Was the LibsofTikTok Creator at the Capitol on Jan. 6?

Chaya Raichik, the woman behind the far-right LibsofTikTok account, may have trespassed at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, according to newly discovered footage found hours after Raichik appeared in her first on-camera television interview.

Raichik appeared in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday where she  called the LGBTQ community a “cult” and baselessly accused LGBTQ people of being “evil groomers.”

This is the same rhetoric that Raichik has used over the last 12 months, and via her LibsofTikTok account Raichik has led a right-wing smear campaign against the LGBTQ community and specifically trans people that has resulted in violence including attacks on hospitals providing gender-affirming care. In her Wednesday newsletter, Raichik said that she decided to show her face publicly for the first time “to counteract the rampant issues with the Left’s agenda in America.”

However, finally revealing her face may have other unintended consequences for Raichik.

Her appearance on Carlson’s show got the attention of Chad Loder, an extremism researcher credited with using videos from the Capitol riot to identify a masked Proud Boy who attacked police officers. Loder now believes that, based on seeing Raichik’s face on Carlson, footage from the Capitol riot features Raichik. 

On Wednesday, Loder wrote in his newsletter that his “analysis of video footage leads me to believe that Chaya Raichik was not merely present near the Capitol on January 6th, but that she trespassed on restricted Capitol grounds that day.”

Loder pointed to a distinctive ring Raichik wore during her interview with Carlson, which helped him, he said, locate a picture of Raichik standing at a fence during the Trump rally. Using the clothes and accessories seen in this picture, Loder said he identified Raichik again in this TikTok video, which was filmed on the steps of the northwest plaza of the Capitol.

Raichik seemingly appears again in GoPro footage filmed at the northwest side of the Capitol lawn that was released by the Justice Department as part of its prosecution of Ronald Sandlin, who was recently sentenced to 63 months in prison for his role in the attack.

Finally, Loder also said he identified a person he believes to be Raichik in a photo published by Citizen Media News that shows her appearing at the Capitol grounds that day.

These locations are all within what the Justice Department has described in court filing as “restricted grounds” that were closed to the public on the day by order of the Capitol Police, though to date the department has not prosecuted anyone for simply entering these restricted areas unless they also entered the Capitol itself or violently attacked police officers.

Raichik did not immediately respond to a request for comment on her actions during the Capitol riot. She did, however, seemingly admit to being in Washington on the day of the attack, saying in since-deleted tweets that she was taking time off work to attend the rally and support Trump.