Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from the DC federal courthouse, for Day 4 of the first Jan. 6 trial.

On yesterday's introduction to the govt's case and testimony from a USCP officer on the front lines: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

No dog today, sadly, but a glimpse of the giant blue rooster at the @ngadc:

Before the jury is brought in, the judge notifies the lawyers that a few jurors alerted court staff that they can't see defendant Guy Reffitt from where they're sitting. Judge says she's not clear on case law re: whether jurors can take into account defendant demeanor, so TBD

Recall the jurors are spaced out across the courtroom gallery, as opposed to sitting in the usual jury box, because of covid protocols. Friedrich says there's not much she can do to move them around given that

Friedrich asks if the govt will rest tomorrow, Nestler says no, expect to rest by end of day Monday, things moved slower yesterday than expected. Friedrich says she hopes they're not going to be repetitive w/ USCP witnesses, Nestler says no, also notes the tech-related delays

The jury is brought in, judge notes that they should have plexiglass up in front of where the witnesses are seated, it's up now, asks jurors to alert if they have trouble seeing a witness b/c of that.

Witness #2, USCP Inspector Monique Moore, is back on

AUSA Jeffrey Nestler picks up where they left off yesterday afternoon, he's showing a compilation of videos that track the breach of the Capitol in various locations in chronological order, so it's jumping around to different areas and angles, Moore is narrating

During opening yesterday, AUSA Nestler didn't spent much time talking about the scope of the riot and the violence in/around the Capitol — the jury is getting a lot of that now, from the initial breach via smashed windows, attacks on police, rioters moving through bldg

In the vein of yesterday's "pain compliance" to describe the amount of hurt a crowd control weapon would need to cause to stop someone from doing what they're doing, another term we've heard from Moore a few times is "unwanted" visitor/individual to describe rioters

Nestler shows a video that Moore says depicts then-VP Pence's waiting motorcade relocating at around 1:59pm as the crowd was gathering on the east side where they were stationed, indicating they believed there was a security threat

Nestler finished direct Qs, Reffitt's lawyer William Welch is up to cross ex, asks a series of questions about how the security cameras work (some can be zoomed, some can't, Moore says), how recordings are stored (usually overwritten after 30 days, but can be saved if needed)

Welch basically has Moore confirm a stipulation in the record that the Capitol surveillance videos the govt showed are accurate/unedited and that the timestamps are correct. Moore is done, up next is Witness #3, FBI Special Agent Stacy Shahrani

Shahrani is with the FBI's Computer Analysis Response Team (CART), and we expect her to testify about the extraction of content from devices seized during a search of Reffitt's home - texts/Telegram messages on iPhone (IDd as Reffit's), camera, laptop, external hard drive

Reffitt's phone had the Life 360 app (Shahrani explains it's used to track a phone's/person's whereabouts) and the Telegram app (she explains difference between messages sent via Telegram, which only transmit btwn users, and SMS, which ping cell towers)

Seeing texts from Reffitt.
12/21/20: "Congress has made fatal mistakes this time. This isn’t about Trump, it’s much bigger. It’s about OUR country."
12/24/20:
"He’s another politician. Why I’m going to DC. They all must go."
"What’s about to happen will shock the world."

From one of Reffitt's kids on 1/6: "dad please be safe !! You know you are risking not only your business but ur life too and that isn’t just something to through away lol"

Reffitt: "I have no intentions on throwing it away ... This is for our country for ALL OF YOU"

After 1/6, Reffitt sent family text thread links to Fox, w/ videos from the Capitol and descriptions: "No keep watching and you will see me walking up the stairs handrail in my Kuwaiti Blue coat and light blue jeans. They started shooting me and then they pepper sprayed me."

AUSA/Shahrani walk through a long Telegram thread. Messages from user "Call To Arms" IDd as Reffitt include, on 1/6:
A.M.:
"As we oil our weapons. Hold our beer and watch this shit."

P.M.:
"We took the Capital of the United States of America. What have you done today?"

1/6 Telegram messages cont'd:
"I had to fall back due to Pepper spray to the face. I was the lead up the Capital stairs."

