Talk Description to Me

Episode 32 - Chaos in the Capitol Building Part 2

January 14, 2021 Christine Malec and JJ Hunt Season 2 Episode 32
Talk Description to Me
Episode 32 - Chaos in the Capitol Building Part 2
Show Notes Transcript

New images and videos concerning the January 6th attack on Capitol Hill continue to be released to the public. Journalists, pundits and investigators have been examining this visual material, and their opinions and interpretations have dominated news cycles around the world. This week, Christine and JJ extend their coverage of the Capitol Building riot to describe these new visuals, and add contextual information to the images and videos discussed in Part 1. 

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JJ Hunt:

Talk description to me with Christine Malec and JJ Hunt.

Christine Malec:

Hi, I'm Christine Malec.

JJ Hunt:

And I'm JJ Hunt. This is talk description to Me where the visuals of current events and the world around us get hash tag in description rich conversations.

Christine Malec:

On Talk description to me, we generally like to cover a range of events from a range of locations. And it's rare for us to talk about the same thing, two episodes in a row. But the events in the United States are of such significance that we're going to be talking about the events on January 6 in Washington DC, again today. And the main reason is that when we recorded our first episode about this last week, it was the day after the events and there was a particular subset of video and images that were available about what had happened. And since then, a whole other range of visual information has become available. And it's obviously really important to get many perspectives on this. And so this week, we are also going to be talking about those events, but from from different perspectives and with different information. So, JJ, what are the different sources of information that have become available this week?

JJ Hunt:

Well, you know, we're following along like everyone else, right. The videos and images that, that I'm seeing are from media sources that I'm seeking out, and also my my own social media bubble. And in the first 12 hours or so, I think it's fair to say there was a higher percentage of higher percentage of the visuals that were being bounced around seem to come from the Capitol Hill mob itself. This was a mob of people taking selfies, filming videos, and sending them out through social media. And then those were being bounced around, picked up by news agencies and continued to be shown through, you know, major media, corporations, journalists, were posting some material, but a lot of the journalists who were closest to the action were actually inside the building. And they were in lockdown for hours. So they weren't necessarily in the best position to be releasing, let alone vetting and analyzing their content. And the tone now, I think it's fair to say has started to shift we're getting not only more images from journalists, but we're also getting news agencies, piecing together some of these videos and, and footage and kind of creating timelines using those videos and images. That is changing the conversation about what happened. And so it gives us more information to build on. So yeah, I think it's I think there's real value in taking a look at the some of the video, the visuals that we've already seen and taking a look at some of the new visuals and coming up with a new understanding based on this visual information that we've got available now.

Christine Malec:

So how is the new information that we're seeing, changing our knowledge of what happened?

JJ Hunt:

Well, let's start with breaking through the barriers, the moments when the barriers were broken down. The my original understanding as this was unfolding, I had I had, in my mind separated a little bit the rally that was being held from the, from the breaking down of these barriers, but they were actually happening at the same time. And when we were getting a number of images from just from the mob members itself, it's the tone of those clashes was different. And now looking at all of the videos that are available. It's really quite very there are some images of barriers being removed by police forces. There are images of real, really violent clashes. There's new information about the kind of planning that must have been done by mob members based on the visuals that we now have access to that don't necessarily shine of sympathetic light on the on the mob members themselves. In the way that the videos that they were putting out might have. So those are the kinds of things that are shifting our understanding. So the breaking through of the barriers: at different barriers were breached at different times over the course of hours. So before Trump's rally, his speech had even ended, a mob had actually broken through a perimeter fence. So this is not the funnel point that we talked about in last week's episode. This is a perimeter fence, it's even further away that kind of surrounds the the entire property. And this is the same type of temporary waist high traffic fence metal fence. But this one has a has a plastic mesh over it that resembles chain link. And it's lashed to it and it connects all of the sections of temporary traffic fencing. And so the video that I saw of this is quite a distance from the property or printing from the building itself. And the mob is at least in the dozens, it's hard to say because the video is taken from within the mob, it's close up. And so you don't necessarily we I don't get a view of the entire thing. So there's a mob of at least doesn't standing on one side and they're yelling at really only a handful of cops. I could only see four police officers in this video standing on the other side of the fence. I think two men, two women, police officers, and they're just in standard police uniforms, with baseball caps, like ones wearing a tuque. No one's wearing helmets. They have no weapons drawn no clubs, no billy clubs of any kind. Just for police officers in standard uniforms. The mob in this particular video, mostly men, there's one notable woman in a pink baseball cap and ponytail. And she's right at the front of the mob right up at this fence yelling at the two male police officers. And beside her, there's a very large male protester, and he pulls off his jean jacket, he turns his red, make America great. Again, hat backwards. And he and he does this gesture, this extremely aggressive gesture, which is like very quickly thrusting your chest forward and pulling your elbows back. That is a gesture that's kind of like you want to go you want to fight you want to go. He's not saying that necessarily. But that's that gesture, this really aggressive thrusting of the chest, that that's what it tends to be used for. And then the This video clip cuts very quickly. And we cut to a moment when the mob literally lifts and pushes the fence because it's all linked together with this plastic chain link. They lift the fence and they push it and the cops are forced backwards. I mean, they can't possibly the only four of them that I can see. And they're forced, they stumble backwards and they stumble onto a short outdoor staircase behind them and end that fence that that outer perimeter is completely gone. within five minutes. That mob is now at the side of the main steps. So this is beside that funnel point. They've got no way around it. And this was images. I hadn't seen these images before. So the new video taken from that point of view from that area shows Capitol Police in black riot gear filing out to face down the mob and originally I hadn't seen images of this initial police force in riot gear. But there were some members of of the Capitol Hill police wearing black uniforms with body armor. So this looks like all black hockey equipment. They've got like full helmets with face shields. They've got billy clubs drawn. So these are clubs with a handle on them. They hold the handle in their fist and then the shaft the main shaft of the billy club runs parallel to the forearm and they've got their billy clubs drawn and ready.

