WEBVTT - Update On: A Short-Lived Pardon 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:12.280 Cool Zone Media. Hey Molly Conger here. I know I 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:14.280 left you with a bit of a cliffhanger last week, 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:16.640 and I'm so sorry I don't have the second half 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:20.480 of that story for you this week. I thought maybe 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:22.599 it was the subject matter of giving me a stomach 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:25.639 ache at first, but I spent half of this week 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:28.240 lad up with a stomach virus and there was just 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:30.360 no way to write that story the way I wanted 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:32.280 to in the time that I had left after I 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:37.080 finished puking. That'll have to wait until next week. So 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:39.760 we've got to rerun this week. But don't switch it 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.000 off just yet. I do have a little update to 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.680 the episode for you here at the top. The episode 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.040 originally ran a month ago, so it may still be 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:51.200 fresh in your mind. It's the story of Matthew Huddle, 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:54.120 the January sixth writer who was shot and killed during 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.240 a traffic stock just days after he received his federal pardon. 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:01.480 And when I wrote it was a lot of unanswered questions. 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:06.200 We have some of those answers. Now Here's where I 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:12.200 left things a month ago. It's unwise to speculate about 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:14.360 the altercation that may have occurred in the minutes before 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.880 Huddle was shot and killed by a Jasper County Sheriff's deputy. 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:20.399 I don't know what happened there on the side of 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:23.800 Indiana State Road fourteen. We don't know what was said, 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:27.640 or why things escalated, or where exactly the deputy saw 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.640 the gun. But I do know that Matthew Huddle was 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.759 due back in court next week for a status conference 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:37.840 on a stack of still unresolved felony cases for driving 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:42.520 without a license, just days after getting his federal pardon. 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.720 He was probably happy for his uncle Dale, but he'd 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:49.360 already done his federal time, and now he was looking 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:51.440 down the barrel at another stay in the county jail, 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:54.960 and when those blue lights came on behind him, he 0:01:55.000 --> 0:02:02.000 probably knew that this would be yet another felony charge. 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:07.280 After the episode originally aired, I saw some listeners expressing displeasure, 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:13.880 discussed even that I'd framed his story as a tragic one. 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:16.120 I'm not here how to tell you how you should feel. 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:21.799 That's your business, But for me, his story is sad. 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:27.040 He wasn't an evil man. I wouldn't go as far 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.560 as to say he was a good man. He had 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:33.680 a slew of dyse. He had some history of domestic 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:37.240 violence allegations and a stint in jail for child abuse. 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.480 He stormed the capitol. He owed a lot of child support. 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:46.280 I don't think he's a person I would have liked, 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.560 but he was also a man who struggled with alcohol addiction, 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:53.840 and regardless of what he'd done, his death left two 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:57.360 children without any chance of ever reconciling with their father. 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.880 And for me least, there's never any peace in knowing 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.600 a person's life ended violently, particularly when the cause of 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:10.680 death was a bullet from a police officer's gun. I 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:14.720 have to believe that people can change that. Redemption and 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:19.720 atonement are always possible for those who sincerely strive to 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:24.960 earn that. But a dead man cannot make amends. That 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.840 possibility is gone now, and that makes it a tragedy 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:33.440 in my mind. But however you feel about the way 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.640 things ended for Matthew Huddle, we do at least have 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.400 some answers now that the Jasper County Sheriff's Office has 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:41.560 released the body camera footage of the traffic stop that 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:45.440 led to the fatal shooting, and it is, for the 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:49.640 most part, exactly what I thought it would be. The 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:53.280 deputy stopped Huddle for speeding, both his pending felony cases 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:56.560 for driving without a license. Getting caught doing it again 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.600 would lead to even more felony charges and even more 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.560 jail time, and he couldn't bear the thought of it. 