Bulwark Takes - Rioters Return to the Scene and Face Angry Counter-Protesters

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

Five years after January 6, the diehards came back to the scene of the crime. Pardoned rioters, conspiracy theories, and a fierce counter-protest collided on the National Mall. Jared Poland gives his take to Sam Stein on what he found from reporting on the ground as Americans argue again over what really happened on Jan. 6.

Hey, everyone, it's me, Sam Stein, managing editor at the Bullock. I'm here with Jared Poland, who bravely went down to the mall yesterday to cover for us the January 6 rioters who returned to the scene of the crime to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the attempted insurrection. Jared, I sent you down there with a mission to cover it. Turns out it wasn't as crazy as I anticipated. People, if you stick around, you're going to get like a really great comprehensive video. But Jared, give us a brief summary of what you saw.

So there was about 100 pro-Jan-6, pro-te. protesters as well as about, yeah, that was, that was it. There's a lot of media there as well, a lot of capital police. And then there was about 30 to 50 counter protesters. I talked to people on both sides. There's a lot of interesting people out there. Well, there's, I saw the video. It's great.

I encourage people to stick around for the totality of it because the people who came to counter protest were maybe punchier than the actual people who were there to celebrate January 6th. The people were celebrating there included people who. actually had been arrested, who rioted, who were pardoned by Trump. The whole thing's wild. It kind of is grotesque to see these people glorify that day. It kind of gives you a little bit of hope to see people turn out to say, you know what, fuck you guys for doing it.

Jared, thank you for doing this. Everyone, stick around, watch the whole video, subscribe to the feed where you get great stuff like this. And if you become a subscriber, a paying subscriber, you can support more work for Jared, who's the guy that we sent to do the most ridiculous projects in and around DC. so please become a Bullock subscriber. Why are you out here today? I'm here for Donna Trump.

I'm here basically for a five-year anniversary. I was there during January 6th. We're here for Ashley Babbitt and a couple other people that we lost. And, you know, I'm here fighting with the proud boys. And I'm here to just put up the good fight, you know. When you think of that day, what does it make you think about? We were set up, you know. It was supposed to be an amazing day.

And we're set up by the FBI. You know, other people pretended to be us. and it was supposed to be a great day, but it was a horrible day. You know, it was just a fun day, like a tour, basically, and they got set up, so I feel bad for them, you know. Luckily, I didn't have to go to prison, but I'm here because all the people that did have to go to prison. I was in the gulag for many months. I'm one of those that was hunted down. 140 Republican congressmen were going to object that day, and I believe it was 12 senators as well,

which is one reason they had the insurrection, the Fed'surrection, as we call it. It was an inside job. I did the government attack the people. People were up there assembling, and they were basically forced into, I mean, a lobster trap. Lobster trap, that's what they call it. And I saw it when I got there. They were throwing smoke bombs into the crowd, trying to agitate the crowd. I thought the crowd was actually very well behaved, all things considered.

There really wasn't, I mean, when you really look at the big picture, almost a million people, a lot worse could have happened. Our government set us up. They allowed us to walk in there, and they hunted us down like terrorists, and prosecuted us. unfair court system. And that's exactly what it means. You know, mainstream media won't tell the truth. They won't show you the truth. They're never going to show evidence that's out there.

They refuse to put it on TV and continue to call it an insurrection. When we all know it was a Fedurrection, there are hundreds of undercover FBI agents dressed as Trump supporters there. Right here? They can pay. President Trump signed it. I stood in front of him. Labor Day of 2020.

23, September 4th, 2023, and had him sign this. And I took, also, I needed him an American flag, a huge American flag that was from all J6s across the country and people on the corner in Maliniki. And I asked him to sign this flag, and he did. And I said, what's one thing that you want to say to our prisoners when I go back to the D.C. Gulag? And he said, to me, tell them everything will be okay. And from that moment on, I believe in President Trump of everything he said. I served one of the longest terms in the D.C. Goulog. I went into Cussie on January 11th.

