The House select committee investigating the Capitol riot on January 6 played video footage showing that many far-right commentators promoted plans for a protest on the day of the insurrection, after former president Donald Trump said it would be “wild”.
The select committee played video evidence showing that after Mr Trump called on his supporters to come to Washington on 6 January 2021, the day that Congress certifies the Electoral College results, many far-right commentators saw the then-president’s words as a call to arms.
The select committee played a montage of numerous far-right commentators including InfoWars owner Alex Jones, YouTube commentator Tim Pool and others urging people to come to the nation’s capital.
“He is now calling on we the people to take action and show our numbers”, Mr Jones said at the time in a video.
“We’re going to only be saved by millions of Americans moving to Washington, occupying the entire area, if necessary storming right into the Capitol”, right-wing commentator Matt Bracken said.
“This is going to be a Red Wedding going down on January 6,” YouTuber Salty Crackers said in one video.
Mr Pool, for his part, said that January 6 could likely be the former president’s “last stand”.
“And it's a time when he has specifically called on his supporters to arrive in DC. That's something that may actually be the big push. Trump supporters need to say this is it. It's now or never”, he said.
The term “Red Wedding” is a reference to the television show Game of Thrones, wherein a mass slaughter takes place at a wedding.
“The point is that Trump's call to Washington reverberated powerfully and pervasively online,” Representative Jamie Raskin, a member of the select committee, said. Mr Raskin said that the committee interviewed a former Twitter employee who explained the effects Mr Trump had on the platform.
“The employee testified that Twitter considered adopting a stricter content moderation policy, after President Trump told the proud boys to stand back and stand by from the lectern at the September 29 presidential debate, but Twitter chose not to act,” Mr Raskin said.