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:07.200 The footage of the traffic stop shows it was all 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.240 things considered, going fairly well in the beginning. 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:15.760 Hello, hang on, good, how are you today? Pretty well? 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:18.560 The reason I'm pulling yours for seventy and fifty five? 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:20.000 Any reason we're going. 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:20.560 That fast today? 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:23.560 I'll just keeping on the traffic okay, okay, fair enough, 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:25.240 You got your license and registration on you? 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:27.160 How can I put in par Yeah? 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:34.680 Yeah, Huddle had been pulled over for speeding. The deputy 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.159 was in good spirits and he wasn't approaching the car confrontationally. 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:42.200 I just want to let you know that I'm a 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.360 January sixth defendant. 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:47.080 What do you mean I stormed the cap. 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.400 I'm winning on my pardon really. 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:53.040 Yeah, And I can't really afford to getting in each 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:53.760 trouble right now. 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.520 Okay, I understand, Okay, I understand. 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:58.600 I am driving a lot of license right now. Okay, 0:04:58.640 --> 0:04:59.560 So why are you doing that? 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:04.960 Then? And early in the interaction, as he's producing his 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:08.839 identification for the officer, Huddle raises the issue of his 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:12.960 ongoing legal problems. He told the deputy he was still 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.359 working on getting his license back, but I'm actually not 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:20.000 entirely sure that's true. He had filed a case back 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:22.760 in twenty twenty two seeking the reinstatement of his license, 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:27.039 but court records show he'd withdrawn that petition voluntarily in 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:31.000 early twenty twenty three, probably because he was preoccupied during 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.880 that time with his federal criminal case. I can't find 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:37.520 any indication he'd filed a renewed petition to have his 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:42.599 license reinstated after he wrapped up his federal case. But 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:47.040 the officer's demeanor doesn't really change. He's keeping things light, 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:49.680 chatting with Huddle about the dog in the backseat of 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.520 the van, and then he returned to the cruiser with 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:56.400 Huddle's documents, and at this point he knows he's going 0:05:56.440 --> 0:06:00.000 to be making an arrest. Whatever comes back from dispatch. 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:02.600 Huddle has already told the officer that he's driving without 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:05.920 a license, so he radios for animal Control to meet 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.640 him on the scene to take Huddle's dog, and he 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.880 walks back to the minivan and he asks Huddle to 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:15.120 step out of the car, and as the two men 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.760 stand behind Huddles van, the deputy explains that he is 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:23.000 going to have to place him under arrest. Okay, so 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:25.320 today you're getting off with the verbal warning for the speed. 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:30.440 However, your habitual traffic violator I know, which means. 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:35.719 That you are at a felony status for driving while suspended. 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:38.480 So today you are going to come with me. Well 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:39.680 I can't, I can't. 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.520 You're gonna have to. Okay, you're gonna go with me today? 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:44.599 All right, I can't go to jail for this. You're 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:46.279 going to have to come, can I get it right? No? 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:53.840 And at this point Huddle looks visibly distressed. He looks 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:57.719 very anxious. He's picking at his cuticles, and he's trying 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:01.479 to find some way out of this situation. And the 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:05.479 officer explains that there's really nothing he can do. Maybe 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:08.279 if this were a misdemeanor, they could find some other resolution, 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:12.000 but there's no wiggle room here because it's a felony. 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.920 And as the officer starts to ask him to turn 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:19.720 around and put his hands behind his back, Huddle makes 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:22.120 a break for it back to the driver's door of 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:26.280 his van. As Huddle crawls into the vehicle. The deputy 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:28.840 is inches behind him, saying, don't you do it, buddy. 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:32.840 He's reaching for him and grabbing at his jacket, and 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:36.560 the officer begins to shout no, no, no, and the 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:40.600 video at this point is obscured by a large pixelated rectangle. 