Which speakers besides Donald Trump addressed the crowd on January 6 and what were their main messages?
Executive summary
A roster of pro‑Trump figures and fringe personalities spoke at or around the Ellipse rally on January 6, 2021, and most used their platforms to amplify baseless claims of a stolen election, urge continued pressure on lawmakers, or stoke anger at institutions they said had betrayed supporters Capitolattack" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">[1]. Organizers and some senior White House aides later emphasized calls for peaceful protest, a message documented in committee records, even as other speakers and activists used more confrontational rhetoric that critics say helped radicalize portions of the crowd [2] [1].
1. Who spoke besides Trump — the short list and common themes
Public timelines and reporting list several high‑profile speakers at the Ellipse rally and affiliated events on January 6, including Mo Brooks, Michael Flynn, Sebastian Gorka, Alex Jones, podcaster David Harris Jr., Nick Fuentes, Mike Lindell, and Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes; these figures overwhelmingly framed their remarks around claims of election fraud, calls to pressure or punish officials, and anti‑establishment grievances [1] [3]. Sources cataloging the event treat that cluster of speakers as part of a broader messaging ecosystem that day: repeated assertions of stolen votes, calls to action aimed at Congress and state officials, and in at least some cases rhetoric that encouraged escalation rather than de‑escalation [1].
2. Mo Brooks — incitement allegation and a specific line that resonated
Mo Brooks was a featured speaker at the Ellipse rally and is recorded as telling the crowd, “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass,” language that investigators and later reporting singled out as inflammatory and as contributing to the combustible atmosphere [3]. That quote has been repeatedly cited in official timelines and public accounts as emblematic of the militant tenor of some speeches that morning [3].
3. Conspiracy broadcasters and former officials — Flynn, Jones, Gorka, Lindell and the like
Multiple public timelines list ex‑national security official Michael Flynn alongside media figures and conspiracy promoters such as Alex Jones and Mike Lindell among the roster of speakers or affiliated presenters whose central message was that the 2020 result was illegitimate and that activists should sustain pressure to overturn it [1]. While source timelines confirm the presence of those names at pro‑Trump events that day, reporting also makes clear there was internal debate about who should be featured and that some controversial figures were at times proposed and then removed from official speaker lists, a dynamic captured in contemporaneous staff accounts [4].
4. Extremist group leaders and organizers — Stewart Rhodes and Ali Alexander
Organizers tied to militant groups and “Stop the Steal” activists also figured in the day’s choreography: Stewart Rhodes, leader of the Oath Keepers, is identified among the speakers in event timelines, and other organizers—including Ali Alexander—are documented in reporting as advocating aggressive tactics, with at least one account saying Alexander “appears to advocate violence” against lawmakers who would not help overturn results [1]. Those links between extremist organizers and the rally’s planning are central to official investigations and public narratives about how the protest transformed into a violent assault on the Capitol [1].
5. “Stay peaceful” vs. “fight” — competing messages and who pushed which line
There was an overt push inside the White House and by some rally organizers to project a peaceful protest posture: committee records show aides including Kayleigh McEnany and Ivanka Trump worked on messaging that included “we support PEACEFUL protest” and “Stay peaceful!” [2]. At the same time, other speakers and portions of the crowd heard and amplified calls to “fight like hell” and to march on the Capitol—phrases associated with then‑President Trump’s own remarks and with the broader atmosphere that day, demonstrating a dissonance between public calming signals and more combative rhetoric circulating among speakers and activists [5] [6].
6. What the sources do and do not prove about intent and causation
The timelines and government reports cited here establish who spoke and document the content and tone of many remarks, and investigators and journalists have used those records to argue that certain speeches helped foment the riot [1] [2]. The public sources in this packet, however, do not alone settle complex legal or causal questions about individual intent or whether any single speaker legally “caused” the breach; those determinations have been the subject of later prosecutions, pardons, and political debates reflected in current reporting [7] [2].