‘Our best face’: How Trump-backing Jan. 6 ‘marshals’ ditched their pink vests and staged an insurrection
Pavlik’s social media posts in November and December 2020 reflected a mounting sense of desperation about what America would look like with Trump forced to leave the White House. His Facebook posts manifested a logical response to the existential choice — Donald Trump or dystopian collapse — that the United States’ 45th president first defined during his 2016 campaign.
Joseph Pavlik, a former Chicago firefighter, served as a marshal for Women for America First at the Ellipse rally on Jan. 6. U.S. Department of Justice
“Democrats told us they were going to steal this election RIGHT TO OUR FACES…. AND WE DID NOTHING,” Pavlik wrote on Nov. 5, 2020, according to a statement of facts establishing probable cause for his arrest. “So get ready young guys because YOU WILL LIVE ON YOUR KNEES from this day forward.”
On Dec. 14: “These aren’t Americans they are indoctrinated socialists that hate America and hate Americans. We need to be much more brutal than punching and kicking. This is not some simple street disagreement.”
Again, on Dec. 14: “These are now indoctrinated terrorists that have made a conscious choice to ruin America … the sooner it is taken to a serious level to remove these terrorists the sooner the terrorists climb back into their basements … only until their bodies hit the ground will the terrorism stop.”
And on Dec. 26: “WE ARE THE STORM THAT THE DEMOCRATS AND RINOS THOUGHT WOULD NEVER SHOW UP and we just getting started.”
These weren’t idle social media screeds. On Jan. 4, Pavlik rented a car and drove from Chicago to Washington, D.C., according to court documents, and checked into a room at the Hampton Inn Washington Downtown.
Pavlik’s room was part of a bloc reserved by Jeremy Liggett, a firearms instructor from Florida who had founded a militant group called Guardians of Freedom. Liggett’s group aligned with the Three Percenter movement, whose followers view themselves as a revolutionary vanguard in the mold of the original American patriots, while pitting themselves against the U.S. government as equivalent in their eyes to the British crown.
Like Trump himself, Liggett and his group had been hyping Jan. 6 in a bid to attract people like Pavlik to the nation’s capital.
And in doing so, they weren’t reluctant to advertise ties they had forged with Women for America First, a “peaceful” pro-Trump nonprofit, led by former Tea Party organizer Amy Kremer, which was organizing the Jan. 6 rally.
RELATED ARTICLE: How ‘peaceful’ MAGA leader Amy Kremer cultivated ties to a violent Three Percenter group
“On Jan 6th, 2021, the March for Trump Bus tour powered by Women for America First, is rolling into Washington, D.C. to demand transparency and election integrity,” read a December flyer Guardians of Freedom had distributed. Headlined “Calling All Patriots!” it announced the group’s intentions to come to D.C. on Jan. 6 and played up their connection to the Kremers’ organization.
The flyer further stated that “The Guardians of Freedom III% are responding to a call from President Donald J. Trump to assist in the security, protection, and support of the people as we all protest the fraudulent election and re-establish liberty for our nation.,” it continued. “JOIN US & Thousands of other Patriots!”
Liggett himself made a Facebook post on Christmas Day that personalized the appeal. “I will be in D.C. on January 6th!” he wrote. “Patriots, I urge you to come with me!”
Pavlik was among those reading.
“I will be there,” he commented in the post’s thread.
When Pavlik arrived in D.C. — along with dozens of other Guardians of Freedom members and associates, mainly from Florida — Women for America First indeed had a job for him although it would be hard to describe it as anything as glamorous as saving the republic.
At least initially.
‘Would’ve been nice to shake Trump’s hand’
The union between Women for America First and the Guardians of Freedom was one of chance, happenstance, convenience and common cause.
Dustin Stockton, an organizer who had worked alongside founder Amy Kremer since the Tea Party days in 2010, described how his friend, Charles Bowman, connected Women for America First with Guardians of Freedom while introducing Liggett as a speaker at a raucous Jan. 6 pre-rally held at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5.
“I got a phone call from a friend of mine,” Stockton said. “He’s like, ‘Hey, there’s this group. They’ve been coming here. They came to your first event in November. And they want to look out for everybody. And the thing is, they don’t want anything from you. And they don’t want to step on, like, your guys’ toes. But they want to be around to help out.’”
Bowman, at Stockton’s invitation, had joined Women for America First on a bus tour to spread the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen. Kremer was impressed enough that she delegated responsibility to Bowman for lining up “marshals” for Jan. 6-related events.
