#SeditionHunters - more sync'd Jan 6 video, 29 crucial minutes when police retook the Capitol building. Watch DC police, with FBI SWAT backup, flood into the Rotunda & push invaders out. Featuring Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, many hashtagged perps... 1/
All is calm at first, with Proud Boys (L) and Oathkeepers (R) casually standing around. #Rufio's group is still looking pretty composed around 3:02 PM... 2/
But police have been gathering: by 3 PM, FBI SWAT are waiting at one door while a group of MPD are pushing rioters through another. (That's Stephen Horn up there filming.) Watch at 1:23-1:24 in video as police practically throw #StringyPlaid & #UncagedBird into the Rotunda. 3/
The Proud Boys consult together at 3:03 PM & seem to plan a prudent exit without confronting police, while Oregon extremist David Medina (#FadedOrc) can't resist an aggressive confrontation. 4/
By 3:05 PM Riley June Williams (#GreenShirtStairmaster) is adding to her federal charges by fighting with officers (L). As the police push the crowd back you get great shots of many perps. Newly-arrested Glen Simon (#PurplePantherPunk) is in the purple gaiter at R. 5/
Active-duty Marine Major Chris Warnagiris (#YellowZipSkulker) doesn't seem to have a strategic plan, mostly stands around looking confused. L image is around 3:02, R around 3:05 PM. 6/
Meanwhile Ethan Nordean (#Rufio) and his crew discreetly exit around 3:09 PM, avoiding the mayhem to come. Here's an outside shot of Nordean and Paul Rae (#1776HatPB) headed north around 3:18 PM. (By 3:37 PM they've joined back up with #JoeBiggs and take a group photo.) 7/
Just as Nordean strolls away, the mob makes a new push through the E. main doors (the Columbus Doors) and breaks through again at 3:18 PM. That's Olympian Klete Keller at R in his USA Swimming jacket, watching the mob swarm in. 8/
Robert Gieswein (#WildDog) had returned to the Rotunda at 3:16 PM (L), maybe unwisely - he's just in time to get crushed when police regroup and retake the space (3:21 PM, R). 9/
The police pushback is caught on new surveillance footage: here's Vets for Trump's #IamAntonioLamotta INSIDE, seeming to negotiate with Capitol police. (If only the CP had bodycam!) LaMotta's out on bail for weapons charges from Nov., might not be out much longer though... 10/
...because by 3:27:40 PM #IamAntonioLamotta is seen actively fighting with police as he tries to squeeze out the Columbus Doors. Believe most judges would find that assault on a federal officer is not consistent with bail terms. 11/
For journalists who need a handy reference guide to our new FBI Director, Kash Patel, the Jan 6 "Big Timeline" has 35 entries on him, from his early days attacking the FBI for investigating Trump's Russia ties to his 2024 book calling the FBI "gangsters" and promising a purge. 1/
The "1950-2019" historical tab has 5 entries, starting with Kash's attempts to subpoena the FBI and DOJ for investigating Trump's Russia ties. This is pushback even before Robert Mueller was appointed as Special Counsel. Just ctrl-F search on "Patel". 2/ docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
The "2020-Jan 6" tab has 6 entries. (More on that later). Kash was installed as part of Trump's maneuvers AFTER he lost the election. Chris Miller was made Acting SecDef and Kash his Chief of Staff. Kash delivered the order to withdraw from Afghanistan. 3/ docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
As Trump's folks repeat Elon Musk's bs that tens of millions of dead people are getting Social Security, here's the 2023 inspector general report on the SSA's death records - with facts. Yes, there are over 6M dead people in the database, but they are NOT PAID. Link follows. 1/
The false claim matters for two reasons. First, Elon & Trump may use these lies to justify cutting Social Security. Second, they may take credit for work already under way - 'we found dead people.' It's not a discovery! It's routine government stuff. 2/ oig.ssa.gov/assets/uploads…
The report is only 19 pages and Elon seems to have read none of them. This kind of reporting is why the US has an inspector general for all agencies - to look at data, to find mistakes or even fraud. Trump just fired 15 of those inspectors general. 3/
As US envoy Keith Kellogg tries to sideline Europe from talks over Ukraine, please remember: Kellogg has served Trump for years. Kellogg was on the 2019 phone call to extort Zelensky, then testified at Trump's impeachment: "I heard nothing wrong or improper on the call..." 1/
On Jan 6, Kellogg, who was Mike Pence's security advisor, spent the day with Trump instead. Here he is in the Oval Office with Trump. That's when Trump threatened Pence, then rewrote his speech to "re-insert the Pence lines". Kellogg stuck with Trump. 2/
Kellogg first came to public notice in 2016 when then-candidate Trump appointed a council of 5 national security advisors, names so obscure that the NYT called them "confound[ing]". 2 then got more famous in the Mueller report for their ties to Russia. 3/ web.archive.org/web/2016032302…
Today's news is grim: the two factions taking over our government are united on the one issue we had hoped they might split over. Turns out the techbro neo-fascists and the religious-right Project 2025 guys agree: US education should be gutted, privatized, and made religious. 1/
Here's the article laying it out: Elon Musk and Ted Cruz both urge the TX legislature to pass school vouchers that would push public funds to private religious schools. Musk of course is Peter Thiel's former partner, Cruz his first political protege. 2/ fox7austin.com/news/elon-musk…
Musk's announcement is the more surprising. In my taxonomy of the forces behind Jan 6, Ted Cruz is actually a crossover between the two wings: he's a protege of tech overlord Thiel but also deep in the far religious right, who backed him over Trump for president in 2016. 3/
As Elon Musk gives the Nazi salute in DC, let me just say that it was very clear, 4 years ago, at least to me, that Jan 6 was a precursor, and that this would be the result if we did not investigate it thoroughly - not the footsoldiers but the ones who gave orders that day. 1/
Some people say Jan 6 was more like the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch than the 1933 Reichstag fire, but either way, the analogy holds. The attack was planned; the Proud Boys were sub-contractors; there were people on the ground directing. And we missed it. 2/
Jan 6 is still relevant. Because there was so much effort to erase it, one key task is preserving its memory and its evidence. More broadly, resisting in a way that Germany did not in the 1930s. We need to read our history and listen to historians. 3/ lucid.substack.com/p/its-day-one-…
To all who will read the Jack Smith report on Tuesday - be warned that it's even worse than expected on the physical attack. It's just wrong. Like this: the attack did not start with 1000s of people marching from the Ellipse. It started with a few hundred, led by Proud Boys. 1/
What you won't find here: the 200+ Proud Boys who marched around the Capitol, kicked off the attack, and helped in nearly every breach. The gang who were convicted of seditious conspiracy. In this report, they don't exist. 2/ documentcloud.org/documents/2548…
You also won't find: the money used to pay militia to attend. "It's all paid for", people whispered. Who paid? You won't learn that. You also don't see: the online campaign before the attack. This early flier said noon - soon they switched to 1 PM. 3/