first_published_at,last_published_at,title,slug,latest_revision_created_at,charges,legal_orders,updates,categories,links,equipment_seized,equipment_broken,targeted_journalists,authors,date,exact_date_unknown,city,state,latitude,longitude,body,introduction,teaser,teaser_image,primary_video,image_caption,arrest_status,arresting_authority,release_date,detention_date,unnecessary_use_of_force,case_number,case_statuses,case_type,status_of_seized_equipment,is_search_warrant_obtained,actor,border_point,target_us_citizenship_status,denial_of_entry,stopped_previously,did_authorities_ask_for_device_access,did_authorities_ask_about_work,assailant,was_journalist_targeted,charged_under_espionage_act,subpoena_type,subpoena_statuses,name_of_business,third_party_business,legal_order_target,legal_order_type,legal_order_venue,status_of_prior_restraint,mistakenly_released_materials,type_of_denial,targeted_institutions,tags,target_nationality,workers_whose_communications_were_obtained,politicians_or_public_figures_involved 2021-01-11 21:42:15.578889+00:00,2023-11-01 14:43:25.582101+00:00,"New York Times reporter assaulted, cameras stolen and damaged amid Capitol riot",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-york-times-reporter-assaulted-cameras-stolen-and-damaged-amid-capitol-riot/,2023-11-01 14:43:25.446372+00:00,,,"(2023-09-14 00:00:00+00:00) Pennsylvania woman sentenced for actions during J6 riot, (2021-06-28 09:12:00+00:00) Pennsylvania woman charged connection to assault of NYT photojournalist during Capitol riot, (2023-06-06 14:48:00+00:00) Pennsylvania woman found guilty on charges connected to assault of photojournalist","Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"camera: count of 1, camera lens: count of 1, press identification: count of 1",Erin Schaff (The New York Times),,2021-01-06,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"
New York Times reporter Erin Schaff wrote that she was assaulted, one of her cameras stolen and the lens of a second broken by rioters as they stormed the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.
A riot broke out as supporters of President Donald Trump marched on the Capitol, swarmed the building and broke inside in an attempt to disrupt the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, Reuters reported. At a noon rally held in front of the White House, Trump called on his supporters to protest the vote on the basis of unfounded claims of election fraud. According to Reuters, the building was breached at approximately 2:15 p.m.
Schaff, who did not respond to a request for comment, wrote in an account published by the Times that she followed the noise of protesters on the first floor of the Senate side of the building.
Schaff recounted that the single Capitol Police officer guarding the ceremonial doors to the Rotunda was rushed by the crowd, forcing open the door.
“I ran upstairs to be out of the way of the crowd, and to get a better vantage point to document what was happening. Suddenly, two or three men in black surrounded me and demanded to know who I worked for,” Schaff wrote.
“Grabbing my press pass, they saw that my ID said The New York Times and became really angry. They threw me to the floor, trying to take my cameras. I started screaming for help as loudly as I could. No one came. People just watched. At this point, I thought I could be killed and no one would stop them. They ripped one of my cameras away from me, broke a lens on the other and ran away.”
Schaff’s congressional press credentials were also stolen in the attack.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting multiple assaults, detainments and equipment damages from Jan. 6 events. Find those here.
Freelance photojournalist Amanda Andrade-Rhoades said she was hit by crowd control munitions fired by law enforcement officers four times while covering riots at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.
Andrade-Rhoades told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was on assignment for The Washington Post covering protesters as they marched toward the west side of the Capitol from the National Mall. The protesters, spurred by a speech by President Donald Trump earlier that day, aimed to disrupt the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
At approximately 2:45 p.m., Andrade-Rhoades said she was photographing as the protest became a riot, with the pro-Trump crowd — some armed with clubs or other weapons — clashing with Capitol Police officers in front of the Capitol.
There's more! pic.twitter.com/RzoPm9InIz
— Amanda Andrade-Rhoades (@Moxie_Manda) January 7, 2021
Andrade-Rhoades said she had covered previous pro-Trump demonstrations where protesters were far less aggressive towards law enforcement. “This time [the rioters] were fighting the officers and breaking apart barricades to hit the police with,” she said. “I had just put on my gas mask because things seemed to be getting very much worse.”
Andrade-Rhoades said her right leg was struck multiple times as she documented Capitol Police and rioters scuffling over a barrier.
“There was a bit of a gap between the police and the rioters, and that’s when I felt myself get hit four times,” Andrade-Rhoades said. She added that she believes she was hit by rubber bullets based on the rounds she saw on the ground around her after she was struck.
After the incident, she posted a photo of her leg showing several large bruises. “Since someone asked,” she wrote on her Twitter account, “I’m pretty sure these were rubber bullets but not 100% sure.”
Since someone asked, I’m pretty sure these were rubber bullets but not 100% sure. The one on the top of my thigh is very swollen, but it looks worse than it feels. That may not be the case tomorrow though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/kWJerA3pOV
— Amanda Andrade-Rhoades (@Moxie_Manda) January 7, 2021
Andrade-Rhoades said she was wearing a press credential issued by The Post, and the word “PRESS” was written on a piece of painters’ tape stuck to her gas mask. But she noted that when she was hit, law enforcement officers were overwhelmed by the number of violent rioters and were fighting back indiscriminately. She said she retreated from the violence briefly, then returned to photographing as the rioters climbed up scaffolding and stormed the Capitol.
