Thread by @DavidNeiwert

This is terrific work, a video that everyone should watch.

Let's also talk a bit about Ethan Nordean.

https://twitter.com/shelbyholliday/status/1354117395741356032

Nordean appears prominently in this video. You can see him early on coordinating the assault on the Capitol with Biggs, and advising others not to announce their plans out loud.

You can also see Nordean leading the charge that led to the breach of the Capitol. However, whether he made it inside himself is not clear. Biggs did, which is why he is currently under arrest.

Nordean is a key figure in the Proud Boys. A resident of the suburban Seattle city of Auburn, he appears to make a living selling vitamin supplements. He was also disavowed by his father, a Burien tavern owner, for his participation in the Proud Boys.
waterlandblog.com/2020/06/23/own…

Mostly, he has been a fixture at Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer events in Portland and Seattle. He's particularly noteworthy for the extraordinary levels of thuggish violence he brings to these events.

He's frequently been in the company of white nationalists, such as Jake Van Ott of Identity Evropa.

Nordean became a celebrity in national far-right circles for his actions at the June 30, 2018, Patriot Prayer/Proud Boys march in Portland. At one point, as you can see at right, he suffered a mace shot and was treated for it, but still kept leading the marchers.

The moment that made him infamous, however, had come a little before, when he decked an antifascist and appeared to knock him out cold. The moment was caught on video, which then went wildly viral. Gavin McInnes replayed it on a loop for his audience.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018…

McInnes: “I honestly think that that knockout is a pivot in the movement, it marks the beginning of the end of antifa, and the beginning of being safe and proud to be Trump.”
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018…

That particular riot was one of the most violent of the 18 or so that I have covered since 2017. Here's my report on it for the SPLC.
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018…

This video was taken from roughly the same zone at around the same time as Nordean's famous punch.

Nordean was arrested by Portland Police that day and then released a short while later with no charges.

We know that Ethan Nordean is a public menace, both as a major Proud Boys figure and leader in their brute assault tactics, and as someone who played a major role in the assault on the Capitol.

What we do not know is why he is not currently under arrest for the latter.