Although it is unclear, Ms. Powell has been identified in some places as the person who read Trump's **infamous** 2:24 Jan 6tweet about Pence, where he complains about how Pence didn't have the courage to change the result of the election in his favor. She's been called _Bull Horn Lady_ and _Pink Hat Lady_ because pictures and videos show here wearing a pink watch cap. Describe in the _New Yorker_ article referenced below, she's a mother of 8 from rural Pennsylvania who, until the advent of Trump, had political opinions that were 'all over the place', although she characterized herself before 2016 as a 'libertarian at heart'. She didn't vote for him in 2016, but the pandemic and her natural dislike of authority (she was banned from a job because she refused to mask up) led her more and more into the Right-Wing side of the political spectrum. She was involved in some interactions in [[Black Life Matters|BLM]] on the right-wing side (this is shown in the a video, discussed in the _New Yorker Article_ below) Several people in a crowd sourced project to identify the rioters at first thought she was one of the ringleaders, because she seemed to be shouting commands at people. However, later they started to change their opinion that she may have been more someone who had just been swept along by the tide of emotion. It seems to me that her trajectory is a **signal** example of the seductive nature of conspiratorial thinking in general, and, in particular, Trump's manipulation of such narratives to his advantage. There is video of her using a pole to smash a window in order to gain entry. She gave an interview about the events to Ronan Farrow in _The New Yorker_ in an article entitled [A Pennsylvania Mother’s Path to Insurrection](https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-pennsylvania-mothers-path-to-insurrection-capitol-riot). (Feb 1, 2021) > In her first public comments since the riot, Powell acknowledged her role in the events at the Capitol. During a two-hour telephone interview, she claimed that her conduct had been spontaneous, contrary to widespread speculation that she had acted in coördination with an organized group. “I was not part of a plot—organized, whatever,” Powell, who was speaking from an undisclosed location, told me. “I have no military background. . . . I’m a mom with eight kids. That’s it. I work. And I garden. And raise chickens. And sell cheese at a farmers’ market.” During the interview, she reviewed photographs and videos of the Bullhorn Lady, acknowledging that many of the images showed her, and offered detailed descriptions of the skirmishes they depicted. She declined to comment on some of her conduct—including smashing windows and shouting orders to fellow-rioters—that could carry criminal charges. “Listen, if somebody doesn’t help and direct people, then do more people die?” she said. “That’s all I’m going to say about that. I can’t say anymore. I need to talk to an attorney.” > At the Capitol, Powell said that she found herself in an increasingly violent confrontation between rioters and Capitol police. Powell appeared to be wearing a jacket designed specifically for the concealed carrying of a gun, but said she did not carry one, “unless you count a Lärabar and bottle of water as a weapon.” In one video, her pink hat is briefly visible in a crush of bodies during a skirmish near an entrance on the west front of the Capitol which is reserved for members of Congress and staffers. “That’s where the pileup was,” she told me, after reviewing the video. “The people were wedged so tight.” She said that she heard a woman’s cries growing gradually quieter beneath the crowd and claimed ultimately to have seen her dead body. (_The New Yorker_ was unable to confirm whether a woman died there.) Powell added, “I was beaten with a baton, and sprayed and gassed.” > In another video, Powell and other rioters are seen using a makeshift battering ram to shatter one of the Capitol’s windows. She pulls the heavy, pipe-shaped object back and throws her weight forward against it repeatedly. (“That’s one of those things I can neither confirm nor deny,” she said. “I just need to talk to an attorney. If you look at that video, people are just going to make their own assumptions.”) In yet another video, she stands outside a broken window, shouting instructions through the bullhorn to rioters inside. Powell says, “I’ve been in the other room,” and appears to outline a plan involving breaking a pane of glass to get into another part of the Capitol. Powell said, regarding her knowledge of the building’s layout, “Anything that was said was figured out as time went on. It wasn’t like there was a map or anything.” > After the riot, Powell said, “I was by myself—I didn’t rendezvous with a bunch of people . . . I didn’t meet militias.” Lynn said that Powell did not join him for the drive home. Powell declined to answer questions about how she returned to Pennsylvania, or with whom. > Forrest Rogers, who reported Powell’s name to the F.B.I., at first thought he had identified a ringleader in a premeditated campaign to invade the Capitol. “The initial footage showed a woman, an apparent insider with an understanding of the Capitol layout, shouting commands to a bunch of unknowns through a bullhorn,” Rogers said. “This created a perception that she was one of the conspirators with an extensive network.” John Scott-Railton, a researcher at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, who has been involved in crowdsourced efforts to identify participants in the riot, said that he also independently confirmed Powell’s identity: “It became clearer over time that her actual role might be different, but still important to understanding what brought a person like that to the Capitol.” > Lemons, Powell’s mother, expressed astonishment at her daughter’s conduct and said that she condemned the violence during the riot. “The whole family is, in a way, just devastated,” she said. “It’s a thing you never expect, that your child is going to be on some F.B.I. ‘Wanted’ poster.” Powell said that her only regrets were the possible repercussions for her children. Asked whether she would have acted differently, given the chance, she said, “I try not to think about that. There are some things that are just worth blocking out.”