Meet the January 6 Rioters: A Sampling

Meet the January 6 Rioters:

In Their Own Words.

  

THERE ARE MANY REASONS why I can’t stomach Donald J. Trump. In this post, let’s stick with his plot to attack democracy from within and above. That attack continues, even as the 2024 election approaches.

Just one day short of the third anniversary of the January 6, 2021 riot in Washington D.C., the former president could be heard claiming that leftist types and government agents were “leading the charge” during the violence. 

Lately, he’s taken to calling the January 6 prisoners “hostages,” and GOP sycophants are aping his language. 

The evidence to the contrary is massive.

Trump firing up the crowd on January 6.

 

***** 

A shocking number express a willingness to kill in his name. 

I’ve looked up the stories of every rioter charged to date. In the first section, below, we look at a quick sample of recent cases. In the second section rioters are numbered in the order I read about their arrests. In a few cases, those who were at the Capitol, but not charged, are included. 

(That includes Roseanne Boyland, who was trampled to death by the mob.) 

 

You can click on the links if you want more details. Rioters whose names are underlined have pled guilty to, or been convicted of crimes. Names in CAPITALS are persons who have been sentenced.

Unless otherwise noted, the rioters listed are avowed Trump supporters, or right-wing types. The only proven exception so far: John Sullivan, #168 on our list.   

 

 

Section One: Recent Arrests and Updates. 

UPDATED TO SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

571. FREEDOM VY: The Pennsylvania Proud Boy has been charged with a variety of crimes, including “violent entry.”

 

1081. Matthew Schmitz: Like any “tourist” visiting Congress, Schmitz came wearing goggles and protective helmet. Originally, I listed him as “Political affiliation unknown.” Nope. Another Proud Boy.

You may recall that MAGA apologists insisted the rioters were “let in” by friendly law enforcement types. Trump said the rioters were “hugging and kissing” every officer they could find. It was a smooch fest!!! As for Mr. Schmitz, he and others were hit with a cloud of tear gas – and he exited the Capitol moments later, through a broken window. He has now agreed to plead guilty.

1305-1306. Tom Vournas and Leonard Lobianco: Add two more Proud Boys. Vournas has pleaded guilty to spraying police with a chemical agent. 

 

1351-1352. Matthew and Andrew Valentin: Court documents related to their plea deal – including admitting to felony-level violence, describe their actions. Included: grabbing police batons, knocking over barricades, and Matthew spraying officers with chemical spray. For good measure, Andrew threw a chair at police.  

In one video, filmed the day of the riot, Matthew describes himself as “Matthew from MAGAsylvania.”

 

1402. RICHARD ERIC STAPLES JR.: On January 5, Mr. Staples petty much tips us off, as to who he is and why he ended up smack dab in the midst of a riot. That day, he posted 

“On my way to the snake pit of Washington DC. To see the diverse group of Trump supporters on this plane is great. Goes against the whole narrative. 

God bless America.” 

#StopTheSteal #MarchForTrump.

Section Two: Who the Rioters Were.  

In this section, rioters are listed in the order I read about their cases. The first arrestees had a significant social media footprint. So we know quite a bit about who they were and what were their motivations.

These are not harmless people. They didn’t need to be “led on” by leftist types or F.B.I. “plants” in an otherwise peaceful crowd. Unless otherwise noted, they are Trump supporters or right-wing types of some kind.

 

Part I – “Trump Sent Us.”

Rioters #1-56.  

(R.I.P) ROSEANNE BOYLAND: She went to D.C. to support Trump, because she believed he won the 2020 election. A QAnon thinker, she was trampled to death by the mob.

 

1. TOMMY FREDERICK ALLAN: He believed the election was stolen. Before the attack, he posted, “Fine! Here [sic] my Roar you fucking communist bastards. Give me freedom or give me death.” 

 

Allan, far left.

BLOGGER’S NOTE: Keep in mind: Many of these rioters are ready for battle, which means they are ready to die. 

But also to kill. 

 

“The greatest president ever.” 

2. FELIPE MARQUEZ went to D.C. “to protest against communism and prostitution.” A QAnon believer, he said he learned the truth from Trump. 

 

3. KENNETH GRAYSON hoped Vice President Mike Pence would refuse to count all the electoral votes. “OR IM THERE IF TRUMP TELLS US TO STORM THE [expletive] CAPITAL IMA DO THAT THEN!” he posted. 

 

4. NOLAN COOKE said he was going to Washington D.C. because he “wanted to be heard, and to be part of the “revolution.” 

 

5. WILLIAM VOGEL told people before the riot that he believed the election had been stolen. 

 

6. SIMONE MELISSA GOLD railed about vaccinations and mask mandates. Gold was all in on Trump’s idea of taking hydroxychloroquine to protect against COVID-19. 

 

7. JOHN HERBERT STRAND: He called himself a “proud patriot,” said he was standing up for Trump. “WE ARE NEVER CONCEDING A STOLEN ELECTION,” he warned.

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: To this date – no matter what date you read this – no court in this great land has found any evidence of significant voter fraud.

I promise, if that changes, I’ll alter this post.   

 

8. VAUGHN GORDON traveled all the way from Louisiana to attend Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally. 

 

9. TROY ANTHONY SMOCKS: Smocks called Trump “the greatest president ever.” Said if the effort to stop the certification failed, he and others would “return on January 19, 2021, carrying our weapons.” You know: the day before the Biden inauguration.  

 

10. ANDREW HATLEY went to D.C. to attend “the protests against the certification of the election.”  

 

11. MATTHEW COUNCIL had worked on an unsuccessful Republican campaign in North Carolina. 

 

12. GRACYN DAWN COURTRIGHT: The clueless young woman was attending the University of Kentucky at the time of the riot. She believed posting on social media would gain attention.  

“INFAMY IS JUST AS GOOD AS FAME,” she wrote.  

(LIKELY TRUMP FAN; NOT DEFINITIVE.)  

 

13. JENNY LOUISE CUDD: After the attack, she posted, “We did break down Nancy Pelosi’s office door and somebody stole her gavel.” Also: “F*** yes, I am proud of my actions. I f****** charged the Capitol today with patriots.” 

 

14. ELIEL ROSA: A friend of Cudd, he worked on the campaign of Jamie Berryhill, a Texas Republican who ran for a seat in Congress. 

 

Paul Davis: Davis was not charged, but said he was at the Capitol because the election was not “legitimate.” “We’re all trying to get into the Capitol to stop this, and this is what’s happening,” he told a reporter. 

 

15. ANTOINE BRODNAX: Brodnax is a rapper, and said he went to the Capitol to get material for his music. 

Could be a government plant, I suppose. But I don’t “suppose.” I like to stick to the proven facts.  

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION UNKNOWN.)

 

 

“Where We Go One, We Go All.”  

16. MICHAEL SHANE DAUGHTRY: On November 2, 2020, the day before the election, he offered to sell worried “patriots” AR-15s and ammo, if the vote didn’t go Trump’s way. (It didn’t.)  

He later posted: “Ain’t our Purple Anti-Liberal Bullets pretty.”  

 

17. KEVIN STRONG: Flying above his home, Strong had a flag emblazoned with the letters: “WW1WGA.” That’s the QAnon abbreviation standing for “Where We Go One, We Go All.”  

Some of these poor QAnon dorks believe John F. Kennedy is going to come back and help Trump drain the swamp!  

(And you think Biden and Trump are old!)  

 

18. NICHOLAS DECARLO: Here we another Proud Boy on our list, a member of that right-wing group. (There will be dozens.) Like his hero, DeCarlo referred to the media as “the Enemy of the American People.”  

Who else hated an unfettered free press?  

This guy:  

Hitler.

 

19. PATRICK ALONZO STEDMAN: Who was Stedman? He tells us if we want to know. “I was pretty much in the first wave, and we broke down the doors and climbed up the back part of the Capitol building and got all the way into the chambers,” he reported on the day of the attack. He felt “grief” over the election of President Biden.  

CLAIMED HE SAW AN ANTIFA INDIVIDUAL AT THE RIOT. 

 

 

20. Tyler Ethridge was a youth pastor, back home. In one video he said he had a “radical love for this nation,” adding that he believed that the “prophets” said Trump should be president for two terms.  

 

21. MELODY STEELE- SMITH: A long-time Trump supporter. After the riot she posted, “I was there. I’m trying to figure out how I could be there all day and miss all this violence and destruction I’m seeing on tv. I think photos for the news were staged.” (She should have talked to Rioter #19, or Rioters #23 and #24.) 

 

22. JACOB LEWIS: Tipsters said Lewis was gathering guns and ammunition in preparation for violence on January 6, and that he was going to Washington to stop the certification of the votes.  

CLAIMED HE SAW ANTIFA AT THE RIOT.  

 

23. MARISSA A. SUAREZ: Described her role and what she saw that day: “When we found out Pence f---ed us, we all stormed the Capitol building and everyone forced entry and started breaking s---. It was like a scene out of a movie.”  

 

24. PATRICIA TODISCO traveled to the capital with Suarez. Here’s how she described the scene at the Capitol: “Shit was crazy inside..everything was broken. People were flipping out.”  

CLAIMED SHE SAW ANTIFA AT THE RIOT. 

 

25. EDUARD FLOREA: His wife told police Eduard had been “radicalized” by the Proud Boys. “Donald Trump is a cult leader, and his legacy will be the Capitol riots, the Proud Boys, and Parler [a right-leaning social media site],” she said. Eduard was arrested again later for threatening to kill U.S. Senator Ralph Warnock (D-Ga.). 

 

26. ROBERT SNOW: One of the least dangerous rioters, he still did his mite to overturn election results. The 79-year-old told authorities he drove all the way from Arkansas, just to hear Trump speak. 

 

27. JACOB G. HILES posted his plans on social media for the day of the attack: “Feelin cute…might start a revolution later, IDK – in Capitol Hill.” His communications with a police officer sympathetic to the goals of the MAGA mob lead to the arrest of that officer, Michael Angelo Riley, #1037 on our list.   

 

“This is our 1776!”  

28. BRADLEY WAYNE WEEKS: In videos he shot during the riot, Weeks talks about “having to break things” to get into the building. “We’ve gotten through, and we are going to take back the Capitol!” he exulted. “We’re taking back our country! This is our 1776!” 

(Again: killing is implied – just not Redcoats this time.)  

 

29-30. ISRAEL TUTROW and JOSHUA WAGNER: A tipster told F.B.I. agents that Wagner, “vehemently opposes Joseph Biden as President.” Even Tutrow’s lawyer admitted his client was “misinformed” regarding the 2020 election.   

Looted office.

 

31-32. DUSTIN THOMPSON and ROBERT ANTHONY LYON: Thompson’s lawyer said his client was “inspired” by Trump’s lies, and believed the election was stolen. At trial, Thompson testified he believed we were going to lose our country if Trump wasn’t given a second term. Lyon is his Trump-loving pal.  

 

33. ANDREW WILLIAMS: Williams’s lawyer told the judge, in mitigation for his client’s actions, that Trump had “encouraged despicable behavior.” 

 

34. RILEY JUNE WILLIAMS: I had to do some serious digging to find out where Ms. Williams stood. She was young, and I  thought she might finally be the Antifa type, I kept hearing about. It turned out she was both a wide-eyed Trump fan and a white supremacist, neo-Nazi gal. 

 

Neo-Nazi curious.

 

35-36. CHANCE ANTHONY UPTMORE and JAMES HERMAN UPTMORE: Father James, and son Chance, took a road trip to D.C. – a bonding experience – to hear Trump ramble in a speech about how he won a landslide victory. 

CHANCE CLAIMED HE SAW ANTIFA AT THE RIOT. 

 

 

37. BRIAN GUNDERSEN: A person with a close personal relationship to the defendant described him as “an avid supporter of former President Trump and a follower of commentator Nick Fuentes, a far-right commentator.” Nick is the neo-Nazi guy who says Hitler didn’t go far enough.  

 

38. Christopher Raphael Spencer: Christopher’s dad told a reporter that his son believed Biden’s victory in 2020 was stolen. Also, he and his boy are QAnon fans.  

 

39. BARTON WADE SHIVELY may have been or may still be a member of the “Three Percenters,” a right-wing group. He served seven years with the Marines.  

 

“Trump is my president.”  

40. MICHAEL SPARKS: Sparks was the first rioter to climb through a broken window, into the Capitol. Like so many others that day, he believed the election had been stolen, and said he was ready to die for his freedom. At one point, he posted on social media, “We want a civil war just to be clear.” 

Implied: A willingness to kill Americans who voted against Trump. He gets 53 months in prison. 

 

41. JORGE A. RILEY: Somehow, Democratic politicians never show up on this list, but Republican politicians do. And Riley does. “I’m here to see what my President called me to DC for,” he explained. 

 

Jamie Allman: Mr. Allman was not charged, but was present on January 6. Once a reporter himself, he had been booted from the air after tweeting that he’d like to “ram a hot poker up the ass” of a Parkland High School shooting survivor. Allman told friends January 6 was “one of the most beautiful days I’ve seen in America.” 

 

42. ANDREW C. ERICSON: At sentencing, Ericson’s lawyer said his client watched too much right-wing news, and fell for “false claims” about a “stolen election” and an “election system that had been corrupted,” those lies having also been peddled by President Donald J. Trump.   

(He’s still selling the same tired lies to the sadly ill-informed.)  

 

“Charlie Hebdo these traitors.” 

43. DAMON MICHAEL BECKLEY: Beckley was increasingly angry, in weeks following the 2020 election. In December he wrote about going to D.C. with violent intent. “It’s not a slap in the face; it’s a DARE for hardened patriots,” he wrote, “to Charlie Hebdo these traitors and end their audacious tyranny. Coups demand revolutions. Congress should be pulled into the DC streets Khaddafi style!” 

 

44. CRAIG MICHAEL BINGERT: A supporter of President Trump, he was charged with assaulting police, along with Isaac Steve Sturgeon (#258 on our list), and Taylor James Johnatakis (#486). 

 

45. THOMAS GALLAGHER: A friend said Gallagher went to D.C. to hear Trump speak, after “watching far too much Fox News.” 

 

46. Chad Barrett Jones: Mr. Jones helped break the window in the door of the Speaker’s Lobby, which would have opened a route for rioters to reach the floor of the House of Representatives. Ashli Babbit (#56 on our list) was shot and killed while trying to climb through that window.  

