Elijah Schaffer is an investigative journalist and livestreamer who covers Black Live Matter protests, Antifa riots and a plethora of other news making events across the country. Schaffer’s work can be found on his YouTube channel Slightly Offens*ve or BlazeTV.
Schaffer was on the ground at the Washington Monument livestreaming Trump protesters who were making their way to the U.S. Capitol. As Shaffer describes at the 15:47 protesters were ‘clearly angry’ at VP Mike Pence ‘who they thought should object to the certification and should do a 10-day audit was no longer on their side.’
Note, the protesters he was streaming were not at the Ellipse where the President was addressing his supporters at that time. This group were at the Washington Monument. When VP Pence took the gavel in the joint session to take up the Electoral College count, he released a three-page letter to the public that in essence stated –
“It is my considered judgement that my oath to support and defend the constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.”
The release of Pence’s letter was made while the President was addressing his supporters. It is possible the President had no idea what was in the Pence letter at that time, but according to Schaffer it was VP Pence’s position that angered the protesters. As Schaffer details ‘they were filled with just the absolute deepest sense of frustration and you could see it in their faces.’
It is this large swath of protesters who left the Washington Monument and headed straight to the U.S. Capitol who breached the barriers designed to keep protesters away from the Capitol.
Listen to Schaffer’s firsthand account. The vid starts at 11:57…