The Secret Service set up magnetometers to screen for weapons and other contraband, but many rally-goers chose to avoid the screening altogether.
At 6:29 a.m., Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, reminded his group's members that DC prohibited blades over "3 inches" and encouraged them to "[k]eep [the knives] low profile."[9] Others were thinking along the same lines. At 7:25 a.m., the National Park Service reported that a significant number of attendees ditched their bags in trees, rather than have them inspected.[10] Cassidy Hutchinson told the Select Committee she heard that thousands of people refused to walk through magnetometers to enter the Ellipse because they did not want to be screened for weapons.[11] According to Hutchinson, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations whose responsibilities included security-related issues, Tony Ornato, told the President that the onlookers "don't want to come in right now. They—they have weapons that they don't want confiscated by the Secret Service."[12] When he arrived at the Ellipse that morning, President Trump angrily said: "I don't [fucking] care that they have weapons. They're not here to hurt me. They can march to the Capitol from here."[13]
Approximately 28,000 rally-goers did pass through the magnetometers. The Secret Service confiscated a significant number of prohibited items from these people, including: 269 knives or blades, 242 cannisters of pepper spray, 18 brass knuckles, 18 tasers, 6 pieces of body armor, 3 gas masks, 30 batons or blunt instruments, and 17 miscellaneous items like scissors, needles, or screwdrivers.[14]
At 8:07 a.m., Secret Service countersurveillance agents reported that "members of the crowd are wearing ballistic helmets, body armor and carrying radio equipment and military grade backpacks."[15] By 9:45 a.m., the Secret Service noted people openly carrying pepper spray as they strolled the streets.[16]
President Trump's mob was itching for a fight. National Park Service officers arrested a man who had entered the restricted area around the Washington Monument. Immediately, about 100 people started forming a circle around the officer, "threaten[ing] law enforcement," as the officer later recounted.[17] The officer retreated into the Washington Monument with the man in custody.[18] The crowd responded angrily, punching the Monument's glass windows and continuing to threaten officers.[19] Law enforcement around the Washington Monument felt so unsafe that they "locked themselves in a security box by the mall."[20] Rioters nevertheless "scaled the sides of the security box and climbed on top of the structure."[21] It was a harbinger of things to come.
MPD monitored and responded to a stream of threats that morning. Three men in fatigues from Broward County, Florida brandished AR-15s in
