2/ Rachel Powell acknowledged her conduct to @RonanFarrow.
Her path to the #Capitol was troubling, and something that all of us that examined saw as an increasingly-familiar story. In her case, views & exposure to misinformation on COVID & masking seemed to play a key role.
3/ Rachel Powell (#Bullhornlady) attracted *so* much interest because she calmly delivered directions through a window, leading many to conclude that she must be an insider.
However, many of us began to suspect that her knowledge wasn't really very deep...
4/ Join me in acknowledging the amazing sleuthing of @Forrest_Rogers & the @1600PennPooch volunteer team that first made the ID
Once I'd arrived at a high confidence identity I reached out and..after mutual verification we had the same ID, we began to work with @RonanFarrow
4/ I commend the @1600PennPooch volunteers & @Forrest_Rogers for modeling good investigative behavior despite tremendous public interest.
We all felt strongly that cases like this should not be made public until serious journalistic investigation w/an admission, or an arrest.
5/ We had a common breakthrough: finding footage of Powell at local, events throughout 2020, which included some mentions of enough biographical data to begin an inexorable narrowing down on a specific name and geographic area.
8/ Typo alert: 1st tweet calls @Forrest_Rogers Forrest "Greene," Should be Forrest *Rogers* (a now-corrected typo carried over from the original magazine piece).
He is a careful, talented investigator and leads the @1600PennPooch team. I urge you to follow both accounts.
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BREAKING: @TheJusticeDept just indicted two members of the Proud Boys, Dominic Pezzola (#spazzo) & William Pepe for conspiracy & other charges related to #Capitol siege.
2/ Charges include those stemming from the Proud Boys efforts to breach the layers of defense around the #Capitol, and make specific mention of the ripping away of a riot shield...which Pezzola (aka #spazzo) was shown using to breach a window. 👇👇
2/ Beginning at the Rally, the @nytimes team identified a group of Oath Keepers moving together. Many of us have been tracking this group..
It includes both alleged named conspirators and others that participated in the raid.
3/ Some members of the group, already doing their hand-on-shoulder routine begin leaving the Rally crowd as a group, 20 minutes before Trump finishes speaking. Spotted in @FoxNews footage by @nytimes
2/ The investigation walks through the footage (props to @WSJ, there's so much!) starting with Proud Boys staging under the direction of leaders including (now-arrested) Joe Biggs outside the #Capitol
3/ In the staging area, a Proud Boy identified as Dan Scott aka 'Milkshake' yells "lets take the f***ng capitol"
-Milkshake is admonished by another PB.
-Someone makes fun of 'Milkshake' for the indiscretion(?). Some laughter.
-"Don't yell it, do it" says another, quietly.
"...what I’m talking about is setting up a sleeper cell, just like our Founding Fathers did "
I found a website apparently by former CIA Officer Jason Hanson encouraging 'patriots' to create sleeper cells & promoting a "step-by-step blueprint" book.
Join me on a wild THREAD 1/
2/ I came across Jason Hanson while looking a right wing content @YouTube. He was promoting "Sleeper Cell Secrets By Spies And Our Founding Fathers." Ultimately, YouTube served me multiple advertisements. I found the title jarring, so I began digging...
3/ Turns out Jason has not avoided the limelight. He's been on popular shows like @ABCSharkTank. He's got plenty of books on @amazon...But "Sleeper Cell Secrets..." is notably not on there.