Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol/Chapter 6
.png)
6
"BE THERE, WILL BE WILD!"
On December 14, 2020, electors around the country met to cast their Electoral College votes. Their vote ensured former Vice President Joe Biden's victory and cemented President Donald J. Trump's defeat. The people, and the States, had spoken. Members of President Trump's own Cabinet knew the election was over. Attorney General William Barr viewed it as "the end of the matter."[1] Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia concurred.[2] That same day, Scalia told President Trump directly that he should concede defeat.[3]
President Trump had no intention of conceding. As he plotted ways to stay in power, the President summoned a mob for help.
At 1:42 a.m., on December 19th, President Trump tweeted: "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!"[4]
The President's tweet galvanized tens of thousands of his supporters around the country. President Trump had been lying to them since election day, claiming he won, and that the Democrats had stolen victory from him. Now, with a single tweet, the President focused his supporters' anger on the joint session of Congress in Washington, DC on January 6th.
Anika Navaroli, the longest-tenured member of Twitter's Trust and Safety Policy team, monitored the reaction to President Trump's "be wild" tweet. She told the Select Committee that the President was "essentially staking a flag in DC . . . for his supporters to come and rally."[5] The tweet created a "fire hose" of calls to overthrow the U.S. Government. President Trump's supporters had a new sense of urgency because they felt "as if their Commander in Chief" had summoned them.[6]
For many extremists and conspiracy theorists, the President's announcement was a call to arms.[7]
For the Proud Boys—described in more detail below—and their leader, Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, President Trump's tweet set in motion a chain of events that led directly to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. In the days that followed, the Proud Boys reorganized their hierarchy, imposed a stricter A non-free image has been removed from this page.
The removed content can be viewed in the original document https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/html-submitted/C6image2.jpg.
chain-of-command, and instructed followers to go "incognito" on January 6th.[8] The Proud Boys had made their presence known at previous pro-Trump events, including "Stop the Steal" rallies, where they brandished their black and yellow apparel and engaged in street brawls.[9] Suddenly, they did not want to stand out from the crowd. They wanted to blend in. They were planning something big.[10]
Tarrio allegedly used encrypted messages to plot the January 6, 2021, attack. On January 4, 2021, Tarrio told his men that they should "storm the Capitol."[11] While the attack was underway, Tarrio claimed credit in a private chat, writing: "We did this."[12] And on the evening of January 6th, Tarrio released a video of a man, presumably Tarrio himself, dressed in an odd costume standing in front of the U.S. Capitol. The eerie production had been recorded prior to the events of that day. Tarrio—who was not in Washington, DC on January 6th[13]—titled it, "Premonition."[14]
The Oath Keepers, a far-right, anti-government militia movement—also described in more detail below—began planning for January 6th after the President's tweet as well. Stewart Rhodes, the group's leader, had agitated against the U.S. Government for years.[15] Immediately following the 2020 presidential election, Rhodes and others schemed to stop the peaceful transfer of power. They stored weapons outside of Washington, DC,[16] hoping that President Trump would deputize them as his own militia.[17] An Oath Keeper leader, Kelly Meggs, read President Trump's December 19th tweet and commented in a Facebook message: "He called us all to the Capitol and wants us to make it wild!!! Sir Yes Sir!!!"[18] The Oath Keepers formed two military "stacks" and marched up the steps of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. Meggs led one of them.[19]
Members of both the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have been charged with "seditious conspiracy" and other serious crimes, including conspiracy to interfere with a Federal proceeding; some, including Stewart Rhodes, have been convicted.[20] U.S. law defines seditious conspiracy as plotting "to overthrow," or "to oppose by force," or to use "force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States."[21] Some of the two groups' members have already admitted that this is what they intended to do.[22]
Other extremists and conspiracy theorists mobilized after President Trump's tweet as well. These movements are described in more detail in subsequent sections. Three Percenter militias—another far-right, antigovernment movement—shared "#OccupyCongress" memes[23] and planned for violence at the U.S. Capitol.[24] Nick Fuentes, leader of the white nationalist "Groypers," rallied his followers for January 6th.[25] Fuentes bragged afterwards that the "Capitol siege was fucking awesome."[26] Users on TheDonald.win, a website populated by some of President Trump's most ardent fans, openly discussed surrounding and occupying the U.S. Capitol.[27]
Adherents of QAnon, a bizarre and dangerous conspiracy cult, believed January 6th would bring the prophesied "Storm"—a violent purge of Democrats and government officials promised by the mysterious online personality known only as "Q."[28] QAnon's devotees flocked to Washington, DC because of the President's tweet and subsequent rhetoric. They shared a digital banner, "Operation Occupy the Capitol," which depicted the U.S. Capitol being torn in two.[29]
One especially notorious conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, repeatedly told his InfoWars' viewers that January 6th would be a day of reckoning.[30] Jones is known for his outlandish conspiracy-mongering, including his baseless claim that the massacre of school children at Sandy Hook Elementary School was really a "false flag" operation staged by the U.S. Government. Of course, his vicious lie was disproven in court, but Jones is obsessed with "deep state" conspiracy theories and often propagates them.[31] After the 2020 presidential election, Jones argued that President Trump should use the power of the Government to impose martial law on American citizens.[32] Along with his InfoWars co-hosts, Jones amplified President Trump's "Big Lie" and relentlessly promoted President Trump's "wild" protest. One of Jones' co-hosts floated the idea of "storming right into the Capitol."[33] Jones himself marched to the Capitol January 6th.[34]
Jones's influence helped shape the planning for January 6th behind the scenes as well. The Select Committee investigated how event organizers and the White House staff planned President Trump's rally at the Ellipse, a park south of the White House. This event was intended to rile up the President's supporters just prior to the joint session of Congress. A wealthy heiress paid for the event after listening to Jones' InfoWars rant about the importance of President Trump's tweet. She spent $3 million with the goal to "get as many people there as possible."[35] It worked—Americans who believed the election was stolen flocked to the Nation's capital.
By January 5th, President Trump's supporters—a large, angry crowd ready for instructions—had assembled in Washington. That evening, he could hear his raucous supporters at a rally not far from the White House. The President knew his supporters were "angry,"[36] and he planned to call on them to march on the U.S. Capitol.[37] He even wanted to join them on the march.[38] It was all part of President Trump's plan to intimidate officials and obstruct the joint session of Congress.
"We fight like hell," President Trump told the crowd assembled at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021. "And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."[39] Some of those in attendance, as well as elsewhere in Washington that day, were already prepared to fight. They had begun preparing two and a half weeks earlier—when President Trump told them it would "be wild!"