Christine Malec:

How many are you seeing maybe of those riot gear clad?

JJ Hunt:

In this one video probably half a dozen or more file out and face the mob. Now that's just what this you know little video clip shows that that might have been going on for 10 seconds before it might continue for 10 or 20 seconds after the clip that I found online was just the moment when they are literally filing one after the other marching out to face to be like head on right face to face with members of the mob. And then 15 minutes after this. Trump's speech ends and he calls on supporters in his speech to quote walk down Pennsylvania Avenue unquote. And that is to the Capitol. That's what walking down Pennsylvania Avenue from that location means. And the video another video shows up altercation at that funnel point at the barrier between the police and bike helmets that we talked about in the last episode and the mob. And this is a very short video of this very quick clash. And what's interesting is that the police in the in the bicycle helmets, they've now been identified as the first local police officers that were called in to help. So these aren't even the Capitol Police. These are local police officers, I presume part of the bicycle squad who were called in to help and rushed over. And so they were largely unprepared for this kind of confrontation. So the video of this clash is is very quick, very violent. They they come together, they throw punches at each other over this barrier. This, you know, these are the sections of waist high metal traffic barrier. There are punches thrown people push each other and shove each other, the member of the mob steps forward with a hose that leads to a backpack, I think. And he sprays this greenish brown chemical at the police. And then a member of the police gets out a canister and he sprays the mob in a thin looks more liquid spray, I believe it's either tear gas, I'm guessing, but it's not a gas, it's in a liquid form. So maybe it's pepper spray, actually because it's more liquid. So the two groups clash, they shove and punch, they both spray chemicals at each other. And then they back away very quick, just as quickly as they came together, they back away, they take a few steps back and the cops very quickly pull the fence back in place. They're you know, arranging with each other to pull the fence back in place. And there are some really, again, interesting visual details here. One being that some of the protests are some of the mob members. They have full face shields and even gas masks at this point, and this is the speech has just ended. They have just rushed in, they have clearly arrived with gas masks face shields and the ability to spray chemicals at the police. And the other interesting little visual I noticed in the background of this clip, someone in the in the mob is carrying a rainbow flag the pride flag, which I have to say was not something I expected to see in the inside this mob very, very interesting.

Christine Malec:

This is a very naive pacifist question but body language so you gave a really vivid example earlier of body language. Is there anything to be said about body language particularly in the mob?

