Three hours of CCTV footage gotten by a criminal defense lawyer representing a man charged with 13 crimes connected to the Jan. 2021 Capitol riot shows a chaotic situation at the lower west tunnel during the event, with rioters and demonstrators coming up against a team of Capitol police.
Several of the demonstrators at the scene acted in a violent manner against police, forcing ladders into the tunnel and showing club-like weapons. Other violent agitators struggled for control of the Capitol Police riot shields.
Joseph McBride, the lawyer of January 6th defendant Ryan Nichols, is saying that one man there at the scene of the violent event was acting like a provocateur in connection with the Capitol Police. McBride is alleging that the man he is calling “Red Face 45” worked in a series of coordinated acts along with the Capitol Police, including getting items from a Capitol Police bag, communicating with police officers using hand signals, and working with police officers to clear people away from the tunnel after working with them. The acts McBride says are suspicious happened between the 2:00:00 mark of the video footage and 2:30:00, with McBride marking them in the upload of the video on his Rumble channel.
The CCTV video also shows an apparent defenseless woman, who McBride said was Victoria White, being beaten by Capitol Police (at the 2:06:16 mark) after entering into the tunnel. A Capitol Police officer with a white shirt repeatedly hits White with a nightstick, as other police officers continually pepper-spray her. Red Face 45 seems to enter the tunnel like White in the footage, although he is not subjected to similar force.
Nichols, a native from Texas, has been charged with many violent offenses that could lead to him serving a long prison sentence if he is convicted. He maintains that he is innocent.
This comes at a time when Democrats are pushing to use the January 6th event as an excuse to go after Trump-supporters and conservative Americans for being “white nationalist terrorists.”
Author: Steven Sinclaire