Police Security Video Shows Gallows Being Assembled at Dawn on Jan. 6

A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather on the west side of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

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.

Ed Martin, president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles and host of The Pro America Report podcast, discovered footage of the gallows construction crew while reviewing U.S. Capitol Police security video made available by a House committee.

A video mashup was posted on the Open.ink website showing members of the so-called gallows gang moving sections of the structure on a cart to its resting place at the tip of the National Mall with a direct line of sight to the Capitol.

“About 6:32 in the morning, they showed up with a trailer, a hand-pulled trailer full of wood,” Open.ink founder Greg Phillips told host Stephen K. Bannon on War Room. “They pull it out onto the mall.”

“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.

A team dubbed the "gallows gang" wheels prefabricated sections of the Jan. 6 gallows across a street near the Capitol before dawn on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. Capitol Police via Pro America Report/Screenshot via 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.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said the gallows were built by insurrectionists. “If it had not been for the brave Capitol and Metropolitan police men and women that day, who knows how many of our heads would have been swinging on those gallows?” he said.

‘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.

A man dubbed "Mr. Coffee" walks to get coffee at a shop across the street from the FBI Washington Field Office before dawn on Jan. 6, 2021. Pro America Report/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

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.”

Mr. Martin’s gallows videos were part of a new Jan. 6 collection unveiled on Oct. 13 at Open.ink, with documents, photographs, and video footage. Organizers want it to be a major repository for Jan. 6 materials.

“We’ve designed Open.ink to be the resting place for the truth,” Mr. Phillips said.