Newly published photographs from ARLnow, a local news outlet covering Arlington, Virginia, raise fresh questions about the possible presence of an armed “quick reaction force” standing by to assist pro-Trump Capitol rioters on Jan. 6. The pictures show a group of about 10 men, one wearing a tactical radio communications headset, gathered by the Marine Corps War Memorial and watching the sacking of the Capitol building just across the Potomac River. “Numerous vehicles, mostly pickup trucks and SUVs with out-of-state license plates,” were parked nearby, said the publication.
“It’s unclear what the as-yet unidentified men were doing at the memorial that afternoon,” the piece acknowledges, allowing for the possibility that their presence was coincidental. However, prosecutors have said they believe a far-right quick reaction force was indeed at the ready that day. And as The Daily Beast reported previously, a February court filing mentions one alleged Capitol rioter exchanging messages with another about a quick reaction force that would be “staged, armed, with our weapons, outside the city,” awaiting “orders to enter D.C. under permission from Trump, not a minute sooner.”
