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CNN Special Reports
The Faces Of The Trump Insurrection. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired January 16, 2021 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The following is a CNN Special Report.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: Our country has had enough
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Taking our freedoms, locking us down and turning this country into a drastic socialist republic. And that is not right.
TRUMP: They'll never take back our country with weakness.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what we're doing, fighting back.
TRUMP: You have to show strength and you have to be strong.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST (voice-over): They are the faces of insurrection.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we should have gone on in and yanks our senators out by the hair of the head, and drag them out and sat no more.
COOPER (voice-over): Extremists.
CROWD: (Inaudible).
COOPER (voice-over): The conspiracy theorists.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).
COOPER (voice-over): And lawmakers
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in. We're in. (Inaudible) in the Capitol.
COOPER (voice-over): Many are now wanted by the FBI.
TRUMP: I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As American patriots, we have to do what we can to take back this country.
TRUMP: We're going to walk down and I'll be there with you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you going to do/
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whenever we have to do. What do you think 1776 was?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On January 6th, thousands of Trump supporters came to Washington, DC from all over the country, believing the President's false claims about election fraud. But some of this crowd would soon become a mob launching an attack on the US Capitol.
ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI: They're absolutely domestic terrorists. It is very clear that these are groups that engage in violent criminal acts for a political purpose. It's that combination of violent, crime and political ideology or a social ideology, or a racial ideology that turns this activity into domestic terrorism.
ANDERSON: Who planned the assault and how were they able to incite hundreds of people to willfully break the law? No one leader has so far merged, but fringe groups were clearly front and center during the attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm here to support Trump. I'm here to stop the steal, and I'm here because Q sent me. You guys know what that is. I'm here to fight for freedom.
COOPER (voice-over): Q stands for QAnon, a right-wing conspiracy whose followers believe among other things that politicians and celebrities work with governments around the globe to engage in child sex abuse and they worship Satan. They are fervent supporters of President Trump.
KATHLEEN BELEW, AUTHOR, "BRING THE NEW WAR HOME: THE WHITE POWER MOVEMENT & PARAMILITARY America": QAnon is a little bit more difficult to understand because it's comparatively newer, but the thing that's really alarming about QAnon is the speed with which the radicalization seems to happen and the number of people who are being brought into this.
COOPER (voice-over): This QAnon supporter with the horns and the painted face was filmed and photographed all over the Capitol grounds.
CROWD: USA!
COOPER (voice-over): He clearly made no attempt to blend into the crowd. His name is Jacob Chansley, but he's also known by followers as the QAnon shaman. He's been seen at other Trump rallies in the past. He's been charged with knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Chansley told the FBI he was in Washington as part of a group effort with other "patriots" from Arizona at the request of President Trump called on patriots to go to Washington, DC on January 6th.
His attorney says the President should pardon him and said Chansley did not break into the Capitol because the doors were held for him by Capitol Police. Chansley is a veteran. He served in the Navy from 2005 to 2007. Now, he's in a detention center.
MCCABE: I think there's no question that the QAnon adherence will be looked upon by law enforcement and by the FBI as a potential threat unto themselves. I think they've proven that, not just the crazy things that they say on the internet, but in the way that adherence to that ideology, express their identification with it.
So whether that's, you know, driving up from North Carolina with your AR-15 and shooting up a pizza restaurant in DC, or joining with thousand of your friends and attacking a Capitol. This is clearly a serious threat, a pervasive extremist ideology that we have to keep an eye on.
COOPER (voice-over): Chansley isn't the only QAnon supporter arrested and charged, watch as this police officer faces a mob heading toward the Senate Chamber. The officer runs up to the second floor, the man in front of the mob follows him, and is lured away from an entrance to the Senate Chamber.
[22:05:04]
This man is wearing a QAnon t-shirt. His name is Doug Jensen from Des Moines, Iowa. His Twitter page shows he's tweeted about QAnon and has also retweeted other QAnon supporters. Jensen was arrested back in Des Moines, Iowa. Charges he now faces, violent entry, parading in a Capitol building, and blocking law enforcement during the riot.
Both Doug Jensen and Jacob Chansley traveled to DC from out of state, whether they came intending to break into the Capitol is still unknown.