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION UNKNOWN.) 

 

 

47. NICOLAS MONCADA: A neighbor described Moncada, 20, as “a wonderful kid.” Nicolas, Daniel Christmann, (#425 on our list) and Edward Jacob Lang (#131) were connected in their roles in the riot.  

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER.)  

 

48. JOSHUA MATTHEW BLACK: “Once we found out Pence turned on us and that they had stolen the election, like officially,” Black explained, “the crowd went crazy. I mean, it became a mob.”  

January 6, 2021 19:24:22

Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth! Retweets: 0 Favorites: 0

  

 

“We can’t loose (sic) our America.”  

49. JOSHUA R. LOLLAR: Lollar sounded like he was channeling Trump when he posted, “Just got gassed and fought with cops that I never thought would happen ... I don’t know what we can do, but I’m trying my best to get it done peaceful. We can’t loose (sic) our America.” 

 

50. JESUS RIVERA (a.k.a J. D. RIVERA): Rivera served with the Marines. In the six months leading up to the attack, he “amassed a large social media following as he toured the country holding rallies for then-President Donald Trump.” 

 

51. JORDEN R. MINK: Mink used a baseball bat to break a window at the Capitol, because he believed the election was stolen. “The ballot is stronger than the bullet – Abraham Lincoln,” he posted on social media at one point. “Well ... my magazines will be fully loaded just in case it’s not.”

Rioters used bats, hockey sticks, and table legs to pound police.

  

 

52. (R.I.P.) MATTHEW PERNA: Perna hopped aboard a tour bus bound for D.C., along with other excited Trump fans. After he was charged for his role in the riot, he committed suicide.  

(Two lives wasted, so far.) 

 

53. GARRETT MILLER:  Miller is another one of those Trump fans who was hoping for a little blood to be spilled. He later threatened to assassinate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and said he hoped the officer who shot Babbitt would face a “televised execution.” 

When arrested, Miller was wearing this shirt,
which read, "I was there."

  

54. MATTHEW RYAN MILLER: Mr. Miller’s lawyer told the court his client was in D.C. on January 6 at the “behest” of Mr. Trump. “Never has there ever been more voter fraud in [the] history of our country,” the defendant posted on his way to Washington by train. “If our Republic is going to survive, we must have fair elections!!”  

 

55. DAVID C. MISH JR.: I have him listed as a “Trump supporter” but don’t remember why. My blog description is short – although Mr. Mish’s criminal record, prior to the riot, is not. 

 

56. (R.I.P.) ASHLI BABBITT: Babbitt wasn’t some left-leaning, Antifa type. She believed in QAnon and thought Trump was “one of gods [sic] greatest warriors.”  

(Three lives wasted – in service to Trump.)   

 

Part II – “Stopping the Steal.”

Rioters #57-79. 

In my second post, we had: 

57. NATHAN WATTS: He was neither violent nor destructive of government property. So that’s good. He gets three years on probation, must complete community service, and owes $800.

(LIKELY TRUMP FAN.)  

 

58. HENRY PHILLIP MUNTZER: Mr. Muntzer, from Montana, said he helped “storm” the Capitol, but also claimed he saw no violence. “We sent the message that we are not going to take it, we want out [our] country back ...” 

He has been convicted on all counts, both felonies and misdemeanors, and will spend two years in jail.

Muntzer's place of business.

  

59. KEVIN JAMES LYONS told everyone why he was going to Washington. “I refuse to tell my children that I sat back and did nothing,” he posted. “I’m heading to DC to STOP THE STEAL! #MAGA #KAG.”  

(KAG stands for “Keep America Great.”)   

 

60. ANTHONY R. MARIOTTO: Mariotto told an F.B.I. agent that he and his wife went to Washington to listen to Mr. Trump. They were there to do their part to stop certification of the electoral votes. 

 

61. MATTHEW MAZZOCCO: Mazzocco can be heard in videos shot on January 6, telling other people who stormed the Capitol not to take or destroy anything. That’s good. 

He believed the election was stolen.

That isn’t.  

 

IAN ROGERS: Rogers was not in D.C. on the day of the riot; so he’s a bonus right-wing nut. He was arrested after federal agents raided his home and found bomb making materials. Rogers had previously posted a few thoughts on social media. For example, “I want to blow up a democrat building bad.”  

And: “I hope 45 goes to war if he doesn’t I will.”

 

Even Rogers' hair is kind of Trumpian.

 

62. PHILIP ANDREW BROMLEY: Mr. Bromley’s lawyer described his client as “a well-respected member of the community who served his country and has no prior criminal record whatsoever.” Bromley was nearby when Babbitt was shot.

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER.)  

 

63-64. RACHEL LYNN PERT and DANA JOE WINN: Winn said she brought a Trump flag to the riot so she could hit Antifa folks on their heads. “We’re on our way to DC because us as American patriots, we’re tired of this shit,” she live-streamed, while driving east with her friend. America needed to “wake up,” she warned. “We’re on the verge of fucking losing it.”  

Pert is her bud. 

 

“And the deplorables are coming with him!”  

65. DANIEL D. PHIPPS: Phipps was excited to catch a charter bus, leaving Texas and heading for the capital, urging others to join him. He was going to do his part to stop the steal! “Hey Marxists, Trump is coming on January 6,” he warned. “And the deplorables are coming with him!”

 

66. HUNTER ALLEN EHMKE: Grandpa told police that grandson Hunter was “a very shy person,” “a very friendly person,” and just got caught up in the moment. He said the young man went to D.C. to hear President Trump and take part in what he felt would be a “peaceful protest.”  

 

67. VALERIE ELAINE EHRKE: If Antifa defendants prove impossible to find, QAnon fools, abound. She went to D.C. to stop the pedophile Democrats from harvesting the blood of babies, I guess. 

 

68. KEVIN LOFTUS: Wisconsin state Senator Dave Zien told reporters he first met Loftus several years before, but got to know him well in the summer and fall of 2020, through local Trump campaign events. He described the veteran as “a very patriotic and commendable individual.” 

 

69. SCOTT KEVIN FAIRLAMB: Fairlamb shouted at police during the riot, calling on them to “act like Americans” and join the mob to overturn the counting of the votes. He said he went to D.C. to “defend our Constitution.” As for the police, he suggested a course of action for the mob: “We f*ckin’ disarm them, and then we storm the f*ckin Capitol.”   

 

70. DOUGLAS SWEET: According to his daughter, Sweet had fallen for all kinds of conspiracy theories, about President Obama’s birth certificate, and Democratic-run child pedophile rings. “He wholeheartedly believes this stuff,” she said. “I feel like he is under a spell. Trump has got these people under a spell.”

 

71. CINDY FITCHETT: On Facebook, Ms. Fitchett was a proud member of a group called Trump Women Landslide 2020. When the president tweeted that had won the election, she responded, “This claim is correct.”

 

72. ANDREW WRIGLEY: The artist from Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania was arrested in part based on social media posts. “At the protest in DC at the capitol building #stopthesteal,” he said in one. 

 

73. LEO KELLY: “At some point,” he tells a reporter on January 6, “there’s enough crimes being committed against the Constitution, committed by the elected officials, that, you know, what are you supposed to do?”   

So, like many a MAGA fool, he joined the mob.  

 

74. ANDREW BENNETT: His state of mind, in days leading up to the riot can be deduced from his comments on social media. Such as: “You better be ready chaos is coming and I will be in DC on 1/6/2021 fighting for my freedom!” And: “PS. #BidensLaptopMatters #FUCKCANCELCULTURE #FUCKANTIFA #FUCKCOMMIESCUM #FUCKCHINA #STOPTHESTEAL.”  

 

Three pistols for fun.  

75. Daniel Page Adams: Charged with assaulting an officer; the affidavit of arrest notes his “mullet hairdo” in one photo. (That can hurt a man’s pride.) He and his cousin, #76 below, said they went to D.C. to protest the stolen election. For “fun,” they decided to bring three pistols. 

 

76. Cody Page Connell: The day after the riot, Connell admitted that he and Daniel helped “storm the cops,” although his cousin “got clubbed and shot with rubber bullet. But we pushed the cops against the wall, they dropped all their gear and left.” 

 

77. BRANDON STRAKA: An organizer of “Stop the Steal” rallies, Straka urged members of the mob to attack a police officer and take away his shield during the riot. He called for “a revolution” that day. 

 

78. RASHA ABUAL-RAGHEB: Ms. Ragheb is a member of the Three Percenters. She warned in a Facebook chat that the “revolution will start not by standing by but by standing up” and said civil war was coming. People needed to “show support and rise up and fight” for the Constitution.  

(To paraphrase: “Hey, let’s kill people for Trump!”) 

 

79. CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL ALBERTS: Alberts brought a loaded pistol to the riot and got caught with it in his pocket. He was heard shouting at police that the mob was “going to come back even more, and we’re not coming back peacefully, and we’re not coming back unarmed.” 

 

Alberts was ready for war.

  

Part III – “Fooling the ‘Patriots.”

Rioters #80-101.  

As a dedicated blogger, I am tenacious in pursuit of the truth. The sarcasm is an added bonus. So, I kept looking for proof that the rioters on January 6 might not be Trump fans, but found none.

 

80. BLAKE AUSTIN REED: What happened in Washington D.C., on that fateful day for our nation? Reed said this: “We the People have spoken and we are pissed! No antifa, no BLM … We the People took the Capitol! Every American ethnicity was here. Democratic tyranny WILL NOT STAND! WE HAVE SPOKEN!!”

 

Zip ties and mom.  

81. LISA MARIE EISENHART is the mother of Eric Munchel (Rioter #116). Eric could be seen during the attack, carrying a fistful of zip ties inside the Senate chamber. In court, Eisenhart’s lawyer would claim she and her son were “invited” into the Capitol by Trump, and all they did was listen to his call.  

(Don’t forget the zip ties in case you catch Speaker Nancy Pelosi!) 

 

82. EMILY HERNANDEZ: She was seen in pictures from the day of the riot, posing proudly with part of the broken wooden name plate from Speaker Pelosi’s office. More or less a typical Trump fan.  

Her lawyer described her as “the girl next door.”  

 

83. JENNIFER LEIGH RYAN: On a live-stream feed, Ryan talked about breaking windows to get into the Capitol Building. “We are frontline patriots who are fighting for liberty,” she insisted. A story some months later, noted that on January 6, Ryan posted a picture of herself from the Capitol, with a warning, “if the news doesn’t stop lying about us we’re going to come after their studios next...” She said she “deserved a medal” for participating in the attack and bragged that she had “blonde hair white skin a great job a great future and I’m not going to jail[.]” 

(Attacking the free press. That’s the way to fight for liberty, for sure.) 

P.S.: She did go to jail. 

 

Brian Miller: Miller flew to D.C. on the same private plane as Ms. Ryan. He was not charged. Later, he told the Dallas Observer that those who “intended to harm lawmakers are ‘terrorists’ and should be arrested.”  

 

Humor and the Holocaust.  

84. ANTHIME JOSEPH GIONET: Gionet is an alt-right troll known as “Baked Alaska” to fans. To say the least, he enjoys toying with neo-Nazi themes. He was kicked off Twitter (now “X”) after he started quoting actual Nazi slogans and “joking” about gas chambers. The Holocaust! So funny!  

Am I right!  

 

85. JEFFREY SABOL helped drag a police officer down the Capitol Hill steps during the riot, and joined in his beating. If you think these rioters were peaceful patriots, you need to read about his case. (He was fined more than $32,000 and sentenced to 63 months behind bars.)

Sabol with baton.

 

86. ALBERT CIARPELLI had attended a number of pro-Trump rallies. He said he hoped to return to Washington on January 20, to see Trump’s Second Inauguration. 

 

87. SAMUEL J. FISHER fancied himself a “dating coach,” but brought multiple firearms and a bullet proof vest to D.C. “We must stand up to these people and take our world back. … It’s time to bring the pain upon them,” he explained. “Trump just needs to fire the bat signal… deputize patriots… and then the pain comes.” 

Ready for war.

88. Peter J. Harding: Nothing says, “I love freedom and the rights we enjoy under the First Amendment,” so much as setting fire to media equipment during a riot – which Harding is accused of doing. 

 

89. Christopher M. Kelly: In one of the more unfortunate sartorial decisions of that day, Kelly posed shirtless in front of the U.S. Capitol before claiming to have stormed the building. “No worries,” he told a friend before the riot, “I’ll be with ex NYPD and some proud boys.”  

Charges were later dropped because Kelly turned out to have been bragging about joining the attack.  

 

90. DOMINICK MADDEN: A co-worker described the defendant as someone  who “loved his family and always put them before himself.”  

Madden’s main problem? He was a QAnon dope.  

 

“Civil War will ensue!”  

91. STEPHEN MICHAEL AYRES: The Ohio man posted on Facebook, the day after Christmas, 2020, saying that if President Trump lost the election, “Civil War will ensue!” He later testified before Congress, admitting that he had been blinded by all of the president’s lies. 

 

92. THOMAS BARANYI told a reporter that he and others “blitzed our way in through all the chambers.” Why? He didn’t like the outcome of the 2020 election. “But we’re at a point now, it can’t be allowed to stand. We have to do something. People have to do something,” he said.  

 

93. Leonard Guthrie Jr. was a self-described street preacher and conservative Christian. He said he crossed police barricades in an act of “civil disobedience.” 

 

Rick Saccone ran as a Republican for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018. He was endorsed by the president but did not win. He was present on January 6, but was not arrested. He did, however, make it clear who he believed was storming the building. Wearing a Trump beanie, he posted a video message to Facebook: “We are storming the capitol. Our vanguard has broken thru the barricades. We will save this nation. Are u with me?”  

(Who stormed the building? “We” did, said Trump’s man.)  

 

94. GLENN ALLEN BROOKS runs a kitchen and bath remodeling business. He was arrested after another member of a prayer group to which he belonged tipped off authorities that he was bragging about being part of the attack.  

And if you ever wonder why it might take so long to deal with the January 6 defendants (or the former president himself) a list of trial motions and various legal filings in Brooks’ case runs to 132 steps, many including multiple parts. In #122, a jury finds the defendant guilty on four charges.

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER.)  

 

95. TERRY BROWN believed the election was stolen, and had no regrets about joining the mob. “I came to the conclusion that we needed to be heard, and nobody was listening,” he told a reporter. “So if this is what it took … to make the people stand up and listen, then to me it was worth it.”  

