A shocking video released Thursday shows a senior adviser for the Department of Justice urging Jan. 6 rioters to “kill” police at the Capitol.
The bodycam footage obtained by NPR reveals Trump administration official Jared Wise’s vile outburst at officers on Jan. 6, 2021, and the moment he screams “kill ‘em” as rioters attacked.
“Shame on you!” Wise screams in the video. “F— ‘em! Kill ‘em, kill ‘em, get ‘em, get ‘em!”
Wise is currently employed as a senior adviser in the office of the deputy attorney general. He has been working on internal reviews of the alleged “weaponization” of law enforcement.
The former Jan. 6 defendant, who was indicted on felony charges that included assault, was later pardoned by President Donald Trump on his first day back at the White House. His trial had been underway when Trump took office, so it was dismissed without a verdict.
In the video, Wise was seen joining the violent mob of Trump supporters who staged an attempted self-coup in an attempt to keep Trump in office.
“You guys are disgusting, you are the Nazi, you are the Gestapo, you can’t see it because you’re chasing your pension, right?” he shouts at the police in the video.
The Jan. 6 insurrection was already in full swing when Wise made the violent demands. The Capitol building had been breached, with doors knocked off hinges and windows smashed. Former Vice President Mike Pence had already evacuated as the angry mob outside yelled “hang Mike Pence” and “traitors get the guillotine.”
Wise was accused of illegally entering the Capitol building and leaving through a broken window after ten minutes.
A Department of Justice spokesperson said in a statement that Wise is a “valued member of the Justice Department and we appreciate his contributions to our team.”
Wise did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Before joining the DOJ, Wise was a supervisory special agent with the FBI and served from 2004 to 2017. He was one of over 1,500 rioters pardoned by Trump.
Wise pleaded not guilty during trial but admitted his actions were “careless.”
“Those are terrible things to say,” he said at the time. “Of course. I shouldn’t say those things. I think I was careless and used, like, terrible words when I was angry.”
Greg Rosen, who led the group of prosecutors who oversaw the Jan. 6 cases, told NPR that Wise should have “known better.”
“His prior experience as a police officer, as a law enforcement officer certainly informed his understanding of what was right and what was wrong and the circumstances that he was presented with that day in the middle of that riot,” he said.
Wise’s attorneys said that his speech was protected by the First Amendment and that there was no evidence “that anyone involved in the skirmish heard and was encouraged by his words, especially given the cacophony of noise at the time.”
Wise had been living in Oregon at the time of the riot but traveled to Washington, D.C. to support Trump.
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