CARRIE CORDERO, FORMER COUNSEL, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Every time we talk about the attack on the Capitol of January 6, 2021, we need to keep in mind what their purpose was. And their purpose was to delay or prevent the certification of the vote in the presidential election of 2020. This was not random acts of violence. This was not a crowd that just happened to get out of control. This was a planned event.
MCCABE: You really don't end up with a crowd of that size, of that direction, of that cohesiveness without a significant degree of pre- planning and premeditation. That takes all sorts of form but, primarily, it's communication. Communication to like minded individuals to recruit people to travel, in many cases, very long distances to draw people to spend their own money, to spend their own time, to travel here to the Capitol to engage in that activity.
So, that doesn't happen spontaneously. I think we know for many of the people who've been arrested and who the FBI is looking for, many of those folks live far away from the DC area. So there's clearly a high degree of planning and premeditation to pull together a crowd like that here.
COOPER (voice-over): Capitol Hill Police officers were vastly outnumbered by the crowd that day. Officer Michael Fanone was in this group of police at one of the entrances to the Capitol. The attackers there eventually pulled him outside, where he said he was tasered several times.
OFFICER MICHAEL FANONE, DC METROPOLITAN POLICE: I remember, like guys were stripping me in my gear, these rioters pulling my badge off my chest. They rip my radio off my vest, started pulling like ammunition magazines from their holder. And then, some guys started getting a hold of my gun, and they were screaming out, you know, kill him with his own gun.
At that point, you know, is just like self-preservation. You know, how do I survive this situation? And I thought about, you know, using deadly force. I thought about shooting people. And then, I just came to the conclusion that, you know, if I was to do that, you know, I might get a few but I'm not going to take everybody and they'll probably take my gun away from me, and that would definitely give them the justification that they were looking for to kill me if they already didn't have, made that up in their minds.
The other option I thought of was to try to appeal to somebody's humanity. And I just remember yelling out that I have kids and it seemed to work.
COOPER (voice-over): This video shows the mob storming into a tunnel of the Capitol building where they were crushing DC Metropolitan Officer Daniel Hodges at the door.
OFFICER DANIEL HODGES, DC METROPOLITAN POLICE: There's a guy ripping my mask off and he was able to rip away my baton and beat me with it. And now, he was practically foaming at the mouth, so just these people were true believers in the worst way.
Things were looking bad, you know, obviously I was calling out for all it was worth. And an officer behind me was able to give me enough room to pull me out of there. And they brought me to the rear so I was able to extricate myself
COOPER (voice-over): Officer Fanone says there were some in the mob who tried to help him. But he also says they should never been there in the first place.
FANONE: I think kind of conclusion I've come to is like, you know, thank you but (inaudible) for being there.
COOPER (voice-over): There were early warning signs online from extremists. This post talks about Operation Occupied the Capitol and called on others to help attack the buildings on January 6th, reads, we will storm the government buildings, kill cops, kill security guards, kill federal employees and agents, and demand a recount." One post read, Trump or war. Today. That's simple.
And some of the attackers on January 6th did seem to be ready for war. This is Eric Munchel from Tennessee. He was photographed with zip ties, plastic restraints. And law enforcement says he had an item in a holster on his right hip, and a cell phone camera attached to his chest, wearing paramilitary gear. He's been charged with one count knowingly entering restricted grounds without authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. [22:10:00]
This is Larry Brock from Texas. He's a retired Air Force reserve officer and was also seen holding a white flex cuff, which is used by law enforcement to detain suspects according to a court document supporting his arrest. The FBI found Brock after a woman who said she was his ex-wife recognized his photo from the Capitol. Prosecutors say he may have intended to restrain lawmakers who had been evacuated from the Senate floor shortly before he and other rioters broke in.
He told the New Yorker Magazine that he simply picked up the flex cuff from the ground as opposed to vandalizing the Capitol. He's also been charged with one count of knowingly entering restricted grounds without authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
MCCABE: You don't bring ballistic armor and a Kevlar helmet to a conversation or even to a first amendment protected political protest. You bring that sort of gear with you, you bring handcuffs with you because you expect to have to take people into custody. You bring a Kevlar suit and Kevlar armor because you're worried about getting shot. I think it's a great indicator of what these folks expected to encounter during the riot.
COOPER (voice-over): Not every rioter in the Capitol belongs to a fringe movement, not every rioter came ready for war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The doors at the Capitol are open.
