Ford Fischer: What's the Untold Story Behind 'Stop the Steal'?

Documentarian Ford Fischer discusses his experience covering the "Stop the Steal" movement, January 6, and what it all means for the future of journalism and democracy.

1x 1.1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 3x

:15 :15

Download

Ford Fischer: What's the Untold Story Behind 'Stop the Steal'?

HD Video Download

Who's most to blame for the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021? How much does it matter for the election in November 2024? 

We all remember the events of January 6, which resulted in unforgettable images, an evacuation of the Capitol, several deaths, $2.7 billion in costs, more than 1,200 criminal charges, an impeachment, and decades in prison for many involved.  

Today's guest was there during the lead-up to January 6—not as a participant, but as a chronicler. Ford Fischer is a documentary filmmaker and editor in chief of News2Share, which is on the scene for seemingly every major act of political unrest. Ford was also once upon a time an intern at Reason. Most recently, he was a co-writer and cinematographer on a new documentary about January 6 called Fight Like Hell, directed by Jon Long, which is now available for free on YouTube.

There are several documentaries about this event out there, but this one contains some footage that Fischer captured in the months and days leading up to the capitol riot, helping the viewer better understand the mechanics of the movement. We focus largely on Fischer's firsthand experience of covering months of "Steal the Steal" protests.

Sources Referenced:

• Fight Like Hell (Official Documentary)
• Government Accountability Office: Estimated cost and deaths
• The New York Times: Pro-Trump Organizer Cooperating in Justice Dept Jan. 6 Inquiry
• Reason's Jacob Sullum: Do These Seditious Conspiracy Convictions Prove the Capitol Riot 'Was Not Spontaneous'?
• ABC News: 3 years later, Jan. 6 by the numbers
• Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) questions Attorney General Merrick Garland during a House Judiciary Committee hearing

Chapters:

• 00:00 Introduction
• 02:31 The broad context of the "Stop the Steal" movement
• 05:08 Who is Ali Alexander?
• 15:04 Why were some leaders prosecuted and others not?
• 19:46 Insurrection, riot, or something else?
• 26:53 How was even more violence avoided?
• 38:56 Were the police welcoming people inside the Capitol?
• 41:27 Trump's speech: Incitement?
• 51:29 January 5th and the turn against police
• 57:59 Massie: What was the role of federal informants?
• 1:10:54 Will this sort of thing happen again after this upcoming election?
• 1:15:15 The media should present more information and less narrative

• Producer: John Osterhoudt

Comments

[Chumby]

“…several deaths…”

Do go into some detail about each.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

Do you want to own the Dems or something? How does that protect OUR democracy?

[Juliana Frink]

Let's see:

Ashley Babbitt, murdered by Capitol Police

Rosanne Boyland, beat to dearth by Police

Two other protesters, possibly by heart attacks

One Capitol Police officer who had a stroke which was ruled to be unrelated to violence

Three (?) other Police later on, ruled suicides, but never investigated as to whether they were 1) real suicides, 2) murders disguised as suicides, and if they WERE real suicides, were they because the officers a) had witnessed such horror(!) that they couldn't stand it, or b) that they witnessed the more obscene horror of knowing they were players in Reichstag Fire 2.0.

A lot to ponder here. I wonder if Reason is up to the task.

[TZM]

Babbit wasn’t murdered. Boyland OD’d.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

OD'd while being beaten to death? Go watch the video.

[TZM]

The M.E. disagreed.

[Dillinger]

the Philly ME says a chick stabbed herself in the back of the head several times to commit suicide

[TZM]

Wrong city.

If you’re going to rely on the DC M.E. to say that Sicknick’s death was unrelated, you don’t get to ignore it when it’s inconvenient.

[Dillinger]

only thing I’m saying is M.E.s are for purchase everywhere.

[TZM]

Then don’t rely on their reports — including for Brian Sicknick’s death.

[Dillinger]

~~ scrolls up 4 ... bro?

[TZM]

Reason won’t let me reply to your “scrolls up 4” comment — what is your point?

