J6 a True Timeline gives the audience a never-before-seen timestamped blueprint for the events of January 6, 2021, as they unfolded in real time. No other film to date fills the gaps or tells the story chronologically the way this film does. The film is also different from anything produced to date because a small group of protestors, some who are J6 defendants, have been the ones to collect hours of footage to help contextualize the events of the day. The film was funded and produced entirely through small donations and tens of thousands of volunteer man hours. The hope is that the film will provoke all Americans to be more curious about the true timeline of January 6.
The Creator and Producer for the documentary is AJ Fischer of InvestigateJ6. AJ is a J6 defendant who knows more than most about what transpired on the West side of the Capitol; circumstances that led to the declared riot and Capitol building entry. In January 2023, Fischer began to make the film a reality. He lined up funding for the project and hired professional producer Jason Rink to help. Rink is the Executive Producer for the project. Paul Escandon is both director and editor.
Fischer’s Less Lethal timeline was featured in an article written by Journalist Wendi Strauch Mahoney with UncoverDC. Fischer was both witness to and a victim of police brutality on Jan. 6. He has researched police actions extensively, comparing J6 with the way other D.C. protests were handled and adjudicated:
“As both witness and victim, I observed firsthand that the attacks by police with munitions and physical violence were often unprovoked and at times deeply disturbing. I later learned about required police procedure and the DC First Amendment Assemblies Act by watching congressional hearings on previous questionable police actions while clearing protests- specifically the clearing of the protests in Lafayette Square outside the White House on Memorial Day weekend. Given what I have learned about the statutes and other court cases, and the police actions I witnessed-it is likely the police violated the law.”
“I then followed the facts, reviewed evidence from hundreds of J6 trials, as well as evidence from bodycam footage, radio communications, and police officer testimony. It became definitively clear the police disregarded protestor safety and well-established DC protest crowd clearing laws, said Fischer. “Law enforcement failed to give proper, required warnings prior to launching munitions. In some cases, police are heard admitting they were hurting and inciting innocent people.”
“It became even more clear that there have been disparities between the way Congress investigated these illegal police actions when BLM protestors were involved,” Fischer continued. “Those same illegal police actions have been ignored or buried when J6 protestors were targeted by police. In fact, the objective observer will tell you the J6 Select Committee ignored the facts to push a certain political narrative.”
“J6 A True Timeline is a result of hours of investigation into the facts of J6. The purpose of this film is to set the record straight without favor to one side or another. January 6 is a dark day in American history, but not in the way it has been portrayed. The American people deserve the whole, uncut truth of what transpired minute by minute. In reality, J6 was a complex human event; one where a peaceful, joyous morning of First Amendment assembly became a riot for reasons that are much more nuanced than most want you to believe.”
The seeds of this documentary were planted as far back as January 2021, with Dave Sumrall and Daniel Goodwyn of StopHate.com, who provided much of the research for the film. Goodwyn, the archival producer of J6 A True Timeline, played a major role in researching and archiving media. Sumrall was J6 A True Timeline’s consulting producer, helping with production and key research.
According to J6 A True Timeline Executive Producer, Jason Rink,
“The small group of collaborators have collected one of the largest repositories of J6 footage in private hands. When the government continued to drag its feet on the release of footage, this group decided to take matters into their own hands. They went about the task of laying out every angle of body cam footage, security footage and footage filmed by citizens, and compiled it in a timeline using metadata and timecode. The result is a view of January 6 from almost every angle, simultaneously, providing a much different story than previously known. Over the past year the filmmakers worked to edit the footage into a concise but accurate documentary which allows people to see the events of the day as they unfolded.”
The creators hope the film will provoke all Americans to ask questions based on what they see and hear.
- How did these protestors die and why?
- How is the government misrepresenting “restricted area” to convict Americans?
- How many protestors really knew they were entering restricted areas on the Capitol grounds?
- Do Americans know the flexible fencing was placed on the Capitol grounds for the purpose of constructing the inaugural stage?
- Do Americans know the Capitol police were told prior to Jan. 6 not to use munitions on the crowds.