I was around the incident with the unfortunate death, murder of Roseanne Boylan, by Officer Lila Morris and her involvement. It was 13 individuals on our indictment. They were doing nothing more than helping individuals that they did not know. Our brothers and sisters didn't matter what walk of life. They saw something they didn't agree with. We were trying to save them. We begged and plead for them to help to stop us.

And instead, we got brutalized. We got flashbanged. We got assaulted beat over the head. It was absolute, I call it hell on earth. A saddest moment that I've ever witnessed with my own eyes to see law enforcement put in the predicament that they were in to be manipulated by such evil politicians, both on the left and the right. We can't allow it to ever happen again. There needs to be accountability for it. You know, we paid the ultimate price.

You didn't take them long to slander to fame and smear us and to try to convince the American public that we were domestic terrorists without charging us for it. We need to bridge the divide across the aisle and remember one thing. We have different tactics. We have all the same wants and needs but different ways of getting there.

But we're not that different. We have more in common than we'll ever be different. We need to get back to the unity. And we could probably fix this. You know, I think it personally is a goal to make sure that we never have another tragic day like that again. Well, I was here five years ago. He was actually in VIP. I was the 25th or 26 person in line. I showed up at 12 a.m., thinking there was going to be Antifa here to fight because I saw some footage like earlier in the day.

Turned out there wasn't at that moment. And befriended Secret Service and staffers. And they said, hey, you've never been in Trump probably. You can come in VIP, even though I didn't have tickets. And I got to sit in row five, listen to Trump's speech. And then a very long bathroom wait after it was all done. And then slowly went down to the Capitol. Didn't even know we were going to the Capitol until he said we're going to peacefully go down. down to the Capitol. So it was a beautiful day. So I did reluctantly also accept a hit of a joint that was already lit from a hot girl inside an office where I was charging my phone.

And police officers were walking by and they were just on the air show. Do you know what office it was on? Yeah, Senator Merckley. I wish there was a real insurrection that day because a lot of lives would have been saved on the long run. You know, I don't think the mess that happened in Afghanistan would have happened. I strongly doubt that we would have had war within Ukraine. And I don't think the Gaza situation would have been what it is,

nor are all the illegal immigrants that came in here costing us lots of money, but also the people that have lost their lives. The Ice Jacket. Are you a fan or an employee? No, I'm a huge fan. Yeah, volunteer employee. I kidnap on my own time. January 6th, it was the third stop-the-sea rally I attended. I attended the one in November, December, and January 6. I went to January 6th because my vote in New Jersey was never counted.

If you certified a stolen election, each one of you committed a treason. We did not went to overthrow the government. We did not go to do any act of violence. We were attacked by the Capitol Police.

We were attacked by the SWAT. I guess they got whatever the SWAT people that they got. We were set up. It was a complete setup. And who do you think set you up? Well, Nancy Pelosi, why did she decline the National Guard

that day. There was not even one parakeet. There's some videos of the capital police giving tour to one of the J-6ers, a lot of the J-6ers. Every Senate member who was certified that election that day, each one of them, they commit

a treason. We want accountability. It's not that Trump, he's the president of this country. He cannot go prosecute people. That's your job, Bamboundy. You need to do something or nicely we tell you step down i don't want any violence to happen to those people that perpetrated these crimes against humanity against americans but i want them to pay

they made an example out of us and we need to make an example out of them here here why you're out here today because this has to stop because this has to stop The corruption, the incredible display that you can do anything and get away with it, these people attacked our Capitol. They were insurrectionists and they were released for no reason whatsoever. The corruption is being rewarded and there's no stop right now. We've got to get busy, get Congress to do something to step in and get some kind of sanity restored in America. Capitol Hill resident since 94, and I have lived through a lot, being on Capitol Hill for that long.

But honestly, January 6th was the most terrifying time that I've ever been in my own neighborhood. I had a daughter getting a sweet green salad on Pennsylvania Avenue right near the Capitol. I had another kid across town, and I watched in utter horror as they smashed windows and attacked our police officers, or Metropolitan Police Department, Capitol Police Officers, and the desecration that took place in what is the symbol of our democracy was just heartbreaking. And then the first thing that Donald Trump does when he becomes president is he pardons 4,000 people who had been, some had been convicted by jurors of their peers, through our gone through the court system.

