Newly obtained video shows movement of group suspected of constructing Jan. 6 gallows hours before Capitol siege

[BumRushDaShow]

Last edited Mon Mar 18, 2024, 07:57 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: CBS News

Updated on: March 18, 2024 / 5:47 PM EDT


The people who erected the infamous gallows and noose on the west front of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, began their work in the predawn hours that day, according to newly released videos obtained by CBS News. A report by a GOP-led U.S. House subcommittee said the perpetrators remain unaccounted for by prosecutors.

Surveillance footage shared with CBS News shows the brazenness of the work behind the gallows and noose, which have a history of racist and threatening overtones. On Jan. 6, then-Vice President Mike Pence was presiding over the joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College count and had been pressured by former President Donald Trump to unilaterally overturn the 2020 election. He refused to do so, while outside the Capitol, protesters and rioters around the gallows and noose chanted, "Hang Mike Pence."

The videos illustrate how a crew of people rolled pieces down major streets in plain sight, in the predawn hours before the Capitol siege. The video shows several people wheeling large wooden beams near the Capitol during the 6 a.m. ET hour on Jan. 6.

The group can be seen moving its materials across Union Square and near Independence Avenue, two iconic areas near Capitol Hill that would later be overrun by some of the thousands who converged at the Capitol after a speech by former President Trump about 2 miles away, at the Ellipse.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jan-6-gallows-construction-new-video/

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Not on YouTube yet (that I can find) but CBS has it here on their site (starting at about 14 seconds into the video with a clip that is maybe 15 seconds long with views from 2 cameras, clip repeated a couple times) - https://www.cbsnews.com/video/video-shows-people-suspected-of-erecting-noose-gallows-before-jan6-attack/

ETA a DUer found and posted a Youtube of the broadcast with the clips - https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218789447

[Omnipresent]

2. No cops around on those streets, to stop these hostages from building gallows?

[moniss]

19. Yes that was my thought

as well as a few other thoughts. Have any media types thought to ask rank and file and maybe Captains on down in the National Guard, Marines, Army etc. what they thought on 1/6 as they saw the Capitol being attacked for hours, the cops obviously losing ground and themselves not being brought in? If I were a Marine that day I would have been saying "what the f**k are we waiting for?" and if I were a foreign enemy I would be taking notes about how vulnerable and ill defended the US can be when some on the "inside" want it to be.

[riversedge]

3. Here is the short video.........

Link to tweet

?s=20

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Thanks (hoping maybe it gets on YouTube since a bunch of people can't see tweets)

There was another camera angle that went with that clip with them dragging the thing across a grassy area.

[Ford_Prefect]

5. What I find interesting is that they already expected to hang Mike. The placement of the gallows was planned

and the assembly coordinated well in advance of the day.

This was not the spontaneous outburst Johnson et al like to pretend it was. What I'm curious about is who did it? Which action team was assigned, what if any other items were they carrying, and which part of the Capitol would we see them in later in the day?

[BumRushDaShow]

7. The one "out" that the builders may have

is that there were some pics that came out a year or so ago that showed it from the ground level from a different angle and there was a sign attached to the bottom that indicated that it was "art".

In fact, looking for the pics that were posted on DU, I found a different view from a regular internet search -

[ZZenith]

9. Yeah, the "Art" of Terrorism.

Miscreants, all.

[SergeStorms]

13. Yeah. Trump really attracts....

the creative types. 🙄

The only thing they want to create is mayhem, murder, discord, hate, idolatry, xenophobia, etc.

[louis-t]

21. Nah, 'Art' is the guy on the scaffold with the beige fetish.

Seditionists, this is Art. Art, these are your fellow seditionists.

[jmowreader]

40. It would have to be "art" because it would be fucking useless as a gallows

Let's count all the ways they fucked up if they were trying to make something that would kill anyone.

1. The tower is in the wrong goddamned place. It should be in the middle. If you tried hanging someone from this it'd flip over the first time you tried it. Admittedly this WOULD probably kill the victim by squashing them to death - and the insurrectionists by flinging their stupid asses thirty or forty feet - but it's not the recommended way.

2. It's too fucking short. There's a YouTube video of a tour of one of the execution suites at a British prison; the gallows is on the second floor of the prison, and the criminal drops into a cell on the first floor. The platform on this is barely head-height.

3. There's not enough rope to do the job. An Israeli comedy TV show did a sketch about hanging Adolf Eichmann, the first execution the young country had ever done, and it was just a comedy of errors - they didn't put a trap door into the platform, they put the platform a foot above the ground, this shit went on for two years until Eichmann finally had enough of it and hanged himself. It would be like that. (In real life the people hanging Eichmann asked someone how to do it, so they killed him the first time they tried it.)

4. They made the framework for the platform out of 2x4s? For fuck's sake, if you put enough people on this thing to hang someone who didn't want to be hanged they'd fall right through.

5. Probably no trap door, so apparently they were just supposed to shove Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi over the side.

