Thread by @nytimes

For some, Jan. 6 was just a rally for their president. For others, it was more.

The New York Times spent months collecting and analyzing footage from the Capitol riot. We scoured radio communications. We interviewed witnesses. Here’s what we found. nyti.ms/2Uci7Zw

Our investigation revealed at least eight locations where rioters breached the Capitol, more than previously identified.

In some, police battled rioters before being forcibly overwhelmed. In others, officers stepped aside.

We synchronized and mapped out thousands of videos to identify how a domino effect took hold of the mob that day. We tracked rioters from one side of the building around to the other, in an incident that left the Capitol completely surrounded.

We identified a delay to secure Congress that may have cost a life.

Lawmakers in the House resumed their work before escaping — meaning they were visible to the mob when it reached a hallway near the chamber. Trying to reach them, rioter Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed.

A common thread throughout our investigation was how rioters echoed Donald Trump’s rhetoric throughout the day. His tweets made Mike Pence a target of the mob, and his call to march on the Capitol was viewed by many as an act of sending reinforcements.

We found that the mob was mostly composed of unorganized rioters acting individually. But several times, a move by an organized actor — for example, a Proud Boy identifying a weakness in the police line near the building’s scaffolding — set off a mob surge.

We charted how instigators set off a wave of violence that engulfed the building, and how failures by police leaders put rank-and-file officers in danger, allowing a frenzy to take hold.

For more, watch the full investigation here: nyti.ms/3dx9eR4

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