Immediately after the Republican National Committee censured Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney for investigating the Jan. 6 attacks at the U.S. Capitol, accusing them of “persecuting” fellow Republicans who had (after all) simply been engaging in “legitimate political discourse,” the United States Department of Justice released previously unseen video of one of the insurrectionists participating in such “discourse.”
Meet Ryan Nichols, of Longview, Texas. Nichols was arrested on Jan. 18, 2021. Charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors in connection with his participation in the attacks, Nichols unsuccessfully sought release last December pending trial. Video from Nichols’ Facebook page played during his court hearing that day was summarized by multiple news outlets, but some of the available video itself was not released. As reported by Newsweek at that time, this video amply demonstrated Nichols’ flair for the spoken word.
"We shut down the vote today because those coward-ass politicians ran into the tunnels," he reportedly said. "I've seen the last of you treasonous bastard politicians. Give me liberty or give me death. I'm prepared to f*** die for this. I took an oath against all enemies foreign or domestic. But I plan to have others die first."
Nichols remains in custody in Washington, D.C., and his trial is expected to commence sometime this summer. On Feb. 5, Texas CBS affiliate CBS19 obtained a copy of the video from federal prosecutors who—just hours after the RNC’s action to censure Reps. Kinzinger and Cheney—doubtlessly felt it would be useful for Republicans still seemingly perplexed about exactly what was said by the perpetrators of the Jan. 6 mayhem.
As reported by Sara Boboltz, writing for Huffington Post, Nichols had the courtesy to film himself while discoursing with his compatriots as they approached the Capitol.
Boboltz helpfully excised some of the more genteel excerpts from Nichols’ discourse:
“Cut their head off!” he yells at one point. [...]
“I’m hearing reports that Pence caved,” Nichols says in the video. “I’m telling you, if Pence caved, we’re gonna drag motherfuckers through the streets.”
“You fucking politicians are gonna get fucking drug through the streets! Because we’re not going to have our fucking shit stolen,” he says to cheers from the Trump supporters around him.
“I’m telling you right now, Ryan Nichols said it: If you voted for fucking treason, we’re gonna drag your fucking ass through the street,” he exclaims, later adding: “So let us find out, let the patriots find out you fucking treasoned this country!”
Even after his multiple soliloquies at the Capitol, Nichols was not finished, continuing his discourse from the comfort of a hotel room following the attacks, emphasizing his studied eloquence with a crowbar:
At multiple points during the ransacking of the Capitol building itself, Nichols employed impassioned bursts of oratory, urging his fellow insurrectionists to punctuate their discourse through the use of weapons.
Indeed, the discourse was strong with this one.