- Why was there so much chaos? Why did people riot?
- Were the police prepared to handle the crowds that day? Why didn’t the police arrest individuals before the violence escalated?
- What really happened at the “tunnel” on Jan. 6. and how did Roseanne Boyland die?
- Why did Officer Byrd shoot Ashli Babbitt when she was flanked from behind by Metro police?
- What were the communications between Mayor Bowser, members of Congress, Chief Sund, and Yogananda Pittman?
- Why are police heard saying they were “set up?”
- Why does former Capitol Police officer Tarik Johnson continue to say that former Assistant Chief of USCP Intelligence Yogananda Pittman is largely responsible for the chaos on Jan. 6, not former President Donald J. Trump
These and many other questions remain unanswered and should provoke Americans to think more critically about why the day unfolded the way it did.
The goal of this film was not to editorialize but to chronologically recount the significant events of the day as they unfolded. Viewers will also see events in synchrony throughout the film. The creators also wanted to highlight the circumstances of the protestors who lost their lives. The Jan. 6 deaths have either been minimized, manipulated, misunderstood, or entirely overlooked by our government, the judicial system, and the mainstream media.
The mainstream media and our government have shown almost zero interest in truthful, unbiased reporting of Jan. 6, to the detriment of so many. Sumrall says that he and the other creators “have brought more evidence to light than the government or media ever did.” He has personally testified on behalf of Jers even while under threat of imprisonment. He, like many J6 defendants, has also been visited multiple times at his home where he has been interrogated by the FBI. He and others have invested thousands of dollars in expenses for research, travel, publicity, and awareness on behalf of J6 defendants, many of whom have already been sentenced to years in Federal prison.
Daniel Goodwyn, J6 A True Timeline archival producer, has worked tirelessly to document the events of the day. His and Sumrall’s work will be featured on Open.Ink in hopes of preserving their years of dedication to getting the truth of J6 to the American public. Goodwyn worked behind the scenes over a period of three years compiling original information, data, and footage for the StopHate website. Goodwyn is on the autistic spectrum. His superpower is his ability to research and collate massive amounts of data accurately. Goodwyn’s work is one of the main reasons such a large collection of video and audio has been compiled in the first place.
As with so many J6 defendants, Goodwyn was targeted unfairly by the Department of Justice. Goodwyn walked in an open door in the Capitol for under 40 seconds and walked back out. He never stole, broke, or touched a single object in the Capitol nor did he hurt anyone. For that, the government wanted 20-plus years in federal prison. He was sentenced to 60 days in federal prison but his jail time was applied to some of his prison sentence. Still on supervised release, Goodwyn is not able to move freely. He is also regularly submitted to drug testing.
Fischer, also a defendant who has lost everything and who also potentially faces years in federal prison, speaks to why this film needed to be made. He is the defendant whose UncoverDC news story went viral because his infant son was placed on the Quiet Skies suspected terrorist watchlist:
“The idea for the film was simple. Those of us with our own unique perspective as eyewitnesses, investigators and as observers of the trials and the congressional j6 committee knew that the American public had been purposefully misled about the timeline of events on January 6th.”
“A narrative was created that pieced together events throughout the day to manufacture an explanation for the day that placed the blame directly at Trump’s feet that was not based in fact at all. It was clear that they cherry-picked footage and evidence to explain the story they wanted to tell and lay the groundwork for the prosecution and removal of President Trump from presidential contention.”
“We knew that the peaceful protest outside the Capitol was incited into a riot long before a single protestor entered the building,” Fischer continues. “We knew there was more to the 4 protester deaths than had been previously told. And we knew the American people knew none of these things.”
While not involved in the production or content of the film, Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips, made it possible to showcase the film on Open.Ink as a part of its J6 Collection. Open.Ink will feature other historical collections that have been heavily censored by the mainstream media and the American government. The idea is to preserve important historical events in perpetuity. The creators of the film will continue to investigate J6 to help with legal defense and to ensure the American public knows the truth about January 6.
