What really happened on January 6?
WATCH: J6: A True Timeline. The GROUNDBREAKING new film released 01/01/2024 at open.ink/J6
Four Deaths at the Capitol
Benjamin Philips
Benjamin Philips collapsed at 12:59pm while walking with the first crowd on the West Capitol Grounds toward the US Capitol. The cause of his collapse is unknown, although OC spray had just been sprayed by USCP officers near this location moments before. Protesters immediately began CPR with assistance from US Capitol Police officers who repeatedly called for an ambulance. The group assisting Philips maintained chest compressions for 20 minutes while repeated calls for his rescue were ignored by DC Fire and EMS. Although their ambulance had already arrived and parked a short distance away on the street outside of Capitol grounds, DC Fire and EMS paramedics stayed in their vehicle and refused to rescue Philips or render aid. The group assisting Philips eventually moved him onto a bicycle rack used as a makeshift stretcher and carried him to the ambulance while continuing compressions. Philips was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Benjamin Philips was a father of two and a computer programmer from Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.
Kevin Greeson
Kevin Greeson collapsed sometime around 1:20pm on the Capitol’s West Plaza amid early police assaults on the crowd using chemical, projectile and explosive weapons. The cause of his collapse is unknown. The first public footage of Greeson available shows him receiving aid around 1:28pm. After a few minutes, protesters giving Greeson CPR move him out of the densely packed crowd to a different location to continue their attempts to save his life. Soon after, paramedics from DC Fire and EMS took over CPR and transported Greeson to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Kevin Greeson was a father of five from Athens, Alabama.
Ashli Babbitt
Ashli Babbitt was shot by US Capitol Police Lieutenant Michael Byrd outside of the Speaker’s Lobby in the US Capitol. Babbitt was shot after stepping through a broken window near multiple USCP officers standing directly behind her in the line of fire. No warnings could be heard being given by Lt Byrd before shooting Babbitt, and there was no justifiable reason to use lethal force on the unarmed woman, but Byrd was never prosecuted for her murder. Ashli Babbitt was an Air Force Security Forces veteran from San Diego, California.
Rosanne Boyland
Rosanne Boyland collapsed while in a densely packed crowd inside the tunnel entrance of the US Capitol’s West Terrace. Minutes before Rosanne’s collapse, a DC MPD officer fired approximately 30 pepper ball rounds into the crowd filling the tunnel with capsicum gas. Rosanne went down moments later and was then beaten over the head and body with a walking stick by DC MPD Officer Lila Morris, who was engaging in combat with protesters using the stick as a weapon. Rosanne’s friend can be heard screaming for Rosanne as she was trapped with multiple other protesters piled on the ground beneath the crowd. These protesters and Rosanne were pulled out of the pile by fellow protesters and rescued, but CPR attempts on Rosanne proved to be unsuccessful. Protesters can be heard screaming at police that they killed her when they returned her body to officers who then attempted further CPR and eventually transported her to the hospital. Rosanne was from Kennesaw, Georgia.
The January 6 Timeline
At 1pm on January 6th a crowd of protestors assembled on the US Capitol's West Plaza.
United States Capitol Police Deputy Chief Waldow, the on scene commander, ordered the USCP Civil Disturbance Unit Less Lethal Team into place on the Inauguration stage.
Six minutes later, Waldow ordered his CDU Less Lethal officers to fire munitions into the crowd.
THIS ORDER WAS ILLEGAL
WALDOW's ORDERS: The First Police Violence on January 6th by USCP and MPD [A Clip from J6: A True Timeline].
The US Capitol Police Less Lethal Team.
Deputy Chief Waldow never gave warnings when ordering his less lethal team to fire into the crowd. He claims to give warnings on multiple radio transmissions, however analysis of footage shows these required warnings never happened.
Not only did Waldow lie about giving warnings, evidence shows that he likely lied about the conditions his officers faced justifying his escalation of force.
In the first moments of the January 6 protest outside the Capitol, Waldow ordered his less lethal team to fire at protesters three seperate times.
1:07pm
Waldow's first order of the day to fire into the crowd without warning resulted in an expired and hardened yellow marking round striking peaceful protester Josh Black in the left side of his face, embedding itself in his cheek and causing signifigant blood loss.
1:10pm
Waldow's second order to fire into the crowd came roughly three minutes later. This follow up shooting resulted in multiple pepper ball rounds striking USCP officers on the police line in their helmets, and one round striking a protester in the hand.
This second shooting at protesters incited a handful of protesters to begin pushing police.
The USCP Less Lethal Team's 1:18pm Shots.