 

“Shoot her in the friggin’ brain.”  

96-97. DAWN BANCROFT and DIANA SANTOS-SMITH: “We broke into the Capitol … we got inside, we did our part….,” Bancroft later bragged. “We were looking for Nancy [Pelosi] to shoot her in the friggin’ brain, but we didn’t find her.” Santos-Smith is her good friend. 

 

98. William Joseph Pepe: Pepe is a Proud Boy, associated with Dominic Pezzola (#135 on our list); convicted for felony assault.

 

 99. LONNIE LEROY COFFMAN: At holiday gatherings, Lonnie’s grandson said grandpa often expressed admiration for President Trump – which is fine.  

What isn’t fine: He drove his red GMC Sierra pickup to D.C., packed with an M4 assault rifle, multiple loaded magazines, three handguns and 11 Mason jars filled with homemade napalm.

 

100. CLEVELAND GROVER MEREDITH JR.: “Headed to DC with a (s — ) ton of 5.56 armor-piercing ammo,” he texted friends and relatives as he drove north. The day after the attack he texted again: “Thinking about heading over to Pelosi (C —’s) speech and putting a bullet in her noggin on Live TV.”  

 

101. JACOB ANTHONY CHANSLEY: Anyone who follows the news knows Chansley, at least by appearance. He’s the “QAnon Shaman.” And why was he there, on January 6, inside the Senate chamber? His lawyer was clear. He said Chansley should get a pardon from the man who sent him off on a fool’s errand. “My client had heard the oft-repeated words of Donald J. Trump. The words and invitation of a president [to stop the counting of the electoral votes] are supposed to mean something.”  

(They did. In essence they meant, “You all riot, and I can remain in power.”) 

Chansley gives a shout.

  

Part IV – “QAnon and Assorted Nuts.”

Rioters #102-139. 

 

102. ROBERT SANFORD: According to Sanford’s lawyer, he listened to Trump’s speech on January 6, got all pumped, “and then had followed the President’s instructions and gone to the Capitol.”  

 

103-104. ANTONIO LAMOTTA and JOSHUA MACIAS: The two men had previously shown up in Philadelphia to protest the outcome of the election. Their “protest” involved bringing an AR-15 to a voting-center.  

On January 6, there they were in D.C., to support Trump. On the evening before the riot, they hung out with Oath Keeper leaders, and listened to Stewart Rhodes talk about the necessity of civil war.

 

“Camp Auschwitz” 

105. ROBERT KEITH PACKER: A good number of the J6 rioters were anti-Semitic. Packer showed up wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt. 

 

106. ADAM JOHNSON is famous for walking away from the riot carrying Nancy Pelosi’s podium; a big Trump fan.   

 

Johnson with his souvenir.

 

107. AARON MOSTOVSKY believed the election was stolen. “We were cheated. I don’t think 75 million people voted for Trump – I think it was close to 85 million,” he said, echoing the claims of the president himself.   

How did a harmless protester, Mostofsky, get a police shield and vest?

108. KLETE KELLER: The former Olympian posted often about his “ardent love” for Donald J. Trump. 

 

109. JACK JESSE GRIFFITH (a.k.a. “JUAN BIBIANO”) believed those who stormed the Capitol were saving a nation, not cracking its foundation.  

 

110. KEVIN SEEFRIED became famous as the rioter who carried a Confederate battle flag into the Capitol. He later admitted he flew the flag regularly at his home.

 

111. HUNTER SEEFRIED: Hunter and his dad were on a birthday road trip, and decided to stop in D.C. and listen to Trump speak. Donald spoke, dad waved his rebel banner, and father and son got arrested as a result.  

 

“Death is the only remedy for what’s in that building.”  

112. PETER STAGER had cheered for Trump for years. On January 6, outside the Capitol, he made it clear. He was ready for action. “Everybody in there is a treasonous traitor. Death is the only remedy for what’s in that building.” For good measure, Stager added, “every single one of those Capitol law enforcement officers, death is the remedy, that is the only remedy they get.”  

(Again: These are Trump fans talking about death for Trump’s political foes – and police.)  

 

113-114. JACOB FRACKER and THOMAS ROBERTSON: Robinson sums up the events of January 6 in a video he shot:  “CNN and the Left are just mad because we actually attacked the government who is the problem and not some random small business … The right IN ONE DAY took the f***** U.S. Capitol.” 

 

115-116. LARRY RENDALL BROCK and ERIC GAVELEK MUNCHEL:  Brock, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, and Munchel were seen in pictures of the riot occupying the chambers of Congress while wearing tactical gear and holding plastic zip ties. Brock had a plan for January 6, which included this nugget: “Do not kill LEO [law enforcement officers] unless necessary.”  

(Unless necessary – to back up Trump’s lies?) 

Brock - garbed for war, zip ties in hand.

 

117. (R.I.P.) DR. TAMMY TOWERS PARRY: Another QAnon nut. “Joe Biden did not win,” she said. “He’s hopefully going to prison.”  She was killed, as her life unraveled after her arrest, when she pointed a shotgun at two process servers come to present her an eviction notice.  

 

118. Laura Daube Kronen: “I stood up for what’s right today in Washington D.C.,” she claimed. “This election was a sham. Mike Pence is a traitor.” 

 

119. DOUG JENSEN: On Facebook, Jensen posted support for Trump and for QAnon conspiracies.  

 

“Stand back, but stand by.”  

120. NICK OCHS was founder of the Hawaiian branch of the Proud Boys, and a buddy of Nicholas DeCarlo (#18).  

And do we all remember that moment during a presidential debate, that Trump was asked about right-wing groups like the Boys? And he told them to “Stand back, but stand by.” Do we remember that?  

Ochs and the Boys certainly did.  

 

121. MICHAEL THOMAS CURZIO: His lawyer claimed Curzio could not be faulted for his actions, because he “was merely following the directions of then-President Trump, who has billed himself as the country’s chief law enforcement officer.” 

 

122. CHRISTINE PRIOLA: Just another Trump fan, who believed the election was stolen, and QAnon conspiracies made sense.  

(One theory: Biden is dead; and he’s been replaced by a robot.)  

(Yeah. I’m not making that up.)  

 

123. NICHOLAS RODEAN: At one point during the riot, Rodean brandished a hatchet. Another Trump supporter.

 

124. DERRICK EVANS: Mr. Evans was, at the time of the riot, recently elected to a seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates.  

As a Republican, of course. 

 

Evans got in the Christmas spirit in 2023.

 

125. William Arthur Nichols Jr. used a circular shield to defend himself and strike police during the riot.  

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION NOT YET KNOWN.)  

 

126. JOSIAH COLT: Along with two others, Nathan DeGrave (#173) and Ronald Sandlin (#174), Colt was ready for war on January 6. His lawyer later claimed that Colt was “a good person who made a series of very bad choices based on misinformation and the emotional oratory of a demagogue.”  

That demagogue would be:  

The guy on the left.

127. RICHARD “BIGO” BARNETT: Barnett’s lawyer will eventually describe him as “everyone’s crazy redneck uncle from out of town.” He brings a stun gun to the Capitol on January 6, and gets photographed with his feet up on Nancy Pelosi’s desk. Even after he was arrested, he insisted the 2020 election was stolen. 

 

 128. BRAD RUKSTALES: An executive at an Illinois marketing company, he donated $20,000 to Trump’s campaign.   

 

“If the orders are given, the people will rise up.”  

Jeff (not arrested): A man who gave his name only as “Jeff,” told a reporter, in the midst of the mayhem, that he was an off-duty police officer from York County, Pa. On the way to D.C., he admitted he and his wife, “Amy” didn’t know what to expect. But if there was going to be trouble, he said he was ready to do his part. “There’s a lot of people here willing to take orders,” he predicted. “If the orders are given, the people will rise up.”  

(Against whom? And at what price in blood?)  

 

129. MARK LEFFINGWELL: At sentencing, the judge in his case considered his military service (Leffingwell’s a disabled veteran – a traumatic brain injury from his time in Iraq), and gave him a lighter sentence than you might have expected, since he slugged two cops. He was in D.C. to “Stop the Steal.” 

 

130. MATTHEW BLEDSOE: In an apparent reference to members of Congress, Bledsoe barked during the attack: “Where those pieces of s**t at?”   

Matt’s wife didn’t help his defense when she proudly posted: “Matt was inside the Capitol, he was one of the first,” she wrote. “They yelled and screamed, that’s about it. My husband is a Patriot solider [sic].”  

 

131-132. Edward Jacob Lang and BRANDON FELLOWS: Lang would later defend his actions on January 6, insisting,  “I consider myself doing exactly what the founding fathers would have done, and I don’t play the watered-down version of Jan. 6. I think that was well within our rights and constitutional duty to overthrow the chains of tyranny. I am a real 1776 patriot.” 

Fellows was recently sentenced to 37 months in prison. He was one of those rioters ready for blood: 

“Guns…That’s it. One word. The First Amendment didn’t work, we pull out the Second. We’re all civilized people and we love going to work and praying to God on Sundays and having nice family barbeques…and that was every single person there. No one wants to take this and…and die for our rights, but dying for our rights is the only option [emphasis added] that any person with a logical brain sees right now. This is it. 

 

133. JON RYAN SCHAFFER: took bear spray to the riot. He was an “Oath Keepers Lifetime Member.”

  

134. KASH LEE KELLY: Mr. Kelly admitted that he and other rioters wanted to let Trump’s political foes “know this is our house, this is our country, and that’s our president. And we are not going to let them (expletive) with us, man, (expletive) with our liberty and our freedoms.” 

 

135. DOMINIC “SPAZZO” PEZZOLA: “Spazzo” describing himself as “a first-degree Proud Boy.” He was one of the first rioters to break a window and open a path inside the building to the mob. 

 

136. THOMAS GRONEK was arrested the day before the riot, when a bus on which he was riding was stopped by authorities. Gronek was carrying a rifle, “a large-capacity feeding device,” and more than 300 rounds of ammunition. 

 

137. ROBERT L. BAUER got his own pair of cuffs after authorities arrested him for his role in the mayhem. Bauer told authorities he marched to the U.S. Capitol “because President Trump said to do so.” He said that on having broken into the Capitol, a police officer shook his hand and said, “It’s your house now.” His house for 45 days, all because he believed Donald, is jail.

 

 

138. DOMINIC BOX has been described as “an outspoken supporter of QAnon,” and a “Republican organizer.” 

 

139. JUSTIN STOLL: Before going to Washington, Stoll posted several statements about the upcoming rally and protest. He referred to those opposed to Trump as “enemy combatants” who should be “shot on sight.”  

(These people want to shed a lot of American blood.)   

 

 

Part V – Officer Hodges Fights Back.

Rioters #140-160. 

We pick up once more with a fresh batch of rioters – many of whom were clear about where they stood on January 6. Again: Names in capital letters are those who have already been sentenced. Names that are underlined are individuals who have pleaded guilty or been convicted, but not sentenced. 

 

140. GUY WESLEY REFFITT: Reffitt was, at the time of the riot, a recruiter for the right-wing “Three Percenters.” According to his affidavit, Mr. Reffitt warned his wife and children, “If you turn me in, you’re a traitor and you know what happens to traitors ... traitors get shot.”   

(The next Father’s Day must have been fun.)  

 

141. DANIEL GOODWYN: On the day of the attack, Goodwyn tweeted from inside the Capitol, “Await orders from our Commander in Chief.” 

 

142. CHRISTOPHER RAY GRIDER: “The president asked people to come and show their support,” Grider explained to a reporter. “I feel like it’s the least that we can do. It’s kind of why I came from Central Texas all the way to DC.” 

 

143. WILLIAM McCALL CALHOUN JR.: In months leading up to the riot, Calhoun made numerous threats on social media, expressing a desire to “kill every last communist who stands in Trump’s way.”  

 

144. Samuel Camargo: When an F.B.I. agent tried to interview him, Camargo questioned the agent’s loyalty to the Constitution. He has been convicted on several charges, but not on others.

 

145. T. D. PHAM: Pham was an officer with the Houston, Texas police department when he joined the mob. 

 

146. Kim Sorgente: Kim liked to show up at pro-Trump rallies and assault counter-protesters.

 

147. PATRICK EDWARD MCCAUGHEY III: McCaughey traveled to D.C. with his father to support Trump. His lawyer argued for his client’s pre-trial release, noting that “the defendant’s somewhat of a de facto unindicted coconspirator in this case” would be … wait for it … “President Donald J. Trump.”  

 

148. THOMAS FEE: Asked about his role in the riot, Fee happily responded that he was “at the tip of the spear.”

  

149-150. Mark Sahady and SUZANNE IANNI: The two were members of a “strait pride” group, called Super Happy Fun America. The group’s leaders say they chartered six buses to ferry Trump supporters to D.C. to protest the outcome of the 2020 race. Nobody had to lead these dopes on – because they were dopes. 

 

“We have about 30-40 of us.” 

151. Thomas E. Caldwell: Caldwell is a member of an Ohio branch of the Oath Keepers. At his trial, it was revealed he had a “hit list” containing two names: Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss – falsely accused by Trump and Rudy Giuliani of having stolen tens of thousands of Georgia votes.  

(Freeman and Moss have since won $148.2 million in a defamation case against Rudy.)

(Total votes stolen: 0.) 

Prior to the attack on January 6, Caldwell suggested having a stash of “heavy weapons” across the Potomac River, in Virginia, where gun laws were less stringent, ready for use if the riot exploded in bloodshed.

  

152. JESSICA WATKINS: Another member of the Ohio-based Oath Keepers, she showed up in full battle gear. As the attack unfolded, Watkins assured others on a comms channel: “We have a good group. We have about 30-40 of us. We are sticking together and sticking to the plan.”  

(That plan: overturn election results; get Trump a second term.)

Watkins dressed for a fight, right.

  

153. Donovan Crowl: Another Oath Keeper. 

 

154. MICHAEL JOSEPH FOY is a Marine veteran. He believed the election was stolen from Trump. He’ll have forty months in prison to puzzle over that question and then serve probation.

 

155. MATTHEW CAPSEL: Capsel’s social media accounts contain frequent posts supporting Donald Trump along with discredited election fraud and QAnon conspiracy theories.

