A current Justice Department official and former FBI special agent was caught on video telling fellow January 6, 2021 protest attendees to “kill” police officers, bodycam footage obtained by NPR revealed.
Jared Wise, a senior adviser in the Trump administration’s DOJ, acknowledged he yelled “kill ’em” multiple times while he witnessed officers getting attacked on the Capitol grounds that day, court transcripts showed.
Wise had already entered the Capitol building through a door that had been forced open by rioters before heading back outside about 10 minutes later, where he remained on the grounds for several hours as the protest continued.
Police bodycam footage shared by NPR reporter Tom Dreisbach shows Wise berating cops as other members of the crowd pushed into them and knocked at least one over, calling them “Nazi” and “Gestapo” before escalating to “Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Get ’em! Get ’em!”
The video was introduced by federal prosecutors during Wise’s trial after he pleaded not guilty to charges of civil disorder, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, as well as aiding and abetting an assault on law enforcement officers.
Wise admitted that he should not have said those things, explaining that he was reacting out of anger to what he perceived as “police brutality.”
“Those are terrible things to say. Of course. I shouldn’t say those things,” he testified, according to court transcripts obtained by NPR. “I think I was careless and used, like, terrible words when I was angry.”
“You yelled, ‘shame on you, shame on you?'” Assistant U.S. Attorney Taylor Fontan pressed.
Wise replied, “I did.”
The prosecutor asked, “And you meant it or you wouldn’t have said, right?”
“I assume yes,” the defendant responded.
“And you meant ‘Kill ’em, kill ’em, kill ’em, get ’em, get ’em,’ right?” Fontan asked.
“No,” Wise answered. “I think that was just an angry reaction.”
“OK. So you meant it 10 seconds before and then all of a sudden you didn’t mean it, right?” Fontan asked.
“No,” Wise said. “I don’t think I meant kill ’em, I don’t want people to die.”
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While Wise did not physically attack any officers himself, he told the court that he would have been “morally justified” if he had attempted to stop what he viewed as police brutality.
Wise also stated that his choice to enter the Capitol was “irrational” and acknowledged that “it was probably obvious” that he was not allowed to do so.
The defendant served the FBI from 2004 to 2017, working on international counterterrorism and ultimately becoming a supervisory special agent, NPR reported.
On January 6, 2021, testimony revealed that he was working as a consultant in Bend, Oregon.
Wise’s defense team argued that his statements are protected by the First Amendment, and that “There is no evidence that anyone involved in the skirmish heard and was encouraged by his words, especially given the cacophony of noise at the time.”
After President Donald Trump regained office in January 2025, all January 6, 2021 defendants facing ongoing cases had their charges dismissed.
As a current DOJ official, Wise works on combatting the “weaponization” of law enforcement and holds the title of “senior adviser in the office of the deputy attorney general,” according to NPR.
A department spokesperson told the outlet, “Jared Wise is a valued member of the Justice Department and we appreciate his contributions to our team.”
Greg Rosen, the federal prosecutor who led the DOJ’s “Capitol Siege Section,” criticized the agency’s hiring of Wise.
“The Department of Justice could have hired anyone,” Rosen said. “They chose someone who was alleged and credibly alleged to have participated in a riot, encouraging other rioters to kill police officers protecting the Capitol.”
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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