1:18pm
Waldow's third order to fire into the crowd came at the request of DC MPD Sgt Daniel Thau, who had been frantically requesting explosive munitons to throw into the crowd. Thau then turned his attention to Waldow and the Less Lethal team perched above, and demanded they "fucking shoot" while pointing into the crowd. Waldow gave the order seconds later.
The Less Lethal team fired at least eight munitions into the crowd consisting of a mix of pepperball and other projectile munitions.
DC MPD Arrives on the Capitol's West Plaza.
Meanwhile, in between Waldow's second and third shots, DC Metropolitan Police Department officers from the Special Operations Division began arriving on the scene, and immediately began escalating force with chemical sprays, batons, and tasers on protesters standing on the West Plaza.
The SOD is DC's most sued and criticized police force for their unlawful use of police brutality and excessive force. It's officers are known for commonly using illegal tactics against protesters and are known to be trigger happy with munitions, violating laws and civil rights. Officers arriving on the West Plaza are defendants in civil rights lawsuits for their use of munitions against protest crowds in previous years.
Sgt Thau of the DC SOD began calling for munitions immediately after his arrival, and got them minutes later.
The First Police Grenades on January 6th by MPD [A Clip from J6: A True Timeline]
At 1:24pm, with no warning before escalating to explosive munitions, DC MPD Commander Robert Glover authorized escalation of force and ordered the deployment of stingball grenades and 40mm mortars.
This is when the protest devolved into chaos. Robert Glover declared the protest to be a riot 25 minutes later; and hundreds of explosive, chemical, and impact projectiles were fired into the crowd.
DC MPD Officers Admit Hitting and Inciting Innocent People [A Clip from J6: A True Timeline]
At 2:18pm, DC MPD Sgt Thau and Sgt Edwards make an admission to their commander recorded on bodycam footage that their munitions are hitting innocent people, and are inciting ten people for every one they hit.
Even after recognizing this fact, they continue unimpeded and bombard the crowd with further munitions until est 2:30pm.
DC Police exhaust all of their munitions and continued to resupply until authorizing CS gas, against officer's advice.
The First Warnings Given with LRAD Amplification Device
The DC police force finally attempts adequate warnings in accordance with the First Amendment Assemblies Act (DC protest clearing law), and uses the LRAD for this final escalation of force, but the one speaker was inaudible mere feet away due to the crowd noise and size, and therefore inadequate.
DC Protest Law
DC § 5-331.07 First Amendment Assemblies Act
The DC First Amendment Assemblies act, enacted in 2015 after civil litigation against DC police forces using unwarranted excessive force when clearing protests, requires that police agencies in DC MUST follow a protocol upon determining that a lawful First Amendment assembly, a public assembly, or a riot should be dispersed.
The following procedure must be followed before police forces in DC escalate to Less Lethal force, which includes all chemical, projectile and explosive munitions, to clear protest crowds in DC.
The law is clear. A violation of this statute is a violation of protester civil rights under the color of law, and is ILLEGAL.
The Law States that Police Shall:
Give Warnings:
Provide Exit Routes:
Use an Approved Amplification Device:
Verify Warnings are Heard by the Crowd:
NONE OF THIS OCCURED
THE AFTERMATH OF JANUARY 6
In the days after January 6th 2021, the DOJ began a "shock and awe" campaign using the FBI, DHS, US Military and other Federal Agency Joint Terrorism Taskforces to raid and arrest as many protesters as possible.
194 protesters were arrested that January. Arrests have averaged 30 per month in the 36 months since, and show no sign of slowing down.
The DOJ severely overcharged these protesters with serious felonies to force plea deals. Many January 6th defendants faced more than 20 years in prison due to novel creative prosecutions.
THE JAN 6 PROSECUTIONS
As of January 6th 2024— 1,251 January 6th protesters have been arrested and charged. 757 of those protesters have been convicted with nearly 884 years of incarceration handed out to these defendants. Nearly 400 are awaiting trial.
The 3 main charges J6ers face, and why they're illegitimate:
18 U.S. Code § 1752 - Restricted Building or Grounds
91.3% of J6ers are charged with this misdemeanor and/or felony, carrying a maximum of 10 years in prison.
1,142 total January 6th protesters charged with 1752.
To have violated 18 USC 1752 and be trespassing in "Restricted Grounds", a person must have:
(1) knowingly entered or remained in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so;
The statute defines "Restricted Building or Grounds" as:
any posted, cordoned off, or otherwise restricted area—
(A) of the White House or its grounds, or the Vice President’s official residence or its grounds;
(B) of a building or grounds where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting.
To justify their charges that January 6th demonstrators had violated 1752, the DOJ created a red line map to demarcate a restricted area around the Capitol building.
