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Kevin Ryan's avatar

Great article! This connects a lot of bad actors in a way that makes sense because if the mob attack was successful in either killing Pence or Congress OR sufficient chaos to delay the count for GOP states to decertify their Biden Electors, there had to be a war room for coordinating all the key conspirators to mob the media and create a consensus that favored a pro-Trump outcome. None of the confusion we saw after Reagan was shot, when Al Haig said he was in control. Trump needed all hands on deck and everyone assuring the media that what Trump and the GOP was doing was legit. Penrose would be key to that misinformation campaign. The Willard War Room is a major missing link. The Capitol attack mob looks less spontaneous all the time. Super job with this article!

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catgirl's avatar

I'm beginning to think that the Willard Hotel is where the literal War Room was on Jan. 6th. Or one of them. Proud Boy Gabriel Garcia was live-streaming at the front of the Pezzola PB group and during later attacks inside. His indictment describes him narrating tactical maneuvers. Marcy Wheeler at emptywheel.net discusses the idea that the live-stream was being watched by others not at the site, as there are voices of people in a quiet location giving directions to those on the ground. Where was Mike Flynn during the insurrection? I've been looking to see if it's in any articles, but if it is, I'm not seeing it. If anyone can point me to it I'd appreciate it.

Wheeler's article is here: https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/03/22/were-proud-boys-using-livestream-for-command-and-control-and-other-operational-questions/

Another of her articles questions how the PBs, and possibly Oath Keepers, knew the National Guard was on the way before the National Guard did. At 3:38 pm, P.B, Charles Donahoe, who had left the Capitol for some reason, called for a regrouping for a 2nd assault. His indictment then says that plan was "short-lived" as he then (at an unspecified time, but apparently not much later) "advised the group that the National Guard and 'DHS agents' were 'incoming.'"

At 3:40, two minutes after Donahoe's call to regroup, O.K. Joshua James (who was a passenger on one of the golf carts that raced to the Capitol) called "Person Ten" of the O.K. indictment for 3 minutes. At 4:00, James' fellow golf cart passenger Roberto Minuta had two phone conversations with O.K. Stewart Rhodes, and at 4:10, an unidentified O.K. told everyone "stand your ground." But then, they did nothing.

To put that into the timeline, it was 3:04 that Miller authorized (and see below about "authorized" vs "deployed") the guard to assist the Metro PD and 3:19 that Army Sec'y Ryan McCarthy called Democratic leaders in the Capitol and he called Mayor Bowser at 3:26. Between 3:48 and 4:10, McCarthy traveled from the Pentagon to the MPD, where he discussed how the Guard deployment would work. At 4:32, Miller ordered the Guard to assist the Capitol Police (while McCarthy is negotiating with the MPD on the deployment instead.) Of course, that order didn't get to General Walker until 5:08 pm.

It would appear that the P.B.s and the O.K.s got the news that the Guard was being deployed while McCarthy was in transit to what would, as of 4:32, become the wrong place. And then there was a nice, long hang in mid-air between the 4:32 order and Gen. Walder getting the order and deploying. The P.B.s and O.K.s had about an hour to clear their people from the area while the rest of the MAGAs they incited into a raging mob attacked the Lower West Tunnel, giving them cover. The article is here:

https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/04/05/how-did-the-proud-boys-have-better-lines-of-communication-about-national-guard-reinforcements-than-the-national-guard-did/

Something I'm not seeing discussed further anywhere is that on January 4th, Miller authorized McCarthy to DEPLOY the 40 member (Guard?) Quick Reaction Force staged at Joint Base Andrews if civil authorities requested help. Mayor Bowser called McCarthy at 1:34 pm and requests assistance. This is mentioned in an article on "Just Security," about the official and unofficial DoD timelines. The article explains that there was confusion about "authorization" and "deployment" on Jan 6. A military action can be authorized, but it can't be put into operation until it is "deployed." DoD was using "authorized" on Jan. 6, which was interpreted by civilians (Congress and D.C, government) as "deployed." But this article, while taking pains to explain the difference, states that McCarthy was already authorized to deploy the QRF at any point that day. The article at Just Security is here: https://www.justsecurity.org/76117/the-official-and-unofficial-timeline-of-defense-department-actions-on-january-6/

(And I don't know why my links don't seem to be "hyper-linked." Sorry about that.

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