User:Veritas Aeterna/Work in Progress, Draft Work on Jan6th Articles

A New York Times investigative video titled "How the Proud Boys Breached the Capitol" and testimony and video by documentary filmmaker Nick Quested during hearings of the January 6th Committee showed that the Proud Boys played a key role in the January 6th Insurrection. The Times video investigation concludes "...the Proud Boys played critical roles, from the first moment of violence to multiple breaches of the Capitol while leaving the impression that it was just ordinary protesters leading the charge." Similarly, on June 9th, 2022, filmmaker Nick Quested testified to the January 6th Committee that:

NICK QUESTED: We met up with the Proud Boys somewhere around 10:30 am and they were starting to walk down the Mall, a easterly direction towards the Capitol. There was a large contingent, more than I had expected. And I was confused to a certain extent why we were walking away from the President's speech because that's what I felt we were there to cover.

BENNIE THOMPSON: So at 10:30 am, that's early in the day. That's even before President Trump had started speaking. Am I correct?

NICK QUESTED: Yes, sir.

...

BENNIE THOMPSON: ...So Mr. Quested you're a journalist, so you are careful to stick to things that you have observed. But what you've told us is highly relevant. Let me highlight a few key facts that you and others have provided the committee. First, there was a large group of Proud Boys present at the Capitol. We know that from multiple sources. You now estimate that there were around 250 to 300 individuals that — you've testified.

NICK QUESTED: (Nods)

Quested also said separately to NPR, in an interview:

There's only one moment where that - the sort of facade of marching and protesting might have fallen, which is there was a - one of the Proud Boys called Milkshake and Eddie Block on his livestream catches Milkshake saying, well, let's go storm the Capitol with Nordean - Rufio - one of the leaders of the Proud Boys saying, you could keep that quiet, please, Milkshake. And then we continued on marching."

The NYT investigative video report tracks the roles of Proud Boys throughout multiple video clips. It starts off with Joe Biggs directing the Proud Boys to blend in with others, he said "...we are going to go incognito...". and later explains that "Proud Boy leaders crafted a chain of command specifically for Jan. 6". Many of the Proud Boys also "worked as teams" and "Telegram messages from that morning show that some of the Proud Boys intend to rile up other protesters," with one thread having this exchange between Proud Boy members:

UCC-1: I want to see thousands of normies burn that city to ash today.

Person-2: Would be epic.

January 6th testimony by Capitol police officer Caroline Edwards described the first breach after the Proud Boys arrived.

Ms. Edwards described how a Proud Boys leader named Joseph Biggs encouraged another man to approach the bike rack barricade where she was posted. That man, Ryan Samsel, she said, pushed the bike rack over, causing her to hit her head and lose consciousness.

But before she blacked out, Ms. Edwards recalled seeing “a war scene” playing out in front of her. Police officers were bleeding and throwing up, she recalled.

“It was carnage,” she said. “It was chaos.”

The Capitol Hill police were vastly outnumbered: "...the mob on the west side eventually grew to at least 9,400 people, outnumbering officers by more than 58 to one."Video shown during the January 6th committee hearings show Officer Edwards being pushed back behind a bicycle rack as Proud Boys push barricades towards her, knocking her off her feet and causing her to hit her head on the concrete steps.

Later, as the attack progressed, the Proud Boys were stalled by Capitol officers on the west side. The NYT video investigation shows how Proud Boy leaders fell back, assessed the situation for about fifteen minutes and then redirected their attack to weaker points. The redirected effort focused on the east side and a scaffolding leading up to building entrances. The protesters on the east side, led by the Proud boys, now easily overran the police in the plaza. On the west side, after about a twenty-minute battle on the scaffolding steps, the Proud Boys broke through the resistance and rushed up the steps of the Capitol. One of the first breaches of the Capitol is by Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola breaking in a window using a stolen police shield.

The Times report "...found a pattern in how the Proud Boys moved on the ground." As in this example, "Over and over, at key moments when the Capitol was breached, the group used the same set of tactics: identifying access points to the building, riling up other protesters and sometimes directly joining in the violence. When met with resistance, leaders of the group reassessed, and teams of Proud Boys targeted new entry points to the Capitol."

Another key revelation about the Proud Boy's plans came from an informant and concerned Mike Pence:

According to an F.B.I. affidavit the panel highlighted ... a government informant said that members of the far-right militant group the Proud Boys told him they would have killed Pence “if given the chance.” The rioters on January 6th almost had that chance, coming within forty feet of the Vice-President as he fled to safety.