MAGA MOB BUSTED UPDATED
BUSTED FOR SEDITIOUS SMOKING
IN A PUBLIC BUILDING
Proud Boy leader Nicholas Ochs, seen smoking
“Hello from the Capital[sic] lol,” Ochs wrote on Twitter Wednesday afternoon, captioning a shot of him and another person with lit cigarettes in their mouths.
Ochs, the leader of the Proud Boys’ Hawaii faction, admitted he was inside the Capitol Building, but claimed he was there as a “professional journalist” in an interview with CNN.
“We didn’t have to break in, I just walked in and filmed,” he said, according to the complaint. “There were thousands of people in there — they had no control of the situation. I didn’t get stopped or questioned.”
The complaint also references pro-Trump messages Ochs posted to the Parler app popular among the president’s right-wing supporters.
“Show this tweet to leftists and say they won’t do s–t when he just keeps being president,” Ochs wrote in November, alongside a tweet from President Trump declaring he won the election. “They are getting scared, and they don’t function when they’re scared.”
Ochs’ case is among more than 50 that have been filed in connection with Wednesday’s riots.
Proud Boy leader Nicholas Ochs, seen smoking
in Capitol during siege, arrested
By Sara Dorn
January 9, 2021 |
Nicholas R. Ochs was collared when he landed in Hawaii the day
January 9, 2021 |
Nicholas R. Ochs was collared when he landed in Hawaii the day
after participating in the Capitol siege.Twitter
A leader of the far-right Proud Boys group who was photographed grinning and smoking a cigarette in the halls of Congress during Wednesday’s riot has been arrested, federal officials said.
FBI agents collared Nicholas R. Ochs, 34 of Hawaii, at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu on Thursday as he was arriving home from Washington, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
He is charged with misdemeanor unlawful entry of restricted buildings or grounds.
Prosecutors used Ochs’ own social media accounts as proof of his participation in the pro-Trump mob that breached the Capitol on Wednesday as Congress prepared to vote whether to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. His smoking selfie is cited in the complaint.
A leader of the far-right Proud Boys group who was photographed grinning and smoking a cigarette in the halls of Congress during Wednesday’s riot has been arrested, federal officials said.
FBI agents collared Nicholas R. Ochs, 34 of Hawaii, at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu on Thursday as he was arriving home from Washington, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
He is charged with misdemeanor unlawful entry of restricted buildings or grounds.
Prosecutors used Ochs’ own social media accounts as proof of his participation in the pro-Trump mob that breached the Capitol on Wednesday as Congress prepared to vote whether to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. His smoking selfie is cited in the complaint.
“Hello from the Capital[sic] lol,” Ochs wrote on Twitter Wednesday afternoon, captioning a shot of him and another person with lit cigarettes in their mouths.
Ochs, the leader of the Proud Boys’ Hawaii faction, admitted he was inside the Capitol Building, but claimed he was there as a “professional journalist” in an interview with CNN.
“We didn’t have to break in, I just walked in and filmed,” he said, according to the complaint. “There were thousands of people in there — they had no control of the situation. I didn’t get stopped or questioned.”
The complaint also references pro-Trump messages Ochs posted to the Parler app popular among the president’s right-wing supporters.
“Show this tweet to leftists and say they won’t do s–t when he just keeps being president,” Ochs wrote in November, alongside a tweet from President Trump declaring he won the election. “They are getting scared, and they don’t function when they’re scared.”
Ochs’ case is among more than 50 that have been filed in connection with Wednesday’s riots.
Jake Angeli, Capitol rioter in horned helmet, arrested by Feds
By Eileen AJ Connelly
January 9, 2021
Jacob Anthony Chansley, 33, also known as Jake Angeli, was taken into custody today in connection with Wednesday's Capitol riot.Win McNamee/Getty Images
Federal agents have arrested the rioter seen wearing a horned-headress and holding a spear during Wednesday’s rampage through the Capitol.
Arizona resident Jacob Anthony Chansley, 33, also known as Jake Angeli, was busted Saturday, officials announced.
