This is a reading of the December 22nd, 2022 final report from the select committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the United

States Capitol.

Chapter 6.

Be there.

Will Be Wild. Be there, will be wild.

6.15. Podes likes the crazies.

As Katrina Pearson helped plan the ellipse rally, she faced another complication.

The Stop the Steel movement played an outsized role in promoting January 6th, and now as the day approached, its leading voices wanted prime speaking gigs, perhaps even

on the same stage as President Trump.

Roger Stone, Alex Jones, and Ali Alexander were all angling for significant stage time.

Pearson knew they were trouble.

In her testimony before the select committee, Pearson cited several concerns, including that

Jones and Alexander had played a prominent role in the November 2020 protest in Atlanta, Georgia.

This was no ordinary protest. Jones and Alexander had gone into the

Georgia capital with some inflammatory rhetoric, Pearson explained. When Pearson

was asked if Jones and Alexander surrounding the governor's

mansion and going to the capital were the kind of thing that gave her pause, she

responded, absolutely. After the Georgia protest, Pearson explained, the Kremers, who had helped organize

Stop the Steel activities, distanced themselves from Jones and Alexander.

But there was an additional problem.

President Trump wanted to include the Stop the Steel leaders in the January 6th event.

As Pearson put it in a text message to Kylie Kremmer,

...