A Reuters’ photographer covering Wednesday’s riot on the U.S. Capitol has claimed he heard at least three Trump supporters speak about hanging Vice President Mike Pence from a tree as a ‘traitor’.
As the attack unfolded, Donald Trump took to Twitter to vent fury at Pence, a message that quickly spread among the president’s followers at the Capitol.
Jim Bourg, the Reuters News Pictures Editor in D.C., told the FBI that he heard ‘many more’ speak about executing Pence as they stormed the Capitol and tried to hunt him down.
Pictures from D.C. on Wednesday revealed that a noose was erected on a wooden frame on the West Front of the Capitol by the president’s mob.
Pence and his family could hear the angry and violent crowds shouting ‘where’s Mike Pence’ while they stormed through the building as Trump did nothing to check in on his second-in-command’s safety.
Pence angered Trump and his supporters earlier this week after pushing back against the president’s incorrect claim that the VP could put a stop to the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College.
After Trump called on his loyalists to descend on the Capitol and ‘fight’ to stop the election result, fanatics burst into the building, forcing Pence and other lawmakers to be evacuated.
‘I heard at least 3 different rioters at the Capitol say that they hoped to find Vice President Mike Pence and execute him by hanging him from a Capitol Hill tree as a traitor,’ Bourg said.
‘It was a common line being repeated. Many more were just talking about how the VP should be executed.’
As hundreds of Trump fans brazenly broke into the building on Wednesday, they were seen hunting out Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and new Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to voice their anger at Trump’s loss and attempt to force them to overturn the election.
The FBI is investigating whether any of Trump’s supporters were conspiring to hurt lawmakers or take them hostage.
Already, dozens have been arrested over the January 6 riot, but the FBI is now looking at whether there was a deeper plot to kidnap or harm members of Congress, sources told the Washington Post.
‘We’re not looking at this as a grand conspiracy, but we are interested in learning what people would do with things like zip ties,’ said one law enforcement official.
At least two mob members, one of them a retired Air Force officer, were spotted on the Senate floor carrying zip-tie handcuffs, while another was caught with a pistol on the Capitol grounds.
In pursuing the investigation, the FBI will be pouring through social media posts, emails and phones to determine whether anyone among the rioters made specific plans to harm lawmakers.
Although no senators or representatives were injured in the attack, federal prosecutors could still bring conspiracy charges if a plot were uncovered.
Such was the case recently in Michigan, where militia members were charged with plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.
Among those who participated in the riot was an Air Force veteran who invaded the Senate floor and roamed Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office dressed in combat gear and carrying zip-tie cuffs.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Larry Rendall Brock Jr, 53, admitted to being the man in the videos and photos inside the Capitol.
But he told The New Yorker he thought he was welcome to enter the US Capitol and claimed he ‘found’ the zip ties on the floor and merely picked them up so he could hand them in to a police officer.
The father-of-three, who now lives in Dallas, was pictured on the Senate floor Wednesday after the group had broken through barricades, pushed back law enforcement and sent lawmakers fleeing for safety.
Images show him wearing a combat helmet, body armor and a vinyl tag with the Punisher skull on – a symbol adopted by white supremacists and believers of conspiracy theory QAnon.
He carried zip-tie handcuffs and appeared to be speaking with fellow rioters, several of which were dressed in MAGA caps.
Brock, who was in the Air Force for more than two decades and now works for an aviation company, was also seen in footage, shot by ITV News, appearing to exit Nancy Pelosi’s office – which was vandalized and looted in the chaos.
Brock’s family members and a former Air Force comrade have painted a concerning picture of the veteran – one of a man who has become increasingly radical and been influenced by white supremacy in recent years.
Bill Leake, who worked alongside Brock in the Air Force for 10 years, told The New Yorker he had fallen out of touch with Brock because he had ‘gotten extreme’.
He said Brock, who was nicknamed Torch in the force, became obsessed with Trump and with following ‘the alternative-news-source world’.
‘Torch got all in on Trump. He went all in on the alternative-news-source world,’ said Leake.
‘He actually believes liberals and Democrats are a threat to the country. You can see how the logical conclusion to that is, “We’ve gotta take over”.’
The FBI now has agents in all 56 field offices nationwide pursuing leads related to the attack.
‘Just because you’ve left the DC region, you can still expect a knock on the door if we find out you were part of criminal activity in the Capitol,’ said Steven M. D’Antuono, head of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.