This is the first part of a two-part Raw Story series exploring pro-Trump organizer Cindy Chafian's actions before, during and after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Read Part 2 here.
Two golf carts sped toward the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, lurching forward as space in the torrent of Trump supporters opened, then abruptly closed. Sirens wailed as Washington, D.C., police units responded to the chaotic scene.
The carts, driven by pro-Trump rally organizer Cindy Chafian and her husband, Scott, carried an assortment of passengers, including the wife of conspiracy trafficker Alex Jones and Nathan Hughes, an Arkansas man who’d later be charged with assaulting law enforcement, disorderly conduct and other offenses for actions he would allegedly take in the hours to come.
But at this moment, as the golf carts wove through the parking lot at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue, one of the passengers stood on the back, pointed toward the Capitol and heralded the beginning of something unthinkable.
“We’re inside, they need help, let’s go!” he shouted. “We’ve breached the Capitol.”
Hughes’ arrest last month throws a unique spotlight on how some of the people who planned and organized a series of pro-Trump rallies appear to have enthusiastically endorsed the storming of the Capitol, despite claiming they went there peacefully and opposed violence.
Few, if any, of the organizers responsible for mobilizing thousands of Trump supporters have faced legal repercussions amid the more than 1,100 people that authorities have charged to date for their participation in the riot on Jan. 6.
That these rally leaders haven’t faced charges is notable considering their close connections to — and frequent communications with — high-level leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, two far-right militant groups that provided the engine for the attack on the Capitol in the days leading up to Jan. 6.
Leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are currently serving prison sentences of up to 22 years for their role in the attack on the Capitol.
Few of the rally organizers and planners endorsed the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers more enthusiastically than Chafian.
A veteran Tea Party organizer, she had been responsible for securing the permit for two warm-up rallies at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., during November and December 2020.
Chafian also helped organize the Jan. 5 “Rally to Revival” on Jan. 5 at Freedom Plaza that showcased some decidedly militant speakers in the day before then-President Donald Trump would himself the next morning headline the “Save America Rally” just south of the White House.
Public reporting and the investigation of the January 6th House select committee has since uncovered evidence that organizers at those rallies augmented security with additional muscle from the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other militant groups.
During the Rally to Revival at Freedom Plaza, Chafian expressed gratitude to these extremists.
“Thank you, Proud Boys!” she shouted at the end of her speech. “The Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters — all of those guys keep you safe.”
Chafian told Raw Story in an email earlier this week that she made the statement in reference to the Proud Boys protecting people walking back to their cars after people associated with antifa and Black Lives Matter attacked Trump supporters. (After the Dec. 12, 2020 rally that Chafian helped organize, hundreds of members of the Proud Boys marched through downtown D.C., randomly attacking local residents and anyone who wasn’t clearly allied with them, while police penned in counter-protesters at Black Lives Matter Plaza.)
Chafian said she was unaware that the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were planning to use force to prevent the peaceful transfer of power at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
All the same, Chafian served as a linchpin in the frenetic machinery of rally organizers and militants that built a launchpad for the violent events of Jan. 6.
Beyond her vocal support for groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, Chafian was involved in financing the rallies through her coordination with Republican National Committee fundraiser Caroline Wren, with whom she exchanged dozens of phone texts in the 10 days leading up to Jan. 6. Those messages show the two women negotiating who was going to pay for rally security, golf carts, speaker accommodations and portable toilets.
And while Chafian may have kept a lower profile than other organizers such as Amy Kremer and her daughter Kylie Kremer, as well as conservative provocateur Ali Alexander, her production of the Rally to Revival on the eve of Jan. 6 helped provide significant momentum for — in Trump’s words — the “big protest”.
It was only because of a falling-out with the Kremers that Chafian didn’t herself organize the mainstage rally on Jan. 6 that featured Trump himself. Despite getting pushed aside for the rally at the Ellipse, Chafian nevertheless obtained VIP passes for fellow organizers, security personnel and family members.
Her journey to this moment was an unlikely one.
A self-described “integrative life coach” and “mom of five” from the Tidewater region in Virginia, Chafian has said she became disillusioned with politics after her initial run as a Tea Party organizer — a time that coincided with a battle with polycystic kidney disease.
A 2017 CNN story chronicled how her husband — a retired Naval commander — saved her life by donating one of his kidneys to her. Having resolved to not go back into politics, Chafian recounted that God “kicked me in the butt,” leading her to join Women for America First to mobilize Trump supporters to protest Trump’s first impeachment, in 2019.
After working for the Kremers to secure permits for rallies hosted in Washington, D.C., in November and December 2020, she broke off and began working with InfoWars host Alex Jones. Working both under the Kremers and on her own, Chafian coordinated security for the rallies, primarily through a private security group called 1st Amendment Praetorian.
