Page:Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.pdf/676

 Once they had marched the length of Pennsylvania Avenue and reached the west side of the Capitol, Jones and Alexander used a bullhorn to continue directing those around them to the east side, making further references to President Trump's alleged imminent arrival. A video recorded by a rallygoer at 1:51 p.m. shows Jones and Alexander standing together as Jones encourages the crowd to proceed to the east side of the Capitol. He tells those listening that "we've got a permit on the other side, it's great that this happened, but Trump's not going to come when we've taken this over. We are not Antifa, we are not BLM."

Jones has repeatedly claimed that he tried to calm the crowd, but his actions also coincided with two police line breaches and one breach of the Capitol building itself. At 1:57 p.m., minutes after Jones encouraged rally goers to move east, newly arrived protestors breached the bike rack fencing used to keep the crowd away from the east side steps. After the breach, police retreated to the base of the large set of steps behind them and the crowd moved forward to meet the newly established police line.

Jones followed shortly behind the crowd that led the initial east fence breach, and his arrival coincided with the next breach up the east stairs. Publicly available video shows Jones already departed from the west side, rounding the north side of the Capitol on the way to the east side at 2:00 p.m. As he was walking, Jones told his group, "those fucking cops need to fucking back off man." He was then asked about Vice President Pence, to which Jones responded: "he floundered and was neutral, he passed the ball." At the conclusion of the video, one of Jones's camera crew can be heard saying, "let's take a break here. Let me talk to this cop to see if I can get Alex up there to deescalate the situation." Other video released by Jones shows one of his camera crew interacting with USCP officers and asking how Jones can help deescalate the situation. The Select Committee's review of the evidence showed that Jones simultaneously called on the crowd to "fight" and start a "revolution," while occasionally peppering his rhetoric with the word "peacefully."

Minutes after Jones's arrival on the scene, at approximately 2:06 p.m., rioters breached the new police line and stormed up the stairs towards the Columbus Doors (also known as the Rotunda Doors). The crowd's cheers and celebration as they move up the steps can be heard while Jones's camera crew negotiates with USCP officers nearby. As explained below, the rioters broke through another key breach point with Jones and Alexander on the scene just minutes later.