Given that, this displays, more clearly than most of the other things they did that day (although the part about printing shirts is a little more clear) that this is no spontaneous demonstration. It was clearly a planned event. Someone spent time to make this! It's not like you can go to Lowe's and buy a gallows kit like you can for a picnic table or swing set.

[yardwork]

8. I've read that there were two groups.

The first group, made up of Proud Boys and others, conducted pre-planned activities the night before and early in the morning. They're probably the ones who erected the gallows. They're the ones with the maps of the Capitol offices. Somebody planted the pipe bombs, etc. This group seems to be closely affiliated with Roger Stone.

The second group were the amateurs. Summoned to DC by Trump's tweets and speeches, and funded by Ginni Thomas's group and other right wing organizations, this was the mob that was supposed to make the insurrection look spontaneous.

I have no idea if this is true but it seems reasonable. The whole thing was pre-planned theater, and it might have worked if not for Nancy Pelosi and some brave, quick thinking women who saved the ballots. The plan was to create an enough chaos that the Republicans could argue that the ballots were lost or stolen and "they couldn't know" if the ballots were real or not. Just create so much uncertainty and delays that the election was up for grabs.

They did not count on 80-something Nancy Pelosi resuming the vote certification that night. That woman and her aides saved our democracy.

[Earth-shine]

20. At the time of construction of the gallows, they still had fantasies of killing Pelosi, Schumer, and others.

The gallows may have been for more general purposes than just Pence.

[likesmountains 52]

6. Hopefully the 1/6 sleuths will be all over it.

[progressoid]

10. On CSI they just zoom in and enhance.

[Marthe48]

12. lol

That's hilarious!

[ms liberty]

32. I just sent this to my husband. You may owe us 2 keyboards when he sees it!

[et tu]

11. they were just tourists

trying to get a jump on the layout of the capitol and
the spontaneous insurrection.

[FakeNoose]

14. There's no way that noose and scaffold could have killed somebody

This was all for show, like when an opposing football team "hangs" an effigy of the rival team's mascot.

Yes it was chilling and effective to a point, but the scaffold would have collapsed if someone had actually been placed in the noose. On Jan. 6th they showed the scaffold being moved by protesters, and it almost fell over sideways. It couldn't have killed anyone for real.

[orangecrush]

15. Like your handle?

[FakeNoose]

17. 😎👍

[0rganism]

16. Yep, that thing was more of a prop than a gallows

No drop, not enough rope, I've seen more convincing set scenery in high school plays.

No way to actually hang anyone with that shoddy piece of crap, but it made a point nonetheless.

Far likelier any people they kidnapped would get beaten to death by the mob than hanged.

[SeattleVet]

23. The 'knot' on the noose is a bunch of rope wrapped around a beer can/

They couldn't even figure out how to do it properly.

[Mysterian]

35. That structure would easily kill a human

You don't need a drop, just a noose and beam strong enough to hold a human off the ground until they are strangled to death. The structure and rope are easily sufficient to accomplish a hanging.

[0rganism]

38. Maybe if it fell over on someone. Have you looked closely at their "noose"?

As the previous response noted, the "noose" consists of wrapping the rope end around a beer can.

The crossbeam appears to be a 4x4 poorly toenailed to 2 other 4x4s for "support" with no bracing or compensation for movement. It's not going to hold anyone off the ground long enough to strangle. Just getting someone to dangle from that structure without ground or platform contact would be a challenge.

However, walking up to and standing on the platform itself does present a significant health risk. Getting 2 or more people to stand on it long enough to place the "noose" around a struggling victim's neck would bring it down for sure. Maybe the slobs who tacked that shit together should be liable for some kind of OSHA violation, since it's publicly accessible.

[Mysterian]

39. That's nylon rope sufficient to support the weight of a human body

I bet you wouldn't take your chances to wrap that around your neck and jump off that platform.

[0rganism]

41. Sure, the rope might be strong enough but the platform and supports aren't execution-ready

> you wouldn't take your chances to wrap that around your neck and jump off that platform.
YOLO leaping from the platform with rope on neck is not how unwilling victims behave. How would you get an unwilling person to hang from that absurdity long enough to die? IMHO, it would be challenging at best.

How many people do you think can safely stand on the platform? Because you'd need a couple there just to keep the victim from swinging back onto it, if the whole rig doesn't collapse as soon as they push him/her off.

The "gallows" was intended to send a message, not as functional execution equipment. If TSF gets reelected and has his way with the legal system, you can bet the gallows he employs to murder his enemies will be built by professionals in broad daylight and look very different. TSF will praise them as "best most patriotic gallows ever seen by anyone" while watching them operate from a viewing stand. Meanwhile the one pictured above is a hastily-constructed prop even the trespassholes noted with an attached sign saying "this is art". You can see it clearly in a photo posted to this thread. This device was never intended for use.

[Mysterian]

42. You don't think a 4x4 post would support a human body?

Maybe I do more carpentry work than you but those posts are secured and would work as a gallows. There's an asshole standing on top of it fer crissakes.