"Multiple clay bullets and a battle cry like in Braveheart. The insurrection began immediately after”

Next Telegram thread, user "Call To Arms," IDs as Reffitt, messages on the morning of 1/6, when another member of group asks for an update:
"We are showing and then heading to rendezvous point"
"Do the recon and then come back for weapons hot"
"This dance is about to start"

They're taking a short break. AUSA/Shahrani walked through a lot of texts/Telegram messages, we should get the full set of exhibits later in the day

Jury is back, FBI Special Agent Shahrani is back on the stand walking through messages pulled from Reffit's iPhone

First SMS the jury sees post-break sent by Reffitt on the afternoon of 1/6: "I got hit with rubber bullets and pepper sprayed. I was the first person to light the fire on the Capital steps. WE TOOK THE CAPITAL…!!!"

1/8/21 text from Reffitt: "And this was me forcing the Capital Police hand" with a jpeg attachment of a scene from the Capitol of the man in the blue jacket on the stairs IDd as Reffitt (the man is circled in yellow, not 100% clear if that's how it was sent)

1/9 text from Reffitt: "We took the Capital of the United States of America and we will do it again"

Longer 1/9 text from Reffitt describing in detail what USCP officer Kerkhoff talked through yesterday about how she fired projectiles at chest and legs, he says he "laughed and moved forward." Says the pepper spray stopped him but then the crowd "couldn’t be stopped after that"

1/9 texts from Reffitt:
"I finally made it to the top of the steps when they broke through the doors. My job was done then. I had to fall back and get my sight back"

"We all had weapons but never fired a single round"

1/11, Telegram thread (deleted last one and starting over, missed one):
Reffitt: "It was Rocky and I alone in DC. Yes we did encroach the US Capital. What were the rest of you doing that day?"

1/11 cont'd:
Person: "Well Yahoo for you you fucking jackasses because all you accomplished was getting us all declared domestic terorrists to make our communication even harder than it was... So if you’re proud of that you’re just a big of fucking idiot as I thought you were"

1/11 cont'd:
Reffitt response: "Hundreds of thousands of people and yet no heat. It was a pure show of numbers. We had heat, more heat than I will post on here. We didn’t fire a single round. Besides hundreds of thousands would disagree with you"

Reffitt messages about removing Texas Three Percenters insignia, notes his jacket had Arabic on it because he got it in Kuwait, says he was wearing an Oath Keepers shirt.

That concludes the messages from the iPhone, the FBI witness moves on to a tablet/laptop

First photo that the jury sees from the laptop shows Reffitt wearing a black shirt with "OATH KEEPERS TEXAS" in yellow text, dated 1/5/21

Next exhibit is a small camera, FBI agent says there weren't any videos on it when she examined it, but there was a file listing what files used to be on it. Next exhibit is an external hard drive, which has video files

FBI agent notes watching video made her seasick, because it's a 360 camera so it has a fishbowl type perspective, and there's no stable horizon. The video begins, briefly see person IDd as Reffitt, blue jacket, then camera is up high (in other videos we've seen it on his helmet)

The first video starts sometime between 11-11:30am, Reffitt is in a crowd at the Ellipse, some excerpts we could hear attributed to Reffitt as govt played clips:
"We’re taking the Capitol before the day is over"
"Ripping them out by their hair. Every fucking one of them"

Cont'd:
"I just want to see Pelosi's head hit every fucking stair on the way out ... and Mitch McConnell too"
"We’re taking the Capitol after this shit"
"Pelosi's coming out... dragging that bitch out hardcore"
"I'm packing heat and I'm going to get more heat"

Reffitt is talking to other people in the crowd around him, mentions being a member of the Oath Keepers as well, talks about the need to organize efforts to take over statehouses as well. Marbury v. Madison "says we have the fucking right to drag them out of there"

Cont'd:
"I like Ted Cruz. ... He’s still a goddamn politican. They are all coming out."