About two days after the incident Andrade-Rhoades said some of her wounds were still swollen and tender to the touch and that she would seek medical attention if the swelling on her hip did not go down soon.
Andrade-Rhoades said that over the course of the afternoon, multiple rioters threatened to kill her, and that she was caught in pepper spray fired indiscriminately by police. The Tracker has documented all election-related incidents here.
Neither the Capitol Police nor the Metropolitan Police Department of D.C. responded to emails requesting comment.
Photojournalist Amanda Andrade-Rhoades was hit with multiple crowd-control munitions while covering the Capitol riots for The Washington Post on Jan 6, 2021.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Donald Trump, election, Election 2020, protest",,, 2021-01-13 21:06:39.012764+00:00,2022-08-04 21:28:51.201791+00:00,Slate reporter pushed by Capitol Police officer in effort to ‘slow down’ rioters,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/slate-reporter-pushed-by-capitol-police-officer-in-effort-to-slow-down-rioters/,2022-08-04 21:28:51.141873+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Aymann Ismail (Slate),,2021-01-06,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Slate reporter Aymann Ismail was pushed by a Capitol Police officer while covering the riot at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.
In an account for Slate, Ismail wrote that he had started the day covering a rally in front of the White House at which President Donald Trump spoke at noon. After the president called on his supporters to protest Congress as it confirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory on the basis of unfounded claims of election fraud, a crowd of hundreds marched to the Capitol, swarmed the building and broke inside, Reuters reported.
Ismail wrote that he’d followed the crowd as they marched across the National Mall, approaching the Capitol from the west.
“As we got closer, though, I saw these marchers ripping open doors and climbing through windows. When I got to the doors, police had managed to close them again,” Ismail wrote. “There was a core group of young people at the very front, just outside, trying to force their way in.”
In Ismail’s estimation, “there were a few cops, but not nearly enough” as he walked up to the doors and identified himself to officers as a member of the press.
“One cop started using my body to push people behind me backward,” Ismail wrote. “I heard one say to the other, ‘The best we can do is slow them down.’”
Ismail was able to quickly get around the officers and into the Capitol without further incident. He told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he didn’t believe the officers had acted maliciously or had been trying to harm him.
The Capitol Police did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
“I moved quickly, got as many photos as I could muster in a short period of time, then moved back out of the building,” Ismail said. “Earlier, I had seen other reporters get attacked by the mob, so I made it a point not to stick around in any one spot too long.”
The Tracker is documenting multiple incidents involving journalists, including assaults, arrests and equipment damage, from Jan. 6. All of our election-related coverage can be found here.
Slate reporter Aymann Ismail captured this image as a Capitol Police officer pushed him in an effort to block rioters who had made their way into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,no,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Donald Trump, election, Election 2020, protest",,, 2021-01-13 21:49:31.297205+00:00,2023-11-02 15:27:13.183466+00:00,Cellphone of French journalist destroyed during his livestream of Capitol riot,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cell-phone-french-journalist-destroyed-during-his-livestream-capitol-riot/,2023-11-02 15:27:13.084088+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,cellphone: count of 1,Vincent Jolly (Le Figaro),,2021-01-06,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Vincent Jolly, a reporter for the weekly magazine of French newspaper Le Figaro, had his phone destroyed during a live report about the riots at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.
Protests organized around Congress’s confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory devolved into a riot earlier that day, Reuters reported. At a rally in front of the White House, President Donald Trump called on his supporters to protest the vote on the basis of unfounded claims of election fraud. Hoards of his supporters then marched to the Capitol, swarmed the building and broke inside.
In a clip posted to Twitter by Figaro Live Editor in Chief Vincent Roux, Jolly can be heard at the very beginning giving a live report on the riot at the Capitol while filming a crowd of individuals walking away from the building. Jolly tells the host that they were waiting to hear responses to the violence from the Republican Party and Biden.
Plusieurs journalistes et équipes médias agressés et leurs matériels détruits par des Pro-#Trumps. Comme notre confrère @VincentJolly_ agressé en direct. Pas de blessure mais son téléphone avec lequel il est en direct pour @Figaro_Live est completement détruit. Shame! #Capitole pic.twitter.com/7XGzCLLAq2
— Vincent Roux (@vincentroux88) January 6, 2021
In Jolly’s video, a man is seen breaking away from the group, quickly advancing on Jolly and swiping at his cellphone before the feed suddenly dies. The Figaro Live host, seen to the left of the cellphone image, picks up the narration as the man advances, exclaiming that they would see what had happened to Jolly and that it appeared someone had taken the journalist’s phone.
In the tweet, Figaro Live editor Roux wrote that while Jolly was not injured in the assault, his cellphone was “completely destroyed.” “Shame!” he wrote.
Jolly did not respond to messages requesting comment.
A Fox 5 DC news crew was harassed and a cameraman assaulted by rioters while covering the insurrection in and around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump spoke at noon at a rally in front of the White House in response to the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden, promoting false claims of election fraud and calling for his supporters to march to the Capitol, The New York Times reported. Following the rally, thousands of pro-Trump supporters waving Confederate and Trump flags violently stormed the Capitol, disrupting and occupying several areas within the building.