COOPER (voice-over): There were enough of them to cause concern to law enforcement and those who study extremism.
BELEW: I think what we saw at the Capitol was really the coming together of several different strands of political affinity. One is sort of the dyed in the wool Trump protesters, another is the recently radicalized QAnon conspiracy believers. And then finally, we have a third group, which is the subject of my research, which is the more radicalized longer term activists in the white power movement.
And that movement, you know, since the late 1970s and early 1980s, has attempted to overthrow the government through violent means, has brought together extremists from neo-Nazi cleanse, skinhead and militia groups, and has really helped to create this sort of self- driven leaderless milieu of activism on the knowledge of right.
MCCABE: It's really kind of a fascinating aspect, I think, of President Trump's appeal to such a broad cross section of extremists. So in these crowds, and in that crowd on January 6th, you have white supremists, you have the Proud Boys, you have anti-government groups, you have just right leaning political groups. You have the conspiracy theory folks from QAnon and other groups on the domestic terrorism side. We are much more used to seeing divisions between those niche groups.
It seems that they have all now been united behind a common cause. And that common cause is President Trump and holding him up as their leader, not just politically but spiritually and emotionally. It's a really fascinating and I think dangerous combination of different groups.
COOPER (voice-over): A dangerous combination of different groups and individuals that lead to death that day in the Capitol. Authorities have arrested more than 40 people in federal charges in connection with the riots. They're asking for more help in the public. Tips, videos, photos, anything that can help them build their case against those who've been charged, and those they're searching for. There are hundreds more that are still on the loose, and there's a manhunt underway for some who may have been planning violence in the very near future.
STEVEN D'ANTUONO, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI: We cannot do our job without the help of the American people. If you have information, contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit photos and videos to fbi.gov/USCapitol.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People like us, an Antifa and BLM, we respect the law. We were good people. The government did this to us. We were normal, good, law abiding citizens and you guys did this to us. We want our country back. We are protesting for freedom right now. That's the different.
COOPER (voice-over): For about three hours on the afternoon of January 6th, attackers who broke into the Capitol room relatively freely throughout the building.
Most were able to leave just as freely, to go back to wherever they came from. And the FBI is now searching for a number of them, asking the public for help with information on anyone they know who participated in the break. It shouldn't be too hard to identify them, many of the attackers made no attempt to hide their identities, even though they were caught on video and photograph destroying property and breaking into offices.
This video from CBS' "60 Minutes" shows what it was like inside a room of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office when rioters were trying to break down the doors, which is captured on a recording by one of her staffers. Her staff hid inside that room for more than two hours
Rioters made it into the Speaker's private office where they damaged property and stole items. This man, Richard Barnett of Arkansas was photographed with his foot up on a staffer's desk and was later filmed outside with some of Nancy Pelosi stationery.
RICHARD BARNETT, RIOTER: I didn't steal it. (Inaudible) see. And so I figured, well, I'm in her office I got blood in her office. I'll put a corner on her desk even though she (inaudible).
Barnett also told a local news station that he had a right to be in the Speaker's office.
BARNETT (via phone): I set my flag down. I sat down there at my desk. I'm a taxpayer. I'm a patriot. That ain't her desk. We loaned her that desk and she ain't appreciating the desk, so I thought I'd sit down and appreciate the desk. I threw my feet up on the desk.
COOPER (voice-over): Barnett has been arrested and charged with knowingly entering restricted grounds without lawful entry, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and theft of public money, property or records.
[22:20:04]
CROWD: (Inaudible).
COOPER (voice-over): This man posted a selfie smoking a cigarette with the caption "Hello from the Capitol, lol." He also spoke to media after the riots admitting he was in the Capitol building but he claimed he was there as a journalist.
His name is Nick Ochs, and he's the founder of the Hawaii chapter of the so called Proud Boys. Proud Boys is a far right extremist group. Some of its members espouse white supremacy ideology.
BELEW: We have pictures of them flashing white power hand signs, those are unequivocal markers. So we can think of that group as sort of a armed white power group that has become a de facto security force for various Trump rallies, and an on the ground force of violence and some other places.
COOPER (voice-over): The so-called Proud Boys say they reject the label of white supremacy and reject racism. Other groups at the Capitol that day were clearly affiliated with the white supremacy movement. Experts say signs of white power activism were all over the Capitol during the riot.
