is also listed as a rally sponsor and participant, along with conservative activist groups like Turning Point Action and Phyllis Schlafly Eagles. RAGA member and current RLDF board member, the scandal plagued Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, spoke at the rally, vowing to fight President Joe Biden’s election.
“[W]e will not quit fighting,” Paxton said at the rally.
Days after the riot, RAGA issued a statement distancing itself from the coup.
“Republican Attorneys General Association and Rule of Law Defense Fund had no involvement in the planning, sponsoring, or the organization of [the Jan. 6] event,” the statement read.
When asked why Formella would accept money from an organization tied to the Jan. 6 riot, Garrity said the RAGA events are like any other conference Formella or his staff attends.
“Attorney General Formella and his staff participate in multiple national Attorney General forums and organizations, including the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), and the Attorney General Alliance (AGA). Some are bipartisan, some are Republican, but all provide opportunities for New Hampshire to work with other states and have a voice in national discussions,” Garrity wrote.
Even attending free RAGA meetings at golf resorts are for the benefit of Granite Staters, Garrity said.
“Maintaining strong relationships with other Attorneys General and their staff is critical to this work, and in person networking is the best way to foster those relationships. The benefit to New Hampshire is straightforward: these relationships help the Attorney General and his team share New Hampshire’s perspective, learn from other states, and work together on problems that no state can effectively tackle alone,” Garrity said.
It’s not all golf, wine tastings, and whale watching, according to Garrity. The free RAGA trips help “Attorneys general work together on issues that affect people in every state, including but not limited to the opioid epidemic, Big Tech regulation and enforcement, illegal robocalls, environmental protection, and consumer fraud.”
Taking trip money from RAGA’s policy organization, RLDF, to go to RAGA events simply means Formella is saving New Hampshire money, Garrity said.
“No New Hampshire taxpayer dollars were used for these expenses, and the expenses are publicly disclosed,” Garrity said.
As for Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, the big lie part of the attempted coup, Garrity said Formella is not a member of that particular cult.
“Attorney General Formella does not condone the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol or actions associated with it, nor does he endorse actions attributed to RLDF related to the Jan. 6 attack. Those events predate his tenure, which began on April 22, 2021. Attorney General Formella believes former President Biden won the 2020 presidential election, just as he believes President Trump won the 2016 and 2024 elections,” Garrity said.
Even without the Jan. 6 connection, it is still odd that Formella is associated with RAGA, an organization that helps Republicans get elected to attorneys general posts. New Hampshire does not elect attorneys general like Formella, they are nominated by the sitting governor and approved by the Executive Council. Formella was picked for the job by his friend and former client, Republican Gov. Chis Sununu.