At about 4:40 p.m., Fox 5 DC reporter Sierra Fox posted a tweet showing her and the news crew covering the scene outside the Capitol when demonstrators harassed and assaulted them, forcing them out of the area.
This is how the media is being treated out here. pic.twitter.com/Rxr6ozxOxs
— Sierra Fox (@thesierrafox) January 6, 2021
“This is how the media is being treated out here,” Fox wrote alongside a video posted on Twitter. In the video, as she and the crew are navigating the crowd, demonstrators can be heard yelling, “Fuck the media,” and “Get out of here.”
At the 11-second mark, a woman lurches at what is presumably Fox’s phone, but Fox quickly turns away. The same woman grabs and kicks another, unidentified member of the crew a few seconds later. In the back, a demonstrator can be seen reaching for the Fox cameraman’s equipment. Toward the end of the video, several people follow the crew and continue to harass and film them, but ultimately fall back. In another video shared with the Tracker, a demonstrator is seen ripping off the cameraman's mask.
Fox could not be reached for comment.
In a press release the next day, outgoing Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund called the attacks on Jan. 6 “criminal riotous behavior” and said the United States Capitol Police would be conducting a “thorough review of this incident.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting multiple assaults, detainments and equipment damages from Jan. 6 events. Find those here.
VICE News international correspondent Ben Solomon and cameraman Chris Olson were attacked by several rioters as they covered the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Demonstrators attempted to smash Olson’s camera, damaging the handle.
President Donald Trump spoke at a noon rally that day in front of the White House, promoting false claims of election fraud and calling for his supporters to march to the Capitol where lawmakers were certifying the victory of President-elect Joe Biden, reported the New York Times. Following the rally, pro-Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol, disrupting congressional action and occupying several areas within the building.
In a video Solomon posted on Instagram, demonstrators can be seen confronting the VICE journalists, shouting, "Get the fuck out of here!" and asking, "Who are you with? Is it CNN? Better not be CNN."
"Chris [Olson] had a broken handle grip and that guy in forest camo gave me a good hard shove to the throat," Solomon wrote in a caption with the Instagram post.
In Solomon’s VICE video story posted to Youtube, the camera is hit at 1:23 and Solomon's voice can be heard, "They tried to smash our camera."
"We were lucky to get away with minimal damage," Solomon wrote on Instagram. "To hear how many colleagues had it worse that day, I consider myself lucky."
As of press time, Olson had not responded to a U.S. Press Freedom Tracker request for comment. The Tracker documented Solomon’s assault here.
The Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country. Find election-related coverage here.
Photojournalist Chris Jones, who covers right-wing extremism for 100 Days in Appalachia through a partnership with Report for America, was assaulted and had his camera pouch damaged while covering the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The violent storming of the Capitol came after President Donald Trump had spoken at a rally in front of the White House in which he promoted false claims of election fraud and called for his supporters to march to the legislative seat of the U.S. government, where lawmakers were certifying the victory of President-elect Joe Biden, reported the New York Times.
Jones told the Tracker that he’d followed a group of demonstrators as they took the building but was stymied at the entrance, first due to the debilitating presence of tear gas and flash-bang grenades and then because rioters impeded his movement.
“Any time I went in, I got very quickly identified as press and it just got bad,” he told the Tracker. At one point, he said, he was no more than 20 feet inside the building when a rioter yelled repeatedly, “Are you press?” before picking him up and dragging him backward. Another then grabbed his legs. “The three of us clumsily made our way to the door,” Jones said.
At around 2 p.m., he said, a Capitol Police officer threw a flash-bang grenade right next to him and the heat tore through his camera pouch.
As Jones maneuvered among the crowd throughout the day, he said that many approached him with “We’re going to get you” and “You need to move on.” As with several journalists that day, such threats and harassment were common. The Tracker has documented such incidents, including one in which Jones was told he “deserved to be shot,” here.
“There was very clearly an intent and willingness. When they said, ‘Don’t stick around,’ they meant it,” he told the Tracker. He said he encountered younger teens who would show that they carried knives and one man who “flashed a pistol,” claiming, “I’m not here to fuck around.”
The Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country. Find election-related coverage here.
A June 21, 2021, affidavit charged an individual with tackling to the ground an unnamed news cameraman who was covering the insurrection in and around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. According to the affidavit, the individual, identified by the FBI as Shane Jason Woods, was charged with the assault as well as with participating in the destruction of multiple news outlets’ equipment.
At a rally in front of the White House earlier that day, then-President Donald Trump called on his supporters to protest at the Capitol as Congress confirmed President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. Following Trump’s speech, which included unfounded claims of election fraud and calls to “fight” the outcome, hundreds then marched to the Capitol, swarmed the building and broke inside, Reuters reported.
Multiple broadcast journalists were reporting from a media staging area in the northeast area of the Capitol when a crowd of rioters stormed the area and broke through the barricades, surrounding the journalists and their equipment.
In videos of the incident, the rioters can be heard yelling “Fuck the mainstream media” as well as “CNN sucks” and “Fuck CNN!” The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has not found any information to suggest that a CNN news crew was assaulted in the attack.
According to the affidavit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Woods was allegedly among those “yelling and spitting at members of the news media along a pushed-over fence next to the media staging area.”
“Moments later, the individual who appears to be WOODS climbed over the toppled fence and participated in the assault on the media equipment,” the affidavit says.