And he pardons all of these crimes. criminals who are now taunting everyone with a ridiculous memorial march on January 6th where police officers died. It is so outrageous. Honestly, when I think about it for more than five seconds, I just become so disillusioned and sick and lose all hope for the future of our country. It doesn't take courage to break the law. It takes courage to uphold the law.

Yes. Vice President Pence, January 6, 2021. what? How do you feel about that day? How do you feel about what's going on right now? Well, I feel like that day was a watershed moment in the history of the United States. I think it brought about a new age of political violence in this country, one which might overpowers law and violence overpowers decency and the better angels of our nature, as Lincoln once said. I think that that day changed my life as an American. I saw a violation of a peaceful transfer of power that I had taken for granted for a number of years. And I saw a

saw a historical precedent that was set that if you look at other countries and democracies in the history of the world, they usually are violated in the same way with demagogues and the following that they amass kind of coalescing around them to violate the norms and laws that we hold dear in a democracy. So today, it was interesting to see a smaller crowd of people than I was originally expecting kind of a smaller cohort of diehards and Riccaterio being there and definitely leading the group. But what I was trying to kind of get a sense of as if it was going to be treated as if, like, it was the Beer Hall Pitch in Germany, after Hitler returned to power, he made the Beer Hole Pitch kind of a patriotic national holiday for Germany. And I wanted to try to stake my claim and say that we're not going to allow that day to be rewritten in the history books, that even if I have to stand out here by myself and remind people what that day really was, that we need to, you know, my own opinion is enough for me.

and I can stand in the breach against any of them, just like Vice President Pence did on January 6th. A person who is entirely unfit to manage a McDonald's is in charge of the entire country. Again, even after he incited a riot to overthrow the government and try to abolish the U.S. Constitution. And it's really amazing to see this many police, out here protecting the people who tried to kill them.

This is all backwards. If your anniversary, it's obscene that these people are here. It's obscene they got away with it and I had to do something. On January 6th, like, how did that day make you feel? I watched the whole thing. I turned on the TV thinking something is going to happen, not anticipating this. And when it's always happening, I started calling people saying, you have to turn on the TV. So when people say that it is what it's, it's not.

not what it seems to be. I go, no, I watched it live. I watched it live. Don't tell me I'm imagining things. Stop the nonsense. It's facts for facts. And it makes me crazy that nothing's happened. I'm out here to try and help get our democracy back on track. And I'm an old lady. I think it'll take at least 20 years for us to get back to any semblance of our democracy as it was. So what brings you out here today? Nautists. Fucking Nazis. Actually, these traders, pieces of shit, had the nerve to try and march on the same building where they committed their insurrection and treason. Five years ago when they did that, how did they make you feel? Just honestly violated. Violated for one of the first times in my life. Like, insane. Just because

of the fact that there was no repercussion whatsoever. And there was just pardons. Partons for every jackass. Like, no justice got served. No justice got done. Any rits of treason or anything. And the consequences thereof just failed right in front of our eyes. That was probably one of the biggest signals that was all shit. I'm just, I'm heartbroken that it's something that's being celebrated in my nation's capital, this, uh, this, uh, this insurrection that happened.

Well, I'm a DC native and I remember the storming of the capital. I knew something was going to happen because I stayed in, uh, their chat rooms and they were very violent, talked about a lot of, uh, violent plans that they had. and lo and behold, a lot of violence happened on Jan 6th. And now they have the audacity to do a march in support of people like Ashley Babbitt or Donald Trump that corralled them all to storm our capital, our nation's capital. It's just, it's absurd. And people need to be out here to resist demons like that.

There's no accountability, no justice. Everyone that went into that building got pardoned. They never served their full sentence. Trump never got anything. He never got convicted for anything or inciting it. There's no accountability. This is the most that we can do. Have a visible and verbal display of resistance to him.

That's why I'm out here.