Jan 6 witness Nick Quested says he documented crowd turn ‘from protesters to rioters to insurrectionists’
Nick Quested is an important witness for the January 6th Committee and his testimony includes some information that is vital to the entire hearing. The witness has already been deposed by the Committee and Justice Department Officials about the events of that unfateful day. He recalled the event, "In the winter of 2020, I was working on a documentary. As part of that documentary, I filmed several rallies in Washington, DC. I learned there would be a rally on the mall on January 6." Nick also stated in his testimony that he has shared the unseen footage of the event with the authorities, which could be instrumental to the hearings coming up in future weeks.
The British filmmaker started his testimony, to the January 6th Committee led by Rep Bennie Thompson, with an opening statement explaining that he learned about the January 6 rally during the December 11 and 12 rally. He explained that a large contingent of "Proud Boys marching towards the Capitol." As the event turned upside down in no time, he was "separated from his colleagues" and documented "the crowd turns from protestors to rioters, to insurrectionists." He continued, "I was surprised at the group size, anger, and profanity. For anyone who didn't understand how violent that event was, I saw it, I documented it, and I experienced it."
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Nick continues, "I heard incredibly aggressive chanting and I subsequently shared the footage with the authorities." After establishing his experience with the far-right neo-fascist group Proud Bous, the filmmaker then tells that he is present under a subpoena. Earlier, he talked about the relationship between the group's leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. He previously told CBS News, "There was an animus between Rhodes and Tarrio. They were not on the same team. There was a trepidation to engage with each other, especially from Rhodes's point of view."
What happened a day before the January 6th riot?
Chairman Bennie Thompson pointed out that Nick was with the leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, and was filming them as part of his documentary. He pointed out that Nick was with him and the group a day before the riot as well and wanted the filmmaker to explain the chain of events. Nick said, "We picked up Mr Tarrio from jail. He'd been arrested for carrying some magazines, some extra capacity magazines. He took responsibility for the burning of the Black Lives Matter flag that was stolen from the church on December 12, 2020."
He continued, "We were attempting to get an interview with Mr Tarrio. We had no idea of any of the events that were going to subsequently happen. We drove him to pick up his bags from the property department of the police which is just south of the mall. We picked up his bag and went to get some of the bags from the Phoenix hotel. We encountered Mr. Stweart Rhodes from the Oath Keepers." He also explained that DC was surprisingly busy that night.
For the uninitiated, the rally on January 5 and 6 was meant to support the false claim that the 2020 election had been stolen from former President Donald Trump. His elite group of followers demanded that VP Mike Pence and the Congress reject Biden's victory. However, things quickly got out of hand as the far-right group Proud Boys called for an all-out riot on the US Capitol.