The unidentified cameraman — dressed in blue jeans and a blue jacket — was filming the property destruction, according to the affidavit. In footage of the incident, Woods can be seen walking closely around the cameraman.
“Soon after, WOODS is observed running into and tackling this same cameraman as the cameraman is facing away from Woods,” the affidavit says. “In the video, WOODS is seen departing quickly after tackling the cameraman, causing the man to fall to the ground and drop his camera.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has been unable to identify the cameraman, who is not named in the affidavit, or determine whether his camera was damaged when it fell.
According to the affidavit, the assault on the cameraman was similar to an assault Woods is also charged with perpetrating on a U.S. Capitol Police officer earlier that day.
The affidavit charges Woods with numerous federal offenses, including assault of a law enforcement officer, assault in special maritime and territorial jurisdiction (a category that includes the Capitol and its grounds), obstructing law enforcement, trespassing and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds. If convicted on all charges, Woods faces imprisonment for up to 17 years, fines or both.
According to a June 24 Justice Department press release, Woods is the first individual to be arrested for an assault on members of the news media during the Capitol riots.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country. Find election-related coverage here.
PBS NewsHour correspondent Lisa Desjardins said an unidentified individual grabbed her and tried to wrest her phone away as she reported inside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., as rioters swarmed the building and forced their way inside on Jan. 6, 2021.
At a rally in front of the White House earlier that day, then-President Donald Trump called on his supporters to protest at the Capitol as Congress confirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. Following Trump’s speech, which included unfounded claims of election fraud and calls to fight the outcome, hundreds then marched to the Capitol, fought police and broke inside the building from multiple locations, Reuters reported.
Desjardins, who didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment, told Vice News that she was on the House side of the Capitol when rioters surrounded the building. As they began to make their way inside shortly after 2 p.m., Desjardins said she tried to interview some of them.
“I’m reporting in real time, over the phone, what I’m seeing, and I did an interview with some of the rioters,” Desjardins wrote in an account published by Marie Claire magazine. “I saw them going into the offices themselves and starting to think about going into the chamber. There were more and more of them.”
After speaking with a few individuals, Desjardins retrieved her second phone and returned to a post behind a desk on the third floor where she continued broadcasting live to PBS, she said.
Desjardins told Vice that when rioters yelled at her, asking who she was, she defused the tension by yelling back “PBS — Sesame Street! Big Bird!” While most of the rioters laughed and moved on, she said, an individual who appeared to be intoxicated lunged at her and grabbed her by the shoulder as he tried to wrest her phone from her hands. According to Vice, another rioter pulled him away.
“When I saw his eyes, that was one of the only times I recognized I was scared,” Desjardins told Vice.
Desjardins wrote in her account for Marie Claire that she was evacuated alongside members of Congress to the Longworth Office Building for several hours. She was then among those escorted back into the Capitol around 7:30 or 8 p.m., and she remained until nearly 4 a.m. the next morning to cover the vote.
My deepest thanks to all of you for the incredible support and Twitter embrace today.
— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) January 7, 2021
It meant more than you could know.
Going home now, so glad to say.
Desjardins told Vice that, six months after the riot, she still wasn’t sleeping well.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, detainments and equipment damage from Jan. 6 events. Find those here.
Freelance photojournalist Christopher Lee said he was harassed and roughed up by demonstrators while he covered riots at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.
Lee, who didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment, said during a panel with VII Insider — an event platform for photographers, journalists and curators — that he was on assignment for Time magazine covering protesters as they marched toward the west side of the Capitol from the National Mall. The demonstrators, spurred by a speech by then-President Donald Trump earlier that day, aimed to disrupt the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
As rioters breached the Capitol in the early afternoon, Lee told Time, he tried to remain incognito as he followed them into the building. However, a group of at least six individuals recognized him as a journalist, shouted that he was “fake news” and a member of the “liberal media” and started to grab him to remove him from the Capitol.
“It was a moment that I realized, ‘If I don’t leave the situation right now by any way possible, it could escalate into something really, really bad,’” Lee said. “I’ve had it happen on a couple occasions in America, but not to that level of severity that quickly.”
Lee said during the VII Insider panel that the individuals targeted him in part because he was wearing an N-95 mask.
“I remember having interactions with people saying, ‘We know that you’re not one of us because you’re actually taking the virus seriously,’” Lee said. “When they did kind of rough me up a little bit, they did make it a point in all the chaos to try and pull my mask off of my face."
According to Time, after Lee left the initial group that had harassed him, he found another group breaking into the building through a different entryway and followed them back inside.
“While doing my job in America, that was probably the time that I feared the most for my safety,” said Lee, who has photographed conflicts and protests in the Middle East, Central Asia and elsewhere in the U.S.
Associated Press photojournalist John Minchillo was assaulted by rioters while covering the insurrection in and around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump spoke at noon at a rally in front of the White House in response to the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden, promoting false claims of election fraud and calling for his supporters to march to the Capitol, The New York Times reported. Following the rally, thousands of pro-Trump supporters waving Confederate and Trump flags violently stormed the Capitol, disrupting and occupying several areas within the building.
Minchillo and fellow AP photographer Julio Cortez were documenting from along the front barriers, near where Capitol Police officers stood, when rioters attacked Minchillo.
Cortez posted an Instagram video showing multiple rioters dragging Minchillo through an angry mob.
