What Michael Flynn and Alex Jones Were Doing on the Eve of Insurrection, and Why It Matters

New evidence offers critical clues about Trump's secretive January 5th war council.

{Note: That the pre-insurrection “war council” held at Donald Trump’s private residence in Trump International Hotel is one of the key events in the insurrection timeline is clear. It is discussed on Proof here and here. This article expands on that reporting and is the second of three articles on men who featured in the events of January 5, the day before the insurrection.}

With David Bossie now claiming he didn’t attend the January 5 war council at Trump’s residence inside Trump International Hotel (though he doesn’t deny that it occurred); Senator Tommy Tuberville denying being present despite photographic evidence to the contrary; and Trump donor Charles Herbster continuing to refuse to speak to the media, attention now turns to two questions about the “intimate” gathering at Trump’s home: (1) is there public evidence placing the remaining twelve meeting attendees (besides the already-confirmed Herbster, Tuberville, and Daniel Beck) at Trump’s DC hotel on January 5, and (2) what information do we have from such publicly available sources regarding the content of the January 5 meeting?

An analysis of recent social media posts and publicly posted videos definitively places two additional January 5 war council attendees at the Trump International Hotel on January 5: Donald Trump Jr. and Michael Flynn. See the Instagram photos below:

Interestingly, these Instagram-posted pictures were taken by the same hotel guest who took photographs of Tommy Tuberville and Phil Waldron at Trump International Hotel on January 5, with the former of the two men known to have attended Team Trump’s January 5 war council and the latter of whom suspected to having done so—not only because of his presence at the hotel, but because he was brought onto Team Trump as an “intelligence analyst” by Rudy Giuliani, who was staying at the hotel and is known to have attended the January 5 gathering there in Trump’s private residence.

Indeed, not only does it appear that Giuliani was staying at Trump’s hotel during the period of time the insurrection occurred, but he was apparently in meetings with one of the key figures from the 2019-20 “Trump-Ukraine” scandal: an obscure Connecticut Republican and former Congressman candidate named Robert Hyde. That Hyde is the subject of an entire chapter in Proof of Corruption, the 2020 book from Macmillan that offers a comprehensive narrative of the Trump-Ukraine scandal, underlines why it’s impossible to summarize Hyde’s connections to the Trump family here. Suffice to say that there is substantial evidence that the man who owns the account below has been closely involved with the Trump family and its political “dirty tricks” for several years.

Beyond his association with Giuliani, Hyde has at various points been photographed with almost every Republican leader in Washington—including Trump himself (note: see below for three such photos; there are more). Hyde’s association with GOP leaders is one steeped in violence and threats of violence, as the specific allegation against him, supported by his own text messages to current federal defendant and Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, was that he planned and took steps toward committing violence against the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovich, after Trump expressed a desire to get rid of her in 2019. Hyde’s presence with a member of Trump’s war council on January 6 thus raises the question of whether he was with the council on January 5—and whether his apparent willingness to foment or even orchestrate violence for Trump was also relevant to his mid-insurrection stay at Trump International Hotel.

Tellingly, Hyde has often been photographed with insurrections, including—see below—Flynn, Trump Jr., Roger Stone, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. In all, Hyde has appeared in photos with at least three members of the January 5 war council.

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On January 5, Michael Flynn gave an interview to Alex Jones at an unknown location, though video of the interview strongly suggests it was the Trump International Hotel. Not only the picture frames, wall coloring, and light fixtures match those of publicly available pictures of Trump International guest rooms, but far more importantly—and persuasively—Flynn and Jones repeatedly reference “demonstrations” and “protests” happening “right outside the window” (Flynn), with Jones noting (while pointing out the window) that Flynn is “about to give a big speech to this million-person crowd.” At another point Jones asks Flynn rhetorically, “Can you not feel the energy outside [the window]?” Flynn says, “These people [points toward the window] are modern-day patriots”, thereafter remarking, “the patriots that are standing out there [he points out the window] know that we won.”

Freedom Plaza, where January 5’s pro-Trump demonstrations and protests occurred, is at 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue; Trump’s hotel is at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue—just a five-minute walk (0.2 miles) away. Given the boisterous overflow crowd at the Plaza during the Flynn interview, it would indeed have seemed “outside the window” of the Trump International Hotel.

