Page:Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.pdf/548

 political conspiracies. The President's December 19th tweet mobilized Three Percenters around the country. Suddenly, they had a focal point for their anti-government beliefs: the joint session of Congress on January 6th. Court filings and other evidence reveal that Three Percenters immediately began planning for violence after President Trump's "be wild" announcement.

For example, Lucas Denney and Donald Hazard led a militia affiliated with the Three Percenter movement called the "Patriot Boys of North Texas." Both Denney and Hazard were charged with assaulting officers on January 6th. Denney pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to 52 months in prison. After President Trump's tweet, they discussed travel plans, as well as the need to procure body armor, helmets, knuckle gloves and pepper spray. But they did not plan to act alone. Instead, they saw themselves as part of a coalition. In multiple messages, both Denney and Hazard claimed they were also affiliated with Proud Boys and intended to work with them on or before January 6th.

Denney repeatedly cited President Trump's tweet. "Trump himself is calling for a big protest in DC on January 6th. I'm not going to miss this one," Denney told Hazard on December 21st. On December 30th, Denney wrote in a Facebook message:

Trump has called this himself. For everyone to come. It's the day the electoral college is suppose to be certified by congress to officially elect Biden. But, Pence is in charge of this and he's going to throw out all the votes from States that were proved to have fraud. There's so much more going on behind the scenes though. That's why he's called this rally for support. . . . Trump will stay President. ..

As this message indicates, Denney was well-aware of President Trump's multi-part plan to disrupt the transfer of power. He thought that Vice President Pence had the power to "throw out" electoral votes, just as the President demanded. In other messages, Denney claimed that President Trump wanted militias to descend on Washington, DC so they could serve as a security force against a perceived threat from Antifa and Black Lives Matter on January 6th.

Additional messages between the two reveal their intent to march on the U.S. Capitol. For instance, Denney attempted to post two banners on Facebook that advertised events on January 6th. Both banners contained the hashtag "#OccupyCongress." The pictures contained images of the U.S. Capitol and referenced "The Great Betrayal." One of them read "If They Won't Hear Us" and "They Will Fear Us." In another post, Denney wrote: "I can't wait to be in the middle of it on the front line on the 6th."