“He was labeled as an anti protesters, even though he kept flashing his press credentials, and one person can be heard threatening to kill him,” wrote Cortez in the post.
In Cortez’s video, shouts of “Get the media out of here!” and “Who is he? Antifa!” can be heard. At the 45-second mark, an individual shoves Minchillo over a wall. Several aggressively question if he is “antifa,” while a man in a Trump hat retrieves his camera.
After Minchilllo shows his press pass and repeats that he is press, two men help him leave the area, with Cortez filming from behind. “Thankfully, he wasn’t injured,” Cortez wrote in his post.
“Please use this moment to reflect on the importance of journalism as a conduit between us,” Minchillo wrote in a tweet.
In an AP article about the attacks and harassment journalists faced while covering the riot, an AP spokesperson specifically responded to the attack on Minchillo.
“While we are thankful he is OK, this is a reminder of the dangers journalists both in the U.S. and around the world face every day while simply trying to do their jobs,” said Patrick Maks.
Minchillo did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
In a press release the next day, outgoing Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund called the attacks on Jan. 6 "criminal riotous behavior" and said the United States Capitol Police would be conducting a "thorough review of this incident."
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting multiple assaults, detainments and equipment damages from Jan. 6 events. Find those here.
Independent White House correspondent Douglas Christian was harassed, pursued and punched by rioters while covering the insurrection in and around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump spoke at noon at a rally in front of the White House in response to the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden, promoting false claims of election fraud and calling for his supporters to march to the Capitol, The New York Times reported. Following the rally, thousands of pro-Trump supporters waving Confederate and Trump flags violently stormed the Capitol, disrupting and occupying several areas within the building.
Christian told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was documenting the riots near the Russell Senate Office Building at around 4:45 p.m. when pro-Trump rioters assaulted him.
Christian said he had two government-issued press badges displayed around his neck and was taking photographs when "increasingly angry" protesters started to harass him, saying "Democrats should be tried for treason."
One of the demonstrators tried to grab his press pass, according to an article in the Maryland Reporter and confirmed by Christian.
As he tried to leave the area, another man began shouting obscenities after him. He said he ignored the man, but then was pursued.
Out of nowhere, the man punched him right in the face and his glasses went flying, Christian told the Tracker.
"My ear, which he didn't hit, was in terrible pain. I thought, did I just suffer a hemorrhage in my brain? I actually think I was doubled over in so much pain that he didn't punch me again."
As he was leaving the area, he said he saw a police officer nearby and recounted everything that had just happened, but the officer "wouldn't even acknowledge my presence."
Subsequently, a Capitol Hill staffer scolded him for approaching the officer. "You’re distracting the officer. He can’t do anything about the guy who is assaulting other people," Christian told the Reporter.
He later tried to contact Capitol Police about the incident, but has yet to hear a response. Christian said he also still has difficulty chewing and is requesting an X-ray for more information.
In a press release the next day, outgoing Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund called the attacks on Jan. 6 "criminal riotous behavior" and said the United States Capitol Police would be conducting a "thorough review of this incident."
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting multiple assaults, detainments and equipment damages from Jan. 6 events. Find those here.
Independent photographer Nate Gowdy was threatened and shoved off a railing while covering the insurrection in and around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump spoke at noon at a rally in front of the White House in response to the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden, promoting false claims of election fraud and calling for his supporters to march to the Capitol, The New York Times reported. Following the rally, thousands of pro-Trump supporters waving Confederate and Trump flags violently stormed the Capitol, disrupting and occupying several areas within the building.
Gowdy told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was photographing the scene as rioters stormed up the Capitol steps and began to breach the building.
"Everything happened so fast. They converged and then started tearing down barricades," Gowdy said. "I got on a balustrade at the base of the stairs and then a man pointed at me and threatened me. I can't even remember what he said but he just shoved me off the balustrade."
Gowdy said he wasn't wearing protective gear at the time, but was able to land on his feet.
Gowdy's photograph of this moment shows the man with an American flag hat, sunglasses and mask, pointing intensely at the camera.
A Rolling Stone slideshow with Gowdy’s images said the photographer has documented close to 30 official Trump rallies since 2016.
“I’m still processing what I witnessed yesterday. We all are. It’s difficult to know what people are thinking when they’re breaching security barriers, attacking law enforcement, threatening members of the media, flaunting pandemic safety protocols, and bashing down the doors and windows to Congress,” Gowdy wrote in the slideshow’s introduction.
Throughout the day, he said he was repeatedly threatened and heckled for taking photos and wearing a mask.
"You have to be careful what you take photos of," he said.
In a press release the next day, outgoing Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund called the attacks on Jan. 6 "criminal riotous behavior" and said the United States Capitol Police would be conducting a "thorough review of this incident."
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting multiple assaults, detainments and equipment damages from Jan. 6 events. Find those here.
VICE News international correspondent Ben Solomon and cameraman Chris Olson were attacked by several rioters while documenting riots on the steps of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump spoke at noon at a rally in front of the White House in response to the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden, promoting false claims of election fraud and calling for his supporters to march to the Capitol, The New York Times reported. Following the rally, thousands of pro-Trump supporters waving Confederate and Trump flags violently stormed the Capitol, disrupting and occupying several areas within the building.
In a video Solomon posted on Instagram, demonstrators can be seen confronting the VICE journalists, shouting, "Get the fuck out of here!" and asking, "Who are you with? Is it CNN? Better not be CNN.”
