Son tipped off FBI about his father, who’s charged in Capitol Riot

Written by Bryan Pietsch
Two days after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, Jackson Reffitt’s father, Guy W. Reffitt, returned to the household’s house in Texas. He informed his son that he had stormed the Capitol, in keeping with an FBI affidavit.
Then his father leveled a menace: If Jackson, 18, reported him to the police, he would don’t have any selection however to do his “duty” for his nation and “do what he had to do.”
In interviews with investigators, Jackson Reffitt stated his father informed him: “If you turn me in, you’re a traitor. And you know what happens to traitors. Traitors get shot.”
But he had already reported his father to the FBI weeks earlier than the riot.
“He would always tell me that he’s going to do something big,” Jackson Reffitt stated in a telephone interview Saturday. “I assumed he was going to do something big, and I didn’t know what.”
Guy Reffitt’s spouse informed investigators after the riot that he was a member of the Three Percenters, a far-right militia group, in keeping with the affidavit.
FBI brokers discovered an AR-15 rifle and a pistol at his house. Guy Reffitt informed investigators that he had introduced the pistol with him to Washington.
Jackson Reffitt stated he discovered that his father was headed to Washington the day earlier than the riot however that he didn’t know what he can be doing there. He found what was occurring when he noticed pictures of rioters storming the Capitol on the information.
It was not clear what, if something, the FBI did after Jackson Reffitt first contacted them about his father. Federal investigators contacted him in the course of the riots to observe up on his tip from weeks earlier, at which level, he stated, he helped “prove what they were trying to investigate.”
Jackson Reffitt stated he had “just wanted someone to know” about his father’s threats of “doing something big.”
“I didn’t know what he was going to do, so I just did anything possible just to be on the safe side,” he added.
Guy Reffitt, who was arrested Jan. 16, faces fees of obstruction of justice and of knowingly getting into a restricted constructing or grounds with out lawful authority. He couldn’t be reached Sunday, and it was not instantly clear whether or not he had a lawyer. The FBI was not instantly obtainable for remark Sunday.
Jackson Reffitt stated he was uncertain if his father knew but that he had reported him to federal authorities.
“I am afraid for him to know,” he stated. “Not for my life or anything, but for what he might think.” But he stated he was hopeful that his relationship together with his father may very well be repaired.
“We’ll get better over time,” he stated. “I know we will.”
He stated his mom and two sisters “had no idea what I had done” till they noticed a CNN interview he did with Chris Cuomo.
After the interview gained traction on-line, Jackson Reffitt stated on Twitter, “Yes I’m the kid on cnn.”
The tweet garnered 1000’s of likes and retweets, and he stated he was flooded with messages asking him to arrange a GoFundMe, so he did.
“Every penny is another course in college or me saving it for years to come,” he wrote on the crowdfunding platform. “I might be kicked out of my house due to my involvement in my dad’s case, so every cent might help me survive.”
Jackson Reffitt was not staying at his household’s house, and he declined to say the place he was for worry of his security. He was utilizing his girlfriend’s telephone as a result of his household had disconnected his, he stated.
He stated he posted the GoFundMe web page shortly earlier than going to mattress Friday, anticipating a couple of thousand {dollars} can be raised. When he awoke Saturday, the web page had raised greater than $20,000.
As of Sunday afternoon, greater than 1,800 donations had been pledged, amounting to greater than $58,000.
Jackson Reffitt is in his first semester finding out political science at Collin College, a group faculty close to his household’s house in Wylie, Texas, a Dallas suburb. When requested if the cash would cowl the remainder of his undergraduate training, he stated: “Oh man, you have no idea. I’m going to go on to a university now.”

As for others grappling with whether or not to return ahead about somebody they imagine may very well be concerned in one thing harmful, “you’re not just protecting yourself, but you’re protecting them as well,” he stated.

“I put my emotions behind me to do what I thought was right,” Jackson Reffitt stated of reporting his father. And although he doesn’t remorse his determination, he stated, “He’s still family, and it’s still weird.”