BELEW: What we have to remember is that, white power is designed not as a rigid system of groups that are distinct from one another, but as a kind of social landscape that people regularly move through. Those kinds of connections and that circulation of activists is part of the reason that it's critical not to look at any one of these events as isolated, but to think about the white power movement as something much bigger and more diffuse, and also much more interconnected.
So the action at the Capitol, which included a variety of these activists probably also included some people who wouldn't affiliate with any group that do contribute to them. And probably also included some people who don't make their affinities known.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
COOPER (voice-over): This rioter was clear about his affinity with his display of the Confederate flag.
MCCABE: So, although there are clear traces of white supremacy and extremism in what we saw on January 6th, it went far beyond I think anything that we've experienced here, you know. You know, I'm not sure that the Confederate battle flag has ever been displayed in the United States Capitol. And it was so -- it's a tragic moment to see those photographs from that individual walking through the rotunda bearing that Confederate battle flag.
COOPER (voice-over): His name, according to authorities, is Kevin Seefried from Delaware. He's been charged with knowingly entering any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and one count of depredation of government property. He was arrested along with his son, Hunter, who faces the same federal charges for his role in the attack.
COOPER (voice-over): This is Derrick Evans, a lawmaker from West Virginia who broke the law instead of upholding it, according to authorities, by participating in the breaking of the Capitol. He's a supporter of President Trump and who was with some of the rioters when they breached the building.
DERRICK EVANS, RIOTER: Our house, move, move. Let's go.
COOPER (voice-over): Evans was arrested and charged with one count of knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority, and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. He claimed he was filming the break in as a member of the media and his lawyer later said he was forced into the building due to the crowd size. He was released on his personal recognizance after a court hearing, and soon after that he resigned from office.
Evans was a politician who was safe among the rioters, but it likely would have been different, much different, if the mob found those lawmakers working in the Capitol.
CORDERO: I cannot emphasize how serious what transpired on January 6th is. From my perspective, it is fortunate for the country that this was not a mass casualty event, judging from the fact that there has now emerged to be individuals who were armed, individuals who were either members of law enforcement or former military, current or former, in other words, individuals who are trained in combat and physical force, who took part in this. It increasingly looks like the purpose was to engage in violence.
MCCABE: I think we're incredibly lucky that they didn't get their hands on any of the political figures of significance, particularly figures like Speaker Pelosi and others who've drawn their attention. I can't say whether any specific individuals in that group, you know, had this specific intent to go find and seek out individual members, but that is something that is definitely part of the ongoing FBI investigation.
[22:25:10]
And as they get more people in custody and more people begin talking about what they were thinking, how they planned and executed the attack, those are the kinds of facts that the FBI will be looking for. The FBI and federal prosecutors are looking not only into who participated in the attack on January 6th, but also help plan it. Investigations could include some elected officials.
D'ANTUONO: We're looking at significant felony cases tied to sedition and conspiracy. Our office organize a strike force of very senior national security prosecutors and public corruption prosecutors, they're only marching orders from me, are to build seditious and conspiracy charges relate to the most heinous acts that occurred in the Capitol.
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REP. MO BROOKS (R), ALABAMA: We are not going to let the socialists rip the heart out of our country. We are not going to let them continue to corrupt our elections, and steal from us our God-given right to control our nation's destiny.
[22:30:07]
Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a bunch of really, really pissed off regular folks.
RUDY GIULIANI, PERSONAL LAWYER FOR DONALD TRUMP: Let's have trial by combat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just said trial by combat. Alrighty.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): The mob that attacked the Capitol in Washington, D.C. in January 6 may have been fueled by words like these from supporters of the President. They've encouraged and spread his false claims of voter fraud. But did some lawmakers go even further? At least one right wing activist named Ali Alexander is claiming he took part in organizing the rally that ultimately led to the riots. And he claimed he had helped.
ALI ALEXANDER, STOP THE STEAL ORGANIZER: I'm the guy who came up with the idea of January 6, when I was talking with Congressman Gosar, Congressman Andy Biggs and Congressman Mo Brooks, and it was to build momentum and pressure. And then on the day change hearts and minds of Congress peoples who weren't yet decided or saw everyone outside and said I can't be on the other side of that mob.
