Thread by @capitolhunters

#SeditionHunters have worked for months to understand the order & organization under the seeming chaos of the Capitol attack. New analysis suggests: U.S. democracy hung by a thread for critical minutes. And we owe an immense debt to the men and women who fought to preserve it. 1/

New public resources include detailed timelines of the Jan 6 attack, backed up by hours of synchronized video; and a heartbreaking study of the fight for the “tunnel” door, & one of its heroes, by Emmy-award winning director Consuelo Gonzalez. Watch it. 2/

To understand why the tunnel was so important, pull back & consider patterns on Jan 6. Beneath the chaos are ordered motions, directed by people with bullhorns. The seeming plan: to hit multiple entries at once, flood the building, & block police reinforcements. But it failed. 3/

The plan faltered on the W. Plaza when police resistance bought crucial time - but a series of coordinated attacks broke successive police lines on both E & W sides. By 2:41 PM, invaders were pouring into the Capitol from 4 breaches and walking into the basement-level tunnel. 4/

Imagine had this succeeded: the Capitol mobbed, lawmakers hiding, police unable to reach them from inside (access tunnels blocked) or outside (surrounded by 1000s of ‘protestors’). It took swift coordinated action to position crowds just right - watch. 5/

But MPD commanders had chosen the tunnel to retreat into, and around 2:41 PM the call went out: “They’re not getting into this building”. Exhausted officers had fought on the Plaza for 1.5 hours, but they turned around, and they held the door. 6/

Watch for yourself in two new sync’d videos. The first, from @StevieG54099097, starts minutes after the initial breach of the East doors - then it was go time on the West. A rush broke through on the W Plaza and people surged up to the tunnel entrance. 7/

The second, from Consuelo Gonzalez (Mohair Media) starts 10 minutes after the mob hit the entrance - watch them regroup & organize surges and brutal attacks. By 3:19 PM, police had pushed back, but Officer Fanone was dragged out into the mob. 8/

What you don’t see here is what happened inside the building. While police fought in the tunnel, new reinforcements materialized inside: MPD, SWAT teams, who came up from below unimpeded. By 3:21, Fanone is unconscious, but police are gaining upstairs. 9/

The re-establishment of control is clear in new video released by the DOJ: quietly, and unseen from the outside, law enforcement had moved in and re-taken the Rotunda by 3:27 PM. While battles outside raged for another 1.5 hours, the momentum had turned. (h/t @JordanOnRecord) /10

How did this all play out, and why did people keep fighting afterwards? You can read the full timeline yourself at links below, and watch video - every individual event has a link to supporting video evidence. Here is the timeline in table form... 11/
docs.google.com/document/d/1jx…

And here is the timeline as a detailed source list. The new HBO documentary (released Oct. 20) is called “Days of Rage”. But the timeline implies that not everyone was raging. Someone had been building that rage, and was planning to use it. 12/
docs.google.com/document/d/1yM…

The timeline here is made possible by 9 months of work by volunteers in the #SeditionHunters community, mapping, timing, and synchronizing video. We organized it to help people understand, with links to primary-source evidence, so everyone can watch and judge for themselves. 13/

The @January6thCmte's work and FBI arrests will continue to focus attention on those responsible for the Capitol attack. We will keep working as well. To follow along, here’s a list of resources - you can see what has been done, what is left to do. 14/
docs.google.com/document/d/1zB…

Correction - the HBO documentary is "Four Hours at the Capitol". It's the NYT visual piece that is "Day of Rage". HBO includes extensive interviews with J6 figures; brace for a "Who Shot Ashli Babbitt" T-shirt. 15/
nytimes.com/video/us/polit…