The shirtless Chansley — who apparently took style cues from an elk’s lodge and the film “Conan the Barbarian” — was identified “as the man seen in media coverage who entered the Capitol building dressed in horns, a bearskin headdress, red, white and blue face paint, shirtless, and tan pants,” Justice Department officials said in a statement.
“This individual carried a spear, approximately 6 feet in length, with an American flag tied just below the blade,” the feds added.
Chansley — who appears in footage from Wednesday’s chaos pumping his bicep on the dais in the Senate chamber — was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
“The fact that we had a bunch of our traitors in office hunker down, put on their gas masks and retreat into their underground bunker, I consider that a win,” Chansley, identified as Angeli, told NBC News after the riot.
QAnon supporter Jacob Anthony Chansley, also known as Jake Angeli, is seen standing in the Senate chamber.
Steven Nelson/NY Post
Chansley, who is known as the “QAnon Shaman” or “Q Shaman,” is a diehard Trump supporter who has attended past far-right events, and is known for his support of the unfounded QAnon conspiracy theory according to MSN.
The Justice Department also confirmed Saturday the Friday arrest of Adam Christian Johnson, who was seen in a viral photo carrying off Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern.
Shirtless man in horned helmet at Capitol protest identified as QAnon backer
Johnson, 36, of Parrish, Florida, was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; one count of theft of government property; and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Also busted Friday was Derrick Evans, 35, of West Virginia, a freshman member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. Evans streamed himself entering the Capitol with the mob on his Facebook page, shouting as he crossed the threshold, “We’re in, we’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is prosecuting the cases. Investigations the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the ATF and the Capitol Police continue.
By Eileen AJ Connelly
January 9, 2021
Jacob Anthony Chansley, 33, also known as Jake Angeli, was taken into custody today in connection with Wednesday's Capitol riot.Win McNamee/Getty Images
Federal agents have arrested the rioter seen wearing a horned-headress and holding a spear during Wednesday’s rampage through the Capitol.
Arizona resident Jacob Anthony Chansley, 33, also known as Jake Angeli, was busted Saturday, officials announced.
The shirtless Chansley — who apparently took style cues from an elk’s lodge and the film “Conan the Barbarian” — was identified “as the man seen in media coverage who entered the Capitol building dressed in horns, a bearskin headdress, red, white and blue face paint, shirtless, and tan pants,” Justice Department officials said in a statement.
“This individual carried a spear, approximately 6 feet in length, with an American flag tied just below the blade,” the feds added.
Chansley — who appears in footage from Wednesday’s chaos pumping his bicep on the dais in the Senate chamber — was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
“The fact that we had a bunch of our traitors in office hunker down, put on their gas masks and retreat into their underground bunker, I consider that a win,” Chansley, identified as Angeli, told NBC News after the riot.
QAnon supporter Jacob Anthony Chansley, also known as Jake Angeli, is seen standing in the Senate chamber.
Steven Nelson/NY Post
Chansley, who is known as the “QAnon Shaman” or “Q Shaman,” is a diehard Trump supporter who has attended past far-right events, and is known for his support of the unfounded QAnon conspiracy theory according to MSN.
The Justice Department also confirmed Saturday the Friday arrest of Adam Christian Johnson, who was seen in a viral photo carrying off Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern.
Shirtless man in horned helmet at Capitol protest identified as QAnon backer
Johnson, 36, of Parrish, Florida, was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; one count of theft of government property; and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Also busted Friday was Derrick Evans, 35, of West Virginia, a freshman member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. Evans streamed himself entering the Capitol with the mob on his Facebook page, shouting as he crossed the threshold, “We’re in, we’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is prosecuting the cases. Investigations the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the ATF and the Capitol Police continue.
QAnon 'shaman' and lectern taker charged over US Capitol riots
US Capitol stormed: Confederate flags, viking tattoos, QAnon... Decoding the symbols
Donald Trump's supporters waved Confederate flags, QAnon symbols, and paraded white supremacist, Neo-Nazi symbols as they breached the US Capitol.