"Chris had a broken handle grip and that guy in forest camo gave me a good hard shove to the throat," Solomon wrote in an Instagram caption. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented Olson’s assault and the damage to his camera here.
In the video, demonstrators can be seen confronting the journalists, shouting, "Get the fuck out of here!" and asking, "Who are you with? Is it CNN? Better not be CNN."
In the full-length video posted to Youtube, the camera is hit at 1:23 and Solomon's voice can be heard, "They tried to smash our camera."
"We were lucky to get away with minimal damage," Solomon wrote on Instagram. "To hear how many colleagues had it worse that day, I consider myself lucky."
Solomon did not respond to a request for comment.
In a press release the next day, outgoing Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund called the attacks on Jan. 6 "criminal riotous behavior" and said the United States Capitol Police would be conducting a "thorough review of this incident."
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting multiple assaults, detainments and equipment damages from Jan. 6 events. Find those here.
Independent photojournalist John Harrington was assaulted and harassed by supporters of President Donald Trump while covering the insurrection in and around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump spoke at noon at a rally in front of the White House in response to the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden, promoting false claims of election fraud and calling for his supporters to march to the Capitol, The New York Times reported. Following the rally, thousands of pro-Trump supporters waving Confederate and Trump flags violently stormed the Capitol, disrupting and occupying several areas within the building.
Harrington told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was also documenting the riot along the west side of the Capitol when he was assaulted and harassed multiple times. In one case, Harrington said someone used what he believes was a fire extinguisher to hit his head. He quickly put on his ballistic helmet, which also displayed his press markings.
At the 8:55 mark in a video he shared on Vimeo, a rioter throws a pole toward a Capitol police officer, who then engages in a "tug-of-war" style exchange. In the chaos, the rioter briefly enters the frame and the pole can be seen banging the right side of the camera, hitting his head.
At 9:50 in the same video, a chair is aggressively thrown and hits him during a scuffle between police officers and rioters. "More than once, I wiped my hand along [my right cheek] to see if I had any blood," Harrington told the Tracker. "Thankfully, I didn't." Still, he said his head hurt for a majority of the day.
In a separate incident, he said a protester grabbed the back of his coat and requested to switch places with him, so that the individual could grab mace and pepper spray from an officer nearby. Harrington declined, but the demonstrator continued to intimidate him. He said he also experienced other threats throughout the day, from pro-Trump demonstrators demanding that Harrington "better be on our side," to demands that he stop filming.
A different time, a "bike rack barricade" was thrown his way. In an attempt to avoid the object, he was caught in the "line of fire of mace spray from law enforcement," he said.
"[My toes] are black and blue. I don't know if I got stepped on, [but] things happened in a blur," Harrington told the Tracker. "I can't say I'm mentally unscathed."
He said he does not intend on filing a report or hiring an attorney, but he would be supportive of an investigation.
In a press release the next day, outgoing Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund called the attacks on Jan. 6 "criminal riotous behavior" and said the United States Capitol Police would be conducting a "thorough review of this incident."
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting multiple assaults, detainments and equipment damages from Jan. 6 events. Find those here.
Independent photojournalist John Harrington was assaulted multiple times while covering the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021. "More than once, I wiped my hand along [my right cheek] to see if I had any blood," he said.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Donald Trump, election, Election 2020, protest",,, 2021-08-16 13:58:20.294762+00:00,2022-09-09 14:48:54.730048+00:00,Freelance photojournalist assaulted multiple times while covering Capitol riots,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-assaulted-multiple-times-while-covering-capitol-riots/,2022-09-09 14:48:54.624206+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Christopher Morris (Freelance),,2021-01-06,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Christopher Morris, a freelance photojournalist affiliated with VII Agency, said rioters assaulted him at least four times while he covered riots at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.
Morris, who could not be reached for comment, said during a Jan. 18 panel with VII Insider — an event platform for photographers, journalists and curators — that he was covering the day’s events independently, and had arrived at 9 a.m. to cover then-President Donald Trump’s rally in response to the congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden. During his speech, Trump promoted false claims of election fraud and called on his supporters to march to the Capitol.
“When I got out of the car I was immediately met with tens of thousands of maskless, screaming, mad, insane people, people who’d gone mad. That was my morning,” Morris said during the panel. “My big fear was not what was going to happen up at the thing: I figured police would hold the line and we were going to be there all night. My big fear was COVID.”
Following the rally, thousands of pro-Trump supporters waving Confederate and Trump flags violently stormed the Capitol, disrupting and occupying several areas within the building. Morris said he didn’t initially follow the crowd, as he needed to pick up warmer clothing and protective equipment, including a helmet and gas mask.
Morris said he parked near the Supreme Court on the east side of the Capitol; while grabbing coffee nearby, a group of Trump supporters confronted him, pinned him down and threatened him, accusing him of being a counterprotester.
When he reached the east side of the Capitol, Morris said he immediately witnessed more violence, largely targeting the press.
“I saw in the first 70 meters as I’m approaching, I see someone swinging what looks like a long pole; it wasn’t a flag pole, it looked like a pipe. And on the other end of that pipe was a TV cameraman running. And I’m seeing this from far away. ...I just think: ‘Oh my god, they’re attacking this cameraman,’” Morris said. “And he gets hit, and the camera goes off his shoulder and he falls down and the guy sets on him and beats him. And the guy gets up and runs and leaves his camera.”