Asked what happens if police open fire, says there will be a "hell rain of fire," that people he came with "came in hot. So did I"

Next up is a recording of the Zoom video conference where Reffitt talks about his experience going to the Capitol, he's wearing glasses and what looks like a camo baseball hat with "Trump" written on it

Reffitt talks about confrontation w/ USCP officers, starting with a woman (we heard from Kerkhoff yesterday), says clay balls were hitting his armor, she started shooting at his legs, adrenaline going, kept moving forward, "I said baby you’re going to need a bigger gun than that"

Reffitt saying he's not trying to be "arrogant," but nobody was moving forward until he acted, he kept saying "go forward go forward" and makes motion of waving his arm (like we saw in footage yesterday), says he had a "40 on my side" and recalls how others around him were armed

Reffitt: "They’re lucky we didn’t shoot em ... I mean they really need to be grateful," adds, "We could have" but didn't shoot a single round

Reffitt's lawyer William Welch up for cross ex, asks FBI agent if it's true that file names might not change if a file is edited/altered, she says that's true, he then asks if she knows the term "deep fake," she says she's a little familiar

Welch asks if agent had any reason to think the files the jury just saw were "deep fakes." She says she doesn't have any reason to believe that. He asks if she was checking for that. She says she checks for things that are there, not things that aren't

On redirect, AUSA asks agent if she saw any evidence these files were altered or faked. She says no. That's the end of her testimony, time for a lunch break, back at 1:30pm

The jury is back, Witness #4 will be Jackson Reffitt, who is Guy Reffitt's son

It's very heard to hear Jackson Reffitt, not clear if it's a mic issue or he's speaking very softly. He confirms that he contacted the FBI about his father before Jan. 6 and that he recorded some of their conversation after Guy Reffitt returned to Texas from DC

JR says the family prev. lived in Malaysia, and then came back to the US in 2016. He says his relationship with his dad was great before that, but it changed once they came back, father became "more distant," politically they grew apart (JR to the left, GR to the right)

(For context, JR is 19 years old now, was 18 at time of Jan. 6)

JR talks about his father joining the Texas Three Percenters militia, how he put up a flag outside their house that was an American flag with stars replaced by III% logo, would wear tshirts with symbols

JR says his dad attended Three Percenter meetings roughly once a month, sometimes hosting at their house, but JR says he wasn't home when that happened because his dad said he couldn't be

JR identifies a picture of a handgun, says that it's his dad's. He then narrates another photo that shows the holstered handgun on a nightstand, next to two clear glass bottles (at least one appears to be a Corona), says it's his dad's gun on his dad's nightstand

As 19-year-old Jackson Reffitt testifies as a government witness, narrating his family group text thread, his father is sitting directly across the courtroom and his mother may be in the gallery (she's been there throughout, waiting on pool report from the room to confirm)

JR narrates texts from late December, as Guy Reffitt is sharing plan to go to DC, sending messages like, "We are about to rise up the way the Constitution was written." JR says he grew increasingly paranoid and nervous as they exchanged messages, didn't know what his dad would do

Another message from GR: "The entire house of legislation has committed unthinkable acts on our people. We have had enough. Time a new party." JR says he felt "even more paranoid," came to the decision to inform the FBI, googled how to submit a tip and did so through a website

JR describes being in his room figuring out how to submit a tip to the FBI about his dad, feeling "nervous," "gross," "uncomfortable." He says he tried to distract himself so he wouldn't "linger" and "feel more guilt than I already did"

Earlier in texts, JR says he sent messages trying to relate to his dad and calm him down, tapping into their apparent shared dislike of Mitch McConnell:
JR: "I still hate mitch"
"I think every living soul does"
GR: "He's another politican. Why I'm going to DC. They all must go."

After that 12/24 exchange of messages and JR's decision to submit a tip to the FBI, he says that he tried to avoid talking about politics and they spent Christmas together

On Jan. 6, JR says he was at his girlfriends when he saw texts from sister to his dad saying "please be safe" and GR's response, went home, saw mom/sister watching the Capitol attack on TV. Series of objections from Reffitt's lawyer as JR starts to say what his mom said

AUSA asks, what made you think your father was there, the judge overrules objection and will let him answer that, JR says based on previous messages and his mom saying (objection, overruled) he was there

JR going through more family texts after Jan. 6, incl. GR sending link to Fox clip + IDing himself:
GR: "I’m looking for the video of me sitting after being pepper sprayed and trying to flush my eyes with watet"
JR: "A hero"

AUSA asks why JR wrote that. Reply: "It was sarcasm"

More 1/8:
JR: I thought you overtook the united states capital?
And broke through police barricades
And assaulted by police
GR: We did but I didn’t break any laws. Told you not trust the news. They are lying
I was there. I know
Like I said before. “Hold my beer, watch this.”