US prosecutors announced on Saturday (Sunday NZT) that they have charged two more people for taking part in the riot inside the US Capitol on Wednesday (Thursday NZT) – one of them a man accused of stealing the lectern of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the other a well-known supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theories.
As with previous arrests, federal law enforcement relied in part on media reports to identify the accused.
Adam Johnson, left, and Jacob Anthony Chansley of Arizona, right, have both
been charged with taking part in the riot inside the US Capitol.
Adam Johnson, 36, of Bradenton, Florida, was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; one count of theft of government property; and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Johnson, whom authorities identified as a person seen carrying Pelosi's lectern, was arrested on Friday (Saturday NZT) and is in custody.
He was identified, according to prosecutors, by his appearance in a Getty Images photograph that showed him with the lectern and by reporting from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. An individual also contacted the FBI to identify Johnson, saying they shared a mutual friend.
In addition, Jacob Anthony Chansley of Arizona was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Chansley was taken into custody on Saturday (Sunday NZT).
The so-called “QAnon shaman” Jake Angeli has been arrested for his
role in the pro-Trump riots at the US Capitol building.
Prosecutors identified Chansley as the man wearing a fur-lined headdress and face paint who stood on the dais in the Senate chamber next to Vice President Pence's chair in photographs of the chaos inside the Capitol that were widely distributed.
Chansley, who also goes by Jake Angeli and is associated with QAnon, was charged on Friday (Saturday NZT) with entering restricted grounds and disrupting Capitol business in Washington.
A Capitol Police arrest affidavit said an agent confirmed Chansley's identification by media reports, citing his attire, tattoos on his arms and left side of his torso, and photographs Chansley posted on a Facebook page.
POI.Unlawful by Stuff Newsroom on Scribd
The defendant was also identified by law enforcement through public databases, including his Arizona driver's license photo, said Capitol Police Special Agent James Soltes.
Chansley called the FBI on Thursday to speak to law enforcement, Soltes wrote, and confirmed he was the man wearing the headdress on the dais.
"CHANSLEY stated that he came as a part of a group effort, with other 'patriots' from Arizona, at the request of the President that all 'patriots' come to DC on January 6, 2021," Soltes wrote.
The Washington Post
Air Force vet identified as rioter with zip ties during Capitol siege
By Elizabeth Elizalde
January 9, 2021
Larry Rendall Brock, Jr., in helmet, is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonelGetty Images
A rioter filmed wearing military gear and carrying zip-tie handcuffs on the Senate floor has been identified as a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.
Larry Rendall Brock, Jr., an Air Force Academy graduate and combat veteran from Texas, was seen in photos and videos roaming around the Capitol and even breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite along with other pro-Trump demonstrators, the New Yorker reported Friday.
He confirmed to the outlet that he was the man in photos and videos.
Brock had been employed with Hillwood Airways, a private aviation company in Fort Worth. The company told The Dallas Morning News on Saturday that the Air Force veteran has been fired.
The veteran — whose pro-Trump views had grown increasingly radical, according to friends and family — said his goal in Washington, DC was to protest peacefully.
“The President asked for his supporters to be there to attend, and I felt like it was important, because of how much I love this country, to actually be there,” he told the New Yorker.
Brock, who lives in a suburb of Dallas, denied that he went inside Pelosi’s office, but ITV News footage disputes his claim, showing him emerging from the suite.
The 53-year-old father of three added he wore tactical gear because he wanted to protect himself from Black Lives Matter and Antifa.
As for the zip ties, Brock claimed he found them on the floor.
“I wish I had not picked those up,” he told the outlet. “My thought process there was I would pick them up and give them to an officer when I see one. I didn’t do that because I had put them in my coat, and I honestly forgot about them.”
John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, at the University of Toronto, tweeted Friday another rioter carrying zip-ties had been identified as Eric Munchel from Nashville, Tennessee.
Scott-Railton has been identifying people who went to the protests on social media. He also identified Brock and told the New Yorker he notified the FBI that Brock attended the riots.
