(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The so-called J6 “gallows” were used as a prop by the Justice Department and Democrats for nearly four years to argue that the Capitol Hill protestors were threatening government officials and staging an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. President Joe Biden even falsely claimed earlier this year that they were “erected to hang Vice President Mike Pence.”
However, it appears as if the public will never know who built them, according to a report released Tuesday by the House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight.
Tuesday’s report followed earlier findings from February, when the subcommittee revealed that the FBI claimed to not know who built the gallows (which weren’t actually gallows, the FBI later admitted). This latest report suggests that neither the FBI nor any other law enforcement agency even bothered looking into the matter. The Democrat-controlled Jan. 6 Commission didn’t investigate the matter, either, the report added.
“United States Capitol Police guidelines prohibit the construction of temporary structures on Capitol grounds. Despite this, USCP made no effort to prevent the construction of the gallows, and the USCP CCTV footage confirms that the gallows remained on Capitol grounds for a full twenty-six hours with no effort to have them removed,” the report said.
I think we can reasonably conclude that construction of the Jan. 6 "gallows" was a fed op.
According to today's new J6 report, Capitol employees destroyed them the very next day and loaded the pieces a dump truck instead of collecting them as evidence. They didn't track the guys… https://t.co/csfrIH7cik pic.twitter.com/jS8jPHPmaM
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) December 17, 2024
“The gallows were finally removed at roughly 9:06 AM on January 7 … USCP video footage reveals that no law enforcement entity investigated the structure before it was removed and destroyed. Instead, USCP video footage shows Architect of the Capitol (“AOC”) employees loading the structure into the back of a dump truck and crushing it using a forklift,” the report said.
“The AOC then discarded the now-broken lumber alongside the other refuse left on Capitol Grounds from January 6.”
According to the subcommittee’s investigation, the gallows builders arrived at approximately 6:30 a.m. on January 6, 2021, in a white full-size van parked north of Constitution Avenue. There, three passengers unloaded a large bundle of lumber with wheels.
After unloading, the group walked the bundle across Constitution Avenue and onto the grass at Union Square, according to Loudermilk. They were then joined by two more people arriving by cab at the corner of 1st and C Streets NW.
Between 6:30 a.m. and 7:15 a.m., the group constructed the platform and two main pillars of the gallows, only leaving off the crossbeam, he said. During this time, the apparent group leader along with one other person, left the group and walked down 3rd Street, heading north. They returned a few minutes later with coffee, and the entire group left the scene.
Around 1 p.m. the group returned to the scene, and the leader installed the final crossbeam and added the noose made of bright orange rope.
The report said Capitol Hill surveillance footage wasn’t clear enough to identify the men’s faces. Congressional investigators traced their route, and identified other government cameras that should have captured better footage—including cameras on the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. District Court building for the District of Columbia.
However, those agencies said that the FBI never asked for their footage of the men, according to the report.
“Shockingly, each entity confirmed that they were never contacted for this footage by any government entity, including the FBI and the Select Committee,” the report said.
In July Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., asked FBI Director Chris Wray about Biden’s claim during a Wednesday congressional hearing, and Wray surprisingly debunked the president’s false characterization of the “gallows.
Biden recently alleged that "gallows" erected on January 6th were intended to assassinate Vice President Mike Pence.
But today the @FBI Director disagreed with that assessment. pic.twitter.com/Yg5w5pKy6g
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) July 25, 2024
“I’m not aware of any physical gallows … It might have been a replica or symbol,” Wray told Massie.
Massie asked Wray whether anyone has been arrested or even identified as the builder of the gallows. He also asked whether the gallows builders were FBI informants.
Wray said he had no knowledge of informants being involved.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
