Trump nonetheless says his supporters weren't in the back of the Jan. 6 assault — however i used to be there - NPR

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Donald Trump changed into met with cheers are chants on the "store america" rally on Jan. 6. Tasos Katopodis/Getty photographs conceal caption

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Donald Trump turned into met with cheers are chants on the "shop the us" rally on Jan. 6.

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Editor's be aware: This story includes language that may well be offensive.

"i used to be standing amid heaps of Trump supporters on the lawn rising up to the Washington Monument," says NPR's Tom Bowman. "Then Trump came on stage to raucous applause."

Bowman turned into reporting from the "store the united states" rally in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6. Up until the point when former President Trump all started talking, the rally held a festive air, virtually like a football online game, he talked about. "Some Trump supporters had been singing YMCA however using the letters M-A-G-A."

but issues were distinct at the Capitol constructing, where i was standing with Hannah Allam, NPR's extremism reporter. The some distance-correct neighborhood the Proud Boys had just proven up and had been organizing a crowd to head for the rally. We had quietly embedded ourselves with them as they began to walk west on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Then , they stopped. And turned round. The rally was on its way to us.

Moments previous, Trump had claimed election fraud, called the outcomes "bull****" and informed the group to satisfy him on the Capitol. heaps complied, many now not even awaiting Trump to conclude his speech.

What happened next continues to be slightly of a blur. Hannah and i noticed a roaring sea of people and flags relocating towards us. I barely had time to alternate the batteries in my recording device earlier than we were surrounded.

and everybody knows what happened subsequent.

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pro-Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol following the rally. Samuel Corum/Getty photographs disguise caption

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pro-Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol following the rally.

Samuel Corum/Getty images A makeshift gallows. A changing narrative

it be been a year for the reason that that seasoned-Trump mob broke in the course of the Capitol doors and home windows, attacked law enforcement and media and vandalized the building as lawmakers have been rushed to comfortable locations. five americans died in or because of the attack and a hundred and forty law enforcement officials had been assaulted, along with contributors of the media.

as it changed into unfolding, we asked one of the rioters, who called himself "Joe from Ohio," what the aim become.

"The people in this apartment, who stole this election from us, striking from a gallows out right here during this garden for the total world to peer, so it not ever happens once more," he stated. "it's what must take place. 4 through 4 through four, striking from a rope out right here for treason."

A makeshift gallows with a noose became in fact constructed on the Capitol grounds that day however become on no account used.

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A noose became considered on makeshift gallows as Trump supporters gathered on the west facet of the U.S. Capitol. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP by means of Getty photographs hide caption

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A noose changed into viewed on makeshift gallows as Trump supporters gathered on the west aspect of the U.S. Capitol.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP by way of Getty pictures

On another facet of the Capitol, Tom Bowman turned into speaking to Natalie O'Brien and Chris Scalcucci, a pair from Detroit. He requested them why they had been doing this.

"The Republic falling," O'Brien said. "And becoming corrupt and unmanageable. And our vote now not mattering at all in anyway."

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This turned into my view as the crowd surged to the Capitol. Lauren Hodges hide caption

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This changed into my view because the crowd surged to the Capitol.

Lauren Hodges

"as a result of we adore our nation," Scalcucci introduced. "And we don't want it to fall in the hands of those evil americans. The stuff that they do, or not it's unforgivable."

"Our tax dollars pay for this monument. here's form of our property," O'Brien talked about.

for many who participated within the siege, it felt like a patriotic act. They were loyal americans protesting what they had been instructed was a stolen election.

but as arrests continue and penal complex sentences start, how have the penalties reshaped the narrative?

remaining month, news broke that Mark Meadows, Trump's then-chief of body of workers, texted with Fox information hosts on Jan. 6. They have been asking Trump to make a public remark to his supporters and speak to off the insurrection. but via that evening, the same hosts had a unique story.

"There are some experiences that Antifa sympathizers may were sprinkled all over the gang," Laura Ingraham talked about on her exhibit that night.

And that narrative unfold.