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:44.240 You don't see Huddle reach for the gun, but it 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.520 seems like it may have been in the glove compartment 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.239 or somewhere on the passenger side, maybe on the floor, 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:55.480 and you hear Huddle say I'm shooting myself, and the 0:07:55.480 --> 0:08:00.560 deputy cries out again, no, no, no. It's just ten 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:04.400 seconds from the time Huddle is scrambling back into the 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:06.600 front seat of the van to the sound of the 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.800 five shots from the deputy's gun as he's retreating backwards 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:14.720 away from the door. It's just ten seconds, and you 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.560 can't see most of what's actually happening. You can't see 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:20.560 where Huddle pulled the gun from or where he was 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.160 pointing it once it was in his hand, and that's 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.600 all that was said. Huddle says he's going to shoot himself, 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:34.880 and the deputy shouts no over and over again, and 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:39.680 then it's over. The State Police investigation into the incident 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:43.040 has concluded, and it was presented to the Clinton County 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:47.960 Prosecutor's Office for independent review. They found the deputy's actions 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:51.679 were legally justifiable under Indiana state law, and no charges 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:58.480 will be filed. Matthew Huddle is dead. We can't know 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:02.160 if he would have shot himself or the officer. We 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.160 can't know if he would have appeared in court two 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.360 weeks after that traffic stop for his still pending felony cases. 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:10.320 We can't know if he would have made amends, paid 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:13.160 his child support, tried to be a better father, or 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:15.200 tried to find a place in the right wing media 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:20.760 ecosystem that has now made him a martyr. We'll never know, 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.480 because he died there on the side of State Road fourteen. 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:31.200 That's the end of his story. And here's the episode 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:35.719 where I tried to tell the beginning of it. I'll 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.440 be back next week with a new episode of Weird 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:48.200 Little Guys. On January twenty sixth, twenty twenty five. Matthew 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:54.240 Huddle died. That much we know for certain. Usually I 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.720 tell you a story that's old enough that the ink 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.920 is not only dry, but it's begun to fade. A little. 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:04.320 The reports are in, the motions have been filed, argued, 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.720 and ruled on. The official story is set in stone. 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:12.640 That's not the case today. As I'm writing this. There 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:16.760 are still questions left unanswered. There is a state police 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:21.440 investigation into an officer involved shooting still under way. But 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:22.520 Matthew Huddle is dead. 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:24.320 That much we know. 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.559 Just days before he died, he'd gotten some long awaited 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:34.520 good news. His uncle Dale was coming home. Both men 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.920 were among the nearly sixteen hundred people pardoned by Donald 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:40.400 Trump in one of his first actions after being sworn 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:44.600 in his president. Matthew had already served his six month sentence, 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:47.760 but when the pardons came through, Dale Huddle was just 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:49.240 a few months in to a two and a half 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:51.680 year term at a prison in Illinois. 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:53.640 On the afternoon that he. 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:58.600 Died, Matthew Huddle was driving somewhere in Jasper County, Indiana. 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.560 I don't know where he was going, but I do 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:04.559 know he wasn't supposed to be driving, and according to 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:09.120 the Jasper County Sheriff, he was speeding. I can only 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:12.640 assume that the altercation that allegedly ensued began after the 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:15.040 sheriff's deputy discovered that Huddle did not have a valid 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:18.920 driver's license. The deputy claims Huddle resisted when he tried 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.360 to place him under arrest, and it was during this 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:24.080 altercation that the sheriff says the deputy discovered that Huddle 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.440 was in possession of a firearm, which she was not 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:31.200 legally allowed to have, the final moments of Matthew Huddle's 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:35.760 life will eventually be settled in some sort of official report. 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:40.480 Maybe they'll release the deputy's body worn camera footage. Maybe 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:44.000 his family will file a lawsuit. The final page hasn't 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:48.040 been written yet. I don't have the answers. All I 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:50.720 have is a sad story, but a man who believed 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.640 in nothing and died on the side of Indiana State 0:11:53.720 --> 0:12:18.760 Road fourteen. I'm Molly Conger, his weird little guys. At 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:23.680 noon on January sixth, twenty twenty one, President Donald Trump 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.600 took the stage at the Ellipse, a generally unremarkable patch 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:30.000 of grass between the White House and the Washington Monument. 