Updated Jan. 7
Near one vanguard of the mob that formed Wednesday afternoon outside the U.S. Capitol, his back turned to the steps that rioters had yet to overrun, Tom Lemons turned his camera on himself.
An âEnd CCPâ mask â a reference to the Chinese Communist Party â covered his mouth, and his first words were swallowed by the chanting surrounding him. The end of his sentence, though, came out clear: âStorm the Capitol.â
Lemons, a blogger who became well-known in Hernando County through a website focused on local crime and conspiracy theories he spreads on social media, was shoulder-to-shoulder with the front line of rioters who pushed their way through barriers outside the Capitol, forced police to retreat to the buildingâs steps and ultimately pressed their way toward the entrance.