By then, Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio had been arrested — after flying into the city on Jan. 4 — for carrying an illegal ammunition cartridge and burning a Black Lives Matter flag stolen from a Black church at the Dec. 12 rally.
Chafian drafted Matt Couch, a former sports announcer from Arkansas to serve as emcee for the Rally to Revival. Couch achieved minor right-wing celebrity for promoting the baseless Seth Rich conspiracy theory as a means of deflecting attention from Russian meddling in the 2016 election. And she hired Jason Funes, a former Trump campaign staffer in 2016 and 2020 and former Department of Interior employee, paying him $1,500.
Chafian told Raw Story she asked Funes to assist with the buildout of the stage at Freedom Plaza on Jan. 5 so she wouldn’t have to be there at 5 a.m. But Funes assumed a larger role than she had planned, and she eventually sidelined him.
Shortly after their arrival in D.C., Funes and Couch walked the grounds of the Capitol.
Couch used his sizable social media following to urge Trump supporters to come to Washington, D.C.
“I want to encourage you to get to Washington, D.C.,” Couch said on a Periscope video. “I’ve already walked the grounds today.”
After introducing Funes by his first name, Couch continued: “And so, we walked the Capitol grounds. We’ve looked at the events. We’re checking security protocols. We’ve got guys on the ground doing ahead-of-the-game surveillance with different groups that we’re in coordination with and talks with. There’s a lot of things happening here, a lot of moving parts. You will be safe. We need to send a loud message that we need you in D.C.”
Funes suggested in his interview with the January 6th House select committee that his interest in the Capitol grounds was piqued by learning that Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander had secured a permit to hold a rally there on Jan. 6. Funes was helping another flank of organizers set up a stage nearby in front of the Russell Senate Office Building.
“I just wanted to go and see it and kind of poke my nose around, right?” Funes told the committee. “And by this time, I was kind of a little more arranged to helping Cindy Chafian, so I had a reason to be there nonetheless. I just wanted to be there ahead of everybody else and scope it out.”
During a recent interview with Raw Story, Funes said there was nothing nefarious about the walk-through.
“I worked advance for POTUS,” he said, referring to his time working on the Trump campaign. “I’m damn good at my job. Keeping people safe — that was my forte. I was a licensed EMT since 2008.”
While Chafian was singing the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers’ praises, her two associates were reportedly communicating directly with the leadership of those two groups.
Couch was among the first to learn about Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio’s arrest on Jan. 4, thanks to a phone call from Proud Boys deputy Joe Biggs. Couch knew Biggs from his days promoting the bogus Seth Rich conspiracy theory two years earlier and had described Biggs as someone “that we trust and that we know will have our back.”
A screenshot of a tweet by Couch, which is included in the FBI affidavit supporting charges against Nathan Hughes, hints at the defendant’s high-level connections in the days leading up to Jan. 6.
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“All hands on deck working to get a leader and friend in our movement out of the corruption and grip of DC police and the Tyrannical DC Mayor,” Couch wrote, attaching a photo of Hughes and Funes scrolling through their phones while seated across from one another in a hotel room at the Sofitel, near the White House.
Later that night, Funes received a phone call from Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. It lasted about 10 minutes, according to records obtained by the January 6th House select committee. It’s unclear what the two men discussed. (The following day, after the Proud Boys leader’s release from jail, Tarrio and Rhodes would infamously meet in an underground parking garage.)
Funes has said he doesn’t remember the phone call with Rhodes, and doesn’t recall meeting Rhodes until after Jan. 6. Funes explained his inability to recall the details of the exchange to committee investigators by saying that “Stewart Rhodes wasn’t a known quantity to me as much.”
Notwithstanding Funes’ claim, Rhodes was by then a fixture in the broader Stop the Steal movement, having been a featured speaker at the Jericho March in D.C. on Dec. 12 while members of the Oath Keepers helped provide security for the rally.
Couch would soon dial back his rhetoric, but not before publishing a tweet on Jan. 4 that was anything but conciliatory.
“In 1776 the British underestimated the American Patriot and they kicked ass, on December 7th 1941 the Japanese underestimated the American Patriot and they kicked ass,” he wrote. “January 2021, to all ELECTED officials are you really going to make the same mistake? Just saying…”
Couch could not be reached for comment for this story.
It’s not clear how Nathan Hughes wound up riding a golf cart to the Capitol with Cindy Chafian’s husband on Jan. 6. Cindy Chafian told Raw Story that she had never met Hughes and was never introduced to him.
“He jumped on the back of a flatbed cart that was driven by my husband,” Chafian told Raw Story by email. “That’s the extent of any connection.” (In fact, two different videos show Hughes riding in the passenger seat, alongside Scott Chafian, not on the back.)