COOPER (voice-over): These three congressmen, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs from Arizona and Mo Brooks from Alabama are all supporters of the President and have boosted his efforts to protest the election results. Congressman Gosar has engaged with Alexander and more than two dozen tweets until Election Day and hasn't commented on the claims. Congressman Biggs denied working with or ever meeting Alexander. Congressman Brooks has denied responsibility for the riot. They're not the only lawmakers with riled up crowds making baseless claims about election fraud.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: We've seen in the last two months unprecedented allegations of voter fraud. And that's produced a deep, deep distrust of our democratic process across the country. I think when Congress have an obligation to do something about that.
COOPER (voice-over): Senator Ted Cruz from Texas and freshman Senator Josh Hawley, from Missouri had been two of the most outspoken Republicans on the Hill to challenge the election results. Hawley was even seen raising his fist to demonstrators as he entered the Capitol on January 6, before the attack began.
They both condemned the attacks at some of their Democratic colleagues have called on Cruz and Hawley to resign or be expelled from office. And one senator said, a week before the insurrection, Hawley's plan to challenge the election bordered on sedition or treason.
The U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C. says he gave his prosecutors marching orders to pursue sedition or conspiracy cases that are related to the most heinous acts at the Capitol. Authorities are still trying to figure out how much of this attack was coordinated among insurrectionists.
CARRIE CORDERO, FORMER COUNSEL FOR ASST. ATTY. GEN. FOR NATIONAL SECURITY: Seditious conspiracy involves, and I'm paraphrasing, but it involves the use of force to prevent the execution of a law. Because the purpose of the violent breach on the Capitol, the violent attack on the Capitol was conducted with the purpose of preventing the certification of the election, which is a constitutional process. Any individual, member of Congress or not, can potentially be investigated and charged as a part of that conspiracy.
COOPER (voice-over): Experts say white supremacists and other extremist groups welcome any opportunity or excuse to cause mayhem and chaos.
KATHLEEN BELEW, AUTHOR, "BRING THE WAR HOME: THE WHITE POWER MOVEMENT & PARAMILITARY AMERICA": This movement is interested in finding windows for action. So anyone who is prepared to open that window should expect violence to follow.
BROOKS: Today is the day American patriot start taking down names and kicking ass.
ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: I think you can make a really strong case for incitement, particularly for someone like Congressman Brooks, who stood up at the rally and made those comments about it's time to start taking names and kicking ass. Those are the kind of words that are designed to and certainly foreseeable that they would provoke that sort of imminent violent reaction. And that's, in fact, what happened.
We have to remember that members of Congress routinely received briefings from law enforcement and intelligence officials about things just like this, about the seriousness and the concern we have about domestic terrorism issues, and threats to the Capitol, threats to other government individuals. So, the idea that people who are on the receiving end of that sort of intelligence and protection are actually undermining the work of our law enforcement and intelligence folks, it's really, really concerning.
COOPER (voice-over): And then there's the President himself, told rally goers that day to march to the Capitol, and then remain silent as the rioters forced their way into the building.
[22:35:07]
His own Vice President, we criticize the day of the attack, was inside when rioters broke in.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!
CORDERO: He has a pattern of incitement. But I do think that the events of January 6, were the most clear example, in terms of the timing between when he spoke his words of encouragement and incitement that then directly led to individuals marching from one end of Washington towards the Capitol and launching of violence intrusion into the Capitol where they were seeking out lawmakers.
Whether or not it is the President or individuals around him who were associated with him. The second wave of the broad investigation is going to have to be looking at who was involved in the seditious conspiracy, the plot to prevent the certification of the election.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): Stop the steal! Stop the steal! Stop the steal!
COOPER (voice-over): Legal and law enforcement experts say charges of sedition or conspiracy are secondary right now. The challenges the FBI and prosecutors face and hunting down the hundreds of people who were at the Capitol that day. Among the attackers they're searching for is a face you've seen in this past hour.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you going to do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever we have to do.
STEVEN D'ANTUONO, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE OF THE WASHINGTON, D.C.: I want to stress that the FBI has a long memory and a broad reach. Agents from all local field offices will be knocking on your door if we find out that you were part of the criminal activity at the Capitol.
