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JOEL B. POLLAKJack Posobiec, the Washington, DC-based correspondent for One America News Network (OANN), broadcast live from the Seattle, Washington, “autonomous” zone Monday morning, revealing that he had been undercover there since Friday.
Posobiec streamed live on Periscope for just over 20 minutes as he appeared to be leaving the six-block region known as the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” (CHAZ) — or, more recently, the “Capitol Hill Occupied (or Organized) Protest” (CHOP).
The CHAZ was set up last week after the Seattle Police Department was ordered by local authorities to abandon the Eastern Precinct after days of confrontation with Black Lives Matter demonstrators, who quickly took over the area.
Posobiec walked alongside a colleague as the two described what they had seen over three days and nights. The “day crew,” he said, which was typically shown to the outside world, was completely different from the “night crew” who inhabited the zone overnight.
Posobiec called rapper Raz Simone, who has been described on social media as the zone’s unofficial leader, a “tin-pot warlord,” adding: “There’s no rule of law whatsoever.” It was “mob rule” and “mob justice.”
Posobiec said that a member of Raz’s “crew” had assaulted another journalist for filming inside the zone.
“Also, they tried to set fire to a local auto yard, earlier,” he reported, noting that someone had broken into the facility.
He added that he had spent “the entire night” with Raz, and promised more reporting to come.
On his Twitter feed, Posobiec had posted several videos showing “law enforcement” inside the zone at night:
The zone was being policed, Posobiec said, by “Raz and elements of Antifa, both of whom are armed. So the media’s somepletely lying to you when they say there’s no armed security.” He said there was no “de-escalation” policy to avoid conflict.
“The media narrative on this place has been an absolute lie — absolute, utter lie,” Posobiec said, filming large piles of trash. “This place need to be shut down.” He added that several people had been transported outside the zone by ambulance due to drug overdoses.
Posobiec said: “I’m perfectly fine with people wanting to peaceably assemble there. … But you’ve got to have some level of public safety. … Something bad is going to happen.”
“It’s the mob,” Posobiec’s associate said.
They reported no sanitation and no “social distancing,” despite the threat of renewed coronavirus infections.
“We’re done. We’re not going back,” Posobiec said, noting that he had other sources inside, as well as sources who would continue entering and leaving the zone.
He promised a documentary to come.
Over 45,000 people had watched Posobiec’s broadcast, as of 9:00 a.m. ET on Monday.
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