Los Angeles far-right activist Bryna Makowka identified as Capitol rioter

Bryna Makowka urging rioters to breach barricades at the start of January 6th.

In 2021, I positively identified Bryna Makowka as a participant in the January 6th insurrection and coup d'etat attempt at the United States Capitol. Makowka, a regular at COVID-denialist, QAnon, and anti-LGBTQ+ rallies in Los Angeles, can be seen in Capitol riot footage filmed by independent journalist Jon Farina for Status Coup News. I was the first to identify Makowka after reviewing their footage, but the confirmation came after a source leaked a private voicemail message from Makowka where she confesses to helping insurrectionists breach the very first barricades as the attack began. "The ones like me who stormed— I didn't actually storm inside the Capitol stuff," she remarks, "but I was the one— of the first one hundred that helped get the people up over the wall and was yelling with my megaphone for people to come forward and run and 'do it now' and 'this is our moment to, you know, take back our house' and shit, right? Um, and uh, yeah. That was insane, right?" In the video, Makowka can be seen in a red coat and red MAGA cap while draped with the California state flag at the moment the first breaches began, screaming, "Patriots! Patriots Patriots! Go! Go!! Patriots go! They're breaking the lawn! Break the law! We're breaking the wall!" As insurrectionists rush past the wall she is standing on, the brawls with police begin and the defensive line at the United States Capitol soon collapses.

Online sleuths had been attempting to identify her and had previously dubbed her "Blonde Lawn Bullhorn." She's a close friend of famed Capitol rioter Gina Bisignano from Beverly Hills. In fact, the two of them made a right-wing "reality show" together. Makowka even named her dog "Capitol Riot" and now sells January 6th pro-insurrection merchandise with an online store. Makowka claims that she was visited by the FBI after her involvement went public. She claims to have cooperated, writing in a YouTube comment, "when the FBI asks you questions and they have a warrant,  you can’t lie to them and you can’t not give them what they want.

Bryna Makowka is a well-known bigot who engages in anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Black, and antisemitic rhetoric. She has close ties to the Proud Boys and the neo-Nazi Groyper movement. She made a name for herself as a far-right activist in the QAnon scene and the anti-vaccination scene. She was part of the crew that shut down Dodgers Stadium during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which, at the time, was the largest COVID-19 vaccination center in Los Angeles. Makowka is an example of what happens when Capitol rioters avoid legal consequences.

Makowka's extremism and violence only escalated after January 6th, and her political activity continues to impact countless people. She recently went viral for trying to assault an LGBTQ+ Pride month parade in West Hollywood. Notably, she's still using her trustworthy megaphone that she had on the frontlines of January 6th, a potent reminder that for many people: the insurrection never ended.

Writer's note: Bryna Makowka has targeted me personally for this reporting and has assaulted me on camera numerous times. She is being investigated for her involvement in a mob assault against me by far-right extremists that left me hospitalized.