Who Were the Capitol ‘Insurrectionists’

In the wake of the protest at and takeover of the US Capitol by Trump supporters on 6th January, this event has been endlessly covered by almost all media in the US as well as most international outlets. The takeover was undoubtedly a major event in US politics and its consequences will arguably not be fully known for a long time. The narrative that has developed in the press and is dominating the coverage at the moment is of an insurrection, siege, invasion and a coup.

The people involved in the protest are labelled with many kinds of fringe-ideological identifiers, such as white supremacists, racists, and extremists. It is seldom acknowledged or elaborated upon what the motivations of any of the protesters were or what the reasons were for the event not to have remained entirely peaceful.

Below is a list of a number of people attending the pro-Trump rally and the Capitol protest. As the attendees numbered perhaps several tens of thousands, this list is necessarily limited. Some of these attendees have been arrested or charged, while others simply attended or spoke at the event. Some entered the Capitol building, while others stayed outside, disavowing any violence taking place. The goal of the list is to provide the context of publicly available information about the attendees. This context seeks to offer readers a better overview of the nature of the protest and the various people making up the crowd. 

Some of these people might have done nothing wrong, others might have done many things that are wrong or evil. None of this is to be construed as an endorsement of any specific individual or group by Lotuseaters.com

Ali Alexander is the main organizer of the #StopTheSteal campaign which maintains that the 2020 Presidential election was ‘stolen’ by the Democratic Party and its allies from Trump, who had actually won. In light of this belief, they are standing up for a fair election and against corruption. Alexander said on Twitter that if Democrats were to block objections to the electoral vote, ‘everyone can guess what me and 500,000 others will do to that building. 1776 is *always* an option’.

Jake Angelli, the ‘QAnon shaman’ has been arrested after becoming one of the centrepieces of the Capitol takeover. One of his goals is reportedly to ‘expose a wealthy pedophile cult controlling the world’. Even if this is completely false and he is completely wrong to pursue his goal, his intentions to ‘expose pedophiles’ can hardly be seen as nefarious.

Ashli Babbit was shot by a policeman during the protest. She was an Air Force veteran and a pool services business owner. Her social media featured posts including QAnon conspiracy references.

Richard Barnett has been arrested after posing in Nancy Pelosi’s office. He seems to have stolen a letter from her desk. He came to the protest armed, saying he is prepared for a bloody death.

Larry Brock has turned himself into police. He is an Air Force veteran said to have received 12 medals. He told The New Yorker that he went to the rally to protest peacefully and did not see any violence at the Capitol. Brock said he was upset by the violence that did occur.

The Chinese American Alliance For Trump is an association of Chinese-Americans who have come out in protest against Joe Biden, whom they see as the CCP-aligned presidential candidate. As reported by Lotuseaters.com, one of their banners said ‘Chinese Americans stand with Trump. We have fled socialism’, which they don’t want to see taking root in the US. Another sign claimed that Trump is being denied his rightful presidency and the ‘CCP’s Black Hand is behind the FRAUD’.

Lonnie Coffman has been arrested. He brought 11 Molotov cocktails ‘as well as guns and ammo’ to the protest. In his pickup truck, a letter was also found which included a US Congressman’s name labelled ‘one of the Two muslims in House of Reps’ alongside a judge labelled ‘Bad Guy’.

Josiah Colt has been arrested. He is reportedly a ‘small business owner’. Before the protest, he said he was ‘praying that everybody are [sic] able to prove a point without violence’ and that ‘for the camera’s sake, we’re definitely not going to carry’.

Paul Davis is a lawyer who works in human resources at an insurance company. Filming himself during the protest in front of the Capitol, he said: ‘All we want is an actual audit of the ballots and the Dominion machines’.

Derrick Evans is a West Virginia state representative.

Mark Finchem is an Arizona state representative. He is a member of Oath Keepers, a controversial ‘patriot’ group. He maintains that there is ‘substantial evidence that this election was a fraud’.