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[22:40:08]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you're going to do when you're getting mace, you're going to fight back, right? That's what we're doing, fighting back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what's the point? What's the endgame?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the point?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're losing our freedom. What do you mean what's the point?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Describe it to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to describe to you. You're not even knowing, I would describe to you. What do we supposed to do? OK? The Supreme Court is not helping us, no one is helping us. Only us can help us. Only we can do it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you going to do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever we have to do. What do you think 1776 life (ph).
COOPER (voice-over): This man who spoke to CNN on the day the attack is now wanted by the FBI. They're seeking the public's assistance in identifying individuals who made unlawful entry into the U.S. Capitol building and assaulted federal law enforcement personnel on January 6. He's just one of hundreds that could be charged in the coming months.
CORDERO: The individuals who participated in the breach of the Capitol are subject to a range of local and federal charges with respect to destruction of federal property, trespassing on federal property, some of them were armed, which is in violation of law.
And so, given the large amount of video and photographic evidence, in addition to travel records that in law enforcement authorities will be able to reveal individuals who are reporting, who see photos, friends and associates who see photos of these individuals and are going to report them to law enforcement, depending on the range of violations of local and federal law. Individuals will be facing a wide range of criminal penalties. Some could be on the shorter end, some could be many, many years in prison.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cops are getting sprayed. There's a -- fight right here.
COOPER (voice-over): While some are charged with unlawful entry and disorderly conduct, others could face much more serious charges. Like this Alabama man named Lonnie Coffman. Investigators say he parked a pickup truck packed with 11 Molotov cocktails, multiple guns and assault rifle and ammunition, two blocks away from the riots at the Capitol.
He's been arrested and face 17 criminal counts largely for possession of multiple weapons without registration in Washington, D.C. During a court hearing, his lawyer said Coffman was innocent of the charges and questioned the strength of the case against him. He also noted Coffman was an army veteran who fought in Vietnam. Also arrested John Sullivan from Utah. He says he's a left-wing activist and was documenting events as a journalist. But prosecutors say he was part of the mob that broke into the Capitol. They say he was dressed in a ballistic vest and gas mask on the day of the riot. Push past Capitol Hill police once inside.
More documents also state he was heard on his video saying, quote, we about to burn this -- down. And, quote, we accomplish this -- we did this together. Yes, we are all part of this history. He was charged with knowingly entering any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and interfering with law enforcement.
Authorities also say they're looking for rioters who engaged in what they call the open-handed combat with police officers. They continue to seek any information on pipe bombs that were found outside the Republican and Democratic headquarters in D.C. The pipe bombs had timers. Why they didn't go off is still unknown.
One Capitol Hill police officer died from injuries sustained in the attack. Officer Brian Sicknick was the youngest of three sons, always wanted to be a police officer. His brother calls him hero. Other officers who were attacked that day said they feared for their lives.
OFFICER DANIEL HODGES, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: The cognitive dissonance and the zealotry of these people is unreal. You know, they were waving the thin blue line flag and telling us, you know, we're not your enemies while they were attacking us. And, you know, killed one of us.
COOPER (voice-over): It may take months but prosecutors say they'll find and charge those who are accountable. No one involved, they say, should rest easy.
MCCABE: They should be on notice that whatever degree of activity they engaged in, in that Capitol, we are going to try to hold them responsible. I have no doubt that the FBI will not rest until they've identified and located every single person they possibly can. Yes, they should be losing sleep.
CORDERO: The harder part for the country. And the more challenging part and the part that I am less confident about is whether or not those who conspired to make this event happen, including political actors, including potentially members of Congress, including the President himself and his close advisers and possibly his family members or other advisers.
[22:45:03]
The political accountability for those individuals, I think is appearing to be the harder part for the country to get through.
COOPER (voice-over): The attack on the Capitol maybe over the threat of violence remains, even after President Trump leaves office.
BELEW: So one important piece of information about the white power component of what we saw last week is that they're not necessarily interested in political change or even in supporting a political coup or the long-term support of President Trump as an end game. Instead, they're better understood as an opportunistic groundswell of people who will exploit a given political context to do what they want to do, which is to awaken other white people to their cause to rally people into groups and action and to radicalize people towards violence.
All that is to say that, even though Trump is right now the figurehead of this action, and even though it is right now focused on the stock, the steel action, that doesn't mean that is the end game.
