Thread by @capitolhunters

#SeditionHunters - 16 months ago, the US Capitol was attacked by a mob spearheaded by over 200 Proud Boys. DOJ & an unprecedented set of volunteers mounted a frantic, immediate response largely unseen by the public. NYT now shows it all, clearly. Watch 1/
nytimes.com/video/us/polit…

All who complained that DOJ moves too slowly - watch the NYT video (which for clarity UNDERsells the number of Proud Boys - nearly 300 counted so far). It was clearly a national emergency - to arrest the army, find who if anyone commanded them. And DOJ responded. 2/

The NYT has done a masterful job of laying it out. The online community helped with it; the public needs to know. Just realize: everything here, Merrick Garland understands. As someone who was NOT in the PB working groups, I can say it: the effort was massive. 3/

Labeling the PBs is just the start. IDing them means searching social media, video of past events where they went unmasked. 100s of people helped. The PBs have been rising for years; they marched across the US. Community groups tracked them in response. 4/

https://twitter.com/Detrumpify_org/status/1478145119375167488

The number of people who worked on PBs is too many to list, but search the hashtags and you will see the extent of the effort. @Detrumpify_org, @nine_niall, @ne0ndistraction, who mapped their march and transcribed their conversations about planning. 5/

https://twitter.com/ne0ndistraction/status/1494386841109381126

At the Capitol the PBs were picked out of crowds, labeled and marked. Merrick Garland knows they made up the front line of the first W. Plaza attack, helped lead most of the breaches. He knows the PBs vanished from the front lines and regrouped. (Labels h/t @AlHunt08657198) 6/

@ne0ndistraction found the Proud Boys re-gathered at the NW Scaffolds - note that this post is from Jan 2021. @OSINTyeti and others helped figure out where they went in between: up the lawn to wait out the fight. 7/

https://twitter.com/ne0ndistraction/status/1355718879176126472

Many tracked the PBs, Joe Biggs especially, around the Capitol. @creek_twit and @Nabert94366848 helped find key leaders waiting out the NW Steps fight. The PB leaders are hard to prosecute because they let the normies fight it out for them. 8/

https://twitter.com/creek_twit/status/1448865796592218116

None of this would be possible with footage, much of it shot by professional reporters, who saw the Proud Boys, recognized them, and filmed. @sandibachom took the key footage of them gathered at the Washington Monument. You can watch it all. 9/
vimeo.com/566375739

@HannahAllam of the Washington Post caught the Proud Boys at the E. Capitol in the morning. Everyone could see they skipped Trump's speech. 10/

https://twitter.com/HannahAllam/status/1349328144969457664

@willsommer of the Daily Beast also caught the Proud Boys in the morning, posing for photos. This was posted 1 hour before they launched the attack on the Capitol. 11/

https://twitter.com/willsommer/status/1346861594559582210

The Proud Boys were visible and noticed on Jan 6. At 11:19 AM, around the time that Allam and Sommer filmed, the National Park Police issued an alert: "Lare group (200+-) of Proud Boys are on the US Capitol grounds". (h/t @CassanderGrant for NPS FOIA) 12/
justsecurity.org/wp-content/upl…

The Proud Boys then went for lunch at the food trucks parked conveniently near the Capitol. USCP patrol cars were nearby and observed. From a livestream by Christopher Brow, WYSIWYGTV, which went out to his audience in real time. It's archived. 13/
archive.org/details/NsJsi9…

While the Proud Boys were having their lunch, at 12:36 PM, another alert went out: "There are approximately 300 Proud Boys at the Capitol". It would have reached many - it went to the inter-agency National Crisis Coordination Center. 14/

https://twitter.com/capitolhunters/status/1535027761722675204

Less than 20 minutes after the NCCC email, the first rush on the US Capitol began. The Proud Boys were about 1/3 of the mob. Despite the warnings, the alerts, the media presence, the Capitol remained nearly undefended. Why? 15/

Note: for PBs at the Capitol in the AM, read the whole Allam thread. Here's a later clip, sound up: "we love the Proud Boys!" Everyone knew. Why no defensive response on Jan 6? Why so little public attention since, til the great NYT piece now? 16/

https://twitter.com/HannahAllam/status/1349330689217409025

The officers who fought at the Capitol saved our democracy. But their injuries should not have been needed. We need to find and prosecute all responsible: those who committed the violence, those who directed it, & those whose inaction let it happen. 17/

https://twitter.com/SergeantAqGo/status/1476624993958170624