[VULGAR MADMAN]

I am reliably informed by Putin
that all his opponents committed suicide.

[TZM]

The Putin comment doesn’t hold up given that the DC ME ruled once in a way that one side preferred and another time in the other.

[DesigNate]

Sicknicks death wasnt during the events of J6, that would be the logic behind them not being related….

[TZM]

If you are injured on day 1 and die due to those injuries later, it’s still murder.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

Is that Medical examiner as “accurate” as the FBI crime lab?

[TZM]

You tell me.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

Fake ass troll.

[TZM]

Yeah, whatever. If you are going to rely on the ME report on Sicknick, then do so on Boyle.

[Mother's Lament]

What about the cell phone video?

[TZM]

Pretty obviously doctored and mischaracterized; and, again if you want to rely on the ME regarding Sicknick then accept the ME’s report on Boyland.

[Uncle Jay]

Gee, I wonder if the ME was a democrat in a city run by democrats?

[TZM]

If the ME rules based on politics, why the Sicknick ruling?

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

What was the original cause of death for Floyd?

[TZM]

Irrelevant.

[Nachtwaechter Staater]

You are irrelevant, Proggie Troll.

Fuck off and DIAF.

[TZM]

And yet you took the time to leave a comment. But couldn’t think of more than insults. So sad.

[Bipedal Humanoid]

Unarmed and shot to death by an officer with a questionable service record.

She wasn't just murdered, she was executed.

[TZM]

So criminal charges are just a matter of opinion? Great — lock Trump up for insurrection, treason, rape — the list goes on.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Officer admitted he shot without line of sight. Please continue to defend.

[TZM]

Whalen did he admit that?

[TZM]

Well, since you don’t appear to want to respond — what he did doesn’t meet the elements of murder.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

She was shot to death by a racist BLM activist.

[TZM]

What is your evidence?

[Juliana Frink]

Such tenacity! You must be one of the higher-paid trolls on the beat!

Ashley Babbitt was murdered. YOUR statement to the contrary is laughable. AND irrelevant. Only a consignee of the most corrupt establishment in the history of this country could spew such ignorance. I get it: you're trying to bleed attention away from the truly obvious.

And happily, you're losing.

By the way, were you around for the Kent State massacre? Cheering on the National Guard, perhaps? Maybe you hadn't yet hatched.

[TZM]

Your dudgeon does nothing to controvert facts. She was not murdered.

[Juliana Frink]

Michael Byrd aimed his gun at and unarmed woman and fired, killing her. Your gaslighting does not alter the fact that people have been convicted of murder for less than that. If his actions had been subject to any real scrutiny, he might have been convicted of a hate crime.

[TZM]

Michael Byrd (about whom Vulgar Madman has yet to post anything supporting his defamatory assertions) fired at a person who was part of a violent mob trying to break into a room. That met the CP standard for use of deadly force. That’s all he needed to show — whether she was armed did not matter.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

The first recorded Adderall OD of a youngish healthy person lol. Ignore the video. Trust the police who would never cover it up.

Your thoughts on Floyd?

[TZM]

The ME said nothing about Adderall. The video is unreliable. And Floyd is still irrelevant.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

He was so irrelevant that the country was allowed to be burned down to appease the left.

[TZM]

Irrelevant to whether Babbit was murdered or Boyland OD’d.

[Chumby]

The commentariat is. Well done.

[Rick James]

We all remember the events of January 6, which resulted in unforgettable images, an evacuation of the Capitol, several deaths, $2.7 billion in costs, more than 1,200 criminal charges, an impeachment, and decades in prison for many involved.

Wait... who died?

[Ron]

And where did the $2.7 billion number come from, thats more than all the Blm/antifa riots. that alone i say BS to any reporting

[Rick James]

I'm assuming from the GAO reports. The idea that Jan 6 pro-democracy protests costs more than even one of the Antifa riots of 2020 is a riot... a laugh-riot-- in the maximum security chambers of my heart.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Jan 6 pro-democracy protests

lol

[Rick James]

Hey, if this is a racial justice protest, this is a pro-democracy protest.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

More like the Boston massacre, only Adams would never defend you shits.