 

156. Emanuel Jackson: Asked why he was there, wielding an aluminum bat against cops on January 6, he told a reporter he was, “Fighting for America. We’ve been taken over by globalists, by the Chinese. Fighting for America. I’m not here for Trump. I’m here for America.” His lawyer will later tell the court that Mr. Jackson was “inspired” by President Trump. 

 

157. Vitali Gossjankowski: No list of Trump supporters would be complete without a few racists and anti-Semites. Vitali is both. He sent the following messages to a female (I think) agent working his case: 

You are a disgusting Jewish evil corpulent rabbi who likes getting raped by your gay colleague. 

Unattractive Jewish Orc 

Go fuck yourself. You’re so fucking unattractive with a lot of facial scabs. 

You’re worse than a bunch of low-functioning ghetto niggers in the ghetto street.  

 

158. Gabriel Augustin Garcia is a former U.S. Army captain. He also ran for Congress as a Republican. On the day of the attack on Capitol Hill, he responded to an encrypted message from the Proud Boys, calling for backup: “Storming the capital building right now!!” and “Get there[.]” 

 

159-160. ALEX HARKRIDER and RYAN TAYLOR NICHOLS: Harkrider was clear about why he and his friend were heading to Washington D.C. They and other like-minded right-wingers “were planning a civil war.”  

Nichols would explain, in the hours after fighting subsided, “Patriots stood their ground today! We aren’t done yet, either! You want to steal our election, and not hear us in court? Good! Now you’ll hear our civil unrest!”   

In another video, he let rip: 

So if you want to know where Ryan Nichols stands, Ryan Nichols stands for violence Ryan Nichols is done allowing his country to be stolen. And I understand that the first Revolutionary War, folks, it was violent. We had to be violent and take our country back. Well guess what? The second Revolutionary War, right now, the American Revolutionary War that’s going on right now, it started today on a Wednesday. It’s going to be violent. 

So, yes, today, Ryan Nichols…Ryan Nichols grabbed his f***ing weapon and he stormed the Capitol and fought for freedom.

 

The weapon he was wielding was a crowbar, just right for cracking a police officer’s or Biden voter’s skull.

 

Biden won on ballots. So bullets for Trump?

 

Part VI – “Blood Running Out of the Building.” –

Rioters #161-202. 

If you haven’t noticed, many of the rioters are perfectly clear about who they are. Right-wingers and Trump fans, including neo-Nazi, abound.

 

161. ROBERT GIESWEIN: Charging documents and videos showed that the defendant had links to the three extremist groups: the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters. “Some of the videos appear to include members who discussed storming the Capitol about an hour ahead of the riot.” 

 

162. MARK KULAS JR.: Mark came to D.C. with his brother, Christian Kulas (#331 on the list). Non-violent on the day of the riot, Mark is the generic MAGA type.  

 

“The Trump kool aid.”  

163. Gina Bisignano showed up for the riot, carrying a bullhorn. She can be heard at one point, shouting encouragement to members of the mob, violently assaulting police in a jammed tunnel. “We need weapons ... we need strong, angry patriots to help our boys,” she calls out. “They don’t want to leave.” In court, her lawyer tells the judge, Gina “drank the Trump kool aid.”  

 

164. COUY GRIFFIN: CBS noted the arrest of Couy Griffin, a Republican county commissioner from New Mexico, and founder of the group “Cowboys for Trump.” In a video he later posted for his group, Griffin spoke of organizing another Capitol rally on January 20 – one that could result in “blood running out of that building.”  

 

165. BRYAN BETANCUR BATTISTI: Battisti expressed a desire to be a “lone wolf killer” prior to the riot. He told investigators that he was a member of several white supremacist groups. Yeah. Not Antifa.   

 

Keith Lee: Originally, I had Mr. Lee listed as Rioter #166. In weeks leading up to the November election, he helped organize pro-Trump car and truck caravans. Afterwards, he helped raise money online to pay expenses for “patriots” to make the trip to D.C., and claimed to have passed out tens of thousands of dollars.   

For his part, Lee was warning online supporters, “We are at this precipice” of “good versus evil.” He would be heading for D.C. himself. “I am going to fight for my president. I am going to fight for what is right,” he promised.   

I cannot find any mention of his arrest, however, so I took him off the list of rioters, and inserted a new #166: 

 

166. Lee Stutts: Sadly, the United States Marine Corps is well-represented, regarding all the alleged rioters who showed up on January 6. He’s one of hundreds of rioters accused of assaulting police. 

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION NOT YET KNOWN.)  

 

167. WILLIAM WRIGHT WATSON: Watson enjoyed listening to Alex Jones on Infowars, and told authorities he went to D.C. to “support the patriots, support Trump, support freedom.” He added: “I guess the overriding thing for why we were there that day is because they were certifying the fraudulent election that day, and so we [were there], to protest that.” 

 

MICHAEL MCKINNEY: McKinney didn’t make the Big Show on Jan. 6, but if he hadn’t been in jail, you know he’d have loved to go. At a Trump rally in Iowa he had shown his love for America by firing his handgun into a car filled with four black teenage girls, wounding one 15-year-old in the leg. 

 

THE HUNT for the Antifa-type, liberal-leaning rioter continued. Finally, I got what seemed like a solid “hit.”  

Namely:  

168. JOHN EARLE SULLIVAN: The 26-year-old was identified as founder of a protest group called Insurgence USA. According to Politico, “His group claims to oppose police abuse and right-wing violence, while some of his writings echo language used by the anti-fascist movement.” 

He’s a provocateur, for sure, though several left-leaning groups had tried to ban him from their protests. He gets sentenced to six years in prison. A leftist of some type. Finally, not a Trump supporter. 

 

169. JONATHAN DANIEL CARLTON acknowledged traveling to D.C with Bradley Wayne Weeks (#28 on our list) on January 5, 2021. They hoped to “participate in a peaceful demonstration against the certification of the vote, and support former President Trump.” 

 

170. ETHAN NORDEAN (a.k.a. “Rufio Panman”): Two days before the riot, the Proud Boy leader could be seen in a video, warning that “blatant, rampant voter fraud” in the presidential election had occurred. “Democracy is dead?” he said. “Well, then no peace for you. No democracy, no peace.”  According to federal authorities, at least 60 Proud Boys were on hand for the attack. Most participated in an encrypted messaging channel called “Boots on the Ground.” 

 

171. STEPHEN MAURY BAKER: His YouTube channel was banned, save for a few music videos, after he posted “racist, anti-Semitic and conspiratorial theories.” He appears to have ties to militia groups like the Oath Keepers and Red Elephants. 

 

172. JAMES BONET: Bonet earned an interesting footnote in coverage of the riot after he appeared in one video, smoking a joint in the halls of Congress. According to a fellow employee, Bonet tried to convince everyone at work that the election was stolen, and to spout conspiracy theories – and, we can assume, spoil their lunch. 

 

173. NATHANIEL J. DEGRAVE traveled to  D.C. with Josiah Colt (#126 ) and Ronald Sandlin (#174, below) Six days before the rally, DeGrave asked for help in a social media post. He wanted a quick primer in gunfire. Who “can shoot and has excellent aim and can teach me today or tomorrow,” he wondered. “I want somebody special forces or ex fbi to teach me … this is for a very patriotic cause.”  

He, Sandlin, and Colt documented their drive to D.C. for posterity. At one point, Colt captioned a picture: “Nate’s bear mace was going off in his pocket and it started filling the van (with) bear spray.”   

 

174. RONALD R. SANDLIN: Like his two friends, Sandlin believed the election was stolen, and they had already considered occupying a state capital at one point. As for the decision to go to D.C., Sandlin explained, “If you are a patriot[,] I believe it’s your duty to be there. I see it as my civic responsibility.”    

 

“The clarion call of a charlatan.”  

175. BLAS SANTILLAN: He urged other members of the mob to storm the Capitol, telling them they were fighting for their freedom.  

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER; NOT DEFINITIVE.)  

 

176. DENNIS SIDORSKI: At one point, the Washington D.C. businessman had an account on Parler. Later, he was was listed on the right-wing website, American Gulag, as a “political prisoner.” 

 

177-178. CHRISTINA and JASON GERDING: The affidavit in their case indicated that Mr. and Mrs. Gerding were supporters of QAnon. “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts,” Mr. Gerding wrote prior to the attack, “not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”   

 

179. EDWARD HEMENWAY stormed the Capitol along with his cousin, Robert Bauer (#137 on the list). His cousin explained to federal agents “that people in the crowd,” like he and Hemenway, “were angry about pedophiles, the news cycle, and losing their businesses during the lockdown.” 

 

180. JEROD WADE HUGHES: Why was Jerod inside the Capitol – chasing a police officer up a flight of steps? His lawyer would later explain. “He was responding to the entreaties of the Commander in Chief to save the country. It is only in retrospect he has learned that he was responding to the clarion call of a charlatan.”  

(True that!)  

 

181. JOSHUA CALVIN HUGHES: Joshua is Jerod’s like-minded, Trump-loving brother. 

 

182. BRENNEN MACHACEK: Machacek is another Marine veteran and another vet with a traumatic brain injury. His wife, Kimberly, will eventually tell a judge that her husband has had many sleepless nights since the attack, and feels “extreme guilt.”   

“What our Country witnessed that day was not expected, condoned, or celebrated in any way by our family,” she added.  

 

183. ZACHARY MARTIN: Martin’s obsession with QAnon conspiracy thinking put a strain on his marriage, and he and his wife split. (They have three kids.) His mother-in-law explained, “It’s like these people have been programmed and they really have to be deprogrammed.” 

 

184. JUSTIN MCAULIFFE believed the coronavirus was “a hoax.” 

 

185. HECTOR EMANUEL VARGAS SANTOS: The headline in the Hudson County View labels Vargas the “Jersey City Trump supporter.” Reporters for the View note that he was also arrested in July for making “terroristic threats” during a domestic violence incident. He’s an ex-Marine.

 

186. RACHEL MARIE POWELL: The Pennsylvania woman really, really hated wearing masks during COVID. She didn’t vote for Trump in 2016, but did in 2020. “I appreciate his business mind,” she explained. “Economy-wise, he has it going on. He loves America,” she said.  

(Election-wise, of course, he’s a threat to the rule of law.) 

The cops didn't let these people in and they weren't peaceful, either.
Powell breaks the window.

 

 

187. JORDAN T. REVLETT: In 2018 young Revlett finished fourth in a “sexy farmer” contest. He was also a “sexy farmer” who loved Trump. 

 

188. Ryan Samsel: Samsel had a history of violence, even before January 6, when he knocked down a female police officer, who sustained a concussion.  

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER.)  

 

189. Zachary Jordan Alam: He’s the rioter who used a helmet to repeatedly strike and break the glass on a door to the Speaker’s Lobby, which door Ashli Babbitt then tried to climb through, only to be shot.

Sadly, Zachary was turned in to the F.B.I. by his mother, because she feared he might do something rash, after he was first identified as one of the rioters and went on the run to relatives. She told the court that her son had had drug and alcohol problems. And how did he come to be so deeply involved in the attack on the Capitol? “Zachary,” she said, “told me he ‘got wrapped up in it,’ inspired by President Trump.”  

 

190. Benjamin Scott Burlew: Two days before the riot, Burlew announced he was heading to D.C. to “storm the Capitol.” During the riot, he showed his love for freedom by assaulting a member of the free press.

 

 191. KATHERINE STAVELEY SCHWAB flew to Washington on a private plane, with four others. She told federal agents that she and her friends were “patriots,” who wanted to hear Trump speak. 

 

 Anne and Ted Palles: Mr. and Mrs. Palles did not enter the Capitol, nor were they violent – but they were typical of the kinds of people who made up the crowd, and then morphed into a mob. In defense of her and her husband’s decision to march on Congress, however, Mrs. Pallas said they were fighting for “free speech,” “the right to worship,” for the lives “of the unborn,” and in the name of “a legitimate presidential election.” She described the riot as the “nation’s largest and most historical protest” and claimed more than a million Americans attended the “Stop the Steal” rally.  

(Nearly four years have passed – still on proof in any court of significant voter fraud.)

 

192. PETER SCHWARTZ: The day after the attack, Schwartz posted, “What happened yesterday was the opening of a war. I was there and whether people will acknowledge it or not we are now at war. It would be wise to be ready!” He also insisted that Biden did not win the popular vote. 

(Again with the calls for blood!)  

 

193. MARK SIMON: In a video shot the day of the riot, Simon and another man boast about storming “the Capitol for Trump.” According to the Los Angeles Times, Simon was “known for his far-right views.”  

 

194. JEFFREY ALEXANDER SMITH: According to the affidavit in his case, Smith posted online, “I stormed the capital.” He also stated that his purpose was, “To send a message that Americans are[n’] t going to take a fraudulent election.” 

 

195. MICHAEL STEPAKOFF was described by his lawyer as a family man, a “strong Republican,” and firm in his political convictions. In a Facebook post the day before the riot, Stepakoff posted to now Rejected-President Trump’s now Rejected-Twitter account: “I am proud to be an American, and I made the trip up from Florida to support the effort to save America. DC swarming with MAGA people. We’re not gonna take it! Thank you President Trump!” 

 

196. DALTON RAY CRASE: The Kentucky man traveled to Washington with two like-minded men, including Troy Dylan Williams (#197). The third, unnamed individual fell ill and spent Jan. 6 in a hospital. 

 

197. TROY DYLAN WILLIAMS: Mr. Williams believed he and his friends were making a political statement. In one video, he can be heard telling Crase that what they were doing was “just to let them know that when push comes to shove, we will fight. We will just walk into this b**** ... this is a taste, and if things don’t change, we’ll make a change.”  

 

War against vipers.  

198-199. ALAN HOSTETTER and RUSSELL TAYLOR: The day before the attack, Hostetter told a crowd to prepare for “war tomorrow” against “vipers” in Congress who refused to nullify President Joe Biden’s win. Taylor added: “We will not return to our peaceful way of life until this election is made right.”  

Taylor also expressed his support for QAnon beliefs, and promised, “In these streets we will fight, and we will bleed before we allow our freedom to be taken from us.”   

 

200. JASON LEE HYLAND flew his private plane to D.C., along with several like-minded friends, to support President Trump. Their purpose, he said, was to “stand up for America.” 

 

201. JEFFREY GRACE told federal investigators that he and his son Jeremy (#299 on our list) traveled all the way from Washington State to hear Trump speak at the “Save America March” on January 6. At the time of the attack, Mr. Grace was a probationary member of the Proud Boys. 