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.160 More than fifty thousand of his supporters had been standing 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:38.160 out in the cold all morning waiting to hear from him. 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:41.720 For months, he'd stoked the fires of a growing conspiracy 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:48.120 the election had been stolen. He gave speeches, held rallies, 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:53.160 fired off late night tweets, and filed lawsuits for those 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:56.000 who wanted to believe. There seemed to be mountains of 0:12:56.040 --> 0:13:00.960 evidence of a deep and systemic rot. But the lawsuits 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:05.359 were failing, the votes were counted, and time was running out. 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:08.360 Today was the day that Congress would have the final 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.200 say in the twenty twenty election, and less than two 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:14.480 miles away, legislators were taking their seats in the Capitol 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:19.360 Building to certify the election. The crowd at the Ellipse 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.560 had come from all over the country to be a 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:26.120 part of history, and as their president spoke, many of 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:28.760 them heard the permission they'd been waiting for. 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:33.680 And we fight, We fight like hell. 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.120 And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:37.360 to have a country anymore. 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.800 This profound corruption would have to be excised by force 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.680 before this grave injustice could be done. He'd all but 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:53.120 confirmed that for them, and then, in the final seconds 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:55.720 of his speech, before he was played off the stage 0:13:55.760 --> 0:14:00.199 by his favorite song, The Village People's Gay anthem Ymca, 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:03.120 he gave the crowd their marching orders. 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:07.679 So let's walk down Pennsylvania avenue. 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:09.440 I want to thank you all. 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:13.520 God bless you, and God bless America. 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:14.679 Thank you all for being here. 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:15.640 This is incredible. 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:16.520 Thank you very much. 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:22.760 Some in that crowd, perhaps anticipating the instructions he would 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:25.680 give at the end of his hour long speech, never 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:29.240 even heard him say that line. They'd already started walking 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:31.720 the mile and a half to their final destination that day, 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:39.240 the Capitol Building. You almost certainly already know how that 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:42.000 day ended. Even if you live in a cave in 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:45.160 the woods without access to the internet, you can't possibly 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:49.480 have escaped this news. Thousands of Trump supporters descended on 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:53.680 the United States Capitol Building. They tore down police barricades. 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:56.840 They engaged in a pitched battle with the Capitol police 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:01.480 on the steps outside, them forced their way into the building. 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:08.800 People died. United States Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick passed 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:11.800 away on January seventh after suffering a series of strokes. 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:16.280 His cause of death was eventually ruled to be natural causes, 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:19.000 though several neurologists have argued that the events of the 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:23.600 prior day almost certainly contributed to his death. Cute On 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:26.480 believer Ashley Babbitt was shot as she forced her way 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:30.640 into the building through a broken window. Roseanne Boylen was 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:34.600 trampled by the stampeding crowd, though her official cause of 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:38.480 death was ruled to be an amphetamine overdose, and Kevin 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:43.880 Greeson had a heart attack on the Capitol grounds. This week, 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:46.680 as I was combing back through my own videos of 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:51.400 that afternoon, I discovered that I had captured the moment 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.080 that I realized I was watching a man die. 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:58.440 Over the roar of the crowd. 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.760 You can hear someone next to me, I say, they've 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.200 been giving him chess compressions for way too long. 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:08.000 And then there's my own voice. 