COOPER (voice-over): There is still one major national event looming before the official end of the Trump administration. Some online forums are calling this round two.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How would you feel just a few 100 feet from here in two weeks Joe Biden will be inaugurated president?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he won't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He won't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry, but he won't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's not going to happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ask anybody here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you going to think in two weeks time when Joe Biden actually is inaugurated?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll see in two weeks time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
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[22:50:18]
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): USA! USA! USA!
COOPER (voice-over): Among the insurrectionists, who stormed the Capitol on January 6 was this man, Robert Keith Packer. He's wearing a sweatshirt that reads Camp Auschwitz. At the bottom of his shirt are the words, Work Brings Freedom, which is a rough translation of a phrase that was on the gates of the infamous Nazi concentration camp. He's been arrested and charged with entering the Capitol without permission and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. As authorities continue to round up these rioters from January 6, they're also dealing with a new threat of violence in the days to come. MCCABE: I believe that that mob is just a very small sample, a very small microcosm of an expansive threat that literally stretches from one corner of this country to the next. We know that militia groups have multiplied over the last four or five, 10 years. We know that the popularity of these conspiracy theories like QAnon theories have just completely taken off on social media.
So this is not a small thing. It's certainly not contained to that group of 5,000 or 10,000 people that stormed the Capitol. I think that this mindset, this kind of warped acceptance of conspiracy instead of reality has fueled a drift towards right-wing extremism that we are going to be having to deal with for years and years after President Trump is no longer in the White House.
COOPER (voice-over): An FBI bulletin warns of armed protests planned for all 50 state capitals in the days leading up to the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20th. The attack on the Capitol on January 6, may have been just the beginning.
MCCABE: I've never seen an FBI threat bulletin that broad in scope to say that they believe there could be violent protests in all, at state houses, in all 50 states is an extraordinary thing. And let's think about it, they don't have to successfully attack all 50 state houses. If they do stage and attack in two places in three locations, that's going to look like an outstanding success to that extremist community.
BELEW: This is already a stunning win for white power activists. I think it will be celebrated in accelerationist and white power circles online, I think that people will see this as a wake up call to others that can be persuaded. And already we see that in the doubling down and support for the insurrection in certain conservative circles.
MCCABE: Each one of these events has the effect of inspiring and bringing others to the cause, giving them ideas about how to act in their own towns, in their own states. This is very similar to what we saw with the Islamic State, as they established the caliphate in Syria, the messaging to foreign recruits turn. Originally it was come fight with us in Syria and then the message became don't come to Syria, stay where you are, and engage in jihad in your own towns, in your own cities, in your own states.
That is the same sort of development that we could see here. You know, extremists who were watching the events on January 6th could be motivated and inspired to take similar action in their own home states. And that's just a diverse and expensive threat that's going to be hard to stay in front of.
COOPER (voice-over): This pro-Trump forum has post calling for round two on January 20th. "Please take urgent action to save our country, "reads one entry. It's our last chance. Another user posted this. "I don't even care about keeping Trump in power. I care about war".
Experts who study extremism say what happened at the Capitol could have been a show of force, the precursor to more attacks could be potentially for deadlier. CORDERO: As somebody who worked on Al Qaeda-related terrorism throughout the 2000s at the Justice Department and worked extensively on counterterrorism investigations in cases. There were several times where we were anticipating a follow on attack to a world event. I have that same feeling now, this period between January 6th, and the inauguration feels very tense to me. It feels like there is a substantial threat that exists.
BELEW: Historically, mass casualty targets might be oriented toward the federal government as the Oklahoma City bombing was. There's good reason to see from FBI Intel that they're also targeting state houses. But then there's also a question about other kinds of infrastructure attacks.
[22:55:11]
So, the Hoover Dam has been a target of the movement recently. Other kinds of gas lines, synagogues, various kinds of other oppositional spaces like ethnic studies, classrooms have been targets in the past, and so have things like public water supply. So, I think it's very difficult to know kind of where they'll strike next, but I do think that there is a -- I mean, it's hard to argue that there is a enormous surge of momentum right now that people should take very, very seriously.
MCCABE: I think all Americans should keep their eyes and ears open and watch, you know, be aware of their surroundings, be aware of things that are developing around them.
COOPER (voice-over): This is why law enforcement says it's essential to find the rioters and learn more about the level of planning for the insurrection of January 6, and who exactly was involved. Any information about those who were involved could help investigators not only bring justice to those who deserve it, but also help keep America safe from any future attacks.
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