Cindy Fitchett was arrested for unlawful entry. She is a member of a Facebook group ‘Trump Women Landslide 2020’ and agreed with Trump’s position that the 2020 Presidential election had been mired in fraud.

David Fitzgerald has been arrested. He is a tattoo artist and an Army veteran. His wife stated that he attended the event to ‘peacefully protest’ and ‘wasn’t there with anything malicious in mind.’ Several days before the protest, he said on Facebook that his ‘mission’ was ‘service to my country’ and to ‘protect my fellow citizens’.

Jacob Fracker is one of two off-duty Virginia policemen arrested for entering the Capitol and disorderly conduct. In a post on Facebook after the protest, he said: ‘Lol to anyone who’s possibly concerned about the picture of me going around … Sorry I hate freedom? … Not like I did anything illegal.’

Tim Gionet, known better under his pseudonym Baked Alaska, is a streamer and an internet personality. He has been described as a white nationalist sympathizer whose beliefs are not deeply anchored and are more likely grounded in opportunism. His content includes bizarre street performances bordering on harassment.

Simone Gold is the leader of America’s Frontline Doctors. She rose to prominence during the hydroxychloroquine controversy in spring 2020 amid disputes over its effectiveness against COVID-19.

Lance Gooden is a US Congressman who urged Senators to object to the electoral college votes certification in December 2020.

Paul Gosar is a US Congressman and a former dentist.

Arina Grossu is an anti-abortion activist, a Catholic, and the Director for the Center for Human Dignity.

Doug Jensen has been arrested after his confrontations with the police inside the Capitol building. He was photographed wearing a ‘Trust the Plan’ t-shirt, referring to the movement which believes that recent events had been pre-planned by Trump, who has a plan to emerge victorious in the end in the fight against his political opponents. 

Adam Johnson has been arrested. He is the man who took the speaker’s podium from the House chamber and can be seen smiling while holding it in a viral picture. He is a stay at home father who makes furniture. After the protest, he wrote on Facebook about his concern over the destruction that violent protests had brought to the US over last year, expressing his antipathies against BLM and police corruption. His social media features QAnon conspiracy references.

Alex Jones is a prominent US media personality. He is the publisher and director of InfoWars. He is known for making controversial far-fetched claims and famous for his passionate and aggressive TV performances.

Vernon Jones is a Georgia State representative. Being a former Democrat, announced having joined the Republican party on January 6th at the Save America March. He is also a former US Senate candidate.

Klete Keller was arrested for entering the Capitol building and disorderly conduct. He is a star swimmer and a winner of five Olympic medals. He was identified by his Olympic jacket, which he wore during the protest and inside the Capitol building.

Mark Leffingwell was arrested for being inside the Capitol building and disorderly conduct as well as an assault on a police officer. He is a used car salesman.

Kristina Malimon is a social media personality who expresses her concerns about election integrity. She uses the hashtag #StopTheSteal, indicating her conviction that the 2020 Presidential election featured fraud which changed the final outcome.

Jenny Beth Martin is the co-founder and national coordinator of a civil society organization Tea Party Patriots and a columnist for The Washington Times.

Doug Mastriano is a prominent US Senator and a retired US Army colonel.

Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr. has been arrested for threats. He said he was ‘thinking about heading over to Pelosi C***’s speech and putting a bullet in her noggin on Live TV’.

Aaron Mostofsky is the son of a New York judge. In an interview, he stated he believed that ‘the election was stolen’ and that ‘we were cheated’.

Eric Gavelek Munchel has been arrested for his involvement with the Capitol breach. He commented on the protest: ‘It was kind of flexing of muscles … The intentions of going in were not to fight the police. The point of getting inside the building is to show them that we can, and we will.” He and his mother have said to have attended the event to protest against tyranny and oppression.