When Hughes arrived in D.C., he was firmly ensconced in the crew assembled by Matt Couch, the designated emcee for the Rally to Revival that Cindy Chafian organized. Couch was on the VIP list that Chafian submitted to Republican National Committee fundraiser Caroline Wren, although Hughes was not.
Couch announced on Twitter on Jan. 4 that his team was on the ground, tagging Hughes, along with a collection of pastors and internet influencers.
“Big Events planned all day Tues/Wed!” he added.
“See you soon brother!” Hughes replied.
ALSO READ: Why Trump indictments haven’t triggered another Jan. 6 — and why the worst may be yet to come
Publicly available video shows Hughes and Couch walking up to the Chafian-organized rally at Freedom Plaza on Jan. 5 with Ali Alexander and his entourage. The two can also be seen in photos hanging out in the VIP tent with MAGA luminaries such as Pastor Mark Burns and Dr. Simone Gold.
Couch was the link between Hughes and Chafian.
At 5:08 p.m. on Jan. 5, Hughes tweeted in all caps: “WE ARE HERE AND ON THE GROUND MR. PRESIDENT! WE WILL NOT LET THEM STEAL IT!”
On Jan. 6, Hughes was present and ready.
After attending Trump’s speech at the Ellipse, Hughes rode in one of the golf carts that the Chafians maneuvered down Pennsylvania Avenue. Occasionally, Hughes raised his body above the roof to scan the crowd. J.T. Mott, a coffee-shop owner from northwest Arkansas, stood on the platform on the back of the cart, also pointing his finger in the direction of the Capitol.
“We’re inside, they need help,” Mott shouted. “Let’s go. We’re inside. We’ve breached the Capitol.”
The scene was captured by Anthony Puma, a rioter from Michigan, on his Go-Pro camera as he walked to the Capitol.
Mott eventually pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing inside a Capitol building, and received a sentence of 36 months probation.
Reached by phone, Mott declined to comment to Raw Story on how he learned that the Capitol had been breached. It’s not clear whether Mott learned about the Capitol breach from someone else in the Chafian party.
When asked how she learned that the Capitol had been breached, Cindy Chafian told Raw Story: “I had a security team who informed me that people were starting to become problematic.”
She added: “I had no idea anyone was going to enter the Capitol. There were several people there well before Trump spoke.”
Funes, who helped Chafian assemble the stage at Freedom Plaza on Jan. 5, said she shouldn’t be taken at her word.
“Although they act ignorant, I fully believe they had foreknowledge about what was going to happen that day and were a part of it happening,” Funes told Raw Story. “That includes Matt Couch and Nathan Hughes.”
Chafian, for her part, told Raw Story that Funes is “unhinged and untrustworthy.” She added that he “lied through his teeth” to the January 6th House select committee because “he desperately wanted to be known as someone who mattered.”
Ahead of Scott Chafian, Cindy Chafian drove the other golf cart on Jan. 6. Ken Goodwin, a security guard and former Prince George’s County, Md., police officer, rode in the passenger seat.
“We’re going to take our republic back,” Goodwin said through a bullhorn. “They work for us. Remind them: They work for us. The politicians work for us. We’re going to take the Capitol.
“That’s our Capitol,” Goodwin continued. “That’s our house up there.”
As Goodwin spoke, Chafian took her right hand off the steering wheel and jabbed it in the direction of the Capitol, punctuating his words.
Asked what the rush was to get to the Capitol, Chafian told Raw Story: “I foolishly thought that I could help prevent anyone from doing something stupid.”
By the time the Chafian party arrived at the Capitol, it had been roughly two hours since a mob led by the Proud Boys had breached the police barricades at the Pennsylvania Avenue walkway.
By then, Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola had used a stolen police shield to break out a window in the Capitol building, allowing rioters to stream through. Other had breached the Columbus Doors on the east side.
Still more rioters ascended the scaffolding stairs to enter the building from the west side or took part in the assault on the east side. A growing crowd of rioters massed at the Lower West Terrace.
A tunnel traditionally used for the entrance of dignitaries during the inauguration opens onto the terrace, and the Chafians took up a position on the inaugural grandstands. There, they could view the intensifying maelstrom.
Hughes, meanwhile, went to the center of action. Dressed in a black InfoWars T-shirt worn over a gray sweatshirt and black Mechanix gloves, Hughes yelled to the crowd outside the tunnel, “C’mon! C’mon! C’mon!” while waving his gloved hand in the direction of the tunnel, according to his charging document.
Then, he charged into the tunnel toward a line of officers blocking the rioters from entering the Capitol. Hughes and an unidentified rioter allegedly rocked their bodies, in synchronization with the crowd, to push the officers back. Hughes is also accused of helping other rioters pass stolen police shields out of the tunnel and personally grabbing an officer’s shield and attempting to pull it away.