As he turned to go in a different direction, Morris said he saw a photographer fleeing from a fighting crowd; he said he immediately flipped the pouch displaying his press badge so he wouldn’t be as recognizable as a journalist.
“I’ve covered the world. I’ve been beaten, I’ve been arrested, I’ve been thrown in jail, I’ve done coups, I’ve done it all in that regard,” Morris said. “I was afraid for my life on the east side of those steps. There were a good 45 minutes that I basically had to fight for my life and stand my ground. And to see that in my own country: extremely frightening.”
Morris said that he was attacked at least three more times — which included “pushing, shoving, some kicking, [and] pulling” — as he attempted to reach a nearby SWAT vehicle. When he reached it and attempted to climb up onto the vehicle, Morris said someone grabbed his legs and pulled him to the ground. Once he was down, the crowd began kicking and pulling him; when he was able to stand, Morris said, he pulled off his mask and shouted at the crowd.
“I basically looked up and said, ‘I work for TIME magazine. I document history. I’m not fake news. This is reality. You’ve just stormed and taken over the US government. This is historic. Leave me alone,’” Morris said. “Very few things have shaken me to where I can weep. And that event that day, I could weep. ... I feared for my life in my own country. I had to defend myself that I’m an American, I'm not ‘fake news,’ I’m not the ‘enemy of the people.’”
In a press release the next day, outgoing Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund called the Jan. 6 attacks "criminal riotous behavior" and said the United States Capitol Police would be conducting a “thorough review of this incident.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented multiple assaults, detainments and equipment damages from Jan. 6 events. Find those here.
CNN photojournalist Ronnie McCray was assaulted by a rioter while covering the insurrection in and around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a news report.
Trump spoke at noon at a rally in front of the White House in response to the congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden, promoting false claims of election fraud and calling for his supporters to march to the Capitol. After the rally, thousands of pro-Trump supporters waving Confederate and Trump flags violently stormed the Capitol, disrupting and occupying several areas within the building.
CNN reporter Alexander Marquardt tweeted shortly after 3 p.m. that “protesters swarmed and mobbed” his news team — including McCray — after discovering that they worked for CNN.
Protesters swarmed and mobbed my team at the Capitol after figuring out who we are. Extremely aggressive, had to get out fast.
— Alexander Marquardt (@MarquardtA) January 6, 2021
The Daily Beast reported that at one point a member of the mob assaulted McCray and smacked his camera; another individual got between the CNN team and the mob and told them they should leave before they got hurt.
In footage captured by McCray and posted on Twitter by Marquardt on Jan. 8, rioters can be heard booing the news team and shouting, “Get out of here, motherfuckers,” “Traitors” and “There’s more of us than you… We could absolutely fucking destroy you.”
“I was very afraid for my safety and my team’s,” Marquardt told The Daily Beast. “We were vastly outnumbered, surrounded, with no real escape route. We’re lucky we got out physically unscathed, just shaken, and our camera was hit. I’ve covered parliaments stormed, foreign coups, riots and protests across the Middle East and this was by far the most universally hostile crowd I’ve been in. In the city that I call home.”
As of press time, McCray had not responded to a message requesting comment.
The Tracker documents assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country. Find election-related coverage here.
Documentary filmmaker Nick Quested was recording the riot in and around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when a man struck and pulled his camera, causing Quested to stumble down the stairs.
According to an FBI affidavit dated June 6, 2023, a journalist identified by the initials N.Q. was documenting the riot from the steps of the Capitol when a man swiped up and grabbed at the journalist’s camera and then pulled it, causing the journalist to stumble down the stairs. Politico confirmed that the journalist targeted was Quested.
The incident was captured in a Capitol police officer’s body camera footage from the riot. The recording shows (starting at approximately 3:10) Quested catching his balance and following the man down the stairs. It appears that a second man stands between them as Quested confronts the man who grabbed his camera. Seconds later, when Quested walks back up the stairs, a press badge can be clearly seen on a lanyard around his neck.
The Department of Justice announced that the alleged assailant, identified as Peter G. Moloney, was arrested on June 7, 2023. Moloney was charged with eight counts, including assaulting Quested and AP photojournalist John Minchillo, as well as multiple Capitol police officers.
Moloney is scheduled to appear for an initial hearing on June 20.
Quested did not respond to a request for comment. The filmmaker, executive director and owner of Goldcrest Films, was embedded for months leading up to the riot with the Proud Boys, which the Southern Poverty Law Center designates as a hate group. The British documentary filmmaker was subsequently subpoenaed by and testified as a witness before the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol breach.
U.S. Capitol Police body camera footage from Jan. 6, 2021, shows journalist Nick Quested, far right in a tan jacket, holding on to his camera while a man pulls on it. The assailant was later identified and arrested by the FBI.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Donald Trump, election, Election 2020, protest",,, 2021-02-02 20:00:48.371896+00:00,2022-08-04 21:32:17.426536+00:00,Videojournalist for Brazilian broadcaster assaulted during ‘Million MAGA March’ in DC,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/videojournalist-for-brazilian-broadcaster-assaulted-during-million-maga-march-in-dc/,2022-08-04 21:32:17.366169+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Daniel Silva-Pinto (TV Globo),,2020-11-14,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Daniel Silva-Pinto, a videojournalist on assignment for Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo, was assaulted while covering what organizers called the “Million MAGA March,” a gathering of various far-right groups, on Nov. 14, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
The rally was held in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s failed reelection bid, a loss that the president and his supporters claimed — without evidence — was the result of widespread election fraud.