[0rganism]

43. Not in that set up, not for long

I've done some carpentry in my time, not sure how much you do. I've also taken classes in Newtonian mechanics (static and dynamic) during my undergraduate engineering studies. From my POV there's no way that structure is robust and stable enough to use as an actual gallows.

The issue isn't the 4x4 posts themselves, I'm sure they're perfectly capable of supporting body weight when correctly placed. The problem is in the configuration. There's no easy way to make the thing work as more than a prop as constructed. Just look at it: where does the victim hang? In front of the platform? The posts that "vertically" (they aren't exactly straight up, you can see that from some angles) support the crossbeam also support the platform. There's no visible cantilever or drop door. How would you force an unwilling human to hang to death from the crossbeam when the platform is right under his/her feet? It just doesn't work that way.

As for its apparent stability, if that "noose" were replaced with a tire swing I wouldn't let a child play on it. Pushing an attached struggling victim off the side is a good way to get the entire thing to fall over. Granted, the injuries from such a fall could be fatal, but that's not a hanging.

If the mob had instead found a large tree and slung an actual noose over a thick branch about 10 feet up with a footstool beneath it, that would have been more of a credible deadly threat than these "gallows" with much less effort.

[Ford_Prefect]

25. A judge might see that differently. Soundness of the structure would not be the measure. The intention of the object

Last edited Tue Mar 19, 2024, 09:42 PM - Edit history (1)

would have more influence. Fools make all kinds of mistakes while causing intended, genuine harm. Amateur bank robbers still robbed the bank and maybe harmed people in the process. Carrying a weapon during a situation can be read as intent to cause harm. A badly tied rope can still hang someone, or cause them harm.

On the face of it that could have been as the signs claimed: an articulated element of political speech. IMO the signs were an excuse for the intended terror message to the crowd and possibly Congress. Whether it could have functioned as a gallows doesn't enter into the interpretation. It was there to express without a doubt the attitude that Congress, or certain members, should literally be hung. That on Jan. 6th Congress was doing something worthy of the ultimate punishment. The amount of preparation and coordination which allowed it to be placed and assembled on the grounds says it was not a spontaneous act.

[Think. Again.]

26. I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant to be used...

....but it's pre-planning and prior placement certainly does prove that attack on the capital was planned, not spontaneous like so many rightwingers want us to believe.

[Ocelot II]

28. Agree; it's obviously much too flimsy to really hang anyone, but I'm wondering

whether, if they'd managed to capture Pence, they'd have used it to mock-hang him? And then what would they have done with him? The point of the thing may have been just symbolic, but it was certainly disturbing as a symbol.

[Mysterian]

34. Why do you state that?

It is constructed of 4x4 posts, which would easily support the weight of a human body.

[FakeNoose]

37. Because it wouldn't have supported the weight of a human body

It was being moved on the TV screen during the January 6th newscasts and it practically collapsed. It was hastily made, and the intention was to be a prop for the TV cameras.

Like I said earlier, they used this in the same way that a football team will "hang" their rival team's mascot in effigy. Sort of a bad joke, but people took it literally.

[Cheezoholic]

18. "The Leader" looks dressed like Roger Stone with the same squared off hat, long coat and goofy giant scarf that was his

style in photographs over the years. Just sayin'

[IronLionZion]

22. Mental illness, no political agenda

just typical tourist behavior like whoever planted the 2 pipe bombs and everyone else on Jan 6.

[NanaCat]

24. We need to be careful here

Liberal protesters put up a guillotine during anti-TSF protests outside the White House in 2020. Nothing happened to them for free speech reasons. That will probably apply here as well

It's never a good look to promote violence in any manner, but getting our knickers in a twist about their provocative theatrics makes us look hypocritical.

[Think. Again.]

27. Key words: "OUTSIDE the Whitehouse".

Those liberal protesters kept within the law, these insurrectionists tried to overturn it.

[Ocelot II]

29. Yes. In the context of the whole situation the gallows was more than just "art."

Under the circumstances it could be seen as an overt threat, even if it couldn't have actually done much to Mike Pence, had they caught him, besides a mild rope burn.

[Think. Again.]

31. The presence of the gallows also proves....

...that more was pre-planned than just the speech at the elipse.

[tanyev]

36. Yeah, they weren't roaming the halls of the WH, yelling "Chop off his head!"

[BumRushDaShow]

30. "We need to be careful here"

I don't think anyone in this thread is purporting anything of the sort that you seem to be suggesting.

What happened on January 6 makes any previous and subsequent "government protest" pale in comparison (outside of the literal Civil War and War of 1812).

[ms liberty]

33. DU has been discussing this since January 6th, 2021 as it was happening.

And that's three years now. Anything we say here today has been said here before, dozens of times at the least. And there's definitely been worse said here.
Telling DU'ers what we should and shouldn't do is quick way to find yourself frustrated and angry here. We really are the cats you can't herd.
I see you joined on March 7th, 2024. Welcome to DU.