Reffitt later told fellow Three Percenters in a Zoom call played in court that police вЂњstopped me but fired up the crowd. The group tore down tarp to protect themselves and climbed up exposed inauguration state scaffolding to flank officers. ReffittвЂ™s вЂњdecision to step forward and take on police officers allowed the crowd behind not just to advance but to adapt,вЂќ she said. Undeterred by pepper balls and fired plastic projectiles, Reffitt advanced step by step up a banister, using his megaphone and waving his arms to encourage those behind him over the next eight minutes.ДЄt 2:09 p.m., members of that crowd breached police lines and broke into the building, Berkower said.

Video, geolocation data from his phone and police testimony showed that Reffitt breached the CapitolвЂ™s barricaded grounds after 1 p.m., then confronted officers guarding a key north staircase from the Lower West Terrace to the Senate wing level at 1:47 p.m. Pelosi, D-Calif., the defendant said in several expletive-laden variations that the group would drag lawmakers вЂњout kicking and screaming,вЂќ and he wanted to see her head hit every stair on the way down. вЂ¦ I think we have the numbers to make it happen,вЂќ Reffitt said in an allegedly self-recorded video at a rally led by then-President Donald Trump at the Ellipse. вЂњIвЂ™m taking the Capitol with everyone else. In conversations recorded before and after the riot played for the jury, Reffitt said he was ready to overthrow вЂњconstitutionally corruptвЂќ lawmakers. The riot forced the evacuation of Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers as ballot boxes holding the Electoral College election results were shuttled to safety. Reffitt вЂњlighted that crowd into an unstoppable forceвЂќ that pushed through officers making a вЂњlast standвЂќ defending the Senate wing doors, the prosecutor said. Attorney Risa Berkower told a jury of six men and six women in closing arguments Monday. He did this because he wanted to take out Congress, and an angry, energized crowd gave him his best shot,вЂќ Assistant U.S. 6, 2021, Guy Reffitt challenged the police at the head of a vigilante mob determined to break into the United States Capitol.

Texas guy with hattip