The FBI searched for Rachel Powell, who can be seen with a bullhorn giving directions to those assaulting the Capitol on January 6, for more than a week before she was finally arrested yesterday in New Castle, Pa. She will likely be charged with obstruction, depredation of government property, entering restricted space without authority and violent entry/disorderly conduct according to the Pittsburgh CBS affiliate. Reporting in the New Yorker earlier this week placed her at the July 4, 2020 right-wing Klan and “militia” occupation of Gettysburg. She traveled to the Capitol with a man she met at the Gettysburg armed intimidation event.
In video of the assault on the Capitol she can be seen wielding a battering ram to smash a window on the historic building to allow the rioters to gain entry. She can also be heard shouting out directions on her bullhorn to those inside the Capitol directing them where to go. This suggests that she had prepared herself in advance for the attack and that she may have been part of a network of militants seeking to exploit the invasion of the building for maximum impact.
While several of the “militia” networks that went to Gettysburg in July appear to have also been involved in the assault on the Capitol, it is unclear what Powell’s connection to these organizations is.
In the feature photo at the top of this article, Powell is seen shouting directions for rioters who broke into the Capitol through a window that had been smashed in.
An affidavit filed by an FBI agent says that in video of the assault, Powell “is clearly seen speaking though a bullhorn and giving very detailed instructions about the layout of the Capitol building” to those who had broken in. The affidavit also says that Powell can be seen “using a large pipe as a ramming device to breach windows of the Capitol to gain access.”
Here is a link to the charging document.
This photo supplied by the FBI, shows Powell and a man in a green jacket using the battering ram to smash a window.
According to the FBI, this shows Powell inside the Capitol.
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