Bowman, in turn, called Liggett, someone he knew from Republican circles and right-wing rallies in Florida.
On the morning of Jan. 6, Pavlik and Liggett donned pink reflective vests, along with about 30 other volunteers associated with Guardians of Freedom, and posed for a photo in front of Women for America First’s “March for Trump” tour bus.
Guardians of Freedom and other volunteers pose for a photo in front of the March for Trump tour bus on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. Department of Justice
Pavlik and Liggett — along with Brian Preller, a firearms instructor who had recently worked for a company registered under Liggett’s name — were among 10 people tapped to serve as marshals at the “Save America” rally headlined by Trump at the Ellipse. Other volunteers pitched in on the outside of the rally perimeter.
Jason Funes, a former Trump campaign worker and former Department of Interior staffer who assisted Women for America First with the bus tour and D.C. rallies, told the January 6th Committee that some of the volunteers he saw near the security checkpoints and magnetometers were Bowman’s “people,” and that Bowman “was arranging to help coordinate who those people were going to be.”
“When I walk up to the Ellipse event on the 6th, like Secret Service knows they’re there, they’re helping people, like, remove backpacks and put things into a pile and, you know, make sure they try to get them back to people,” Funes said.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson would later testify before the committee that Trump urged the Secret Service to remove the magnetometers because “they’re not here to hurt me.” Court records and trial testimony show that multiple people brought firearms, chemical spray and other weapons to D.C. on Jan. 6.
“But, like, yeah, there was militia-type groups outside the Ellipse event, and that was coordinated,” Funes told the committee during his interview. “It wasn’t them just standing there by chance.”
Bowman could not be reached for comment for this story.
RELATED ARTICLE: Jan. 6 rally organizers coordinated with White House and militant Trump backers
The number of Three Percenters in the crew assembled under the Guardians of Freedom banner ranged from 40 to 60, based on the estimated number of people who checked into the hotel and the estimate Bowman gave to the January 6th Committee. The actions of all the volunteers at the Ellipse, and later at the Capitol, on Jan. 6 has yet to be fully accounted.
For all the bluster about responding to a call by the president to assist in security, some of the volunteers’ experience at the Ellipse initially felt underwhelming.
One Guardians of Freedom volunteer marshal, Joe Diamandis, commemorated the day by posting a photo on Facebook that showed him stationed next to barricades draped in bunting with Donald Trump Jr. speaking on the Jumbotron in the background, accompanied by the text, “Cool experience, VIP entrance.”
Liggett’s assignment? Escorting rallygoers to the bathrooms, showing people to their seats and handing out signs. As a guy who liked to project alpha-male toughness, Liggett would later tell the January 6 committee that he was less than thrilled to be wearing a pink vest. And to add injury to insult, the organizers didn’t bother to provide the volunteers with lunch.
“I mean, it would’ve been nice to shake Trump’s hand,” Liggett said. “Would’ve been nice to have lunch. I mean, do you see what I’m saying? Like, you know, it was really boring.”
Violence at the Capitol
Liggett may not have shook Trump’s hand, but he and other Guardians of Freedom would soon feel Trump’s presence.
President Donald J. Trump speaks at the "Stop the Steal" Rally on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
As planned, Trump ended his fiery speech at the Ellipse by telling his faithful that they would “walk down to the Capitol.” As with everyone at the event, individual responses among the event organizers and the gathered militants varied. Some went back to their hotel rooms. Others headed straight to the Capitol. Some initially went back to their hotel rooms, and then, upon hearing reports of disturbances at the Capitol, ventured out again to see what was happening.
As part of his marshal duties, Liggett escorted Pastor Greg Locke, one of the speakers on the bus tour, back to his hotel room.
But after hearing that “antifa was attempting to start issues,” Liggett and five other people headed over to the Capitol — although once there he was disconcerted to discover there was no one who looked like antifa, he’d tell the January 6 committee.
Joseph Pavlik, the retired firefighter from Chicago, shed his pink reflective vest. He walked to the Capitol wearing a black jacket and a borrowed tactical vest with a Three Percenter patch reading, “When Tyranny Becomes Law Rebellion Becomes Duty.” He also brought a gas mask and pepper spray.