Hughes, who is charged with assaulting law enforcement and disorderly conduct, is accused of using his elbow “to strike in the direction of” an officer who was holding a shield he was trying to grab.
At roughly the same time, according to the charging document, Hughes was nearby when other rioters dragged Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone out of the tunnel and tasered him. Roughly 30 minutes later, the government alleges, Hughes called out to other rioters from a position near the tunnel mouth: “Pull them out!”
Hughes’ role in the attack on the Capitol was first reported by Raw Story in August 2021. Last week, Hughes declined to comment for this story through his lawyer, William Shipley.
The attack on the Capitol continued with pitched violence. Almost an hour after the assault on Fanone, Hughes can be seen — in a video filmed by fellow rioter Mariposa Castro — standing beneath the window of a Senate conference room to the side of the tunnel mouth. As another rioter bangs on the glass with a pole and others begin to sing the National Anthem, Hughes can be seen jumping up and down and jabbing his finger in the direction of the window.
Standing atop the inaugural grandstands, Castro, a former yoga and tea shop owner from California, excitedly addressed viewers on her livestream.
“We’re breaking in,” she said. “We are breaking in. We’re doing this. We’re breaking in, right?”
Castro swiveled her phone to Cindy Chafian, who nodded emphatically.
“Right, we’re… this is our Capitol,” Chafian replied, appearing to endorse the breach. “We the people. We’re not taking it anymore. We’re taking our house back.”
“We’re taking our house back,” Castro repeated.
“This is our Capitol,” Chafian said.
“This is our Capitol, and we’re taking it back,” Castro said. “No more bulls---!”
“No more bulls---,” Chafian agreed.
Asked about this exchange, Chafian told Raw Story: “I have no idea what video you’re talking about or who this person is. I don’t recall making any kind of statement like that. I absolutely was not endorsing any destruction of the Capitol, violence, or criminal behavior. Quite the contrary. When I witnessed this happening, I and several others were screaming at people to stop.”
Raw Story then sent Chafian the video recording of her comments on Jan. 6 as depicted in Castro’s video.
Chafian declined to comment further.
Citing Castro’s words in the exchange, though without mentioning Chafian, the government asserted in a sentencing memorandum filed in Castro’s case: “From that location and at that time, Castro would have seen and heard some of the most extreme violence of the hours-long battle between the rioters and law enforcement officers who were defending the Capitol building. During the time that Castro was nearby, officers were pepper-sprayed, assaulted with numerous makeshift weapons, and even beaten and tasered by the mob.”
Chafian told Raw Story any statements she made at the Capitol that day were “not at all” an endorsement of the violence of the mob.
After the other rioters succeeded in breaking out the window to the Senate conference room, Castro was among those who went inside.
Like J.T. Mott, Castro eventually pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building, and Judge Reggie B. Walton sentenced her to 45 days in prison.
“I would have never gone into the Capitol that day,” Chafian told Raw Story. “The only reason I was where I was, was due to the fact that the crowds down below almost crushed me. I almost fell several times and had to get to safety. The only place to go was up. So I was there waiting until I could get back down, which didn’t happen until the crowd was dispersed.”
During her sentencing, Walton confronted Castro about her declaration, “We’re taking our Capitol back.”
“Who do you think you were taking your Capitol back from?” Walton asked.
“Well, I was just repeating what other people were repeating, and that just came out,” Castro testified. “I don’t know what we were taking the Capitol from. It was just something that was repeating from other people. I don’t have no idea, Your Honor.”
Similar to Nathan Hughes, Brandon Straka, an internet influencer who spoke at the Jan. 5 rally at Freedom Plaza, stood outside of the Capitol on Jan. 6. “Go, go, go” he barked as rioters attempted to push through a police line to gain entry to the building, according to his statement of offense. And as rioters attempted to take a U.S. Capitol police officer’s shield, Straka joined a chant of, “Take it, take it.”
Known for the #WalkAway hashtag, Straka was recruited to assist the Stop the Steal campaign by Ali Alexander shortly after the November 2020 election. He pleaded guilty in August 2021 to disorderly conduct, and received a sentence of 36 months of probation, including three months of home detention.
A court filing inadvertently unsealed by a clerk in 2022 revealed that as part of his cooperation with the government while making good on his plea deal, Straka provided “significant information” to investigators about Chafian and other organizers, including Alexander, and Amy and Kylie Kremer, according to a report by NPR.
Given this development, coupled with the similarities of several Jan. 6 participants’ actions to those of Cindy Chafian, a question looms: Why hasn’t the government also charged her with a crime?
