A five-person team assembled the infamous gallows just west of the Capitol Reflecting Pool as dawn broke on Jan. 6, 2021, new Capitol Police security video released on Oct. 13 shows.
While four members of the group assembled the prop that would become an iconic Jan. 6 image, one man wearing a trench coat and long scarf walked four blocks north to a coffee shop that’s kitty-corner from the FBI’s Washington Field Office, The Pro America Report and Open.ink announced.
“By now, it’s 6:40 or so in the morning. They manufacture this thing. One of the guys leaves to go get coffee. That’s why we called him Mr. Coffee.”
Wearing a dark trench coat, fedora, and long white scarf, and using a walking stick, the “particularly distinctive” Mr. Coffee walked about four blocks on Third Street Northwest and stopped at Jack’s Famous Deli for coffee.
Jack’s is just down the block and across the street from the FBI headquarters.
“How would somebody even know this [shop] was even there?” Mr. Phillips asked.
Mr. Martin used Capitol Police CCTV to track the movements of the gallows crew as they approached the green space just west of the Reflecting Pool. The crew finished assembling the structure.
A crossbeam and nylon noose were added later in the day, Jan. 6 defendant and video researcher William Pope told The Epoch Times.
“The picture of the gallows perfectly framing the Capitol became a defining image of Jan. 6 all around the world,” Mr. Martin said in the video.
Mainstream media coverage largely assumed that the platform was built and placed by protesters. One New Hampshire columnist said he believed that the gallows was real and not street art. A Midwest newspaper said there was video footage showing protesters building the structure.
‘Killed, Maimed’
For all of the media assumptions, however, no blame or credit was assigned by police for the construction of the gallows.The structure was already there when the first protesters trickled onto Capitol grounds that morning. It drew constant media attention and was the set for untold numbers of photos as protesters stood on the platform.
The Agence France-Presse photo with the beams of the gallows framing the Capitol dome was printed in newspapers and magazines around the world.
The video footage released with Mr. Martin’s Oct. 13 report raises new questions about who made the gallows. Was it a threatening message to the vice president and Congress, or was it a setup to feed and reinforce a narrative?
Mr. Martin said he finds it telling that law enforcement hasn’t identified the men who slipped onto the edge of the National Mall just before dawn, built the gallows, and then disappeared.
“Wouldn’t these people be persons of interest?” he asked on the video mashup. “Shouldn’t federal law enforcement care? We wonder, is there more to the story?”
Mr. Phillips agreed.
“The whole thing is just completely insane,” Mr. Phillips told Mr. Bannon. “The public deserves to know not just this story about Mr. Coffee, but there are hundreds, if not thousands, of other stories. The truth needs to be told.”
“We’ve designed Open.ink to be the resting place for the truth,” Mr. Phillips said.
