On Thursday evening, the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection premiered a harrowing chronological montage of footage from that day, featuring never-before-seen footage of what committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) dubbed an “attempted coup” and compelling evidence that former President Donald Trump was the central animating force behind the violence.
Comprised of scenes filmed from both the rioters’ and Capitol Police’s perspectives, the video showed how insurrectionists — including organized columns of neo-fascist street gangs, such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers — prepared for and executed their breach of the Capitol Building while a dramatically outnumbered cadre of law enforcement officials pleaded for support. Throughout it all, the video made special note to highlight the line between Trump’s rhetoric that day and the actions of the mob — including, at one point, a particularly chilling moment in which an insurrectionist reads one of the former president’s tweets condemning then-Vice President Mike Pence aloud through a megaphone, after which the swarm of seditionists began calling for overt violence against Pence. (Warning: This footage features moments of graphic violence and swearing.)