 

Part VII – “That wasn’t Trump people.”

Rioters #203-253.  

In Part VII we uncover a cluster of Proud Boys for the first time, and another cluster of Oath Keepers. Names of individuals in all caps have been sentenced. Names underlined have been convicted but await sentencing at this time.

 

203. SUZANNE KAYE: The F.B.I. was tipped off about Kaye, after a witness told them she had posted “anti-Biden” and “anti-Democratic” statements on social media and bragged about taking part in the Capitol Hill riot.   

 

204. DANIEL DEAN EGTVEDT: The defendant can be seen in social media posts hanging with Mike Pence (in better days) and pouty lips Lara Trump. At his trial, his lawyer insisted that Egtvedt “hung on every word” Trump spoke on Jan. 6. 

 

205. CHRISTIAN SECOR: Secor is a self-described fascist and president of “America First Bruins,” a UCLA club. Federal agents were tipped off by several of his peers, who said Secor had “posted threats online and openly posted calls for America to become a whites-only nation.”  

 

206. FELICIA KONOLD: Her claim to fame was having been recruited by the Proud Boys! ABC News calls the Proud Boys (+ Felicia), “a neofascist organization that describes itself as ‘Western chauvinists’ and has long forbidden female members.” 

 

207. CORY KONOLD: Prosecutors said Cory was a Proud Boy. Cory said he wasn’t. We do know that he and his sister met up with a group of Boys before the attack. 

 

208. WILLIAM CHRESTMAN: Chrestman is a Proud Boy.  

 

“Violence so utterly massive.” 

209. CHRISTOPHER KUEHNE: Make it two Proud Boys in a row, if not three, and a chick. On the day of the attack, Kuehne messaged his comrades: “Be prepared not only to beat down but when you do action of violence so utterly massive that we send a message.”

 

210. LOUIS ENRIQUE COLON: You guessed it. Colon is proud to be one of the Boys. He gets five years in prison.

 

211: GLENN WES LEE CROY: When Rep. Lauren Boebert called for people in her district to rally behind President Trump on January 6, this dolt responded. He promised he’d be there. At trial, his lawyer explains, “Mr. Croy believed what he read on the internet and heard from the President himself – that the election had been stolen.”   

“Now he knows that he was misled by his president,” she added.  

 

212. LEO BRENT BOZELL IV: The Bozell family has deep Republican roots. Leo’s grandfather, Bozell II, was a ghost writer for Barry Goldwater. Bozell IV broke a window into the Capitol – then tried to blame Antifa. He was wearing a sweatshirt with the name of his children’s private Christian school at the time.

 

213. BRUNO JOSEPH CUA: At one point, young Bruno posted on Parler, “President Trump is calling us to FIGHT! This isn’t a joke, this is where and when we make our stand.” 

If the First Amendment right to protest wasn’t enough, Bruno favored the Second. “Bring your guns. We’re gonna need them. It ain’t illegal if there’s an army of us. BRING YOUR GUNS. ALL OF THEM.”  

 

214-215. William Pope and Michael Pope: A check in October 2020, showed that William was listed as a Republican precinct committee member in Shawnee County, Kansas.

William told federal agents that he and Michael wanted to make clear to members of Congress that “questionable things happened during the election and that citizens deserved a full election audit.”  

 

“Sir Yes Sir!!!”  

216. CONNIE MEGGS: Mrs. Meggs and her husband, #217, and rioters #218-221, were all members of the Oath Keepers, and part of a “military stack” that invaded the Capitol. Mrs. Meggs blamed her husband at trial, saying his plans had ruined their family. The judge reminded her: “The decisions that were made that day were also your decisions. You decided to come to Washington with a truck full of guns.” 

 

217. KELLY MEGGS: “Trump said It’s gonna be wild!!!!!!! It’s gonna be wild!!!!!!!,” Meggs promised the others. “He wants us to make it WILD that’s what he’s saying. He called us all to the Capitol and wants us to make it wild!!! Sir Yes Sir!!! Gentlemen we are heading to DC pack your s***!!”   

 

218. BENNIE PARKER: Bennie explained to a foreign journalist that the riot was the result of American anger over the “stolen” election and ominously warned that “it will come to a civil war” and that many Americans were “willing to take up arms.” 

 

219: SANDRA PARKER showed up wearing a U.S. military helmet, a pair of goggles, and dressed like she was going into battle. The couple brought their firearms to D.C. from Ohio. Just in case they needed to start killing people who supported for Joe Biden. Or the rule of law. 

 

220. LAURA STEELE: As CBS reported, a group email noted that the Oath Keepers would have “well armed and equipped QRF teams on standby,” referring to the military acronym for “quick reaction force,” in case of a scenario “where the President calls us up as part of the militia to to [sic] assist him inside DC.”   

 

221. Graydon Young: Young and the other Oath Keepers were informed before the riot, that they would be part of a larger force. “As always, while conducting security operations,” their leaders noted, “we will have some of our men out in ‘grey man’ mode, without identifiable Oath Keepers gear on. For every Oath Keeper you see, there are at least two you don’t see.” 

(The idea that people like these were “led on” by leftist types is f**king idiotic.)  

 

222. THOMAS WEBSTER: Webster used a metal flagpole and his fists to attack police on January 6. His lawyer tried to defend his client, saying, “He went there as an American citizen to protest, an event that was urged on by our former president – to protest an issue that Tom felt very strongly about. That’s protecting the Constitution.” 

The jury was not impressed, especially after evidence showed the defendant had tried to gouge out an officer’s eye.

 

223. Philip Grillo: He identified himself as “The Republican Messiah” on Facebook. Add another Republican official, this time from Queens, which Grillo proudly claimed was Trump’s home district. 

 

224. LORI ANN VINSON (a.k.a. Lori Ann Utley): Went to D.C. with her husband, so they could “Stop the Steal.” 

 

225. THOMAS ROY VINSON: Same as above. 

 

226. DEREK JANCART: An Air Force veteran, Jancart did a tour in Afghanistan, which this blogger respects.  

At trial, however, the judge reminded him, “You attempted, with others, to undermine one of our country’s bedrock acts, which is the peaceful transfer of power.”  

Which this blogger does not respect.  

 

227. NICHOLES LENTZ: As USA Today explained, Lentz was one of many fooled into believing the “stolen election myth.” 

Lentz, a Trump supporter wrote on Facebook: “America has spoken. You can not stop millions of people. Cannot stop it. Can’t. It’s impossible. America has a voice. We give them the power.” 

“We’re not here to hurt any cops of course,” added the former police officer and Marine Corps veteran. “I love my boys in blue, but this is overwhelming for them. There’s no way they can hold us back.”  

 

Loyalty “to a single individual, over a nation.”  

228. PAUL ALLARD HODGKINS: Hodgkins claimed he had engaged in no violence on January 6, but admitted he saw others breaking windows, and even involved in a knife fight. 

Judge Randall Moss would later cut Hodgkins a break at sentencing, noting the defendant had no prior criminal record. However, Judge Moss was blunt: 

Hodgkins stood beside the dais of the U.S. Senate and raised a “Trump 2020” flag. The symbolism of that act, Moss said, was “unmistakable.” Hodgkins had staked a claim on the floor of the United States Senate, “not with the American flag,” Moss said, but with a flag that declared his loyalty “to a single individual, over a nation.” 

Moss said, “That act captured the threat to Democracy that we all witnessed that day.”  

 

229. DEBORAH SANDOVAL: Deborah and her son traveled to D.C. together, from Iowa, to help “Save America,” as she explained. Mom was described as a “die-hard supporter of Donald Trump in the Cedar Rapids Gazette. 

 

230. SALVADOR SANDOVAL JR.: Salvador was fired up on January 6, attacked three police officers, and both he and his mom got sent to prison, her for five months, him for more than seven years. 

 

231. JONATHAN MELLIS: How did Mr. Mellis feel about the events of that awful day?

On social media, he posted: “Storming the Castle. The world heard the US!!! Finally not ignored.” 

And “We are fighting for election integrity. They heard us.”  

 

232. Joseph W. Fischer: When not rioting, Fischer, 55, was a patrolman with the North Cornwall Township Police Department in Pennsylvania. When confronted by the chief of his department, about his participation in the attack, and told he might lose his job, Fischer was less than remorseful.  

“I told him,” Fischer later wrote, “if that is the price I have to pay to voice my freedom and liberties which I was born with and thusly taken away then then [sic] must be the price. ... I told him I have no regrets and give zero shits.” 

 

233. JAMES ALLEN MELS believed the election was stolen. He said he entered the Capitol Building, intent on giving a law enforcement officer a copy of the U.S. Constitution and having his voice heard, which is, of course, better than hitting him or her with a metal flagpole or spraying pepper spray in his or her face.  

(Of course, the election wasn’t stolen – so all these fools were fighting for a lie.)  

 

234. Steven Omar Maldonado: he and a friend traveled to D.C. to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally.  

 

235. EDUARDO NICOLAS ALVEAR GONZALEZ: According to prosecutors, the suspect claimed to have tens of thousands of viewers who go to YouTube to check out his videos.  

Gonzalez has talked on his videos about believing that we may be living in a simulation, that the Earth is flat and that the Smithsonian Institution is hiding evidence of giants, according to [prosecutors]. Gonzalez also promotes central tenets of the QAnon conspiracy theory, including the baseless beliefs that Hollywood celebrities and other elites are operating a Satanic child sex trafficking cult and sacrificing children... 

“This is sheer wild-eyed nonsense,” [a prosecutor] said. “But if you believe that, what wouldn’t you do?” 

 

236. (R.I.P.) MARK RODERICK AUNGST: Aungst and Bronsburg (below) were part of a contingent of 55 Pennsylvanians who took a bus to D.C., so they could attend the Trump rally. Mr. Aungst takes his own life before he can be sentenced on a single misdemeanor count. 

 

237. TAMMY A. BRONSBURG (a.k.a. TAMMY A. BUTRY): In a series of social media posts, after the riot, she repeatedly discussed politics, “including one [post] of a picture depicting Jesus Christ with his hands on Donald Trump’s shoulders. The words ‘My real potus’ (POTUS stands for President of the United States) inscribed on it.”   

 

238. PHILIP S. YOUNG: At trial, Mr. Young’s lawyer said his client was “apolitical” until Trump was elected in 2016. Young himself said he believed, at the time of the riot, that the election was stolen.  

(Any idea who led him to believe that?)  

 

239. ADAM AVERY HONEYCUTT: At one point during the riot, Honeycutt was seen holding a broken table leg, identified as part of the Senate Sergeant at Arms’ table.  

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION UNCLEAR.)  

 

240. KYLE FITZSIMONS: He complained about “pretty obvious fraud being perpetuated since Trump lost the election.” 

 

241. CHARLES DONOHOE: Just another Proud Boy leader. Just another Proud Boy serving 40 months in prison.

 

242. ZACHARY REHL was a Proud Boys leader. 

 

243. JULIAN KHATER: Brought bear spray to the riot, and sprayed – among others – Officer Brian Sicknick. Sicknick died of a heart attack the day after the riot.  

At Khater’s trial, Gladys Sicknick, Brian’s widow, was allowed to make a victim’s statement. In regard to President Trump and his “stolen election” complaints, she could not resist asking the defendant, “How does it feel to be headed to jail because of a bald faced lie?” 

Then she added angrily, “You, among all the other crazies – you are the reason Brian is dead, Mr. Khater.”   

(Five police officers died after the riot, four by suicide.)  

(Trump has never once acknowledged their loss.) 

 

244. GEORGE PIERRE TANIOS: He and Khater traveled to D.C. together. Prior to the attack, Tanios “purchased two cannisters of Frontiersman brand bear spray, and two additional cannisters of pepper spray.”  

(Just like any other tourist going to Washington D.C. to see the sights.) 

 

“The attack was far from peaceful.” 

245. THOMAS F. SIBICK took a leading role in the attack on Officer Michael Fanone, who was beaten and repeatedly tased by members of the mob.  

In an apology to the court, Sibick later wrote of the day’s events: “It was an attack on the institutions of our democracy and not as some would make you believe legitimate political discourse. The attack was far from peaceful, my actions played a role that will follow me for the rest of my life.”  

 

246. Jeovanny Montano Alvarado flew from Houston to the U.S. capital “to participate in the January 6, 2021 ‘protests’ because he believed election fraud may have compromised his vote.”

 

247. BRIAN MCCREARY: This is getting monotonous; McCreary believed Trump’s “Stolen Election” lies. 

 

248. ALEXANDER SHEPPARD:  Shepard did too. He scoffed at the idea of hanging Mike Pence. “Firing squad!” he suggested, instead.

 

249. ERIK RAU: Rau was arrested after Derek Jancart (#226) outed him by mistake. At Rau’s trial, prosecutors noted that Jancart had “endorsed and celebrated” the violence – even posting a video on Facebook showing Rau yelling “we have you surrounded” at Capitol Police. Other rioters can be heard nearby yelling “hang the traitors!” 

 

250. JASON DANIEL RIDDLE: Yep. Riddle believed the election was stolen. 

 

251. HOWARD BERTON ADAMS JR.: Adams seems to have believed the election was stolen. Later he stopped cooperating with the court orders, claiming to be a “sovereign citizen,” beyond the reach of ordinary law. 

 

252. KEVIN CORDON: “It’s clear that this election is stolen,” Cordon insisted, “there’s just so much overwhelming evidence, and the establishment, the media, big tech are just completely ignoring all of it – and we’re here to show them we’re not having it. We’re not just going to take this laying down.” 

 

253. SEAN CARLO CORDON: Once again – we have an election denier who believed Trump won.  

As of this posting, on September 30, 2024: 

1,427 days have passed since the last election.  

No proof of significant voter fraud has ever been proven in ANY GODDAM COURT.  

 

 

Part VIII – Seditious Conspiracy.

Rioters #254-309. 

We can keep going, all the way to Rioter #1580; but this “sampling” of the first 308 rioters charged should make clear who these people were, and what motivations really led them to join the mob.  

They didn’t need to be led on – tricked by Antifa, or government agents “planted” in their midst.  

They were motivated by anger, fear and rage, and above all else by the torrent of lies told by Donald J. Trump.