Things were mostly peaceful in the nation’s capital for much of Nov. 14, but fights broke out between Trump supporters and counterprotesters as the day wore on, according to the Washington Post.
Silva-Pinto told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he’d been filming the march on Constitution Avenue when some members of what he identified as part of the far-right group the Proud Boys arrived at around 2 or 3 p.m. Silva-Pinto told the Tracker he’d been wearing a press badge at the time and was carrying his DSLR camera.
“When I got closer to Congress on Constitution, I started to hear a commotion, and then I saw that it was a ton of men dressed in black and yellow: clearly members of the Proud Boys,” Silva-Pinto said. “They were walking sort of arm-in-arm in a phalanx.”
“I was in a semicircle with six or seven other photojournalists and videojournalists when these guys were walking down the street and they started to get pretty aggressive with the people who were nearest them and they started pushing us.”
He said that members of the Proud Boys appeared to be elbowing and pushing the group of journalists more to annoy them than to inflict harm.
“Journalists started sort of talking back to them, saying things like, ‘Hey, don’t do that. I’m just here trying to do my job,’” Silva-Pinto said. He said he could not identify the other journalists there that day who may have also been assaulted during the incident.
“Then, I felt my camera get grabbed and I was hit in my head from my blind side or behind me, and I turned around and saw that it was one of the guys who had been pushing me,” Silva-Pinto said.
He told the Tracker that he walked a short distance away from the group for a bit, and when he returned, he was assaulted by a second individual.
“Another one of those guys grabbed my camera to lower it and then started hitting me in the face,” Silva-Pinto said. “They punched me several times.”
In a video captured by Ostap Yarysh, a reporter for Voice of America’s Ukrainian service, individuals dressed in black and yellow, colors often associated with the group, aand other Proud Boys symbols can be heard chanting, “The media sucks!” At one point, one of the individuals can be seen striking out at Silva-Pinto and punching him multiple times in the face. Another individual then approaches Silva-Pinto, saying, “Back the fuck up. Get the fuck out of here.”
#MillionsMAGAMarch is getting tense. After chanting "The media sucks", one of the Proud Boys attacked an independent journalist who was filming the march. #MarchForTrump #MillionMAGAMarch2020 #ProudBoys pic.twitter.com/Yo7N6NEOUA
— Ostap Yarysh (@OstapYarysh) November 14, 2020
Silva-Pinto can be heard responding, “What the fuck is wrong with you? Why are you hitting me?”
“That was new for me,” Silva-Pinto said. “Like I’ve said, I’ve covered a lot of stuff and people have been hostile toward me and other members of the press before. But that was certainly unexpected, given it was daytime, there were a bunch of police officers around, it was near the Capitol, and there were children and families around.”
Silva-Pinto told the Tracker that he approached a Metropolitan Police Department officer following the assault to file a police report. He said he had not received any updates from the police and that his last contact with the detective on his case was on Dec. 15.
The MPD did not respond to an emailed request for comment from the Tracker as of press time.
Silva-Pinto said he also sought medical attention from a volunteer medic who was with counterprotesters that day to confirm that he did not have a concussion.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented hundreds journalists assaulted, arrested, harassed or who had their equipment seized or damaged while covering the 2020 election and related protests. You can find all these incidents here.
Portland-based independent journalist Laura Jedeed told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was assaulted while covering what organizers called the “Million MAGA March,” a gathering of various far-right groups, on Nov. 14, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
The rally was held in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s failed reelection bid, a loss that the president and his supporters claimed — without evidence — was the result of widespread election fraud.
Things were mostly peaceful in the nation’s capital for much of Nov. 14, but fights broke between Trump supporters and counterprotesters as the day wore on, according to the Washington Post.
In a video that Jedeed posted two days after the march, two women can be seen calling Jedeed’s location to the attention of others in the crowd and accusing her of doxxing people at the rally.
“She loves to dox people. Right here, this bitch,” one of the women said while pointing in Jedeed’s direction.
A man with an American flag face covering approaches the scene, repeatedly calls Jedeed a “bitch” and moves just inches away from the journalist while she continues to record.
Jedeed tells the man that he is standing on her foot and repeatedly tells him to stop making physical contact with her. The journalist said that she recognized the two women and the man from rallies in Portland and that she had seen the man in the lobby of her hotel earlier that day.
“I can’t wait to see you in the fucking lobby again,” the man says to Jedeed.
A number of other members of the crowd, many of them not wearing masks, surrounded Jedeed and hurled taunts and insults at her while standing close to her, which she captured in videos she posted to YouTube and Twitter.
“They were just getting aggressively in my personal space,” Jedeed told the Tracker. “At no point did anyone hurt me. I was very lucky.”
Jedeed said the incident lasted about 20 minutes. In her video, she can be heard repeatedly telling members of the crowd to stop touching her.
Ultimately, the man with the American flag mask who’d stepped on her foot — and repeatedly called her a fascist while she was being harangued by the crowd — ended up escorting her from the crowd.