This red-lined federally restricted area did not exist prior to, or on January 6th and was created after the fact to charge anyone on Capitol grounds with being in a restricted area— even though many of the lots surrounding the supposed restricted Capitol grounds were permitted by US Capitol Police for protest on January 6th.
View Permits here: USCP Demonstration Endorsements
The red line created after the fact to apply a charge that carries up to 10 years in federal prison for these demonstrators was based on the closure of the West Capitol grounds months before January 6th for construction of the inaugural stage, and not for the election certification occuring at the US Capitol that day.
The West Capitol grounds were for the first time in history closed by the US Capitol Police Board from September 7th until February 28th for this inaugural stage construction, and "AREA CLOSED" signage was installed on lightweight "snow fencing" separating the lawn from the surrouding streets.
September 7th, 2020 US Capitol Police closure of West Capitol grounds for inauguration platform construction
There were no marked restricted areas in accordance with the prosecution of this federal statute. The US Capitol was not designated as an NSSE National Special Security Event (NSSE) as it should have been. Protesters were charged with knowingly entering a restriced area for being on certain parts of Capitol grounds, yet other conterminous parts of the Capitol lawn were permitted by USCP for protest on Jan 6. Somehow, while certain areas of the Capitol lawn were permitted for protest, others were alledged to be restricted grounds after the fact; even though Vice President Mike Pence never had plans to visit, nor did visit the grounds outside the Capitol building which they occupied.
The application of this charge levied against January 6th demonstrators did not cover joggers and bikers exercising on US Capitol grounds pathways the morning of January 6th hours before the protest, yet when the January 6th demonstrators arrived around 12pm, it became a federal violation.
Protesters headed to permitted events on Capitol grounds would have had no way of knowing which lawns were closed to the public, other than this "AREA CLOSED" lightweight fencing, which was torn down just minutes after the protests began, and long before President Trump finished speaking at the Ellipse.
"Area Closed" signage posted in accordance with September 2020 USCP closure
NEW: DC Judge Cooper Jan 2024 Bench Aquittal of 1752 charges.
18 U.S. Code § 231: Civil Disorder
34.3% of J6ers are charged with this felony, carrying a maximum of 5 years in prison.
429 total January 6th protesters charged with 231.
To have violated 18 USC 231 committing a Civil Disorder, a person must have:
(3) committed or attempted to commit any act to obstruct, impede, or interfere with any fireman or law enforcement officer lawfully engaged in the lawful performance of his official duties incident to and during the commission of a civil disorder — which in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or adversely affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, or the conduct or performance of any federally protected function.
Since a "federally protected function" in this statute is defined as:
any function, operation, or action carried out, under the laws of the United States, by any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States or by an officer or employee thereof; and such term shall specifically include, but not be limited to, the collection and distribution of the United States mails.
and would not have included Congress or USSS daily details; the DOJ chose to instead charge Jan 6th demonstrators with obstructing commerce and not a federally protected function.
To justify this charge, DOJ has argued in court, and alleged in 400+ indictments and sentencing memorandums that demonstrators participated in a civil disorder at the US Capitol by obstructing interstate commerce.
The DOJ cited local business closures on the evening of January 6th caused by the 6pm curfew implemented by Mayor Bowser. Safeway supermarket's early closure allegedly stopped them from receiving planned overnight inventory shipments from Pennsylvania—justification, the DOJ claims, for a five-year prison sentence for January 6th protesters.
18 U.S. Code § 1512: Obstruction of an Official Proceeding
27.7% of J6ers are charged with this felony, carrying a maximum of 20 years in prison.
347 total January 6th protesters charged with 1512.
To have violated 18 USC 1512 (c)(2) committing Obstruction, a person must have:
(c) Corruptly altered, mutilated, concealed a record, document, or other oject, or attempted to do so, with the intent to impair the object's integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or otherwise obstructed, influenced, or impeded any official proceeding, or attempted to do so.
18 USC 1512(c) was created as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which was enacted to regulate financial record keeping and documentation in the aftermath of the Enron scandal. 1512 was designed to punish corruption and reestablish public trust and confidence in the markets, making it illegal to shred or destroy documents subject to an investigation. President Bush said himself when signing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act into law in 2002 that 1512 was not to be used to infringe on the First Amendment constitutional right to petition the Government for redress of grievances.
Read more at: https://wethepeopleconvention.org/articles/Jan6th-Prosecutors-misapplying-Law
George W. Bush, Statement on Signing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, The White House, July 30, 2002.
In the aftermath of January 6th, this charge was weaponized by DC's DOJ in creative prosecutions against January 6th demonstrators, who they argued obstructed the vote count. The threat of this 20 year federal felony forced many January 6th defendants into plea deals which they would not have otherwise taken.
