‘Traitors Get Shot’
Reveal
The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
4.7 • 8.7K Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2022
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On Jan. 6, 2021, Jackson Reffitt watched the Capitol riot play out on TV from his family home in Texas. His father, Guy, had a much closer view. He was in Washington, armed with a semiautomatic handgun, storming the building.
When Guy Reffitt returned home, Jackson secretly taped him and turned the recordings over to the FBI. His father bragged about what he did, saying: “I had every constitutional right to carry a weapon and take over the Congress.”
Guy Reffitt was the first person to stand trial for his role in the riot, and the case has divided his family.
This week, Reveal features the story of the Reffitt family by partnering with the podcast Will Be Wild from Pineapple Street Studios, Wondery and Amazon Music. Hosted by Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz, Will Be Wild’s eight-part series investigates the forces that led to the Jan. 6 insurrection and what comes next.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From the Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX, this is Reveal. I'm Al Ledson. |
| 0:09.0 | Today, we're teaming up with a new podcast called Will Be Wild from Pineapple Street Studios, |
| 0:14.8 | Wondery, and Amazon Music. It's Christmas Eve 2020, when Jackson Reffett makes the biggest decision of his life. |
| 0:23.4 | He's been watching anime in his bedroom or trying to. |
| 0:26.7 | I just hear behind my wall my dad talking about the government and Nancy Pelosi and it's all mumbled. |
| 0:34.0 | And I'm just like, God, this is just, it's crazy. |
| 0:38.4 | Like, it's crazy talk. |
| 0:40.1 | Jackson's 18 years old and lives with his family near Dallas, Texas. |
| 0:44.5 | He's come to the conclusion that his father, Guy Reffett, is a dangerous man. |
| 0:50.7 | Jackson decides to do something after he hears his dad say he plans to do something big. |
| 0:56.3 | And I know that's very vague and that's what I think triggered me to be so worried about it is how vague it was and how, I guess, active he was. |
| 1:06.5 | It just got to a point where I was getting so paranoid and anxious and nervous that I didn't really, |
| 1:14.3 | I almost wanted to take this off my shoulders and give it to someone else. |
| 1:18.9 | Jackson Googles how to tip the FBI. |
| 1:22.0 | A text box pops up. |
| 1:23.8 | Jackson looks at the blank space and tries to psych himself up. Okay, I'm going to do this right now. I have to do this right now. Get it over with. I'm going to just do it. I don't know what my dad's doing. He's a part of a couple organizations. Texas Freedom Force, I believe it's called. He's prominent at three percenters. He says he's high up in the organization. |
| 1:46.5 | These are far-right militia groups. |
| 1:48.4 | He says he's doing something big. |
| 1:49.9 | I don't know what. |
| 1:51.4 | But I'm just worried. |
| 1:53.0 | I don't know where he's going. |
| 1:54.8 | He might do something soon. |
... |
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