Son testifies against father charged with storming the Capitol on January 6

The teenage son of a Texas man charged with storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 testified Thursday that he had secretly recorded his father describing his participation in the incident and given the file to the FBI after his father threatened him and his sister.

The son, Jackson Reffitt, testified in the trial of his father, Guy Reffitt. He is charged with bringing a gun onto Capitol grounds and interfering with the law enforcement officers guarding the building. He has additionally been charged with obstruction of justice for making threats against his children.

Reffitt was not one of the protesters who entered the Capitol building, he retreated after being pepper sprayed by an officer.

Reffitt's trial began Wednesday and prosecutors are expected to rest their case Monday. The judge and jury will also hear testimony from the youngest Reffitt daughter, Peyton, whom prosecutors expect will testify that she believes her father was attempting to intimidate her two older siblings.

Reffitt was arrested less than a week after the riot and has since been held in jail in Washington, D.C.

Jackson Reffitt, who was 18 at the time of the Capitol riot, told the court was scared and "pretty grossed out" when his father, Guy Wesley Reffitt, told him and his 16-year-old sister that they would be "traitors" if they reported him too law enforcement and that "traitors get shot."

"I never thought our father would say that to us," said Reffitt, who shared as a witness for the prosecution that he felt a mix of fear and guilt following his meeting with the FBI five days after the 2021 incident. He said he spoke with an agent about the threats his father made and turned over a cellphone recording of a family conversation at their house.

According to prosecutors, Reffitt belongs to a group called the "Texas Three Percenters," a militia-style organization that refers to the false notion that only 3% of American colonists battled against the British during the Revolutionary War.