Witness Stephen Ayres, who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, before the investigative committee at the Cannon Building in Washington on Tuesday
Image: AFP
In the weeks leading up to the storming of the Capitol, Donald Trump sowed chaos in the White House and stoked anger among his supporters. The investigative committee now presents the chronology of the planned escalation.
AAsked if he still believes Trump’s tale of voter fraud, Stephen Ayres replies, “Not so much now.” He’s deleted all his social media accounts and started “doing research” himself. Not long ago, Ayres said he followed the then president blindly when he called his supporters to Washington to protest against the allegedly stolen election. Ayres was among the mob that stormed the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. He was arrested a few weeks later, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor and is due to be sentenced in September. A year and a half later, Ayres is the first rioter from back then to testify at one of the public hearings of the commission of inquiry into the storming of the Capitol.
This day is also about how Donald Trump incited his supporters after the lost presidential election and drove them to the American capital. A chronology of escalation over the 24 days from December 14, 2020 to January 6, 2021, from the day the Electoral College confirmed Joe Biden as President to the day armed Trump supporters burst into the landmark American invade politics.