[Mother's Lament]

Isn't this the same creepy fuck that dismissed the Trump inauguration riots in DC in Jan 2017, celebrated the Whitehouse attack, swore Trump teargassed the rioters and that was a bad thing, and handwaved the arson of St Johns?

[Michael Ejercito]

Yes to all questions

[DesigNate]

Yes.

Because the overwhelming majority of the 10’s of thousands of people there didn’t engage in, condone, or give cover to the violent rioters.

I mean, that was your standard for all of 2020, even as those rioters actually burnt police precincts and tried for multiple nights to burn down a federal courthouse.

Try to have some standards.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Government contracting work. That covers about eight windows and two doors.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

The Davis Bacon act, wage determination in DC for riot cleanup is $200 per hour + $80 fringe?

[Chumby]

What job classification did Ray Epps fall under?

[mad.casual]

Do you not read Reason Magazine? Since the Obama Administration It Is Known™ that any and all forms of government shutdown are more expensive than keeping the government open.

And, obviously, that must be more true at the Capital in D.C. where there's more government than anywhere else. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to just shutdown all the ports on the West Coast for political expedience or a pandemic or all the ports on the East Coast or all the railroads and then just expect everything to be back to normal, having incurred zero cost, two weeks later.

Economically, it just makes sense. In government and coastal media where you don't actually produce any tangible goods or direct service of any kind, it is far, far more expensive to go without, to shut down and spin back up, than it is for things like trucking and shipping and coal mining where you can just flip a switch tomorrow and have things come back on fully functional; completely unburdened by any spoiled goods, skipped maintenance, or logistic pileups or lead times.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

If you include the cost of sending SWAT teams to Alabama to arrest elderly women for spending 10 minutes inside the velvet ropes and the cost of their trials and imprisonment in DC gulags you could hit that number pretty easily.

[Rick James]

I think the Liz Cheney hearings probably cost $300,000,000

[Zeb]

Hey, that kind of production value isn't free.

[Zeb]

And all the National Guard and fencing they installed afterwards.

[damikesc]

Hey. Hiring Hollywood producers to produce a kangaroo court hearing for television ain't cheap.

[Incredulous]

Yeah. That ridiculous number caught my attention as well. It's preposterous.

[LIBtranslator]

I believe the name was Babbitt. As always when girl-bulliers riot, girls get killed. There was also a cop on the slab--like the time Robert Dear volunteered to Army Of God attack that women's clinic in Colorado City. Remember now?

[VULGAR MADMAN]

There was also the woman those hero cops beat to death.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Rosanne Boyland

[VULGAR MADMAN]

Thanks.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Ashley babbit and Rosanne Boyland

[Super Scary]

That has to mainly be costs related to capturing and processing the protesters in the courts. Guaranteed a grand majority of that money was spend to punish the dissenters.

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

WTF cost $2.7 billion? JFC.

[Incredulous]

Yeah. This ridiculous number discredits the entire article.

[Dillinger]

not certain this place is ready for the unbiased story ...

[Azathoth!!]

Well don't worry, this isn't it. This is yet another regurgitation of the official pravda.

Reason is far beyond being able to say anything that isn't propaganda.

[Dillinger]

when does the podcast with Julie Kelly & Mike Benz drop?

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Ha!

[Michael Ejercito]

Michael Tracey explains it.

https://mtracey.medium.com/the-most-predictable-election-fraud-backlash-ever-4187ba31d430

[LIBtranslator]

Whatever Trump and Hillbilly bawl, Lizard and Zack can be counted on to repeat and justify. Instead, watch and hear the folks who successfully brainwashed Trump, Vance, Lizard and Zack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WYseVO29ZU

[Mother's Lament]

J.D. Vance Is Wrong!

[Rick James]

Glenn Greenwald on how... yes, most Journalists can't seem to forget January 6.

