Thread by @capitolhunters

Some key points as we head into J6 hearings. The Capitol attack was 1) coordinated, 2) meant to be fast, and 3) derailed by a rapid police response that produced key delays. Watch here as democracy is saved by DC bike cops: momentum shifts after the first terrifying minutes. 1/

To make sense of the 5-hour attack on Jan 6, we’ve broken it into 8 phases. These diagrams can help understand. Here’s the first hour: the rush in (L), & then (R) the faceoff on the W. Plaza that bought precious time. 2/

The delay was followed by a frenzy of action - coordinated movements around the Capitol to breach doors on both sides, flood the interior. They got through 5 exterior doors & the Senate, were blocked at 2 & the House in violent fights. It almost worked - but it was too late. 3/

The invasion, though scary, failed quickly. Lawmakers evacuated one step ahead of invaders. Police got most doors closed quickly, and held at the tunnel. FBI SWAT arrived to help regain control. From this point, no more advances - just brutal fighting at the tunnel & N Doors. 4/

Was it reasonable to expect speed? The Capitol was nearly undefended on Jan 6 morning - possibly by design. For now let's just examine: what went wrong for attackers, how did that lifesaving delay happen? 5/

Over 200 Proud Boys gathered at the Washington Monument at 10 AM, then marched in a looping path around the Capitol. They stopped for photos, and for lunch. Bystanders heard them planning an attack. It was obvious to many, but unseen by officers at the Capitol. 6/

The DHS even issued an alert at 12:36 PM, while the Proud Boys were stopped at the food trucks for lunch: “There are approximately 300 Proud Boys at the Capitol”. But there was no call yet for support. 7/

The W. Capitol was quiet on Jan 6 - until it suddenly wasn’t. The Proud Boys arrived at 12:48 PM, crowds streaming in with them. Within 5 minutes, hundreds had gathered and the attack was launched. Note the flaggers keeping the north and south walkways sync’d. 8/

The few hundred people were enough to overwhelm the handful of officers. By 12:59 PM, the mob had broken onto the W. Pa, but the first USCP armored units were arriving, and USCP Chief Sund put out the call for help. 9/

By 1:05 PM, just as the Joint Session to certify the electoral vote began, a man with a “crusader” hat and a megaphone was reading a prepared speech from the tower. “My fellow Americans..” 10/

Five minutes later, officers were nearly overwhelmed. Proud Boy Pezzola (#Spazzo) seized a riot shield. The Proud Boys leadership (Biggs, Nordean, Rehl) gathered under the dominionists’ cross. About 1/3 of the mob was Proud Boys (marked in red). It was almost enough. 11 /

On the surrounding streets, people who had left Trump’s speech early were streaming toward the Capitol. But working their way through the crowd was an MPD unit - biking in. 12/

Less than 14 minutes after the call for help, the MPD were on the Plaza and rushed to the line. They have practice at crowd control: watch them smoothly deploy barricades and start pushing attackers back. 13/

You can see in how much the momentum had turned in before and after images. Top photo is 1:05 PM, bottom is 1:15 PM - 3 minutes after MPD arrived, 1 minute after the tower flagger sent panicked signals to someone in the crowd. The attack was stalled, and police were gaining. 14/

We think “invasion phase” continued for a bit longer, that there was still hope, since at 1:20 PM, flaggers began an organized movement East. That’s the little loop here - but it’s called off within a minute. (Note: the straight line is a medical team who handled CPR + evacs) 15/

Moments after the movement starts, more USCP arrive, some decision was made, and the flaggers lead everyone back. The planned Eastward movement won’t be completed for another half hour. That delay was critical - when breaches happened, police and FBI SWAT were on their way. 16/

The hearings are soon, so we'll stop for now, continue later. Just go in to them knowing: the attack was organized; the fast response by USCP and MPD bought precious time.

All maps & other resources, including timelines with video links, are at bit.ly/Jan6Analysis. 17/

The Resources document in that folder shows how to access and watch over 22,000 videos of the Jan 6 attack saved by the #SeditionHunters community. For video products - syncs and perp reels - see @StevieG54099097's Hunting Insurrectionists YT channel. 18/
youtube.com/c/HuntingInsur…

The Capitol attack was a messy mix: an army of Proud Boys; small crews with jobs; riled-up “normies”; bused-in groups to bulk up the crowd. It’s designed to hide what’s terrifying: the overall organization. This thread will show the hard-to-see signals that ran the action. 19/

We’d stepped through Phase I (“Invasion”) of the attack; it ended with police holding the W Plaza, the movement East aborted, the tower flagger panicking. We learn from reactions to crises. From this: some folks with jobs have no comms. If things go wrong, they wave for help. 20/

Also: many crews assist who are not Proud Boys. #LittleManSprayer on the tower (L) is a 3Per from WA (ex-meth user), #BumbleGoggles on the NW lawn (R) is militia from VA (fought with media). Both talked on camera, unwisely, but since they don’t know much, they aren’t a risk. 21/

Phase II, “Faceoff” starts at 1:21 PM in our scheme, once a movement East is called off. As battling police hold the W. Plaza with tear gas and flashbangs, Proud Boys pull back to wait it out, leaving the fighting to others. Intense efforts then start to build up the crowd. 22/

At 1:23 PM Joe Biggs’ group ditches. They need help getting over the wall; Fonticoba can’t climb it. (Sound up: “those are the Proud Boys”). Notice the two in plate carriers who help - they have comms and earpieces, never go forward. Would be easy to miss them 23/