 

254. CHRISTOPHER WORRELL: Another Proud Boy, one who showed up and sprayed cops in the face with chemical agents. 

 

255. FEDERICO KLEIN: The 42-year-old Trump-appointed State Department aide was charged with assaulting police officers during the attack. If you aren’t noticing a trend here, you’re probably in a cult. 

 

256. Joshua James: Another member of the Oath Keepers. 

 

257. ROBERTO A. MINUTA, yet another member of the Oath Keepers, he was ready to spill copious blood to keep Donald J. Trump in office.   

At his trial, 

Jurors…saw a preview of a video Minuta recorded of himself in which he told viewers “Jesus said sell your cloak and buy a sword” – a reference to Luke 22:36. 

“Millions will die,” Minuta said in the video. “Millions will die. So what? Get your f***ing soul ready.” 

 

258. ISAAC STEVE STURGEON: Sturgeon was charged along with his friends, Craig Michael Bingert (#44 on the list) and Taylor James Johnatakis (#486). 

 

259. ANNA MORGAN-LLOYD: You might say Morgan-Lloyd turned herself and a friend in by boasting about their exploits on social media. “I’m here. Best day ever. We stormed the capitol building me and Dona Bissey were in the first 50 people in,” she wrote in a Facebook comment. 

 

260. DONA SUE BISSEY: On January 7, she posted on Facebook that she and Morgan-Lloyd were glad to be home. “It will be a day I’ll remember forever. I’m proud that I was part of it,” she added. “No Shame.” Then came eight American flag emojis and the admonition, “BTW turn off the #FakeNews.”   

Ha, ha. Bissey believed in QAnon. 

What a chump. 

 

261. CLAYTON RAY MULLINS: Mullins was charged with assaulting a Metropolitan Police officer just outside the Capitol. He’ll spend years in jail, more years on probation, and garnered a bill for nearly $82,000. 

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION UNCLEAR.)  

 

262. STEPHANIE HAZELTON (a.k.a. Stephanie Wolfe): Hazelton/Wolfe has been described as a “conservative activist.” She was known before the riot as a fervent anti-vaxxer. 

 

263. RICHARD MICHETTI: Poor Michetti may have one of the lamest stories of any rioter arrested. He was turned in by his ex-girlfriend after he texted her to say she was a “moron” if she couldn’t “see the election was stolen.” 

 

264. JEREMY GROSECLOSE and others kept a garage door from closing at one entrance to the Capitol Building, placing chairs, garbage cans, and other objects under it. While members of the mob drove back outnumbered police trying to shut it, Groseclose and many others gained entrance.  

Later, he deleted all evidence of his participation on his phone, and urged others he knew to do likewise.   

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER, NOT DEFINITIVE.)  

 

265. (R.I. P.) JOHN ANDERSON battled police and took at least one officer’s shield during the melee. He died of natural causes before he could go on trial. 

 

266. JOHN D. ANDRIES: Another Proud Boy. 

 

267. RYAN ASHLOCK: And another. 

 

268. IAN ROSS HORVATH: Not a Proud Boy! And not one of your more dangerous attackers.  

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER; NOT DEFINITIVE.)  

 

269. Jared Hunter Adams:  “We stormed the Capitol building and the senate today! I can tell my grandchildren I was there!” Adams wrote.   

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION YET TO BE DETERMINED.)  

 

270. CLIFFORD MACKRELL: Mackrell was sentenced for assaulting an officer. He was of the opinion, after the attack failed, that a second attack on Inauguration Day 2021 would be necessary.

 
Mackrell in the middle of a melee.

 

271. JAMES MATTHEW HORNING: “I am (expletive) proud I was there,” Horning said in the wake of the riot. He said he and others hoped to “intimidate congress” and block the counting of the electoral votes. 

 

272. TROY FAULKNER told the court he backed Trump because he was “combatting human trafficking.” 

 

273. RICHARD FRANKLIN BARNARD: The Marine Corps veteran believed the election was stolen. 

 

274. JEFFREY SHANE WITCHER: Like his friend, Mr. Barnard, Mr. Witcher was a Marine Corps veteran. In a video he posted he said he and Barnard came to Washington to stop Congress from certifying the votes. 

 

 275. JOSEPH PADILLA: If anyone had a more unrealistic idea of what could be done by rioting than Padilla (and his hero, Donald Trump), I’m not sure who it might have been. Padilla’s plan: 

If we could have occupied the Capitol, we could have invoked the right given to us in the 2nd paragraph of the Declaration of Independence….We would have been in the Seat of Power. All we would need to do is declare our grievances with the government and dissolve the legislature, and replace it with Patriots who were there. Then simply re-adopt the Constitution with amendments added to secure future Federal elections.  

Utter nonsense.  

 

276. RUSSELL JAMES PETERSON was a big Trump fan. Soon after the riot, his mom, Shelly, proudly posted on social media that her son had stormed the Capitol and “sat in Pelosi’s chair.”

  

277. ERIC GENE BARBER: Barber, a former Parkersburg, West Virginia city council member, was elected in 2016, as a Democrat! (When I saw that, I thought we might have proof of a government “plant,” amidst the sea of Trump supporters.  

By the time of the riot, however, he had changed his registration, first to “Independent,” then to “Republican.”

 

278. JOSEPH HACKETT: Another Oath Keeper. 

 

279. Jason Dolan: Also an Oath Keeper. He later admitted that a steady diet of right-wing news had warped his sense of reality. “I was watching a lot of videos about the election. At the time I felt like the election had been stolen.”  

 

280. WILLIAM ISAACS: Another Oath Keeper!

 

281. Unidentified Individual: Federal authorities are still looking for a fourth associate of Isaac, et. al, also a member of the Oath Keepers. 

 

282-283. MARK and JALISE MIDDLETON: The Texas couple gave themselves away by posting proudly on Facebook about their role in the attack. That included jabbing flags in police officers’ faces. 

Mark Middleton was listed as a precinct chair on the Cooke County, Texas, Republican Party’s website.  

(These people toss around the word “patriots” when it doesn’t apply.)  

 

284. TRACI SUNSTRUM appears to be another believer in QAnon conspiracy theories. 

 

285. YVONNE ST. CYR: Yvonne was a passionate foe of mask mandates. As for January 6, she explained her position: “Super sad that this is America, and Americans are being beaten for wanting to save their country. So welcome to communist America ...” Said she was ready to “die for this country.” 

 

286. PAM HEMPHILL: She had previously been involved, in Idaho, protesting against mask mandates, and efforts to close down businesses. As for her expectations for January 6, she tweeted, a week before, “It’s not going to be a FUN Trump Rally that is planned for January 6^th, its [sic] a WAR!”  

 

287. MICAJAH JOEL JACKSON: The Arizona man, 25,  said on Facebook that he was a 100% disabled Marine.  Oddly enough, he can be seen walking to the Capitol and hobnobbing with members of the Proud Boys. In some pictures Jackson wears an orange armband, which members of the group used that day to identify themselves.  

 

288. RICHARD L. HARRIS: Harris told an officer that police were outnumbered, that there were “a (expletive) million of us out there,” and they were “listening to Trump,” court documents stated. 

 

289. DANIEL PAUL GRAY: By obtaining a search warrant for his social media accounts, the F.B.I. found that Gray had posted messages saying the election was the “biggest scandal” of his lifetime.  

 

290. BRUCE J. HARRISON: Bruce and his friend, Douglas Wangler, traveled from Illinois to attend Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally.  

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER.)

 

291. DOUGLAS WANGLER: Same as above. Neither he nor his friend are violent or destructive, and they get probation and a $500 fine, each.

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER.)

 

292. SEAN MICHAEL McHUGH: McHugh is captured on video carrying a cannister of bear spray in a holster on his hip and discharging the bear spray into a line of USCP officers. McHugh later bragged about his exploits, explaining, “I unloaded a whole can of bear spray on a line of cops I got three of them down really[,] really good.”  

 

293. Matthew Greene: The Syracuse, New York suspect remained in jail, after a judge noted that when he returned from Washington D.C., Mr. Greene purchased thousands of rounds of ammunition and war gear. Because if one riot is good, bloody civil war would be better.   

A little additional checking turns up evidence indicating that Greene is – yep – another member of the Proud Boys.  

 

294. MICHAEL ORANGIAS: The Kentucky man explained why he went to Washington D.C. and got mixed up in a riot. He was there to hear President Trump speak, and after Trump said march, he marched.   

Why?  

“To keep American good … keeping the freedom of speech there. … If we let the left continue what they’re doing, they’re going to keep taking more and more …” he told reporters.  

 

295. JAMES BURTON MCGREW: McGrew is a QAnon believer. On social media, McGrew explained his plan to head to D.C. as part of an effort to “protest” the “stolen vote.”  

 

296. AUDREY ANN SOUTHARD-RUMSEY: Southard-Rumsey was captured in video clips yelling at police, “Tell Pelosi we are coming for that bitch!” “There’s a hundred thousand of us!” …  

At sentencing, she has a meltdown, and tosses aside her prepared remarks. She insists she never pushed police on Jan. 6. They pushed her. “I have grievances,” she says, “since they don’t listen to us at the polling place. They don’t listen to us little people in the regular world.”   

(“They” did listen to you at the polls, but you lost, honey.)  

 

297. KERRY WAYNE PERSICK: Apologist will later claim that Persick and other rioters were, “patriots who went to the Capitol because the President of the United States summoned patriots.”  

It’s true. They were definitely summoned by Trump. 

 

298. JOHN JURAN: His lawyer asked for mercy for his client, in part because he traveled to Washington D.C. at President Trump’s call.   

Judge Thomas F. Hogan, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, made it clear what he thought. He labeled what transpired an “insurrection” and an “attempt to overthrow our government.”   

 

299. JEREMY GRACE: His father, Jeffrey, (#201 on our list) was arrested previously, but denied that his son had been with him inside the Capitol. Dad also said he was not an advocate of violence, but did admit he knew individuals associated with the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, and the 1 Percent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang. These are not the kind of groups one finds in liberal circles.  

(Anyone who thinks these rioters had to be led on to riot is sadly misinformed.)

 

300. JONATHAN ACE SANDERS JR.: He and two friends drove to D.C. from Indiana, to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally. 

 

301. LARRY DROPKIN JR.: At the website, American Gulag, Dropkin is listed as a “political prisoner,” and it is said that everyone who went to the Capitol was really a peaceful, misunderstood, patriotic American.   

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION NOT DEFINITIVE.)  

 

302. Arthur Jackman: Another Proud Boy. Has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges.

 

303. JACK WADE WHITTON: The Locust Grove, Georgia man was one of a group of rioters that attacked a police officer with – among other objects – a flagpole, a crutch, a police baton, and a skateboard. He got 57 months in prison.

 

304. (R.I.P.) MICHAEL JOHN LOPATIC SR.: The 57-year-old from Pennsylvania was accused in the attack on the same police officer as Whitton. Like Whitton, he faced multiple felony charges related to his conduct.  

As for his motivations, NPR reports: 

Prior to Jan. 6, 2021, Lopatic posted threatening messages on social media against election officials and expressed an intention to gather at the Capitol and “fight.” According to FBI agents, Lopatic also posted multiple photos of dead pheasants on social media. One of the captions read: “I got a double today. The dog flushed them up together. Full choke. Two shots, two kills. Both head shots. I got a rooster and a hen. I named them Joe and Kamala,” a reference to the president and vice president, according to court documents. 

 

305. Jonathanpeter Allen Klein: Klein, 21, traveled all the way from Oregon with his older brother (see below), to join in the riot. Jonathanpeter is a member of the Proud Boys in good standing.  

 

306. Matthew Leland Klein: Mr. Klein, 24, is facing several charges as a result of his alleged role in the storming of Congress, including conspiracy, obstruction, and disorderly conduct. Matthew is also facing charges for carrying a loaded weapon during a … wait for it … another Proud Boys rally.   

 

307. PAULINE BAUER: Bauer had fun during the riot, shouting at police officers barring rioters’ passage through one hallway: “Bring Nancy Pelosi out here now. We want to hang that f---ing bitch. Bring her out. We’re coming if, if you don’t bring her out. What are you trying to do, protect a f---ing Nazi?”   

As a bonehead bonus, Ms. Bauer is a Q-Anon dope.  

 

308. WILLIAM BLAUSER JR.: Blauser was one of those who answered Pauline Bauer’s call to travel to Washington and stop the imaginary theft of the November election.  

A decorated war veteran, with a Purple Heart on his resume, Blauser pled guilty and received his sentence in February 2022. He got off lightly, but apologized to the court, saying, “I was caught up in something I truly regret. If I had a chance to redeem myself, I would certainly do that in a heartbeat. All I can do is sincerely apologize to my country and the court for my actions.” 

 

(Rioters #309-362 can be found here.)

309. ANTON LUNYK: Strangely enough, evidence shows Mr. Lunyk received a nine-second phone call from the White House, during the riot. Information from his phone also lead to the arrest of two of his friends, who traveled with him to D.C. in time to riot. (See: Francis Connor, # 862, and Antonio Ferrigno, #863.)

 

310. KENE BRIAN LAZO: Mr. Lazo was seen inside the Capitol, wearing shin guards, goggles, and helmet with “Rodbuster’s” logo. That’s the name of a business he owns with his wife. He said he was there “representing” Asian Americans, and would use a broom to sweep out the halls of Congress.

 

311. NICHOLAS JAMES BROCKHOFF: The 20-year-old, from Covington, Kentucky was arrested and charged with assault on police officers during the riot. Among his other crimes, Brockhoff repeatedly sprayed officers with a fire extinguisher. At some point, he came into possession of a Metropolitan Police Department helmet and wore it “like a trophy” all afternoon.

 

“Execution is the just punishment of the ringleaders of this coup”

312. ROBERT SCOTT PALMER: Palmer was hit in the stomach with a rubber bullet and showed off his bruise. He, too, was filmed spraying police with a chemical agent. Now he admits, “Trump supporters were lied to by those that at the time had great power, meaning the then sitting president, as well as those acting on his behalf.” 

(Yeah, we knew that.) 

(From here on, I have only provided a sampling of the rioters.)

 

325. DEREK KINNISON: In June, 2021, six California men, all members of the right-wing Three Percenters group, including Kinnison, were arrested by federal authorities. Kinnison admitted that he and his friends would be coming to D.C. ready for war, bringing “bear spray, knives, flags, plates[,] goggles, helmets.” Members of one militia group involved in communicating with Kinnison and this crew, were recruited on the principle that they would be “comfortable with violence.” 