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:10.600 I know it's my voice, but I don't remember saying 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.000 it from years in the past. I heard myself say 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:19.000 he's going to die, and a few minutes after that, 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:23.400 I saw his dead body being carried away. Surely other 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:26.840 people saw him too, but no one seemed to react 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:29.600 at all to the sight of a corpse making its 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:34.680 way through the crowd. Over the last four years, federal 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:39.840 charges were filed against nearly sixteen hundred members of that crowd. 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:43.600 Nearly thirteen hundred had been convicted, with another three hundred 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:45.960 cases still open as of the four year anniversary of 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:50.280 the riot. Those cases will never go to trial, though, 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:54.280 because last month, hours after being sworn in as president 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:58.320 for the second time, Donald Trump issued a blanket pardon, 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:02.160 pardoning almost every single one of them, with the small 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:05.399 exception of a handful of rioters who only had their 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:12.679 sentences commuted. There are those who would rewrite the story 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.320 of that day, people who would tell you that it 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:19.520 was a peaceful protest, that they were patriots and tourists, 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:22.879 that they couldn't have known that their conduct was unlawful. 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.000 I'm not sure there's anything I can do to change 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:29.560 anyone's mind. The evidence to the contrary is readily available, 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:31.480 but it's never seemed to matter. 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:34.440 I could tell you that I. 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:38.080 Saw a man, eyes red with pepper spray and wide 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:42.960 with wild determination, pry a metal drain grate out of 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:47.560 the ground with the end of an American flagpole, before 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:50.479 pressing back into the fray with his newly acquired weapon. 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:53.399 I could tell you I saw a man with a 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:59.080 literal pitchfork sprinting down the Capitol lawn. I could spend 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:03.240 the next year covering a different January sixth rioterer every week, 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:09.439 painstakingly tracking their affiliations with militias and white supremacist street gangs. 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:11.719 But I don't really want to. 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:15.400 There's plenty of media about the men who were there 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.960 that day. Old books have been written about them, Whole 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:24.480 podcasts have dedicated themselves to that work. There are some 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:27.639 weird little guys who ended up there that day, But 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:31.240 I'll get to But I can't bear the thought of 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:36.199 returning to that well for too many stories, because a 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:41.000 lot of those stories are kind of the same. While 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:43.480 the seditious conspiracy at the heart of the violence was 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:46.919 cooked up by oathkeepers and proud boys, men with an 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:51.359 ideological commitment to violence and ties to organized groups dedicated 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:56.520 to carrying it out, most of the crowd was made 0:18:56.600 --> 0:19:00.359 up of men far too ordinary to be concidered a 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:04.760 weird little guy. And maybe that in itself is a 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:10.240 subject worth exploring. How could an ordinary man end up 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:13.280 crawling over broken glass on his way to break into 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:17.600 a senator's office. How could a reeltor from the suburbs 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:21.280 step over a woman's dead body in his haste to 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:25.639 physically confront a member of Congress. How did men with 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:28.359 back the blue bumper stickers on their brand new Ford 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:32.240 pickup trucks end up fistfighting cops on the steps of 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:36.200 the Capitol. I don't think I'm equipped to answer that, 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:41.080 but I can try to tell you the sad story 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:47.600 of how one of them ended up dead. Matthew Huddle 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:51.879 did not vote for Donald Trump in the twenty twenty election. 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:57.640 Perhaps he would have, It's impossible to say, but he'd 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:01.080 lost his right to vote years ago first felony conviction. 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:05.920 He struggled with alcohol addiction for his entire adult life, 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.359 racking up charges for driving while intoxicated at a pretty 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:13.800 alarming rate, and he was back in jail for yet 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:16.879 another duy in November of twenty twenty when the election 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.560 took place. He was fresh off this stint in the 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:24.159 county jail when his uncle Dale asked him for a favor. 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:26.560 He needed a ride to. 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:27.359 Washington, d c. 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:31.760 The reason given in the court documents is that Dale, 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.760 at sixty nine years old, had poor eyesight and quote 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:38.400 should not drive, especially at night. 