JJ Hunt:

Yeah, so really good question and I'm going to have to generalize a little bit. But what I would say is that in this particular video, there are moments where there are mob members who are leaning in meaning they are they are they are actively violent and throwing punches. The the guy who's got the the hose with the the greenish brown chemical that he sprays at the police. He kind of comes in a little bit hunkered down reaches out with this hose sprays the police and very quickly turns in runs away. So it's a it's a real dash in sprays chemical and get out. This isn't the moment where the the barrier is being fully toppled. It's being fought over. And so they're they're all running in, they are leaning in, they are fighting and then they are pulling back and the police officers it's it's chaotic on their side of the fence. They, you know, one officer shouting to the others to pull the fence back in line, the the officer that sprays with his canister of pepper spray, he pulls it out and he sprays and someone else taps him on the back as if to say perhaps to say stop like stopping he stops as soon as he gets this pat on the shoulder on the back that the body language would suggest to me that on the police side, they are improvising. I think that's fair to say. Okay. So inside the building another bit of information that's come out that kind of needs to be addressed, I think, is this the black police officer being chased through the building? Do you remember this story that we talked about? So there's there are new theories being put forward now that people have had a chance to analyze the footage and take a look at where the officer was in the building and take a look again at his body language. As you said there are new theories being put forward. As far as I know, this police officer has not been interviewed by the media. So we don't actually have his personal take on it as far as I know. But here's a new theory. So that the officer's name is Eugene Goodman. And the theory is that he wasn't Being chased entirely. He was actually somewhat in control of the situation. And he was a luring the mob away from the Senate chamber.

Christine Malec:

Oooh! Oh my.

JJ Hunt:

Fascinating. So what this officer did, this black police officer did was he used his appearance, his race, the very fact that he's a black man-

Christine Malec:

Oh my god!

JJ Hunt:

- as a lure to pull this mob away from the Senate chamber.

Christine Malec:

Ugh!

JJ Hunt:

So the very first man that's chasing him in this in this group will call him the leader of this little side mob is wearing a Q anon t shirt. So this is a picture with a large queue that's adorned with stars and stripes. And in the center of the queue is a bald eagle. This guy has been identified as Doug Jensen, he has been arrested by the FBI. And he is the primary target. He's the he's the one that's going back and forth with Eugene Goodman, the officer the most the whole mob is yelling and screaming. But this guy Jensen is stepping out in front of the mob and doing a lot of interacting. And when you watch the video carefully, with this theory in mind, I did notice a few new things. First of all, that the officer, Officer Goodman, he does seem to stop on the staircase to engage with the mob and to engage with Jensen on several occasions. Now, my original take on that would have been because he has a he has a very thin, collapsible, like, stick with him a baton with a collapsible baton. And my original assessment was that he was running up the stairs. And every once in a while he had to stop, hold this baton in hand, and to protect himself to make sure the mob doesn't get too close. Jenson doesn't get too close, threatened them a little bit, and then he continues running up the stairs. But in fact, he stops and engages in a bit of yelling and back and forth with Jensen and the crew several times. And at one point, he stops glances down the hallway. And that hallway has now been identified as an entrance to the Senate chamber. He then reaches out and gives Jensen just a little shove on the shoulder and then continues running up the stairs. And sure enough, Jenson and the mob behind him, continue chasing him up the stairs.

Christine Malec:

Ugh!

JJ Hunt:

And at this point, the officer yells either into a chest mounted mouthpiece, like to a walkie talkie or just yells, it's hard to tell if he's just yelling up the stairs, he yells "Second floor". And that's now being interpreted as him telling his fellow officers, this is where we're headed, we're going to the second floor, but perhaps not because he is personally feeling like he is in such danger. He needs his backup. Maybe he's saying "Meet us up there. I'm leading them to the second floor".

Christine Malec:

Oh my gosh.

JJ Hunt:

Extraordinary. So again, this is just a theory that's being put forward. But I thought it was an interesting thing to note. Because it changed that you put a theory in a describers head. And now the visuals can look a little bit different, right? This is this is a new theory, how am I going to interpret the exact same visuals? What new details am I going to pick up on? And I gotta say, I'm convinced based on the visuals that I see, I can be convinced that this is what this officer was doing.

Christine Malec:

Now, I've seen references to images that that seemed to suggest that some members of the police were holding the door open or not resisting in the ways you might expect. Can you comment on any of those?