Charged for assaulting the police, Kinnison receives his sentence on April 19, 2024: 33 months in prison.

 

326. FELIPE ANTONIO MARTINEZ:  See above, group of six. In one message to his insurrectionist-curious pals, Martinez expressed his readiness to fight, explaining, “Our President is mustering his troops.” Another message posted in the group chat read, “This is tyranny and our constitution states we can put b**ches 6 ft. deep[.]” 

 

327. RONALD MELE: See above. In the wake of the riot, Mr. Mele posted a picture of guns and ammunition, he and his comrades brought to their hotel, in preparation for the riot. 

 

328. ERIK WARNER: See above. In his case, Warner posted a picture, modeled after The Shining, hinting that he’d be coming after Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez with an axe on January 6.

 

351. Retired Sgt. 1^st Class Jeffrey McKellop: A former Green Beret, he served twenty-two years in uniform, and was awarded three Bronze Star medals for valor. McKellop allegedly assaulted multiple officers during the attack, shoving a flagpole into an officer’s face and then throwing it like a “spear,” causing a laceration near the officer’s left eye, according to prosecutors.

 

360. DR. JACKIE STARER: According to a female officer, Starer punched her in the left side of the head during the riot. Dr. Starer bragged before heading to D.C., saying she was prepared for battle, noting that she would be wearing a “mesh knife-proof shirt” and carrying “bottles of pepper spray.” The doctor is IN.

IN JAIL.

 

(Rioters #363-420 can be found here.) 

404-405. Stephen Chase Randolph and Paul Russell Johnson were found guilty of kicking, punching, and shoving law enforcement officers during the January 6 debacle. “It was fucking fun,” Randolph said.

 

417. CALEB BERRY: Berry was only 19, at the time of the riot, but like older members of the Oath Keepers, he had sworn to be ready to die to “uphold the Constitution.” He cooperated with prosecutors, pleaded guilty, and was put on probation, and fined $500.

 

(Rioters #421-504 can be found here.)  

437. ANTONY VO was arrested on July 26, 2021. On social media, he bragged about joining the assault, and explained why he was in D.C. in the first place:

When asked online on January 5 as to what he was doing in Washington, D.C., he wrote online that “president [Trump] asked me to be here tomorrow so I am with my mom LOL.” In another conversation, the DOJ alleges Vo said, “My mom and I helped stop the vote count for a bit.” 

 

481. PATRICK MONTGOMERY has been convicted on assault charges. During the rito,  he knocked an officer down while trying to wrest away his baton. Then Montgomery kicked the policeman in the chest while he lay on the ground. 

Good for 37 months in prison.

486. TAYLOR JAMES JOHNATAKIS: Mr. Johnatakis is a right-winger in good standing. He decided to represent himself at trial. That didn’t go well, with the judge calling his defense “gobbledygook.” Nor were jurors impressed. They found the defendant guilty on all eight charges, including assault.

 Johnatakis battling police.

 

(Rioters #505-564 can be found here.)  

509. JAMES TATE GRANT: “I came to Washington, D.C. to support the President of the United States so my voice could be heard,” Grant explained during the riot. “As one of those 70 million plus disenfranchised voters. I feel as though my vote doesn’t count anymore.” He has since been convicted of assaulting a police officer. He won’t be voting in 2024. He’s jailed for three years.

 

541. JOSHUA JOHN PORTLOCK: Portlock showed up for a riot, wearing olive green tactical gloves with black knuckle protectors. He told the judge in his case that he and his wife went to D.C., because they believed Trump’s lies. 

(Rioters #565-600 can be found here.) 

589. REBECCA LAVRENZ: Apologists for what happened on January 6 dubbed Lavrenz the “praying grandmother,” as if to prove that all the rioters were harmless, praying patriots, and no threat to democracy. Lavrenz might not have been dangerous by herself – but she entered the Capitol soon after the mob shattered windows and doors. She got probation for her actions, and a fine of $500, but had to hand over the $103,000 she had raised online for her defense.

 

 590. AVERY MACCRACKEN: The 68-year-old was charged with punching a police officer in the eye. MacCracken  assaulted a second officer moments later. He said he went to D.C. to protest against a stolen election.

 

596-597. RAFAEL RONDON and MARYANN MOONEY-RONDON: Rafael and his mother were originally hit with a list of seven charges. Rafael also got nailed for possession of a sawed-off shotgun and went to jail for fourteen months for that crime. Mom told authorities she and her boy went to the Capitol to “have their voices heard.”

Also known as voting – but losing – because Mr. Biden got seven million more votes than Mr. Trump.

(Rioters #601-665 can be found here.)  

He brought a gun to the riot. 

612. John Emanuel Banuelos: Banuelos was arrested in February 2022 in Utah, and accused in the fatal stabbing of a teenager. At the time, he told police, “I was in the D.C. riots. You can look me up, OK?”   

In a picture from the day of the D.C. riot, Banuelos is show with a gun tucked in his waistband, and admitted to police that the man (whose face is covered in the photo) was him. Now he says he’s not worried about being sent to prison, because Trump will be reelected – and he’ll get a pardon.

 

628. BRANDON SCOTT PEERY: Peery traveled to Washington, D.C. on a charter bus from Wisconsin, believing he needed to be there to “stand with President Trump.” He wasn’t violent or destructive, and has been placed on probation for three years, and fined $500.

 

630. STEVEN MILES: The 39-year-old was charged with entering the Capitol through a window he smashed. Inside, he spent his time assaulting at least one police officer. Just another Proud Boy.

  

633. JACOB ZERKLE: After an officer “approached the subject and grabbed his backpack,” Zerkle “threw several punches” at the officer, and then charged “and rammed into him.”

 

665. SAMUEL CHRISTOPHER FOX: His politics were clear, when he posted on social media: “Al [sic] the lefties pissing and moaning right now can take comfort in the fact we walked into a building that was ours instead of using politics to loot stores, We actually have reasons to be there, not virtue signalling twitter points.... I’d do it again, fight me.”  

(See Rioters #666-720 here.) 

677. ADAM LEJAY JACKSON: Mr. Jackson traveled all the way from Texas to take part in the attack. With him, we learn, was his “Nazi-tattooed brother.” As for Adam, he pleaded guilty to felony assault on a police officer.

 

678. Brian Scott “Skooter” Jackson: The Jackson brothers flew to Washington from Houston, along with a friend. Both were charged with assaulting police.

 

As for what happened that day, Skooter was pretty clear. On the night of the riot, he messaged a friend: 

Oh shit [name redacted] you have no idea we just fought those hoe ass traitor cops 

We fought hard inside the capital we are soldiers we fought for America today we made history today!!! 

We love our president and we stood up for America today be proud we did it and fuck these hoe ass cops that are traitors we fucked that capital up today!!!

Skooter and his tattoos.

718. Daniel Wilson was ready to spill American blood, because he believed the election was stolen. Under the handle, “Live Wire,” he explained that he would be ready for violent action on January 6. “Ooh Rah. Curb stomp crew all in!!!” he explained.

“In my opinion I don’t think it’s time to gun up for the sixth we have to play this out but if they seat biden on the 20th all bets are off it’s gonna happen even if Trump wins we have to get this government under control it’s been crossing my mind if we go to a Civil War do we try to take Washington DC first or do we try to take state capitals first.”

 

(Rioters #721-800 can be found here.) 

769-770. Jerry Waynick and Mark Waynick: Father, Mark, and son, Jerry, took part in the riot, with the younger Mr. Waynick showing up, intent on protecting his noggin’ and other body parts, dressed in “a red flannel shirt, tan tactical gloves with black knuckle protectors, a black tactical vest, and a black tactical helmet.” The two men are among the first to attack police lines on that day. Dad was also styling the tactical vest/tactical helmet look – like any other “tourist” showing up on Capitol Hill.

  

787. DAVID JOSEPH GIETZEN: In a video from January 6, Gietzen grabbed an officer by the face mask or throat. The next day, with Trump and the right-winger apologists trying to pin the blame for the attack on Antifa, etc., what did Gietzen say? “Btw they are trying give credit to storming congress on the news to antifa …. BULLSHIT, I was there in the hallway helping to push the line of guards back. Today was 100% what happens when you piss of normal people, and the next protests is going even further.” 

(Maybe January 20, 2025, if Trump loses again?)

Cops shown not letting rioters enter.

(Rioters #801-874 can be found here.) 

839. Jonathan Joseph Copeland joined in assault on a news cameraman on January 6, and can be seen among the first rioters storming police lines.

 

841. Joshua Scott Parmenter: Mr. Parmenter admitted he traveled from Lancaster, Ohio to Washington D.C., to show support for Donald J. Trump and to protest the election. He entered the Capitol with the other rioters, remained inside for three minutes, and exited.

 

857. RAYMOND CHOLOD: According to the Statement of Facts in his case, Cholod was clear about why he came to D.C. While battling the police (below), he shouted, “This is our house . . . This is our fucking house. They fucking stole it and you fucking know it. They stole it and you know it. They fucking stole it.”

His “house” for the next 40 months will be a federal prison; plus, he must cough up $2,000 in restitution. 

Cholod assaulting police.

 

(Rioters #875-949 can be found here.) 

894. MATTHEW DASILVA: On January 6, the Navy veteran grabbed a police shield from a cop, then swatted his hand away when he tried to give DaSilva a shot of chemical spray. He’s the winner of 28 months behind bars.

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER; NOT DEFINITIVE.)

 

943. David Arredondo: On January 3, 2024, Arredondo pled guilty to all eight counts he faced, including both felonies and misdemeanors. Among other charges, he assaulted multiple police officers at the Capitol.

(It turns out, he’s been in prison before, down in Texas, for assault with a deadly weapon, shooting a man in the neck in 1994. Then he shot another main the buttock. Then, while in prison, he attacked another inmate with a deadly weapon, and got four extra years added to his sentence.)

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER.)

(Rioters #950-1128 can be found here and below.) 

967. SCOTT MILLER: Mr. Miller took off from work on January 6, 2021, telling his boss he had totaled his truck and had to go shopping for new transportation. What he really needed to do was head for Washington D.C. and participate in the riot. To wit: Using a long wooden pole to batter several officers.

Originally, I had him listed as:

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME.)

New information, by way of Kyle Cheney, the senior legal affairs writer at Politico helps clear up where Miller stands. According to court documents, prior to the attack, he made his beliefs clear.

Yep. Neo-Nazi:

Only the National Justice Party has the will to break this corrupt cabal once and for all. We are mobilizing the toughest, most resilient and most politically savvy elements of White America in order to wage a real struggle for our country and for our birthright…The sham of this election is the wake up call to all decent White Americans to the existential peril we face, to the ruthless and malevolent nature of the system, and the need to put aside all fear and hesitation in the fight for our future.

“National socialism,” Miller writes, “opposes the evil forces of Judaism so that the best people of the world can flourish and be perfected.”

And, for fun, Miller had a Halloween costume – a police shirt, bearing the name “Chauvin,” and the words, “Minneapolis Police,” to honor the man who knelt on George Floyd’s neck until he died.

 

968. ISRAEL JAMES EASTERDAY: He faced a battery of charges, including one particularly egregious felony for spraying a police officer in the eyes with a chemical agent. At least one officer “collapsed and temporarily lost consciousness.”

 

974. PATRICK O’BRIEN: O’Brien, 54, brought along his “juvenile son” to the riot. Not every rioter was dangerous, individually. Cumulatively, they were an existential threat to American democracy. Hundreds, like O’Brien, have suffered no worse penalty than probation and fines. 

 

987. PATRICK ALLEN BOURNES: Bournes was involved in some of the worst fighting outside a tunnel entrance in the Capitol. At one point, the mob managed to rip enough shields away from police to establish their own wall and push against officers, in an exhausting battle for the men and women in blue. 

 

1011-1012. Chris Carnell and David Bowman: The two buds were photographed in D.C. in December 2020, standing with Baked Alaska and Nick Fuentes at the Million MAGA March. Ah, Nick – the neo-Nazi.

 

1028. DAVID ELIZALDE: First Class Petty Officer Elizalde heard the call of the president, to “get wild,” took leave from his base in Norfolk, Virginia and headed for D.C., in time to join the riot. He was inside the Capitol for only three minutes, but long enough to jeopardize his Navy career. The judge cut Elizalde a break and gave him 30 days home confinement. He was also fined $2,500.

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER.)

 

1033. FREDERIC FIOL: On social media Fiol complained that D.C. police were escorting buses full of “antifa fucks” to the Capitol. In an earlier Facebook post, showing a screenshot of his Amazon cart, he told a friend he was, “Gearing up to go help save western civilization as we know it.” 

 

1047. SCOTT COLUMBUS:  He entered the Capitol Building along with his girlfriend, Renee Fatta. In fact, it was her idea to go, after she heard about the big Trump rally from a right-wing Youtuber she enjoyed. The romance has since fizzled, and all Scott has to show for listening to Renee, who listened to some election-denying bozo, is 30 months on probation and a $500 fine.

 

1048. RENEE FATTA: For her minor role in the riot, Ms. Fatta got 24 months on probation and a $500 fine.

 

1054. CHRISTOPHER PEARCE: Mr. Pearce claimed he was pushed into the Capitol by the mob. Video evidence showed him walking in on his own. (Pushed by his guardian angel?)  During the riot, he wore goggles and a painter’s respirator – since he expected tear gas.

 

1060. DEVIN McNULTY: After police blocked access to the Capitol, McNulty and like-minded members of the mob attacked their line. At some point, police gave McNulty a shot of chemical spray to the face.

Later, prosecutors give him a year and a jail behind bars.

 

1064. ZACHARIAH BOULTON: In one post-attack video, Boulton vented: 

the tree of liberty from time to time needs to be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Don’t come at me, oh, you lowered yourself by going into that Capitol building. Fuck that. We need to send them a message now that they will understand . . . we will not stand by and shits gonna get real. If you’re not ready for that, go hide. 

A few days after the attack, Boulton reported watching other so-called patriots “shit in the sink” inside the Capitol.  

 

Member of a neo-Nazi group.

1068. Richard Ackerman: In a conversation, introduced in the Statement of Facts in his case, “A. Jen” (Aunt Jen) asks what role Richard played in the attack. He responds, “Yes, I’m in the car … I got maced really bad … It got really fucking crazy. Call me. I was right there in the eye of it … I stole a SWAT Team officers helmet.”