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:41.320 But I'm not sure. 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:44.399 How to square that with the knowledge that Dale was 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:47.960 at that time employed as a delivery driver at her 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:51.879 auto parts store. Nor has any explanation offered as to 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:55.080 why Matthew agreed to drive his uncle seven hundred miles 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:58.680 from Indiana to d C without a valid driver's license. 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:03.399 In Matthew's own words, though he had nothing better to 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:08.359 do at the time, so he agreed. According to his 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:09.560 defense attorney. 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:14.679 Matt is not a true believer in any political movement. 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:18.320 He cannot legally vote, and he knows very little about 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:22.000 politics and does not follow it. He is somewhat distrustful 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:24.640 of the government in general, but he did not know 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:27.520 if the twenty twenty election was stolen or. 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:33.520 Not, so he claims he was only there that day 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:37.960 as something to do a favor for his uncle, and 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:40.240 he thought maybe he would be a historic event that 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:44.639 he could document through photos and video, and he did. 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:48.760 He took quite a bit of video that day, recording 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:51.080 himself as he and his uncle made their way down 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:53.840 the National Mall after listening to Trump's speech at the Ellipse. 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:59.119 As the capital came into view, Matthew Huddle says, allowed 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:02.800 to know, and in particular, we're going to see if 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:07.000 we can get inside. But moments later he turns to 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:09.880 his uncle Dale and says he's not sure they're going 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:12.720 to be able to get close because of the police presence. 0:22:14.640 --> 0:22:17.640 His uncle replies quote, I think we ought to bum 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:21.080 rush the Capitol building arrest them all. We've got enough 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:25.160 people to do that, and Matthew agrees they could try 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:30.280 to get close. By two pm, they were deep within 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:32.280 the mass of rioters at the base of the steps 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:35.919 at the west entrance of the Capitol. Police on the 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:39.000 steps were firing flash bangs and tear gas canisters, trying 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:42.960 to keep the crowd at bay. In his video, as 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:46.080 described in the court filings, Matthew was surprised by the 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:50.080 flashbangs and asks if the cops are shooting a cannon. 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:54.600 I didn't manage to dig up the video evidence filed 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:58.679 in his case, but based on the description of flash 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:03.960 bangs and scattered chance of you say, you say, and 0:23:04.200 --> 0:23:08.400 it being shortly after two pm, here's my best guess 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:33.160 at that exact moment being described. Oh yes, that is 0:23:33.400 --> 0:23:36.360 my little squeal of surprise at the sound of the flashbangs. 0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:42.400 I was having a weird afternoon, and it was chaotic. 0:23:44.200 --> 0:23:46.880 At this point, the crowd was starting to press forward 0:23:46.920 --> 0:23:51.200 and engage with the officers. No longer a mere observer 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:55.360 of history, Matthew Huddle joined them. He and his uncle 0:23:55.440 --> 0:23:57.240 Dale fought their way to the front of the crowd, 0:23:57.320 --> 0:23:59.520 where rioters were tearing down the bike racks that had 0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:02.200 been set up in a feeble attempt to keep people 0:24:02.240 --> 0:24:06.240 off the stairs. As officers struggled to keep the metal 0:24:06.240 --> 0:24:07.960 bike racks out of the hands of the men who 0:24:07.960 --> 0:24:12.280 were trying to seize them as weapons, Dale Huddle lunged forward, 0:24:12.960 --> 0:24:16.400 jabbing his wooden flagpole into an officer's stomach, knocking him 0:24:16.400 --> 0:24:20.800 off his feet. During the battle on the stairs, Dale 0:24:20.840 --> 0:24:23.800 is seen in an officer's body worn camera footage. 0:24:23.840 --> 0:24:25.719 Screaming at them. 0:24:25.320 --> 0:24:28.800 Saying things like, look back there, there's a million of us. 0:24:29.240 --> 0:24:30.280 You think you can stop. 0:24:30.160 --> 0:24:34.080 Us, and it's going to get real ugly if you 0:24:34.080 --> 0:24:36.560 don't let us in. Man, it's going to get real ugly. 0:24:36.600 --> 0:24:40.240 We're coming in. And at some point he turns to 0:24:40.240 --> 0:24:43.359 his nephew and points up at the Capitol building and 0:24:43.400 --> 0:24:48.640 he says, we're going in the front door. But Dale 0:24:48.720 --> 0:24:52.560 Huddle never did make it inside. The men got separated 0:24:52.560 --> 0:24:55.800 on the steps. The officers who'd been trying to hold 0:24:55.800 --> 0:24:59.080 them at bay retreated under attack, giving Matthew a Huddle 0:24:59.119 --> 0:25:02.919 an opening to run up the stairs, but Dale stayed 0:25:02.920 --> 0:25:06.280 behind and kept fighting Instead of taking his chance to 0:25:06.280 --> 0:25:10.240 climb the steps and actually go inside. He followed the 0:25:10.280 --> 0:25:15.560 retreating officers, continuing the attack. Another video shows the old 0:25:15.600 --> 0:25:18.639 man red faced with tears streaming from his eyes from 0:25:18.680 --> 0:25:22.520 pepper spray unloaded by a rioter behind him, and he's 0:25:22.680 --> 0:25:26.000 charging toward an officer trying to rip his gas mask off, 0:25:27.240 --> 0:25:28.960