By the time he reached the Lower West Terrace, Pavlik had joined up with Brian Preller, one of the other marshals, along with four other men — Benjamin Cole, John Edward Crowley, Jonathan Alan Rockholt and Tyler Quintin Bensch — who were also part of the Guardians of Freedom group. The six men gathered outside the entrance of the Capitol Tunnel, which led to the stage where President-elect Joe Biden was slated to take his oath of office in two weeks.
The Tunnel became the focal point of a fierce, prolonged battle for more than two hours as Metropolitan police officers repelled rioters, who attacked them with poles and crutches, and sprayed chemical irritants at them.
Pavlik and Crowley arrived at the Tunnel entrance first, according to charging documents, and Pavlik entered before the others.
Liggett, who has not been arrested, walked up close enough to the Capitol that he could see people standing on the steps and sitting on the inaugural stage, he later told the January 6th Committee. Later, he walked around the Capitol building, and gave a CNN reporter a hard time, explaining to the committee that he regarded the network as “fake news.”
“I don’t even know why you’re here,” he told the reporter. “You shouldn’t be here anyway.”
Liggett said he left around the time Capitol police started firing flash bangs at the crowd.
Wearing the helmet and gas mask, Pavlik appeared to push on the police line, according to charging documents, and was allegedly present in the mouth of the Tunnel when other rioters assaulted police officers. Pavlik allegedly struggled with an officer who can be seen in police video pushing against Pavlik’s face and helmet to try to force him out of the Tunnel.
The charging documents emphasize that at various times during the battle of the Tunnel, rioters “attempted to use their numbers and collective mass in a heave-ho effort to push the officers back” and that “at times, the rioters forcibly pressed the officers’ bodies against each other and against the doorway, crushing them.” Authorities allege that Preller, Cole, Crowley and Rockholt specifically participated in the heave-ho effort.
The charging documents allege that Pavlik, Preller, Cole, Crowley and Rockholt “participated in at least one attempt by rioters to force their way into the Capitol through the line of police officers. During the battle, the men reportedly wore large goggles, helmets and tactical vests while variously carrying chemical irritants, an expandable baton, a walking stick and a knife.
Pavlik faces multiple charges, including engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon. Pavlik pleaded guilty and was released on personal recognizance bond last month. He was expected to appear in D.C. federal court for a status hearing on Tuesday.
Lawrence Beaumont, Pavlik’s lawyer, told Raw Story that his client is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
A witness later told the FBI that Tyler Bensch posted videos of himself on his Snapchat account on Jan. 6 that appeared to show him at the Capitol wearing a gas mask, a body armor vest, camouflage and an AR-style rifle. Apart from the witness’s description, open-source photos show Bensch at the Capitol wearing a tactical vest with a Three Percenter patch and black gas mask, while carrying chemical spray canisters, a black radio and antenna, and a GoPro-style camera mounted to his shoulder. Bensch is accused of spraying an individual in the crowd in the face with chemical irritants.
Rockholt allegedly picked up a U.S. Capitol Police riot shield, and Bensch was later seen carrying it off the Capitol grounds.
Bensch and Rockholt are both charged with civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and disorderly and disruptive conduct. Bensch and Rockholt could not be reached through their lawyers for comment.
Police body camera video shows Brian Preller, John Edward Crowley, Benjamin Cole, Tyler Bensch and Jonathan Rockholt inside or near the entrance of the Tunnel at the U.S. Capitol. U.S. Department of Justice
Preller faces multiple charges, including engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He has pleaded not guilty on all counts.
Crowley faces multiple charges, including engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds and theft of government property and aiding and abetting. He has pleaded not guilty on all counts.
Cole is charged with civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and disorderly and disruptive conduct.
Preller, Crowley and Cole could not be reached through their lawyers.
Despite planning for a rally at the Supreme Court, where they could showcase speakers like My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell who didn’t make the cut for the Ellipse event, the lead organizers for Women for America First, including Amy Kremer, her daughter Kylie Jane Kremer and Dustin Stockton, went back to their rooms at the Willard hotel.
“We were going back to the hotel, going to order food, and watch the joint session play out on TV,” Amy Kremer told the January 6th Committee. “I think it was supposed to start at 1 o’clock. So that was our plan. And when I tell you we were exhausted, we were exhausted. But then, when all the stuff started happening at the Capitol, I said to everybody: ‘We don’t need to be a part of that. Just stay put, stay here.’”
‘We don’t know who those people are’
Immediately following the insurrection, Women for America First issued a statement distancing themselves from the violence.