“Not smart Zach,” Aunt Jen replies.

“It’s a war trophy,” he says.

Evidence also showed that Ackerman was a member of a neo-Nazi group, after he posted a picture of the stolen helmet with a “New England 131” sticker affixed, the symbol for a white supremacist group.

 

1070-1071. STEVEN MICHAEL DRAGOO and KIMBERLY RAE DRAGOO: Evidence showed Mrs. Dragoo entering through a broken window – which she later told F.B.I. agents struck her as “funny.” Court documents also note that the missus appeared in a news article about the riot, in which she was quoted as saying: “Where I was everybody was happy ... I didn’t see anything I saw on the news.”

Oddly enough, in another video she filmed herself, she can be heard describing the scene in much less peaceful terms:

“They stormed the Capitol … We got stuck in the crowd for like an hour … I’m not getting back in it again.” In addition, Kimberly Dragoo stated, “They stormed the Capitol a while ago. I called my sister and my son. He said that they are not sharing it, but anyway, there were some guys who walked by that got maced. I think they are getting ready . . . I’ve seen another crowd go up there – getting ready to do it again.”

Steven was so proud of his wife, and willingness to riot, that he couldn’t resist taking her picture that infamous day. 

1084. Nicholas L. Kennedy: In April 2024, Kennedy pleaded guilty to a pair of felony charges, and got hit with a third in a stipulated bench trial. He was part of a group of roughly a hundred Proud Boys that marched on the Capitol.

 

1085. Jay Matthew Kenyon: It can be hard to determine the motivation of some of these rioters. Yet, where their motivations are known – usually in their own words – we keep looking in vain for left-wing types.

In the wake of the riot, Kenyon posted on social media:

“We were let in by Capitol Police and then they attacked. No patriot broke one damn thing inside the Capitol on purpose. Capitol police attacking caused any damage.”

In a Facebook post described in the court documents from Dec. 20, 2020, Kenyon wrote: “ ‘Trump: January 6, 2021 Washington DC Be There, Will be Wild’ Be part of the revolution. It’s gonna be fun!”

The next day, he posted again: “DAMN right if you think Im going FULL ON PATRIOT! I AM RADICALIZED!!”

 

1086. Gary Wilson: Mr. Wilson wore a T-shirt from the far-right conspiratorial news site Infowars, depicting a Revolutionary War soldier with an automatic weapon. Wilson was in close proximity to multiple violent clashes but was not accused of any violence himself.

 

1088. NATHAN BAER: Mr. Baer was quickly identified after the attack, having joined the battle in front of a tunnel entrance into the Capitol. It was here that Officer Michael Fanone was dragged into the mob and came to fear for his life.

 

1095. Dustin Martin: “Trump 2020!” Martin is said to have posted – along with a picture of himself inside the Capitol Building. In fact, according to prosecutors, he was proud of what he had done, writing on the afternoon of January 6, “I can say I’ve been hit with rubber bullets, bear mace, tear gas, and wrestle with Capital Police fuck yeah America Bitches. I’ll do it all over again too!”

 

1096. CODY LEE TIPPETT: Tippett was arrested after he appeared in pictures posted by Dustin Martin (above). Martin explained on social media that he and “Cody” were headed to D.C. “to support President Trump.”  He’s not violent, and gets probation and a bill for $500.

 

1105. LUKE HOFFMAN: Video and photographic evidence shows Hoffman spraying some sort of chemical irritant at police. He’ll spend 20 months in jail. Unless “Law and Order” Donald pardons all these folks.

 

1126. CHRISTOPHER ROE: He was charged with assaulting police – while carrying a pitchfork. He also came carrying zip ties – in case he caught Nancy Pelosi, we guess. At sentencing, Roe’s lawyer asked a judge to go easy on his client, noting that the former president, himself, has never been held accountable for stirring up the rioters. Roe was sentenced to 70 months in prison.

Roe gets ejected by police.

(Rioters #1129-1394 can be found here.)

1152. Rally Runner (formerly known as Daniel Donnelly Jr.): When not rioting, Mr. Runner, who changed his name in the wake of his arrest, has always been a huge St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan. He would paint himself Cardinals’ red, and race around the stadium to fire up the crowd. 

During the attack on Congress, Mr. Runner gained control of a police riot shield, and bragged about leading other rioters in a push against police lines. He admitted police were “shooting rubber bullets, tear gas, and mace” adding that “the burning of the mace was horrible.” 

Tucker Carlson once claimed that Rally Runner was “clearly a law enforcement officer” – and an “agent provocateur.” Up until then, Donnelly had been a big fan of Tucker’s show, often posting on social media his approval of what Carlson said during his air time. 

 

Bring on “the snipers.”

1163. Douglas Harrington: Mr. Harrington showed up for the festivities on Jan. 6, carrying a Trump flag, and wearing goggles and some kind of gas mask or respirator. He is accused of using his pole to strike at officers.

On December 13, 2020, Harrington went full QAnon dope, posting,

I’m not sure what avenues are actually left at this point I hope there’s legal ways but I I could tell the whole world is in on this to get rid of Trump because the one world government the devil and Satan‘s angels and China does not want Trump around any longer because he’s toppling over the the globalist and the plan of Satan so we are fighting not just our own Democrats with the traders we’re fighting the Republicans and we’re fine China as well so I don’t know we’ll have to pray about it but there might be blood come starting January 20 and then comes the snipers and start taking out the enemy[.]

 

1194. ELLIOT PATRICK WILLIAMS: Williams would later post with pride about his role in the riot. He and other like-minded dopes “had a pushing match with the police. Trump supporters won that lol and got in a second time.” His Trump-love costs him 30 days in jail.

 

1218. DENNIS GEORGE ADAMS Jr.: Adams told federal investigators that “he observed protestors spray bear repellent towards police and immediately recognized things had gone too far.”

 

1229. Ryan K. Yates: To say that Mr. Yates looks unhappy in his mug shot doesn’t do justice to justice. He was one of the first to breach the building, around 2:17 p.m., and made it as far as the door of the House chamber, where he took pictures while other rioters tried to batter their way inside.

 

1239-1240. Daniel Valdez and Payton Valdez: It is never a good day for a family, when dad (Daniel) can post on social media, regarding his son, “it looks like Payton and I are going to get arrested.” In one video from January 6, Payton can be heard saying, “The next time we come back, it ain’t gonna be fucking unarmed. That’s for goddamn sure.”

 

1247. Gregory C. Yetman: The gentleman from New Jersey was, at the time of the riot, serving as a member of the New Jersey National Guard – ironically, as a police sergeant. Yetman has admitted he was at the Capitol that day, but insists he is not the man in the photo below, using an industrial sprayer to hit a line of police with chemical irritants. 

Authorities, however, say he is. 

1258-1259. Willard and Colby Purkel: Their “visit” to Congress began around 3:15 p.m. on January 6, when police opened the doors to the Rotunda – not to let peaceful protesters in – but to push rioters already inside out. At that point the Purkels and dozens of others forced a way past badly outnumbered Capitol officers. Prior to the riot, the pair can be seen with a group of about twenty Trump fans, holding a sign reading: “TRUMP: Keep America First 2020.”

 

1325. Michael Haltom: You could say Haltom was in D.C. because he had  OD’d on too much Trump. When Trump tweeted on January 6, that if Mike Pence came through, he’d get another term, Haltom is said to have responded: “Ill be in dc and ready for civil war. We are ready to break the pencil neck evil demon swamp creatures.”

 

1390. Jordan Berk: Let’s say you are a fan of a person running for the presidency, but the candidate you favor loses by seven million votes. Do you: 

A)    Accept the results, and work to help candidates you like win the midterm elections two years later.

B)     Vow to get your friends to vote, and not sit on the sidelines, as so many Americans do.

C)    Decide that the best way to save freedom in America is to sign on for civil war – in America. 

If you are Mr. Berk, like a shocking number of Trump fans, you choose “C.” Killing other Americans somehow strikes you as a very fine idea indeed.

 

(Rioters #1395-1580 can be found here.)

1395. Stephen Michael Baker: One reason it has been easy for prosecutors to convict so many of the rioters, is that they liked to brag about their exploits on social media. Baker, for example, later admits being inside Nancy Pelosi’s office. “The only thing I regret is that I didn’t like steal their computers because God knows what I could’ve found on their computers if I’d done that. But by the time I got into Pelosi’s office, unfortunately there was some damage done.”

 

I also include Trump allies who tried to steal the election for him on my list of rioters and rioters’ friends. So:

1396. Jim Troupis: The former Dane County judge, Troupis has been indicted, as part of the plot to create fake Trump electors in Wisconsin, during the 2020 election. He now stands at risk of:

 

A.    Losing his license to practice law

B.     Going to the slammer.

 

1397. Natalie Beyeler: Ms. Beyeler faced two misdemeanor charges, and has pleaded guilty; but that’s all the information I have at this time. She shows up on a court docket in February 2024, and takes a plea in April.

(MORE INFORMATION NEEDED.)

 

1398. Jennifer Mitchell: At first, all we knew about Ms. Mitchell, was that she was arrested on March 6, 2024, and faced lesser charges, related to the riot. Eventually, the Statement of Facts in her case, and Rioters #1399-1401 (below), was posted. All four were part of a group that was plotting to fight on January 6, with a group chat directed by Ms. Mitchell herself.

According to court records,

Between November 7, 2020 and November 17, 2020, the FBI obtained information on a Facebook messenger group chat in which members discussed “civil war” and the need to bring people together to fight against election fraud, and the need to move to encrypted platforms for planning purposes. Statements in the group included “We must rise up if they try to illegally seat Biden,” and “we have been planning. Be careful of what you post on social media. We are doing it quietly behind the scenes.”

 

1399-1400. John and Sarah Flanagan: Like so many other fools who rioted, including Mitchell, above, and Griffen, below, John and Sarah believed the 2020 election was stolen.

 

1401. Jason Griffin: When asked about his actions on January 6, Griffin admitted that he was hit by pepper balls and tear gas fired by police. He also admitted going inside the Capitol – with his three friends – but only remaining inside a few minutes. Fortunately, none of these four have been accused of violence or property damage. All they really did was their small share in an effort to overturn the vote of a presidential election.

 

1415. Charles Espinosa: Mr. Espinosa appears to have shown up for the riot armed with a large, fixed-blade knife. And, like so many rioters, he had to share (allegedly) proof of his behavior on social media – in his case on Instagram. One video from January 6, shows the defendant on the steps of the Capitol speaking to the crowd through a megaphone, held by another rioter, saying, “I think this should be happening in every single major city in the country.” 

 

“Howie Feltersnatch.” 

1417. Steve Saxiones: The defendant is accused of showing up, dressed to riot, and ready to engage. Another one of the Proud Boys, he allegedly grabbed a female officer in what she later called a “wrestling move” and “tried to “take her to the ground.” 

According to investigators, Mr. Saxiones, had a vanity social media site on Telegram under the alias, “Howie Feltersnatch.” During one exchange of messages, three days before the attack, a member of the chat group posted: “Gonna be war soon ……” 

The original poster responded, “Yes Sir time to stack those bodies in front of Capitol Hill[.]”

 

1492. John Dine: Mr. Dine had already pleaded guilty to two minor charges – before he even landed on our radar.

(MORE INFORMATION NEEDED.)

 

1495. Michael Keith Williams: The Texas man has been charged for his part in the riot. He allegedly yelled to others in the mob that day, “Freedom!” “This is our house!” “We’re doing this for God.” and “We’re doing this for Trump.” He accessorized for the riot by bringing along a flag showing President Trump as Rambo, and made it all the way to the U.S. Senate Chamber before police could regain control.

 

1559: Dylan Swinehart: The defendant admitted he entered the Capitol, but he and other rioters were pushed out by a line of police, two minutes later. He has also admitted throwing away clothing he wore on January 6, because it had been contaminated with chemical spray. He faces misdemeanor charges.

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION NOT YET KNOWN.)

 

1560. Anatoliy Anatolievich Lutsik: If you think the January 6 rioters had to be “led on” to attack Congress by leftist plants – Lutsik is not your man. He showed up that day, ready to riot. Gas mask? Check. Tactical helmet to protect his thinking gourd? Check. Tactical vest? Sure.

As for another right-wing talking point: The rioters were let in by police? Lutsik is accused of spraying police with a fire extinguisher, and wrestling with officers to pull a bike rack barricade apart. He is said to be seen entering the Capitol at 2:36 p.m., and exits nine minutes later.

During his “tourist” visit, he apparently made a video call to his home, stating, “Hey ma, I’m in the Senate. I told y’all I’d make something of myself.”

 

1578. Wendy Dominski: Arrested September 26, 2024, charged with four federal offenses, all misdemeanors.

(MORE INFORMATION NEEDED.)

 

1579. Traci Quimby: Arrested September 26, 2024, and charged with four federal offenses, all misdemeanors.

(MORE INFORMATION NEEDED.)

 

1580. Damian Johnston: It really sucks to be felled by a mother’s post to Facebook, but it is alleged that young Damian’s arrest comes after a tipster sees his picture, near the Capitol Building, on social media. The tipster allegedly knows the Johnston family, including the suspect.

Allegedly, once inside, he walks around, apparently speaking into a small microphone; and after about ten minutes he is halted by a line of police officers in a hall. He’s out the door at 3:18 p.m. and on his way to getting charged for his minor role in trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power, a kind of baseline democratic requirement.

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER.)

 

*****

When I update my list on September 30, 2024, not a single court case has ever turned up significant voter fraud in the 2020 election. That would be:

 

1,427 days

without evidence.

 

SO THERE you have it, a cross section of the members of the riotous mob that tried to overturn democracy on January 6, 2021.  

In later posts, as suspects realized they might be targets for arrest, they scrubbed their social media footprints. That made it harder to be sure that arrestees were Trump supporters, but we can say this. The mob was violent that day, and those who have told us why they were there, told us they were responding to the call of Donald J. Trump.  

They aren’t peaceful patriots, either. Many of them talk about killing, if necessary, to keep Trump in power.  

Here’s the gravest problem we still face, regarding the Capitol Hill riots on January 6, 2021. If you convince people that the 2020 election was stolen – and tens of millions of Trump supporters believe it was – then violence to overturn the results was justified in the minds of those who are sadly misinformed. 

And many are ready to try violence again.