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Inside the Capitol Riot: An Exclusive Video Investigation<\/em>, The New York Times, June 30, 2021<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The US is two days away from the Fourth of July weekend. This Sunday will be the first Independence Day, beginning during the American Revolution of what concluded in the founding of the democratic republic of the United States, since the attempt to stop the constitutional process of Congress counting and certifying the vote for president on January 6, 2021 and to destroy the US democratic republic in its 244th year.<\/p>\n It came perilously close to succeeding.<\/p>\n Fortunately, the majority of Americans did and do find this action to be contemptible and treasonous, which the attempted ovethrow of the democratically elected government was and is by definition.<\/p>\n However, a significant minority of Americans in effect enabled this insurrection, fed by the demonstrable lie of a fraudulent election, which, it has just been revealed, even former Attorney General Bill Barr bluntly told Donald Trump that it was–a lie<\/em>.<\/p>\n The context which led to this, an utterly inconceivable act in modern American history before it happened, after numerous utterly inconceivable acts for the past few years, has been explored by us for years and will be further. It is not a partisan context in the end, nor just an American context, but a global one, as all things are now. The relief of most global leaders and global opinion across the political spectrum at the return to norms by Joe Biden has been palpable, if tentative, because of the shock at what already happened and fear that it could again.<\/p>\n Because the context which led to this could still lead to what January 6 attempted.<\/p>\n In the end, what happens in the US is up to all adult citizens, just as what happens globally is up to all adults. This has before and may again in some instances require the greatest of sacrifices in standing up to power that defiles human rights, allows inequality and injustice and risks the very environment that sustains all life.<\/p>\n In honor of this Fourth of July weekend, we defer to the video investigation of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, worked on for the past six months and released today by The New York Times. Few things could ever be so important, so powerful, so meaningful, or so completely speak for itself.<\/p>\n Here is the introduction in print and link to the 40-minute video:<\/p>\n “Inside the Capitol Riot: An Exclusive Video Investigation”<\/a><\/p>\n By The New York Times, June 30, 2021<\/p>\n The Times analyzed thousands of videos from the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building to understand how it happened \u2014 and why. Here are some of the key findings.<\/em><\/p>\n In the six months since an angry pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, immense efforts have been made not only to find the rioters and hold them accountable, but also \u2014 and perhaps more important \u2014 to dig into the details of Jan. 6 and slowly piece together what actually happened that day.<\/p>\n Congressional committees have looked into police and intelligence failures. The Justice Department has launched a nationwide investigation that has now resulted in more than 500 arrests. And while Republicans in Congress blocked the formation of a blue-ribbon bipartisan committee, House Democrats are poised to appoint a smaller select committee.<\/p>\n Even now, however, Republican politicians and their allies in the media are still playing down the most brazen attack on a seat of power in modern American history. Some have sought to paint the assault as the work of mere tourists. Others, going further, have accused the F.B.I. of planning the attack in what they have described \u2014 wildly \u2014 as a false-flag operation.<\/p>\n The work of understanding Jan. 6 has been hard enough without this barrage of disinformation and, hoping to get to the bottom of the riot, The Times\u2019s Visual Investigations team<\/a> spent several months reviewing thousands of videos, many filmed by the rioters themselves and since deleted from social media. We filed motions to unseal police body-camera footage, scoured law enforcementradio communications<\/a>, and synchronized and mapped the visual evidence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n What we have come up with is a 40-minute panoramic take on Jan. 6, the most complete visual depiction of the Capitol riot to date. In putting it together, we gained critical insights into the character and motivation of rioters by experiencing the events of the day often through their own words and video recordings. We found evidence of members of extremist groups inciting others to riot and assault police officers. And we learned how Donald J. Trump\u2019s own words resonated with the mob in real time as they staged the attack.<\/p>\n Here are some of the major revelations.<\/p>\n We pinpointed at least eight locations where rioters breached and entered the Capitol building \u2014 more than were previously known. The scenes revealed the extent of the rioters\u2019 disregard for the law as they surged violently around the building\u2019s perimeter and, eventually, inside.<\/p>\n The police were outnumbered and responded differently at various breach points, allowing rioters to break through doors using weapons like crowbars or, in some places, to simply walk through as the police stepped aside.<\/p>\n The multiple breaches also revealed the Capitol\u2019s vulnerability. Despite locked doors and, in certain places, thick windows, rioters without specialized equipment were able to break in instantly in some places.<\/p>\n In the Senate, proceedings to certify the election results were halted almost immediately when a building-wide lockdown was called after the first breach by rioters. But we found that it took much longer for the House of Representatives to do the same. This delay appeared to have contributed to a rioter\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Instead of evacuating, members of the House sheltered in place and resumed their work even as rioters overran the building. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was rushed to safety, but Representative Jim McGovern took her place presiding over the session. He told us that Capitol building security staff had said it was safe to resume.<\/p>\n Eventually, the House session was halted and members began streaming out of a rear door guided by security personnel. Rioters had arrived at almost the same moment, just on the other side of a hallway door with glass panels. They became incensed at the sight of the evacuating lawmakers \u2014 a situation that could have been avoided if the lawmakers had left before the mob arrived.<\/p>\n Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter and follower of the QAnon conspiracy theory, tried to climb through one of the door\u2019s broken windows toward the lawmakers. A plainclothes Capitol Police officer charged with protecting the House shot her once through the upper chest. The wound was fatal.<\/p>\n One of the biggest questions hanging over the aftermath of Jan. 6 was whether the riot was planned and carried out by organized groups.<\/p>\n By identifying and tracking key players throughout the day, we found that most \u2014 even some at the forefront of the action \u2014 were ardent, but disorganized Trump supporters swept up in the moment and acting individually.<\/p>\n The first person to enter the Capitol building, for example, was a 43-year-old husband and father from Kentucky named Michael Sparks. He has no known affiliation with any organized groups. Ray Epps, an Arizona man seen in widely-circulated videos telling Trump supporters on multiple occasions to go into the Capitol, also seemed to have acted on his own.<\/p>\n Yet we also found that the crowd did include members of groups who seemed eager for a confrontation, like well-organized militias and far-right groups including the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. This proved to be a combustible mix. In the videos we analyzed, they can be seen with baseball bats and body armor, and coordinating with one another using radios. On several occasions, a calculated move by a more organized actor \u2014 for example, a Proud Boy identifying a weakness in the police line near a set of stairs \u2014 set off a surge by the mob.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nMultiple Points of Attack<\/h2>\n
A Delay Turns Deadly<\/h2>\n
\n\nThe Makeup of the Mob<\/h2>\n