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A protester holds a Trump flag internal the U.S. Capitol close the Senate Chamber. Win McNamee/Getty photographs disguise caption

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A protester holds a Trump flag inside the U.S. Capitol near the Senate Chamber.

Win McNamee/Getty photographs We know who become there

Months later, Tom Bowman and that i went back to the Capitol grounds in Sept. for the "Justice for J6" rally. loads of the americans we spoke to had additionally been there on Jan. 6. And yet, they had been echoing the story they'd heard on Fox news.

"these weren't Trump supporters," observed a person named Phil from Kentucky, claiming the simplest americans breaking in were dressed all in black.

"in order that they were black helmets, black clothing, black backpacks who begun busting the windows first," talked about Janie, a nurse from South Carolina, who stated she noticed members of Antifa and Black Lives rely committing the violence. She also claimed the Trump supporters have been definitely making an attempt to combat them off. but when we outlined we have been on web site that day, she admitted that she not ever truly got here shut ample to the Capitol to peer any violence.

We let her know that the Proud Boys have been wearing all black that day, having planned to forego their regular colorings of black and yellow in an effort to be "incognito."

"I did not be aware of that," she mentioned.

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Protesters who declare to be individuals of the Proud Boys accumulate backyard the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Alex Edelman/AFP by the use of Getty pictures cover caption

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Protesters who declare to be members of the Proud Boys gather backyard the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

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but the thread attempting guilty Antifa and Black Lives count became repeated by using former President Trump himself as these days as two weeks ago. In an interview with Candace Owens on Dec. 21, he also noted it became FBI informants instigating the crowd.

however we understand who become there.

to date, greater than 700 americans had been charged. The defendants are mostly white, and 13% of them have ties to the military or legislation enforcement. greater than one hundred of them have alleged ties to regular extremist or fringe companies, just like the seasoned-Trump conspiracy conception QAnon, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, and the Three Percenters, part of the anti-govt militia move. but the bulk had no ties to extremist companies.

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Supporters of those charged in the Jan. 6 assault attend the 'Justice for J6' rally close the U.S. Capitol on September 18. Tasos Katopodis/Getty photographs cover caption

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Supporters of those charged in the Jan. 6 assault attend the 'Justice for J6' rally close the U.S. Capitol on September 18.

Tasos Katopodis/Getty pictures 'An American insurrectionist stream'

Tampa Bay attorney Bjorn Brunvand represents a couple of americans who were on the Capitol that day, together with Robert Scott Palmer, who changed into currently sentenced to five years in prison for assaulting legislation enforcement officers with a hearth extinguisher, a timber plank and a flagpole. His is the longest such term yet.

"He believed within the lies that had been being professed by way of former President Trump and his accomplices," Brunvand spoke of.

but he talked about his client has had an immense alternate of coronary heart because his arrest.

"It went from a hundred% guide for President Trump and the conception that the election turned into fraudulent initially ... to the attention that he turned into misled. he is sitting in a detention facility right here in Washington, D.C. and this large powerful former president who referred to 'meet me at the Capitol', he is too busy playing golf and has no hobby in any of the guys that have been arrested," Brunvand referred to.

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Donald Trump at the "retailer the us" rally on Jan. 6. Tasos Katopodis/Getty pictures conceal caption

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Donald Trump at the "store america" rally on Jan. 6.

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He mentioned Palmer took President Trump's phrases that day as a directive. That he did it for him. And now he feels abandoned.

"now not most effective did he not demonstrate up, he isn't there for anyone who were there and supposedly have been there to save democracy and save the nation. When in reality, they were doing rather the opposite," Brunvand said.

but the theory of Jan. 6 didn't die with the day. The institution of Chicago assignment on security and Threats has been tracking insurrectionist sentiment in the U.S. for a year now. It discovered that 21 million share the same beliefs that stimulated rioters that day.

In other phrases, tens of millions of american citizens support the theory of political violence. Researchers name it "an American insurrectionist circulate" that, a yr after the attack on the Capitol, is still alive and smartly.