“We unequivocally denounce violence of any type and under any circumstances,” the statement read. “We are saddened and disappointed at the violence that erupted on Capitol Hill, instigated by a handful of bad actors, that transpired after the rally.
“We stand by and strongly support the men and women of the Capitol Hill police and law enforcement in general and our organization played absolutely no role in the unfortunate events that transpired,” the statement continued. “What is truly sad is that the misdeeds of a handful of people will overshadow the overwhelming success of the peaceful event — attended by hundreds of thousands of Americans — that we sponsored today.”
Stockton told the January 6th Committee that he had absolutely no conversations with organized groups about going to the Capitol. He said he had wanted to hold a press conference to clear up any questions of responsibility, while suggesting that someone higher up the chain shut down the proposal.
“Like at that point I was so desperate to get across the finish line, and I continued to fight to do the press conference where we took every question from everybody, right, to make it clear, we don’t know who those people are, right,” Stockton said.
At least a month before the insurrection, Women for America First had sought to portray itself as a responsible alternative to more provocative organizers such as Ali Alexander and InfoWars host Alex Jones.
“So, they started pushing a much more violent rhetoric,” Stockton told the committee, “while what we were pushing, frankly, was, like, procedural inside the House, to, like, ‘All right, this is our best chance to make our case, like, to the world. Let’s make sure that, like, we put our best face on this thing.’”
During the massive manhunt that ensued after the insurrection, the FBI was preoccupied with charging people who went inside the Capitol or assaulted law enforcement officers. When a tip led them to Stockton in Nevada, the agent didn’t know what they had. In February or March 2021, Stockton told the committee, he received a call from an agent in the FBI’s Reno office.
“Ah, you know we have reports that you were in D.C. on January 6th,” the agent told Stockton.
“I assume or I hope that you’re aware that, like, I was an organizer of these events and was intimately involved in them, responded, chuckling.
They only spoke for 10 or 15 minutes, Stockton said. That was the extent of his conversations with law enforcement about Jan. 6, Stockton told the committee in December 2021. It’s unclear whether he’s talked to the FBI since that time.
Since Jan. 6, Dustin Stockton has continued to promote an ahistorical narrative of the insurrection, valorizing many of the groups who carried out the attack while claiming without evidence that it was a setup orchestrated by infiltrators.
“On November 14th, December 12th, and January 6th, I helped rally millions of people in Washington, DC,” Stockton wrote in a July 2021 Substack article. “The individuals and groups who answered the call included Oath Keepers, III%ers, Anons, Tea Partiers and patriots. Together, we worked to keep people safe and to peacefully and patriotically protest the theft of America.”
In a tweet around the same time, Stockton claimed implausibly that “infiltrators thought the crowd would follow them on J6, [but] they didn’t count on patriots stopping nearly everyone from falling into the trap.”
Stockton told Raw Story he doesn’t have anything else to add about Jan. 6th.
“I’ve gone out of my way to be honest, like, even before everybody else, when it wasn’t popular to do it,” he said. “For like me, at some point, man, you guys gotta let us move on with our lives. Three years [sic] we’ve been exhaustively covered in every outlet. We’ve answered every question. We’ve gone out of our way to do it. And, like, if you want to talk about other stories or other things, but to be honest, I’m just done taking questions on January 6th.”
Since Jan. 6, 2021, roughly 1,000 people have been charged with offenses related to the attack on the Capitol, including dozens of Oath Keepers. Kelly Meggs, who communicated with Jeremy Liggett in the runup to Jan. 6, and founder Stewart Rhodes are among the members who have been convicted of seditious conspiracy.
“My organization — I say my organization because, obviously, I helped found it, right? — okay, we didn’t do anything violent whatsoever in Washington, D.C., at all,” Liggett testified to the January 6th Committee in March 2022.
After his appearance, Liggett took to Facebook Live to denounce the committee as “a scheme of the devil,” while portraying himself as a victim.
“I wholeheartedly believe with all my heart that none of us were in Washington, D.C. to do any harm,” he said. “And their narrative — what they want to get out there is that every single one of us conservatives — every single one of us patriots are nothing but terrorists. And I believe that they want our neighbors to believe this. They want our family members to believe this. And that gives them power.”
Among members of the Guardians of Freedom group, there was at least some inkling that arrests were on the horizon.
In a September 2021 online conversation with another individual cited in his charging document, Brian Preller referred to a statement made to a “room flooded with 3% Patriots” where he insisted that “no one goes to jail at all cost.”
