Guy Reffitt is among those charged in the Capitol Hill insurrection. Yesterday the government filed a brief opposing his release on bail, seeking to detain him until trial. This information comes from that brief. I’ll be quoting directly from that document, to include when it quotes Reffitt.
Planned In Advance:
In late December 2020, one of Reffitt’s family members informed the FBI that Reffitt was “going to do some serious damage” related to federal legislators in Washington, D.C . . . on or around January 5, 2021, Reffitt and another TTP member drove from Texas to Washington, D.C. During the drive, Reffitt talked about ‘dragging those people out of the Capitol by their ankles’ and installing a new government.
Membership In Right Wing, Pro-Trump Militia Group:
Reffitt is a member of a ‘3%er’ militia organization known as the ‘Texas Three Percenters’ (TTP).
Planned To Be Armed:
Reffitt brought at least two firearms with him on his trip to Washington, D.C., an AR-15 rifle and a Smith & Wesson pistol.
With Intent To Commit Violence:
Prior to traveling to D.C., the defendant messaged about his plans, including that he intended to ‘surveil the atmosphere for like minded Patriots and see if we have enough marching with heat.’ The morning of January 6, 2021, Reffitt began to discuss his plans for the day, including ‘do the recon and then come back for weapons hot’ and sent messages about meeting at the ‘rendezvous point.’ These messages, along with the weapons that Reffitt carried and the gear he wore, make clear that the defendant did not come to D.C. with the intention to engage in peaceful activity.
Planned To Storm Capitol With a Firearm:
“I don’t think unarmed will be the case this time. I will be in full battle rattle. If that’s a law I break, so be it but I won’t do it alone.”
Stormed the Capitol While Armed With a Firearm:
Reffitt was at the front of the pack that charged U.S. Capitol Police officers, carrying his pistol and flexi-cuffs, and wearing body armor and a helmet mounted with a video camera . . . in statements Reffitt made afterward to fellow militia members and to his family, he explained that he wore the largest jacket he owned so that he could conceal the maximum amount of tactical gear underneath it . . . “We all had weapons but never filed a single round . . . We had thousands of weapons and fired no rounds yet showed numbers. The next time we will not be so cordial.”
Afterwards Bragged About It On Video:
“I climbed up there and I started going up the bannister and that’s when everything started moving forward and everybody saw what happened to me, get hit with the pepper spray and all the bullets, watching them fucking explode all over me. And I’m still walking forward and not, not stopping . . . I said I wasn’t leaving till I got in there. I didn’t make it in. But I started the fire . . . I came here for a reason. I didn’t drive twenty fucking hours to come here and not do what needs to be done. The bad people are in that building. They’re the bad people. They’re disgusting people . . . I did bring a weapon on property that we own.”
The Intent Was Full Out Insurrection, To Take Over Congress:
“I had every constitutional right to carry a weapon and take over the Congress . . . I was willing to die when I was there. I was willing to die.”
Later Tried To Intimidate Witnesses Including His Family:
On January 11, 2021, while in his home with his children and another young man who is a family friend, Reffitt stated that he had to erase everything because the FBI was watching him. He then threatened to kill his children if they turned him in or cooperated with the authorities. Specifically, Reffitt told his children to ‘choose a side or die.’ . . . Both children promptly reported their father’s statements to their mother. When confronted by his wife later that day, instead of showing regret or disavowing what he had said, Reffitt doubled down on these same warnings to her: if the children turned him in they would be traitors — and ‘traitors get shot.’
For the record, the children Reffitt is threatening to murder are an 18 year old son and a 16 year old daughter. The prosecutor’s brief describes the son as having to take “substantial steps to secure his safety, including, among other things, relocating from his family’s home to an undisclosed location.”
Planned To Commit More Armed Violence:
“And guess what? I’m not done yet. I got a lot more to do. That’s the beginning . . . We took the Capital of the United States of America and we will do it again . . . This has only just begun and will not end until we The People of The Republic have won our country back . . . I have a new security business to circumvent the 2nd Amendment issue. TTP Security Services LLC. Website is under construction but business is licensed with Secretary of State, Texas DPS, and Texas Board of Private Security. We can get ammo and weapons available to law enforcement. We have an interior certified training officer. Join us and lets take back our country. The fight has only just begun.”
If you run into anyone wondering why our Capitol remains protected by the National Guard show them this. If you run into people claiming they were not armed with guns, show them this.
One final point, Mr. Reffitt is the kind of guy that Republican Senator Ron Johnson just two days ago described as “people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law.”