As Biggs’ group stand around waiting, others also leave the front lines, fleeing tear gas. PB leader Rehl texts at 1:34 PM: “We’re at a standstill, cops are dropping concussion bombs and pepper spraying…” (See NYT piece for more). 24/
nytimes.com/video/us/polit…

We now see intense efforts to build the crowd. Alex Jones had hung back in Freedom Plaza, giving an impromptu speech. Now he gets some message, finally heads in at 1:34 PM. He seems nervous - he’s doing real-time CYA while his entourage films. 25/

The influencers start Tweeting instructions: "GET TO THE CAPITOL NOW !!!" This is the only time all day they tell their followers to move. (We checked - see Messages timeline.) 26/
docs.google.com/document/d/12e…

1:34-1:40 PM - men run back and forth across the W. lawn shouting “Move up!” “Come up, let’s keep moving up!” While the crowd’s been badgered all along by bullhorn guys, these runners appear only now, in over two hours of livestreams. 27/

1:39 PM: a streamer says “looks like twice the crowd” now as people arrive from Trump’s speech. Once new arrivals cross onto the lawn, they’re told where to go: “we need left, we need right - we need everybody filling those holes.” Building the Capitol mob took work. 28/

By 1:39 PM crews are also staging at the base of the NW Scaffolds, ready for the attack to resume: 16 Proud Boys in this photo. On the Media Tower, a man we call #CapitolColorGuard first appears - you’ll see more of him when attacks re-start. 29/

At 1:50 PM, as a streamer says: “it’s almost full”, #CapitolColorGuard abruptly climbs up, grabs a flag and waves. This marks the breach of the NW Scaffolds: watch the crowd on the Plaza surge northwards as a pathway suddenly opens. 30/

Here’s the breaking of the police line from close up - it’s fast and decisive. Proud Boy Dan “Milkshake” Scott is on the attack line, but ditches to the side quickly and cheers with other Proud Boys - they skip fighting whenever they can. Most of the PB leaders head up. 31/

We call this 1:50 PM breach the start of Phase III, “Breakthrough”. Once the Scaffolds go, the pressure’s on to get the crowd positioned around the Capitol, ready to flood it. Coordination is low-tech, but effective - we’ll show you. 32/

1:57 PM. The E breaches start; key perps have walked around the Capitol to run them. Proud Boys provide muscle, but the timing seems set by flaggers. We highlighted two who flag the start, then lead the crowd to the Capitol steps. (In blue is Michael Pope of ID, arrested.) 33/

There’s a problem: then crowd on the E. side is still too thin. On the NW lawn Alex Jones urges his audience to head East: tells them: “Trump will be speaking there”. It works - hear the livestreamer on the E. Plaza say “Alex Jones - we’re headed to his side of the Capitol.” 34/

On the SW lawn, there’s no celebrity to lead, but bullhorn guys get people moving. Info is passed by live-streamers who have radios & earpieces. “He wants people to start surrounding the building” “Yeah, we need to get people moving”. Sound up: listen. 35/

1:59 PM, West side: People aren’t the only things in motion. A giant Trump flag was waiting on the lawn, but watch the chain of events just as the E. Plaza falls: a telescoping flagpole pops up, #CapitolColorGuard waves the big flag forward, & helpers lift it onto the tower. 36/

2:03 PM: The #BigMediaTowerFlag unfurls, marking an all-out assault. #CapitolColorGuard waves, then points, and a furious attack begins on the SW Plaza. Some of the most violent are the Pollock family crew from FL. Jonathan Pollock fled from arrest, is still on the lam. 37/

2:06 PM, East side: back at the E. Steps, a flag is waved abruptly and the push on the police line begins. It succeeds - officers fall back and the mob rushes up the steps. A blue flagger cheers from the top, and Stop the Steal leader Michael Coudrey salutes from the balcony 38/

2:07 PM, East side: a man shakes out a Gadsden flag over the NE balcony, then fumbles trying to tie it down. This marks the steps breach. A half hour later, when he marks the doors breach with a symmetrical flag on the SE balcony, he’ll be faster: someone gives him zip ties. 39/

2:09 PM, West side: The mob had been waiting on the NW steps, but now suddenly rush forward and drive police back. The Proud Boys follow behind the leaders. Pezzola & others make a beeline for the unreinforced windows of the NW Courtyard. 40/

2:10 PM. While part of the crowd runs up the NW steps, the rest stream East, with key Proud Boys moving in a stack. It now becomes clear that Proud Boys are not the top dogs on Jan 6 - they have minders. Aaron James, ex-Navy, not a PB, leads them around the Capitol. 41/

2:13 PM. Proud Boy Pezzola breaks a window and the crowd stampedes in. While many seem aimless, some rush for the House and Senate, where lawmakers are still in their seats. (Only Pence has been evacuated.) Here’s the first 2 minutes at 4x speed, with key PBs highlighted. 42/

Police resistance on the W. Plaza saved us from disaster. It also helped us understand the Capitol attack. The setback required organized efforts to build crowds. The gap in action makes later signals clearer. And we see the effort made to position the mob just right. 43/

What's terrifying about the Capitol attack is the order and competence masked by chaos and clowns. It’s designed to deceive. It took a year’s work by 100s of #SeditionHunters to show what’s in this thread. But you can go faster, with resources here: bit.ly/Jan6Analysis. 44/

We'll keep stepping through the attack this week. The next phase ("Multi-prong attack") is maximal horror: fleeing lawmakers, mobs breaching many doors. It was close, by minutes - but the mistakes added up, and police held again. We'll show you. 45/