“F*** that man let em arrest you for doing nothing wrong,” the unidentified individual responded. “Lawsuit + makes them look bad.”
“Flagler county sheriffs is on our side 80/20,” Preller replied. “But I’m not ever seeing the inside of a cell brother. Ever.”
FBI agents assigned to a counter-terrorism investigation staked out a parking lot outside a school board meeting in Florida to monitor a Guardians of Freedom member, according to a recent House Judiciary Committee report.
In mid-August 2022, FBI agents in the Jacksonville and Tampa field offices began preparing to make arrests and execute search warrants against Jan. 6 suspects. Stephen Friend, a former special agent assigned to the Daytona Beach Resident Agency under the Jacksonville Field Office who has since resigned, expressed concern that the agency was taking an unnecessarily heavy-handed approach on learning that an FBI SWAT team was enlisted to carry out some of the arrests.
During a meeting with his supervisor on Aug. 19, 2022, Friend told his supervisor that he thought the use of the SWAT team was inappropriate, according to a declaration submitted to Republican members of Congress after Friend was suspended from the agency.
“I suggested alternatives such as the issuance of a court summons or utilizing surveillance groups to determine an optimal, safe time for a local sheriff deputy to contact the subjects and advise them about the existence of the arrest warrant,” Friend wrote, describing his conversation with Senior Supervisory Resident Agent Greg Federico.
Lira Gallagher, an FBI spokesperson at the Washington Field Office, said the agency would decline to comment.
On Aug. 24, Tyler Bensch, Jonathan Rockholt and John Edward Crowley were arrested in Florida. Friend, the former special agent, conceded to Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee earlier this year that it was reasonable for the FBI to conclude that Bensch possessed a firearm based on the description of him posting photos and videos of himself outside the Capitol with an AR-15 rifle, and that under such circumstances it would also be reasonable to deploy a SWAT team to make an arrest, according to a recent congressional report.
Preller, who had talked about allyship from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, was arrested on Aug. 24 in Hardwick, Vt., while Benjamin Cole was arrested in Louisville, Ky.
Although Liggett was not arrested, he reportedly made a Facebook post announcing that the FBI had served a search warrant at his home in Florida that day.
Reached by phone by Raw Story, Liggett said, “I have nothing to hide,” before referring questions to his lawyer. Kevin C. Maxwell, the lawyer, told Raw Story that he and Liggett decided they were “not going to give any interviews until the government finishes its investigation and has determined what they’re going to do,” including potentially charging additional defendants.
Joseph Pavlik, the retired firefighter, would be arrested in Chicago in January.
In September 2022, the leaders of Women for America First signaled that they, too, were under legal scrutiny.
Harmeet Dhillon, a prominent lawyer who recently lost a bid to chair the Republican National Committee, tweeted on Sept. 9 that Women for America First was among clients that had been “served w/ extremely broad subpoenas, or warrants for phone/device.”
During an appearance on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Dhillon told Carlson that three of her clients received “subpoenas or warrants” from the “Capitol siege section of the United States Department of Justice’s D.C. office. Dhillon said her clients were asked for all communications with dozens of people in late 2020 regarding topics in three categories — “alternate electors, fundraising around irregularities around the election, and also a rally that happened before the January 6th situation at the Capitol — the Save America rally.”
It’s unclear whether the federal probe involving the Women for America First leaders is related to the ongoing FBI investigation of the Guardians of Freedom.
Kylie Jane Kremer responded to a direct message from Raw Story on Twitter by providing the email for Christopher Barron, Women for America First’s publicist. Barron did not respond to multiple voicemails and emails. Dhillon also could not be reached for comment.
Although a grand jury in Georgia is reportedly considering criminal charges against Trump, the former president has so far managed to avoid entanglement in the roughly 1,000 cases involving supporters implicated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The former president has fused his political identity to the hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants in a shared victimhood grievance, describing them in a recent speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, D.C., as “great patriots” who were “sitting in a jail nearby rotting away, and being treated so unfairly, like probably nobody’s ever been treated in this country before — except maybe me.”
Trump has suggested that the multi-pronged federal investigation surrounding the Jan. 6 attack would be hamstrung if he is re-elected, saying, “To those that are in the FBI that are with us, I want to thank you very much. I really do. I want to thank you. Stay strong. Help is coming.”
Some of the defendants have unsuccessfully attempted to call Trump as a witness, while one, Dustin Thompson, based his defense on the argument that he had been following orders from Trump when he broke into the Capitol, only to be convicted of a felony charge for obstructing an official proceeding and five misdemeanors.