JJ Hunt:

I can. So one of the things that has happened in the days after this event this encounter this mob situation is that there are images of the police that are shocking because of what appears to be their complicit or at the very least disengaged behavior. And there are other images where police are seemingly even more heroic, or just frankly, beaten on in in really distressing ways. And all of those things, there are visuals to back up all of those, those understandings. So I have I have seen and I retweeted a video that shows at least four police officers standing in a hallway like lining a hallway beside an open exterior door as they allow mogh members to calmly file into the building. And I can't explain that but I have seen that video. That video is around Police officers standing to the side, mob members walk between two sets of two police officers straight into the building completely unfettered. I have seen another video as you as you said that this one was taken outside of the building by a rider it's in the later stages of the riot. And film from the outside the door a door to the Capitol Building swings open and it's a police officer holding the door open. It's an exterior door and several riders leave. And the police officers seems to be holding the door open like a doorman. That's, that's just a visual I have seen. There's another video that was filmed in the north east corner of the building that shows what appears to be police officers removing a section of the Barricade and allowing the rioters to enter a secure area. And in fact, one of the police officers makes a very small gesture that isn't like a beckoning gesture. And it's hard to say in the context of this video that's filmed from far away, if he's making that gesture to his fellow officers, like we got to go this way back away or if he's saying to the mob members, come on in. But that's the gesture, the beckoning gesture that he's making. And they do quite clearly remove a section of the Barricade now why they're doing that. That's not for me to say that they did it I can accurately say. So it should be said that these videos that I've just described of what seemed to be complicit or disengaged police behavior, most of these videos are being shared widely online, but not as much by major news outlets. I did see the video of the police removing the barricade on the New York Times website. But for the most part, these are just being shared on social media. So it's while the videos like this images like this might be technically accurate, it's possible that there is missing context, right. And it's important to note that so for example, there's some security footage that's going around on social media. I've seen it several times. And that purports to show a Republican lawmaker letting protesters into the Capitol building. And sure enough, this is silent security footage. And it's it's security footage film from like ceiling height. So camera mounted a pilot in this little kind of vestibule area, and a man exits the building the man is wearing wearing a suit, and he exits first an inner door. And then he crosses this small vestibule and then exits the exterior door. But he doesn't wait for either of those two doors to close. And what happens is a protester runs in from the outside, he grabs the inside door before it can shut and another protester grabs the exterior door. So now both doors are held open, and they turn to the you know, to the outside and they start waving to others and other people start entering the building. And for like 20 or 30 seconds, they have seemingly open access to the building. And then suddenly police rushed into the vestibule and kind of fight and literally push them back out of the room. So that actually did happen. That is a video. It's not staged. It is real. But it happened in December, not last week. And it was at the Oregon Capitol Building not in Washington. So an accurate video can be mislabeled and be turned into something completely false. And that's what we have to be careful of here.

Christine Malec:

Oh, no.

JJ Hunt:

Ya.

Christine Malec:

I'd like to look at the other side of the police issue which I understand there are images of police who have who are being brutalized by by the mob. Can we uncomfortably talk about some of that?

JJ Hunt:

Yeah, yeah, there's one video in particular. It's pretty difficult. It's difficult to watch, difficult to describe, but it is part of this conversation. So I think it's important. This is a very chaotic and violent moment. That is being filmed as a video itself that I've seen lasts about one minute, 10 seconds. And it's kind of right in the heart of the chaos near our main door. I don't know if it's the main door but it's our main doorway, the top of this outdoor staircase, there's an arched doorway and inside the arch our police officers in like riot gear and then outside of that archway. packing the stairs leading up are members of the mob and it's quite dark under the archway So we can't actually see what's going on in there you can only see what's happening outside on the staircase. And what happens is a rioter who's wearing a green army surplus jacket, a backpack and a baseball cap. He steps into the archway from the side so he doesn't approach head on. He comes at it from the side so he can the police weren't aware that he was gonna be there. steps in he grabs a police officer again the the officers wearing full riot gear, helmet, gas mask visor, and this rider in the green army surplus jacket, jerks and forward pulls him forward and it takes them right off his feet. And then there's a tug of war over the police officers body with with mob members grabbing him by the arms and legs and pulling him down into the staircase, like onto the stairs and police officers in the archway trying to grab him and pull him back into the archway. and members of the mob who are in this a packed packed staircase. They've got flagpoles and one's got a hockey stick, and they swing they hack at the police in this archway, like they're swinging axes, overhead swings, hacking down with flag poles hockey sticks. And eventually the mob manages to pull this fallen cop down the steps and away from the other police and mob members move in very quickly and kind of close that the opportunity off so the police can't, they can't get down the steps. So this police officer is a lying face down on the steps head down being pulled down the steps surrounded by the mob. Some of them some mob members stomp on him. Some jab him with flag poles. And there's an extraordinary overhead photo that is that has been released separately and if you pair them together, you get it you get a glimpse of what's happening in this exact moment. an overhead photo taken from above this archway down into the mob you can see the mob has parted just a little bit around the pin cop the pinned cop and and he's lying facedown on the stairs being dragged down. There's a man in a tan jacket and a black helmet. And he appears to be striking this officer with either a black pipe or maybe a black baton could be even a police baton that he that he picked up off the ground and is using that against a police officer. The man in the backpack in green army surplus jacket who originally pulled the the cop out of the archway, he appears to be holding the back of the officers neck as he pulls him down the stairs. And then there's a man just behind the guy in the army surplus jacket, who's looking up he's either looking at the cops in the archway or he's looking up at the photographer taking the picture. And he's and he's giving the finger and that's this chaotic scene as the police officer gets pulled and beaten and dragged down the stairs. And then at some point, it's very, very loud, but at some point you can hear in this video someone yells out a member of the mob yells out Don't hurt him. He's a police officer and a very small group of rioters, poles this this beaten police officer to his feet and the officer is clearly having trouble standing on his own. He can't really hold his head up his head's kind of lolling back and forth. And while some members of the mob continue to try and punch and swipe at the cop, a small group protects him including a man in a in a big man and a blue sweatshirt and a gray tube he's got he's got glasses and a surgical mask. And he holds the the police officer from behind in a bear hug with his arms kind of under the police officers arm so he can pick him up a little bit. And he kind of wobbles through the crowd, protecting the cop with his body. And then there's another man, an older guy with a long gray beard and he's wearing a pale gray camouflage jacket and a matching like fishing hat. And he helps this guy in the blue sweatshirt take the cop through the crowd and it's such a packed crowd. There are still a part of me. It is such a packed crowd. There are still people throwing punches and swiping at him. And at some point, the the cop and his two protectors are they they get close to the camera close to the person who's been filming this the whole time. And the cops head laws back just for a moment and for an instant We can see through his visor, and His face is beat red, like just beat red not covered in blood. But like because he's been upside down for so long. It looks like the blood has rushed to his face and his head is this face is just beat red. And the man in the blue hoodie just keeps taking him away as best he can. At one point a man in a red two can the crowd actually reaches in and kind of Pat's, the cop on the back, while others around are still berating and yelling and screaming and swiping out them. It's just, it's awful. And this officer survived. As far as I know, this officer, he survived this attack. It's incredible.

Christine Malec:

[Crying] Sorry, I need a second.

JJ Hunt:

You all right? Take your time.

Christine Malec:

It's pretty hard to maintain professional neutrality at a moment like this. So JJ, I want to say thank you for [sniffle] being able to do that. Better, better than I am. Do we know about the officer who did not survive? Was there more than one?

JJ Hunt:

There's one officer who died as a direct result of injuries that he suffered in the middle of the riot. And there is some speculation, there's a video of a mob member hurling a fire extinguisher into a small group of of police officers outside. And there's speculation that that have that might have been a moment when the officer sustained the injury that killed him. But I don't think that that's been proven yet. I don't think that that's conclusive.

Christine Malec:

Is there visual footage coverage of the people, the senators and Congress people in the building while this was going on?

JJ Hunt:

There have been some pictures released of both staffers and lawmakers in the building hiding out. I mean, it's, it's extraordinary. They continued their work. While the while the mob was not only breaking down the barriers, but entering the building. They continued quite late into this into this mob situation. But some some images have now come out of the lawmakers hiding out in their in their chambers, then they were whisked away to private, locked down rooms and there are no images of that. But I can I can describe some of the images of the lawmakers hunkering down. So there are some images of senators and representatives of the house. In the gallery of the House chamber there's a picture so this looks like the gallery of the House chamber resembles like the balcony of a formal theater. So raked rows of chairs that are that have like cloth backs and cloth seats separated by shared wooden armrests. And then there's a waist high half wall at the front kind of in lieu of a balcony railing. And this separates the gallery from the chamber itself. And I've seen a handful of pictures of this moment where some of the representatives these are mostly men in suits, are crouched down behind the rows of chairs, and most are like sitting or kneeling on the floor. They're not in the seats. They're on the floor behind the chairs. And there's there's one woman who's identified as representative Susan Wild, and she's lying on the floor behind the half wall, and she's kind of lying on her side, wearing a black shirt and pants and a red [blazer] and her COVID mask is is pulled down under her chin and she's got one hand held to her chest. And there's another photo I saw of a lawmaker who wasn't identified being rushed through the House chamber during the moment of evacuation. And he's only identified as a lawmaker. He's a white man in a dark suit. And he's kind of hunched forward like like he's keeping his head down as he runs down the blue carpeted aisle of the chamber past rows of empty leather seats. And with him is someone I believe is a plainclothes body guard. This is a thin kind of balding white man in a suit and he's wearing a cloth COVID mask and this body guard figure. He's like a half step ahead of the lawmaker, but at the same time he's reaching back with his hand gripping the back of the lawmakers neck. This is a very distinctive body positioning and it allows the body guard to protect their charge and guide them at the same time you can guide someone really well, for better or worse when you're holding on to the back of the neck. So it's very distinctive positioning as they run down through the chamber. And I have seen other images of staffers, barricading office doors. There's one image of men in suits on their knees in what looks like a private office, they have their backs to us and they're pushing big formal armchairs up against the closed double doors, these and this is a very formal right dark blue, patterned carpet, formal furniture. The doors are solid wood. And they're just barricading themselves in the room. And I saw another photo that shows a group of men and women all wearing COVID masks. And they're pushing a table leaning in to push this table presumably to either push it against the wall and or push it against the door and barricade it or they're in the moment of the door being forced from the other side. And they're they're literally holding the door in place. It's hard to tell what stage of this barricading they're at but the table is is like a glossy, polished wood and in the background there are chandelier is hanging from the ceiling. And the only thing that's on this table is a pen, a surgical mask and a single bottle of hand sanitizer. So one of the pieces of information, visual information that we didn't discuss last week was the gallows, temporary gallows that were set up as part of the rally. And the reason I didn't go into them in the last episode was because I again, I kind of separated in my mind, the idea of the rally from the from the from the riot. I wasn't comfortable bringing them together. But I think at this point, it's clear the link between the rally and the riot, both in terms of their their content and the the timing of it. I think they're they're inextricable at this point. So yes, there were makeshift gallows assembled at the at the Donald Trump rally. These are gallows, it looks like two by fours and four by four wooden posts, the simple stairs leading up to like maybe a chest or head high platform. And at the back of this platform opposite the stairs. The two tall posts have a cross beam at the top and there's a noose hanging from the cross beam. And this one photo that's being shared around is is taken at such an angle that the domed center of the Capitol building is framed perfectly by the posts and cross beam and the noose that's inside dangles atop the the spire of the dome which covers the rotunda. And in this image, there's a figure with a blue and white Trump flag across their back in this figure stands between us and the gallows. And they're taking a cell phone picture of the gallows and the Capitol building behind. You would also asked last week, Chris, about weapons did I see any images of of people carrying weapons as part of this riot and I hadn't. There have been reports that weapons and pipe bombs were found stashed nearby. But I haven't seen any images of those. I have now seen images they've been images released of at least two men inside the Capitol Building who are carrying zip tie handcuffs. So these are single strips of thin strips of sturdy plastic and the ends are kind of bent back and then toward the middle and then they tuck through a simple plastic locking mechanism in the center. So in the end, it ends up looking like a capital letter B. And once hands are placed through the loops, so through the bumps of the B, the slack is then tightened and they lock in around the wrist. It's a very effective short term handcuffs that these zip tie handcuffs can create. And in one image was a series of images really there's one man who was photographed climbing over a brass railing in the near empty balcony of the Senate chamber. He's in full camouflage. He's got boots, gloves, a black COVID mask covering most of his face, and he's got his baseball cap pulled down very low and he's wearing a black tactical vest that has lots of patches and pouches. And he's got an outward facing cellphone on his chest, which is likely a makeshift body camera and he has something holstered on his right hip. I can't say exactly what it is. The image doesn't give it clear enough you but he does have something holstered on his right hip, and in his left hand, is perhaps a half dozen of these zip tie, handcuffs. And there's a second image that shows another man wearing a green military helmet again, another tactical vest. This one's a green tactical vest, and it's adorned with patches. And he's on the Senate floor with several other men and he too, has several zip tie handcuffs in his hand.

Christine Malec:

This has been hard to hear about to talk about to describe. So as always, thanks to JJ for immersing in the images and sharing them with us and to our American listeners. Again, peace and peace of spirit. Have questions, suggestions or things you'd like us to cover? Here's how to find us. Our email address is talk description to me@gmail.com. We're on twitter at talk description. And our Facebook page is unsurprisingly titled talk description to me