JR also texted dad about people being arrested re: 1/6, says he was trying to get his dad to understand how serious the situation was. JR says he understood his dad's responses (a la "Hold my beer") to be bragging

JR says he was in the living room at home when Guy Reffitt came home, GR's luggage that he brought inside incl. a rifle case (and GR took out the AR at one point) and he had his handgun on his hip

Once GR was back home, as he talked with the family about Jan. 6, JR says he made the decision to record the conversation (it's heard to hear him again, unfortunately), downloaded a recording app, says he felt "pretty gross" about it

The jury is now hearing JR's recording of the family convo. It begins with a male voice (IDd as Guy Reffitt by JR) over crowd sounds, JR says his dad was showing them video from his helmet camera on the laptop and narrating

GR talks about wanting to show video from when he turned his camera back on, "right before I go up to the insurrection," woman is heard laughing (IDd as wife). But as we heard earlier, it apparently only recorded one second. GR: "One second. That sucks. Oh well."

After a short break, back on with Jackson Reffitt's recording. We hear the family making fun of Guy Reffitt for having one second of footage, he explained he'd turned it off earlier because the battery was dying. GR then describes going up the stairs, getting hit/pepper sprayed

GR: "I felt so patriotic and felt like such an American"

He's heard talking about being pepper sprayed, refers to bag with his clothes from that day, talks about people helping him, coming up to him because they saw him "take on the capitol police" when others wouldn't

Reffitt continues to describe being shot at by police, seems to be specifically referring to Kerkhoff firing pepper balls at him because he refers to a woman, says it was a scary situation, he wasn't mad at her doing her job, but he wasn't going to stop

Reffitt: "I made it. And we made a very valid point to the country that we can, we can do it. We can do whatever we want to protect our rights."

We hear an exchange where Jackson argues with his dad about whether he broke the law. Guy Reffitt insists he did not. Jackson presses him about having a weapon, GR cites the 2nd Amendment, "I did bring a weapon on property that we own," says others around him were armed

Jackson Reffitt walked through the events that led to the charge that Guy Reffitt threatened his family ("traitors get shot") says he felt scared for himself and his little sister, and that later that day was when he met with an FBI agent

Once his family found out about his contact with the FBI, he says they took it "pretty hard," and he made the decision to move out. He said it's been "sad" and "difficult" not being in contact with them.

AUSA walks him through confirming he gave interviews and received $158K from a crowdfunding site; he said he's used to help pay for an apartment, college, car expenses, no trips, no gifts. He says he feels some guilt about getting the money, but also "grateful" ppl are helping

Did you come forward to get famous/get money? No
Why did you send tip to the FBI? I was scared, didn't know what was going to happen
Why did you meet with the FBI? Because I wanted to talk to someone

How do you feel about the decision to talk to the FBI? "I don't regret it but it’s a lot ... I don’t have words to really describe it ... I think this is the best case scenario."

On cross ex, Reffitt's lawyer William Welch has JR confirm his dad "rants" a lot, has him talk about his dad being "tipsy" when he recorded him talking about Jan. 6, makes a reference to Reffitt taking medication

JR had talked about going home even after talking to the FBI because he wanted to be there to "comfort" his family. Welch questions this, wonders why he didn't warn his family he'd be talking to the media if he wanted to provide comfort. JR says he didn't want a direct clash

Welch refers to JR's "gofundme fortune" and asks if he offered to help his family, JR said he did, disputes an account in a Vice article where one of his sisters claimed he refused to give them financial help

After a brief round of questions from the govt, incl. asking how he felt when Reffitt said "traitors get shot" — "terrified," Jackson Reffitt said — Jackson has finished and the jury has left for the day, back tomorrow morning, more to come on today's testimony

Guy Reffitt texted and recorded his way through Jan. 6 (before and after, too). Today, the jury got to see and hear it all, plus audio his son secretly recorded once he got home.

Dispatch from court, Day 4:
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Jan. 6 defendant Guy Reffitt's son took the stand today. Jackson Reffitt is a key witness for the government, providing firsthand knowledge of his dad's messages and mindset. He also spoke about the emotional and familial toll of coming forward.
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…