“I do not remorse it, however it’s loads,” Jackson Reffitt mentioned. “I haven’t got the phrases to essentially describe it. I feel it is the best-case state of affairs,” he mentioned on the finish of his testimony.
Earlier than the 2016 election, Jackson Reffitt mentioned, he and his father have been very shut. However Man Reffitt “snowballed right into a far-right extremist,” and his son grew to become more and more paranoid.
On Thursday, the long-haired younger man spoke at occasions in a near-whisper, taking lengthy pauses as he spoke about his fears and his father’s politics. He confirmed textual content messages amongst his mother and father, his sisters and himself discussing the Capitol riot, and he listened to audio clips of household bantering that then changed into a dialogue over weapons being unlawful to hold on federal property.
“You carried a weapon onto federal grounds,” Jackson Reffitt mentioned to his father.
“OK. … Which a part of that’s breaking the regulation?” Man Reffitt responded, saying written legal guidelines weren’t at all times proper. “We made some extent. … You may know your father was there when an epic historic factor occurred on this nation.”
Jackson Reffitt testified that he had recorded his father as a result of “I assumed nobody was going to consider me,” and he met with an FBI agent at an area restaurant as a result of “I needed to speak to somebody,” he mentioned.
The proof is being introduced to the jury in an effort to show that Man Reffitt was in DC, that he took half within the Capitol riot whereas carrying a weapon and that he threatened his youngsters to maintain quiet afterward. Man Reffitt’s youthful daughter, Peyton — who was known as “Pitter Pats” within the household’s textual content chain — is ready to testify close to the tip of the trial.
Reffitt is on trial on 5 fees. He’s accused of taking a gun to the Capitol, interfering with two law enforcement officials exterior the constructing and threatening his youngsters when he returned residence. Reffitt has pleaded not responsible.
A Texas household residence
When his son first took the stand, Man Reffitt’s face turned purple and he started crying. Nicole Reffitt watched from the gallery and motioned to her husband at one level, as she held again feelings as nicely, observers within the courtroom famous.
The family members left the courtroom individually, with Jackson Reffitt ending his testimony for prosecutors, his father going again to jail and his mom exiting with different members of the family who’re watching the trial.
“In the present day was actually onerous. I do not really feel like speaking,” Nicole Reffitt instructed media organizations exterior the courthouse.
Jackson Reffitt started his testimony by laying out a portrait of what seemed to be a typical household. The kids and oldsters often joked with each other, each over their group textual content chain and in particular person.
However Jackson Reffitt made clear he disagreed together with his father’s far-right political opinions, explaining that his father wore a Trump hat almost daily and wore his Smith & Wesson handgun in a holster “just about on a regular basis.” It could be on his nightstand if it wasn’t on his hip, the son mentioned.
Prosecutors are trying to show Man Reffitt carried a Smith & Wesson .40 onto the Capitol grounds in the course of the rebellion, the place he was on the entrance of the gang in an altercation with police because the mob pushed ahead.
“That’s my father’s handgun on his nightstand,” Jackson Reffitt mentioned, with out emotion, because the courtroom was proven a photograph of the nightstand.
The jury was additionally proven photographs of a gun protected in a closet adjoining to the master suite, and what Jackson Reffitt described as his father’s computerized rifle. Man Reffitt’s white pickup additionally was proven to the jury in photographs, as was Nicole Reffitt’s Blue Chevrolet Equinox. Each had stickers with the stars-and-ammo emblem of the Three Percenters on them, a right-wing anti-government group Man Reffitt was lively in and whose conferences earlier than and after January 6 play a component within the prosecutors’ case.
Son’s first tip to the FBI
Jackson Reffitt described underneath oath how he had determined to report his father to the FBI for his political extremism.
The choice got here simply after Jackson Reffitt’s political disagreements and banter over textual content together with his father escalated after the election in 2020.
Man Reffitt had texted his son to “maintain my beer” to observe what he would do — and that “what comes subsequent is about tyranny.”
“All the home of laws has dedicated unthinkable acts on our individuals,” Man Reffitt had texted his son. “Now we have had sufficient.”
Jackson Reffitt mentioned his father’s discuss had made him “paranoid” and elevated his nervousness.
“Seeing these messages and studying them, my paranoia actually blew over, so I made a decision to alleviate a number of the nervousness on my shoulders and submit a tip to the FBI,” he instructed the jury.
At residence in his bed room alone, he googled the FBI tip line.
“Googling that, to report my father. Saying it aloud is fairly bizarre,” the son instructed the jury.
Within the two days after January 6, Man Reffitt bragged to his household over textual content messages about participating within the Capitol riot, as he traveled residence. He wrote to his household the place he was in video of the assault, what he had worn and that he had been sprayed with pepper balls, his son testified. Prosecutors confirmed a number of collection of textual content messages to the jury.
Jackson Reffitt mentioned he had taken screenshots of a number of the texts and despatched them to the FBI days after January 6.
“Shot a number of occasions with clay balls and Pepper Sprayed closely. We took america Capital. We’re the Republic of the Individuals,” Man Reffitt wrote on January 8 to his youngsters and spouse.
He additionally despatched the household a clip of Laura Ingraham’s present on Fox, the place he’s featured in video of the assault. “That is my beginning within the blue,” the daddy wrote, later including, “strolling up stairs in kuwaiti blue coat.”
Earlier within the trial, the jury noticed Capitol surveillance video of a person in physique armor and a blue jacket far out on the entrance of the gang, on a staircase on the Capitol’s Higher West Terrace, being instructed by police to retreat and being sprayed with chemical irritants. The large pro-Trump crowd then was in a position to overwhelm police and get additional into the Capitol advanced.
“A hero,” Jackson Reffitt instructed his father within the textual content chain after the assault.
However the son defined on the witness stand, “It was sarcasm.”
He additionally spoke extra soberly to his father over textual content message in January about Capitol riot individuals being sought by regulation enforcement.
“I’m making an attempt to make him understand how unhealthy the scenario is,” the son testified, throughout the courtroom from his father.
After Man Reffitt returned residence to Texas, his son recorded the household’s conversations in regards to the Capitol riot on his cellphone.
On audio clips heard by the jury, the household at occasions laughed in regards to the father’s blip in a nationwide information story. Man Reffitt bragged about being caught on video in a clip that aired on the information. However it was very transient, and his spouse and youngsters ribbed him about it.
“Now we have to have a second of disappointment as a result of dad has a one-second video of him storming the Capitol,” his spouse joked within the recording.
Later, nonetheless, Man Reffitt grew to become more and more involved that he could be arrested for collaborating within the assault. He grew to become so involved, his son mentioned, that he had warned Jackson Reffitt and his youthful sister that in the event that they reported him to the FBI they might be traitors, and “traitors get shot.”
“I checked out my sister and she or he checked out me flabbergasted, nearly confused,” Jackson instructed the jury. “I used to be fairly grossed out” and “scared, not just for myself however for my sister.”
That afternoon, Jackson mentioned, he drove to an area highschool and parked for quarter-hour, in order that his household would assume he was selecting up buddies. He then met an FBI agent at a restaurant and instructed the agent “every little thing.”
He left the household’s residence after his father’s arrest in January 2021 and has had nearly no contact with them since. Shortly after the arrest, Jackson Reffitt did main nationwide TV interviews about delivering his father.