My favorite part is when the focus group guy accidentally referred to it as February 6 and the journolismist got annoyed.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

It’s the establishment making sure you don’t forget about what happens when you riot on their turf.

Keep it in the city streets. They don’t care if you actually take over US territory by force and claim it is no longer part of the US. Just keep it away from the ruling class.

[Michael Ejercito]

How many journalists remember May 29, 2020?

[mad.casual]

I actually like the “People showed their emotions. Maybe the wrong way. It happens.” guy because he is 110% spot on. Straight, non-partisan, factual, and not even “And some people did some things.” Tlaib-style obfuscation. Yup. People shouted down Kavanaugh. Yup. People guillotined effigies of Trump. Yup. People burned American flags at the capital. It happens.

The random union worker gets the microphone for 10s and manages to do a better job at journalism than 99% of the media for the last decade. It’s like watching Derek Jeeter or Tiger Woods do a man-on-the-street thing, teeing the ball up for some guy, and he just crushes it over 1,000 yds. without even a practice swing.

Very Saitama.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

JD Vance is wrong about Ford Fischer.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Why no documentary on this?

https://time.com/5936036/secret-2020-election-campaign/

[Rick James]

January 6 was so bad, people are still getting killed from it.

A Seattle doctor whose medical license was suspended after she participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol was shot and killed after pointing a gun at two people delivering paperwork at her West Seattle home on Tuesday.

[mad.casual]

Towers Parry, who was in the midst of eviction proceedings, came out of her house and pointed a shotgun at the two men before the 40-year-old, armed with a handgun, opened fire. In a phone call Wednesday, Pritchard said the men did not work in law enforcement and were not there to evict Towers, but he would not describe the paperwork they were delivering.

W.T.F?

A divorce, a multiple sclerosis diagnosis, increasing debt and an apparent descent into conspiracy theory marked the final years of Towers Parry’s life.

And yet… the only way the story could get any more crooked is if the guys actually worked for a store named "Flowers By Irene" and they were legitimately trying to give her a card from her estranged husband.

[Rick James]

Yes, “descended into conspiracy theory” after being shot in her home by a mysterious armed man in civilian clothes, delivering “paperwork” which he refused to disclose or discuss.

[Rick James]

By the by, that happened just a couple of days ago and the only reason I know about it is because I watched the 18 car police response whiz by my house, sirens wailing, followed by a hook-and-ladder firetruck. It was a big enough response that I said, “Huh, this might be a shooting” and started looking online to my local neighborhood news sources.

Edit: I mean, I know this doesn't reach Priscilla Villareal slow-mo-hd-4k documentary media interest, but you'd think it would at least raise an eyebrow from someone.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Could get a footnote mention on Billy Binion's upcoming Reason Plus (TM) TV show.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

WTF?

[Social Justice is neither]

Fuck off you gaslighting marxist cunts. Maybe someday you'll pretend to care about truth but for now you seem happy as propagandists for the regime.

[Uncle Jay]

There was no election fraud in 2020?

Let's see now...

1. "We have put together, I think, the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics." Joe Biden,20 October, 2020.
I can't wait for some moron to say Biden's quote is "taken out of context."

2. Tina Peters is the Election Clerk from Mesa County, Colorado. She made a copy of her machines’ information before performing the action requested by Secretary of State Jenna Griswald, who demanded that all voting machines’ election data be erased (which is against the law) after the 2020 election.
Peters got nine years in prison for her attempt to show there was election fraud in CO.
I wonder what Griswald was hiding?

[mad.casual]

Peters got nine years in prison for her attempt to show there was election fraud in CO.

Sounds a lot less like she got 9 yrs. in prison for her attempt to show there was election fraud and more like she got 9 yrs. for her attempt to document the facts.

But then, she wasn't "Just asking questions." like Priscilla Villarreal who spent... some amount of time... in handcuffs and maybe a jail cell so... no harm, no foul, no question of free speech, no story from Reason.

