A son reported his father to the FBI weeks before the Capitol siege. He says his father, now charged in the riot, 'would always tell me that he's going to do something big.'

Capitol Siege
Supporters of President Donald Trump climb a wall of the US Capitol on January 6. Jose Luis Magana/AP
  • A son alerted the FBI about his father weeks before a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, The New York Times reported.

  • Guy Reffitt was arrested on charges of obstruction of justice and knowingly entering a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority.

  • Reffitt is accused of threatening his children not to turn him in after telling them he stormed the Capitol.

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The 18-year-old son of a man charged in connection with the Capitol siege said he warned the FBI about his father weeks before the deadly riot, The New York Times reported.

"He would always tell me that he's going to do something big," the son, Jackson Reffitt, told The Times of his father, Guy Reffitt. "I assumed he was going to do something big, and I didn't know what."

Guy Reffitt was arrested on January 16 on charges of obstruction of justice and of knowingly entering a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, according to an FBI affidavit that Insider reviewed. The Times said it was unclear what the FBI did after Jackson Reffitt's initial tip.

Supporters of President Donald Trump breached the US Capitol and clashed with law enforcement on January 6, halting a joint session of Congress as lawmakers were set to certify Joe Biden's election victory. The attack left five people dead.

So far, 179 people have been arrested in connection with the riot.

Investigators said that they found an AR-15 rifle and a pistol in Guy Reffitt's home and that he told them he had taken the pistol to the Capitol with him but disassembled it to comply with laws in Washington, DC.

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The affidavit said Jackson Reffitt told investigators that his father returned home on January 8 and said he stormed the Capitol, then threatened his son and daughter not to turn him in.

Jackson Reffitt said his father told them, "If you turn me in, you're a traitor, and you know what happens to traitors ... traitors get shot."

Guy Reffitt's wife told investigators that he was a member of the Three Percenters, a far-right extremist group.

Jackson Reffitt told The Times he wasn't staying at his family's home but didn't say where he was staying out of fear for his safety. He said his family learned from his CNN interview over the weekend that he had reported his father weeks before his arrest.

He also started a GoFundMe to help with his college fees. It had raised over $76,000 as of Sunday night.

Reffitt told The Times he had no regrets about alerting the FBI about his father. "I put my emotions behind me to do what I thought was right," he said.

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