The location of the Flynn-Jones interview matters less with respect to Flynn—though the Instagram post of him at the hotel wearing the same clothes he’s wearing in his interview with Jones does further underscore that the conversation likely happened at the hotel—and more with respect to Jones. Given Jones’ claim that he was asked by the White House on January 5 to lead the Stop the Steal/March to Save America on January 6, and given the evidence now available that he was indeed in the VIP section of the rally’s crowd as he claimed, if Jones was in fact at Trump International Hotel on January 5, it is possible that his White House or Team Trump contact was a member of Trump’s war council—and possibly that he got January 6 marching orders at the hotel.

During his interview with Jones, Flynn makes some stunning statements, including:

• “The courts are not going to win this thing [the election, for Trump]—it’s we the people.” The suggestion that a mob would “win” the election for Trump on January 6 in contravention of recent Supreme Court rulings on Trump’s voter-fraud claims is borderline seditious.

• “The president is above the others [branches of the U.S. government].” Flynn’s gross misstatement of how American democracy works, and his concurrent open support for a Trump dictatorship, is chilling.

• “This [January 6] is unprecedented” and a “crucible moment.” He adds, “If we allow a lie [Biden’s election victory] to take us into our future, we will never again have the constitutional republic we have now.”

Like most of Trump’s surrogates on January 5 and January 6, Flynn falsely implies the real election day is not November 3, 2020 but January 6, 2021—and presents the stakes of the January 6 “election” as nothing short of America continuing as a constitutional republic. This is incitement to insurrection by almost any definition of that phrase.

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After his InfoWars interview, Flynn speaks to the Jericho March/Rally for Revival just fifth of a mile of Trump’s hotel. Jericho March has been described as “a loose coalition of Christian nationalists formed after the 2020 presidential election with the goal of overturning its results. . . .[its] activities culminated in a large prayer rally on December 12, 2020 in Washington, DC, that included prayer marches and speeches on the mall by. . .Flynn; former U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann; the Trump-supporting founder of MyPillow, Mike Lindell; and far-right Oath Keepers militia founder Stewart Rhodes.”

In his January 5 speech—with a Stop the Steal flag waving behind him—Flynn states that “we should as Americans not accept this [election]”, and repeatedly returns to scenes of American military forces engaged in violent combat in the cause of freedom. His sordid address culminates in an unmistakable incitement to violence on January 6:

“One of the great things about being an American is our culture. In our DNA, we feel freedom, we bleed freedom, and we will sacrifice for freedom! It is not something that can be taken for granted…[remember the] various revolutions, the various things our country has experienced in our history. We cannot take anything that has come before us for granted. This country is awake! Tomorrow, trust me, the American people that are standing on the soil that we are standing on tonight—and they’re going to be standing on this soil tomorrow—this is soil that we have fought over [and] fought for and we will fight for in the future.”

Video of Flynn’s approximately ten-minute address can be found at this link, or below:

Flynn’s speech is followed by remarks from George Papadopoulos (who quickly offers his personal thanks to Flynn) and Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne. Byrne says, “Get the Patriot Party going, the People’s Party,” echoing Flynn’s grim prognostication that the future of the republic may not lie with the Republican Party or the Democratic Party but a “People’s Party.” That Daniel Beck, Flynn, and Byrne—individuals with access to Trump’s inner circle—all use a term, “Patriot Party,” largely limited to Trump and his top advisers, is telling.

Papadopoulos’ most inciting comment is the last of his speech: “God bless America—fight for it, stay vigilant, Don’t you ever let them take this country from you. They will not stop. Fight back!” Shortly thereafter, the event’s master of ceremonies, Matt Couch, shouts to the crowd, “Are we gonna fight like a Flynn tomorrow?” The reference to Flynn’s military service here is unambiguous, and #FightLikeaFlynn is a common far-right meme.

Jones takes the stage 40 minutes after Flynn, shouting the whole of his speech. Some quotes:

• “IF THEY WANT A FIGHT, THEY BETTER BELIEVE THEY’VE GOT ONE!”

• “[BIDEN IS A] SLAVE OF SATAN” and “GOD [HAS] RISED UP [sic] DONALD TRUMP!”

• “WE HOLD PRESIDENT TRUMP UP BEFORE THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE! AND WE SAY, THANK YOU FOR TRYING TO SEND US A DELIVERER!”

InfoWars host Owen Shroyer had introduced Jones, saying in response to a chant from the crowd that “locking up” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would be only a “good start.” He adds that he and the crowd are “fightin’ mad.” Roger Stone speaks 15 minutes later, preceded by a profoundly embarrassing video for the song “Roger Stone Did Nothing Wrong” by The Deplorable Choir—a video that features a clip of Stone with his friend Jones. At the time, Stone is being protected by the Oath Keepers, who within a matter of hours will be linked to a plot to assassinate the entirety of Congress.