[middlefinger]

The question that never seems to be answered is:

Had there ever been an election, in U.S. history, where votes stop being counted, in swing States? All counting STOPS.

[Mother's Lament]

But there was a waterleak.

[SRG2]

Evidently it's an article of faith amongst the authoritarian right-wingers who infest this site that election fraud occurred to a degree sufficient to throw the election to Biden, and yet none of you ever manages to explain why Trump's own attorneys never claimed fraud in court - explicitly saying they were not alleging fraud - and why despite all the audits and recounts, (and the offer from the MyPillow guy), no claim of fraud has ever withstood any judicial scrutiny - even from Trump-appointed justices.

And as I've noted before, at the last futile throw of the die in the Texas v. Pennsylvania case at the Supreme Court, not a single Republican state joined Texas, and nor did Trump. Trump's own amicus brief didn't allege fraud - instead it complained that the election processes made fraud harder to detect.

When you claim fraud and are never able to provide evidence in court despite abundant opportunities and judges you've appointed, a rational person would conclude that you don't actually have anything. But rationality isn't the point.

You claim fraud either because it's the Trumpian orthodoxy and Trump hath said it, or because you want to legitimise the use of fraud by the GOP to steal the 2024 election, or you just can't believe that Trump could lose to Biden legitimately - despite Biden having a sizable lead in the polls (so sizable that the actual margin of victory suggests unsuccessful fraud from the GOP side), or you're really stupid and ignorant. Or some combination thereof.

[TZM]

Thank heaven ( or, from what I’ve read, Rudolph Giuliani) for Federal Rule 11. Most lawyers want to keep their licenses.

[LIBtranslator]

The alternative would be to recognize that Obama, Hillary and the Dem platform all spat in the faces of hippies fed up with being jailed and shot--and women whose individual rights depended solely on a geriatric lady judge. So women and potheads handed 4 million votes to pro-choice libertarian Gary... and Trump was gerrymandered in by the electoral college after being beaten, bloodied and bowed in the popular vote. THAT changed quicklike: https://libertariantranslator.wordpress.com/2024/09/20/legalize-non-toxic-cannabis/

[Roberta]

Stop calling it a riot! It was a sit-in, like others that've taken place in Congress.

[SRG2]

A violent sit-in, with lots of police assaulted, legislators being moved for their safety and on occasion running away from "seated protestors", not insignificant damage, etc.

I can just imagine in years to come some right-wingers talking about Jan 6 as though it were like the Selma-Montgomery marches, with St. Ashlee Babbitt as the MLK figure, and all the actual video of actual rioting and violence will be claimed to be AI-generated.

[Juliana Frink]

SCENE: A Troll farm near Washington, DC. Inside a cramped office three men are standing, facing each other. Oberfeldwebel Trey Goshen holds a cup of coffee, Stabsfeldwebel Michael Buttholtz is sipping something thick and green through a straw. The third man, Hauptmann Barry Cranz is reading a memo he holds in his hand. A large, framed photograph of Jack Smith hangs on the far wall above the refrigerator.

CRANZ: The top floor says we are to be commended for a job well done yesterday. Specifically our trolling of the Reason dot com piece on January 6th.

BUTTHOLTZ: That was a marathon session. At least we're finally getting a little recognition around here.

CRANZ: Well, you know how much Smith is focused on J6. It may seem like the public isn't buying the propaganda anymore, but I believe Smith's got an Oktober surprise up his sleeve, and our orders are to support it at all costs.

GOSHEN: I hope it goes over better than his prior undertakings.

BUTTHOLTZ: You have a problem with his effforts to secure the upcoming election, Oberfeldwebel?

GOSHEN: Well, you have to admit...

CRANZ (visibly annoyed): That will be enough! We are going to need to be on top of our game all of this month.

At that moment there is a knock at the door. Cranz nods at Buttholtz, who walks over and opens it. Obergrenadier Pat Lawless, a rotund, sweaty woman in her mid-fifties with pink-over-gray hair and a number of oversized piercings steps inside and thrusts out her right hand.