Robert Keith Packer was arrested after having been part of the protest inside the Capitol building. He was photographed with a ‘Camp Auschwitz’ sweatshirt and has a ‘lengthy criminal record’, having been arrested ‘well over a dozen times’.

William Pepe has been arrested. He is a now-suspended New York transportation worker.

Scott Presler is a Republican political operative. He is one of the most prominent members of Gays For Trump. He has ‘become known for organizing and executing volunteer trash cleanups’ across American cities.

Thomas Robertson is one of two off-duty Virginia policemen arrested for entering the Capitol building and disorderly conduct. Responding to a backlash on social media to a photo of him inside the building, he commented: ‘CNN and the Left are just mad because we actually attacked the government who is the problem and not some random small business,” presumably referring to the destruction brought about by violent protests across the US in the last year.

Nicholas Rodean has been arrested. He is reportedly a ‘voice actor’, an ‘advocate for animal rights’, and an ‘aspiring veterinary technician’.

Bradley Rukstales was arrested for having joined the Capitol breach. He is now an ex-CEO of a ‘suburban tech company’. Since the protest, he has said that he regrets his involvement in it, citing ‘extremely poor judgment’. He says he ‘condemn[s] the violence and destruction’.

Rick Saccone is a State representative and a former congressional candidate in Pennsylvania. During the protest, he said on Facebook: We are storming the capitol. Our vanguard has broken thru the barricades. We will save this nation.’

Robert Sanford is a retired firefighter. He is alleged to have thrown a fire extinguisher at three policemen from behind. This assault was caught on video and did not result in any injuries. 

Jon Schaffer has been charged for his involvement in the protest and is currently wanted. He is the guitarist of the power metal band Iced Earth.

Zandra Sixkiller was arrested for unlawful entry. She believes that the Democrats committed what amounts to treason during the 2020 Presidential election, also using the hashtag #StopTheSteal.

Roger Stone is a prominent political consultant, lobbyist, and a long-time Washington operative. He is a significant name on Trump’s side of the political space. He was convicted for making false statements to the FBI during the Mueller investigation and later received a pardon from Trump.

Brandon Straka is the main organizer of the #WalkAway movement, which was established for the goal of helping individuals on the political left to be able to distance themselves from the Democratic Party and the ‘divisive tenets’ it espouses.

John Sullivan had charges brought against him for his presence inside the Capitol building. He is a self-described left-wing activist and the founder of the group Insurgence USA. During the protest, outside the Capitol building, he rallied the crowd using a microphone: ‘We about to burn this s* down.’ ‘We got to rip Trump out of office... F* pull him out of that s*... We ain’t waiting until the next election... We about to go get that m*f*.’ In an interview for CNN later, he said ‘I don’t want to see people get hurt unnecessarily’.

The Three Percenters are a group that gathered at the Capitol even before Trump’s speech at the Ellipse started. Their appearance resembles a militia, although they claim not to be one. On their website, they describe themselves as an ‘organization of patriotic citizens … committed to standing against and exposing corruption and injustice.’ They have often been presented as far-right or racist, which they reject. ‘We are NOT racists, NOR are we white supremacists. This organization is made up of patriots of all races, colors, creeds, religions, background, ethnicities, orientations…’ They seem to have come in unarmed, though in defensive gear. Their name recalls the 3% of American colonists who fought for US independence from Britain.

Maggie VandenBerghe is a filmmaker, performer, and an independent journalist.

Kelli Ward is the Chair of the Arizona Republican Party and an Arizona state Senate member

Contrary to press reports, most of this admittedly pseudo-random selection from the crowd does not seem to have been made of extremists or fringe ideologues. Although nefarious elements were undoubtedly present, many if not most people seem instead to have been alarmed by issues regarding election integrity or democracy and troubled and angered by the apparent disregard of the US political power structure towards them and their concerns. 

In response, in the voice of Meghan McCain, this political power structure replied: ‘I’m not against sending these people to Gitmo.’