and the presence of law enforcement was not going to prevent Reffitt's advance.[142] According to Reffitt:
[T]here was no reason for me to give up because I had come so far to do what I wanted, what we wanted and needed to do. And I had a mindset. I didn't mean to actually be the first guy up there. I didn't even mean to do that. I just, the adrenaline and knowing that I can't let my country fall.[143]
Reffitt had indeed planned for violence on January 6th, noting on December 28, 2020, that he would "be in full battle rattle." [144] While driving to Washington, DC on January 5th, Reffitt expressed his desire to "drag[ ] those people out of the Capitol by their ankles" and "install[ ] a new government."[145] On the morning of January 6th, Reffitt clarified the target, telling "other members of his militia group and those gathered around him" at the Ellipse that "I'm taking the Capitol with everybody fucking else"and that "[w]e're all going to drag them mother fuckers out kicking and screaming. . . . I just want to see Pelosi's head hit every fucking stair on the way out . . . And Mitch McConnell too. Fuck' em all."[146] Reffitt was convicted and ultimately sentenced to 7 years in prison for his conduct.[147]
A member of the Proud Boys, Daniel Scott, helped lead the charge up the scaffolding stairs.[148] Scott, also known as Milkshake, had marched with the Proud Boys from the Washington Monument to the Capitol. During the march, Scott was recorded in a video yelling, "Let's take the fucking Capitol!"[149] Someone else responded, "Let's not fucking yell that, alright?" And then Nordean added: "It was Milkshake, man, you know . . . idiot." Scott had apparently blurted out the Proud Boys' plan. At the scaffolding, Scott then helped others "take" the U.S. Capitol. While wearing a blue cap with white lettering that read, "Gods, Guns & Trump," he pushed police officers backwards, clearing a path for the rioters. Another Proud Boy, Chris Worrell, was also nearby.[150] As rioters massed under the scaffold, Worrell sprayed officers with OC (or pepper) spray.[151] Other Proud Boys were present at the scaffold, including Micajah Jackson[152] and Matthew Greene.[153]
The attack at and in the vicinity of the scaffolding cleared a path for a wave of rioters who forced their way up the stairs and to the U.S. Capitol building itself.[154] As the rioters rushed up the stairs, another January 6th defendant, Ryan Kelley, climbed up the scaffolding around 1:51 p.m.[155] In the ensuing minutes he waved people on, encouraging them to follow.[156] Kelley—who ran in the Republican primary to be the governor of Michigan in 2022—denied to the Select Committee that he had climbed the scaffolding to wave people on.[157] The FBI arrested Kelley a few months after his deposition.[158]