LAWLESS: Heil Jack Smith!

The three men return the salute somewhat casually. The woman then waddles over to a table near the refrigerator and sets down a stack of papers, then leaves the room, shutting he door after her.

BUTTHOLTZ: Where'd she come from? I've never seen her before.

CRANZ: That's "HE", Stabsfeldwebel. HIS name is Pat Lawless and HE is in the process of transitioning.

GOSHEN: HE looks menopausal if you'd ask me. Kind of horrid, actually.

CRANZ: Okay, just cut the shit. We have work to do. As you know the enemy is getting more on-target by the day, and you both know what that means.

BUTTHOLTZ (raising his fist): Send up more flak! And keep it up at all costs!

CRANZ: Yes. And how about the facts? What happened to our fact checkers last night?

BUTTHOLTZ (lets out a rumbling laugh): We don't need no stinking facts.

GOSHEN (rolls his eyes): Is that really all we have left - gaslighting? Aren't people beginning to see through it all?

CRANZ: I don't think your concerns about our operations here are productive, Goshen.

Buttholtz chuckles to himself. Cranz takes a step toward Goshen, studying him.

CRANZ: Are you feeling okay, Goshen? Are you sure you feel you can handle the responsibilities you have in this organization?

GOSHEN: I'm sorry, Hauptmann. It's been a long week and my stomach is empty. I think I'll go grab a slice of pizza, if that's okay.

CRANZ: Go right ahead, Oberfeldwebel Goshen. And take a few minutes to reflect on the importance of our endeavors here.

Goshen exits the office and closes the door behind him. A few seconds later Cranz glances at Buttholtz.

CRANZ: Buttholtz, call upstairs and have them put a tail on Goshen. God forbid we have another incident like 2016.

BUTTHOLTZ: We barely got away with that.

CRANZ: Well, thankfully we had all the protocalls in place.

Buttholtz makes the phone call, his voice barely audible, then he and Cranz sit down at their terminals and log in. A minute or so later there is a knock at the door and Cranz nods to Buttholtz, who gets up and opens the door. A young, bovine looking technician in a blue uniform steps in and thrusts out his hand.

TECH: Heil Jack Smith!

Cranz and Buttholtz return the salute, casually. The tech wheels in a cart from the hallway. There are a number of cardboard boxes on it and he reaches into one of them and produces a small object about the size of a bottle cap.

TECH: The new security cameras, sir. This will only take a second.

Without further discussion the tech peels a piece of paper off the back of the disc and slaps it on the wall just above the door.

TECH: That's all there is to it.

CRANZ: You're putting them INSIDE the rooms?

TECH: Yes, sir. Every room in the compound.

CRANZ: But I thought they were only to be installed in the hallways.

TECH: Well, these are dirt cheap, so we got a shitload of them. Made in China. But they do everything. Hi-res camera, voice, they can even read your pulse rate and a few other things.

CRANZ: They can read your pulse from across the room?

TECH: Well, no. They read the biometric data transmitted by your wristwatch.

BUTTHOLTZ (comparing his watch to Cranz's): But I'm not wearing a smart watch.

TECH: It doesn't matter. All watches issued here, as required, contain the biometric chip. You may not be able to access it yourself, but it's still imbedded in the thing.

Cranz regards the tech for a moment then dismisses him. Cranz and Buttholtz then look at each other very briefly, then return to their terminals.

[TZM]

I would have thought that the group that included a guy with a “Camp Auschwitz” hoodie would be the Nazis, but I guess that’s just me.

[LIBtranslator]

Is BUTTHOLTZ any relation to RECTUMWALD? (asking for a friend..)

[LIBtranslator]

Has anyone noticed the Melaniabot sounding a lot like Ayn Rand in 1982 or the LP in 1972 and 1976 on whether women are constitutional individual persons? Translation: vote AGAINST the God's Own Prohibitionist platform. So if opposed to entrenched looters, that means Vote Chase Oliver.