A challenge of the 1512 Obstruction charges against January 6th demonstrators has made it's way through the DC Appeals Court, and is on it's way to being heard by the Supreme Court in 2024.
Read more at: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/jan/29/jan-6-convicts-released-after-supreme-court-takes-/
The US Capitol has been a common protest location for all of its history.
More recently and during the first term of President Donald Trump, from January 2017 until January 2021, protests inside Capitol buildings occured at least 9 times.
In 2017, demonstrators protested in Capitol buildings and disrupted congress 7 times and 627 protesters were arrested and charged.
In 2018, demonstrators protested in Capitol buildings and disrupted congress 2 times and 676 protesters were arrested and charged.
100% of these protesters were charged with local DC statutes, including:
D.C. Code §22-1307: Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding,
D.C. Code §10-503.16: Disruption of Congress, and
D.C. Code §10-503.16(b)(4): Unlawful Conduct;
and never federal charges.
2016 & 2018 USCP Press Releases for arrests during protests inside US Capitol Buildings
CAPITOL HILL RIOTS DURING TRUMPS PRESIDENCY WERE HANDLED MUCH DIFFERENTLY.
During President Donald Trump's first term, DC's Capitol Hill and surrounding area experienced multiple riots by ANTIFA and BLM targeting Trump.
J20 – Trump Inauguration Day Riots
The first, during Trump's inaugration on January 20th 2017, was a pre-planned and coordinated effort to stop the peaceful transfer of power organized under the name "DisruptJ20."
Two hundred and thirty-five J20 rioters were arrested with similar charges to Jan 6 defendants, including assaults on federal officers, yet two hundred and thirty-three, all but two, had their charges dismissed after the Federal Judge assigned to these cases forbade prosecutors from using terms like "ANTIFA" and "Black Bloc." The only two rioters convicted had their sentences suspended, and only one did any jail time, serving four months with time served.
Read more: J6 Vs. J20: A Study In Judicial Anarcho-Tyranny | VDARE Video Bulletin
George Floyd – White House Riots
The second, days after George Floyd's death, was a days long siege of the White House in the area around Lafayette Square Park on Memorial Day weekend in 2020, between May 29 and Jun. 1, 2020.
During these riots, more than 100 federal agents were injured by rioters attacking police, throwing projectiles, rocks and molotov cocktails. Rioters burned down a secret service guard shack outside of the White House and set a historic church on fire among other countless acts of vandalism and terrorism.
In short, the IG investigation found the following startling and little-known facts about the actions of the rioters and the police in Lafayette Park not limited to but including the following:
- The Treasure Annex building was vandalized
- USPP officers reported protestors threw projectiles, such as bricks, rocks, caustic liquids, frozen water bottles, glass bottles, lit flares, rental scooters, and fireworks at law enforcement officials
- A brick struck a USPP officer in the head, resulting in his hospitalization; 49 officers were injured in the first three days
- Acts of violence increased in the late afternoon and evenings
- Damage occurred to Federal and private property
- Historic statues were vandalized with graffiti and damaged
- The park's comfort station was set on fire
- A fire was set at St. John's Church on May 31.
- Nearby stores and businesses were looted daily
- Protestors regularly breached bike-rack fencing and entered secured areas
- Mayor Bowser ordered a curfew on May 31 because of the looting and vandalizing; according to USPP officers, protestors did not comply with the curfew (p.8)
- Dispersal warnings were given but allegedly not heard adequately by protestors
Read more: A Tale of Two Protests: Lafayette Park Versus Jan 6th
On June 29th 2020, Congress held a fact finding hearing to investigate the police use of force during these riots titled "The U.S. Park Police Attack on Peaceful Protesters at Lafayette Square," and called in expert witness Jon Turley to discuss the legality of police use of force and munitions.
Soon after, lawsuits were filed against the City of D.C. and a settlement was reached due to D.C. and Park Police's failure to give adequate warnings to disperse before deploying crowd control munitions.
Lawsuit against D.C. settled for violating DC First Amendment Assemblies Act: Goodwin v. D.C. - Civil Action 21-cv-806 (BAH)
Read expert Jon Turley's full hearing testimony: Oversight Hearing: "The U.S. Park Police Attack on Peaceful Protesters at Lafayette Square Park"
In contrast to January 6th, police during these riots did in this case follow proper DC First Amendment Assemblies Act procedure and use the LRAD unit to warn protesters three times before escalating force. However, these warnings were found to be insufficent, as they could not be adequately heard. On January 6th, no warnings were given at all, yet no court has made a similar finding.
None of these rioters were tried or convicted by the DOJ for their violence. Zero.
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