Tag: Trump insurrectionist mob stormed the Capitol

Actions by Proud Boy at Capitol show ‘planning, determination, and coordination,’ U.S. alleges

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A police riot shield used to break a window, then a door kicked open from the inside — new court documents detail the first moments of the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol that left five people dead and more than 100 police officers injured.

A criminal complaint against two Montana brothers and a detention memo against a prominent member of the Proud Boys help explain how, the government believes, one segment of a mob overran a small, poorly defended line of Capitol Police officers. In these and other filings, prosecutors trace the actions of possible key instigators in the storming of the Capitol, including members of the Proud Boys — a far-right nationalist and nativist group with a history of violence — and other right-wing extremist groups.

According to prosecutors, citing surveillance video and social media, Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola was one of the first to lead the charge both outside and inside the Capitol, helping overwhelm police defenses after stealing an officer’s riot shield. Continue reading.

Pelosi taps retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré to conduct Capitol security review

Congressional committees will also continue review of the attack and preventing future events

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Friday that she’s asked retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré to lead an “immediate” review of the Capitol security posture after the Jan. 6 attack on Congress.

“We must subject this whole complex though to scrutiny in light of what happened and the fact that the inauguration is coming,” the California Democrat said at her weekly news conference. 

Pelosi said Honoré, who has accepted her request, will review the Capitol “security infrastructure, interagency processes and command and control.”  Continue reading.

For those who quit Trump after riot, critics say it’s too little — and four years too late

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Sarah Matthews, a 25-year-old White House spokeswoman, said she watched the violent images unfolding at the Capitol last Wednesday with horror.

Before joining the Trump campaign, and later the White House, she had worked in Congress, and said that “seeing people I know, who were scared for their lives, just shook me to my core.”

After President Trump sent out two halfhearted tweets calling on the angry mob he had encouraged to remain peaceful, Matthews walked to the West Wing’s lower press office where, in front of several colleagues, she appeared visibly shaken. Several hours later, Trump finally put out a video calling on his supporters to leave the Capitol and go home, but Matthews was disturbed by the president’s ad-libbed remarks in which he called the protesters “very special” and said, “We love you.” Continue reading.