Despite the legal hurdles to putting a former president on the witness stand, the lawyers for Joseph Biggs, one of the Proud Boys currently on trial for seditious conspiracy, are still trying. Biggs’ lawyers drew up a subpoena for Trump last month, and it is scheduled to be served next week.
“We think he has personal information about what he did and said that day,” Dan Hull, one of Biggs’ lawyers, told Raw Story. “He obviously played some role. We’d like to find out about it and have him testify at trial. We look at it as an opportunity for him.”
'Focus on moving forward'
For Women for America First, the organization that put on a rally for a sitting president of the United States, the violence at was an unfortunate occurrence from which they quickly washed their hands.
“What should have been an amazing day, turned into something it should have never been because of some asshats,” Amy Kremer complained in a group text to her daughter and Katrina Pierson, a senior adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign, only two weeks after the insurrection. “I think it is time the movement purge itself of the bad and evil. I believe that will take care of itself in due time.
“I’m hoping that we can put this all behind us,” she added, “and focus on moving forward.”
Amy Kremer, whose group Women for America First hosted the rally for Donald Trump at the Ellipse, said after Jan. 6: "I hope we can put this all behind us." Gage Skidmore
Forward has led to March 2023.
Last weekend, Trump posted on Truth Social that he expected to be arrested on charges stemming from an investigation by the Manhattan district attorney. He urged his supporters to “Protest, take our nation back!”
Kremer was on alert.
But this time, there was no bus tour to hype crowds in Middle America. No Jumbotrons, stages or entourages of pastors and MAGA influencers lined up to provide a focal point for gatherings at Mar-a-Lago or New York City.
There is nothing — nothing at all — akin to the Jan. 6 rally.
Kremer was just another Trump supporter with a Twitter account, advising her followers that they could protest without a permit with signs and megaphones on public sidewalks.
“Keep moving & they can’t remove you,” she advised. “Be happy & peaceful warriors. Don’t be baited & if they try, move away quickly.”
Key figures and groups in this series
1st Amendment Praetorian: Volunteer security group associated with retired Lt. General Michael Flynn that provided personal security details for Ali Alexander and other speakers at pro-Trump rallies leading up to Jan. 6, 2021
Guardians of Freedom: Three Percenter group led by Jeremy Liggett based in Florida whose members joined a mob in the Tunnel at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and tried to break through a line of D.C. Metropolitan Police Officers.
Oath Keepers: Far-right militia group that targets military veterans and former law enforcement for recruitment; dozens of members equipped with military gear entered the Capitol in a column formation
Proud Boys: Neo-fascist street fighting group that served as the engine of the insurrection by leading a mob to the Capitol, including one member who broke out a window, leading to the initial breach of the building
Stop the Steal: Coalition led by Republican operative Ali Alexander that organized protests in battleground states after the Nov. 3, 2020 election, followed by large rallies in Washington, D.C., culminating in Jan. 6
United Constitutional Patriots: Militia group that allegedly detained more than 300 migrants in New Mexico while carrying firearms and fake badges; their spokesman interviewed Dustin Stockton for a Facebook livestream during an event to promote a privately-funded section of the border wall in 2019
Women for America First: Nonprofit led by Tea Party organizer Amy Kremer that hosted the Jan. 6 rally featuring Donald Trump, along with the March for Trump bus tour and two large rallies in Washington, D.C. preceding Jan. 6
This is the final installment in a three-part series about ties between Women for America First, which held the permit for the rally where Donald Trump spoke on Jan. 6, and the Three Percenter group Guardians of Freedom. Read parts one and two.
Photo of Charles Bowman (front left) and Dustin Stockton (back right) published on Stockton's Substack. Via "Tyrant's Curse" Substack
Guardians of Freedom associate Tyler Bensch in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 12, 2020. U.S. Department of Justice
Then-President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the south lawn of the White House on December 23, 2020, in Washington, DC. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Guardians of Freedom founder Jeremy Liggett posted a video on Jan. 3, 2021 providing instructions on weapons to bring to Washington, D.C. (eyes redacted by DOJ). U.S. Department of Justice
Crowds arrive for the "Stop the Steal" rally on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Dustin Stockton attends a Tea Party Express election night party at the Aria Resort & Casino at CityCenter on November 2, 2010, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ethan Miller/Getty Images
President Donald Trump speaks at the "Stop the Steal" Rally on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images