Another Air Force veteran at the violent siege — Alshi Babbitt, a vocal Trump supporter from California — was shown in multiple videos being fatally shot by Capitol police as she tried to breach a barricaded door into the Senate chambers.
A Capitol police officer also died when he was bludgeoned in the head with a fire extinguisher, and three others who attended the protest suffered fatal medical emergencies.
By Elizabeth Elizalde
January 9, 2021
Larry Rendall Brock, Jr., in helmet, is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonelGetty Images
A rioter filmed wearing military gear and carrying zip-tie handcuffs on the Senate floor has been identified as a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.
Larry Rendall Brock, Jr., an Air Force Academy graduate and combat veteran from Texas, was seen in photos and videos roaming around the Capitol and even breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite along with other pro-Trump demonstrators, the New Yorker reported Friday.
He confirmed to the outlet that he was the man in photos and videos.
Brock had been employed with Hillwood Airways, a private aviation company in Fort Worth. The company told The Dallas Morning News on Saturday that the Air Force veteran has been fired.
The veteran — whose pro-Trump views had grown increasingly radical, according to friends and family — said his goal in Washington, DC was to protest peacefully.
“The President asked for his supporters to be there to attend, and I felt like it was important, because of how much I love this country, to actually be there,” he told the New Yorker.
Brock, who lives in a suburb of Dallas, denied that he went inside Pelosi’s office, but ITV News footage disputes his claim, showing him emerging from the suite.
The 53-year-old father of three added he wore tactical gear because he wanted to protect himself from Black Lives Matter and Antifa.
As for the zip ties, Brock claimed he found them on the floor.
“I wish I had not picked those up,” he told the outlet. “My thought process there was I would pick them up and give them to an officer when I see one. I didn’t do that because I had put them in my coat, and I honestly forgot about them.”
John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, at the University of Toronto, tweeted Friday another rioter carrying zip-ties had been identified as Eric Munchel from Nashville, Tennessee.
Scott-Railton has been identifying people who went to the protests on social media. He also identified Brock and told the New Yorker he notified the FBI that Brock attended the riots.
Another Air Force veteran at the violent siege — Alshi Babbitt, a vocal Trump supporter from California — was shown in multiple videos being fatally shot by Capitol police as she tried to breach a barricaded door into the Senate chambers.
A Capitol police officer also died when he was bludgeoned in the head with a fire extinguisher, and three others who attended the protest suffered fatal medical emergencies.
Insurrectionist ‘Zip-Tie Guy’ identified as retired Air Force lieutenant colonel
Harm Venhuizen
1 day ago/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/mco/GILRIQPW3ZARTP42XDZSWSQUVQ.jpg)
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Some family members said white-supremacist beliefs may have motivated Brock to storm the Capitol.
Brock cited the president’s false claims of massive election fraud as his motivation and denied holding any racist views. “The President asked for his supporters to be there to attend, and I felt like it was important, because of how much I love this country, to actually be there,” he said.
He also added that he thought has was welcome to enter the Capitol when he arrived at its doors, despite the crowd of violent insurrectionists clashing with law enforcement.
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Officer killed in Capitol attack was an Air National Guard vet
Brian Sicknick was a former staff sergeant with the New Jersey Air National Guard and deployed overseas during his time in the military.
Leo Shane III and Stephen Losey
The FBI is working to identify and charge the insurrectionists recorded entering the Capitol building. More than a dozen rioters have been charged so far, including a West Virginia lawmaker.
“We have deployed our full investigative resources and are working closely with our federal, state, and local partners to aggressively pursue those involved in criminal activity during the events of January 6,” the FBI said in a statement.
More than 1,000 National Guard troops were activated in response to the attacks, which were condemned by former Secretaries of Defense Mark Esper and Jim Mattis. All told, more than 6,000 National Guard troops are headed to the district.
“Today’s violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump,” Mattis said in a statement. “His use of the presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice.”
Military Times managing editor Howard Altman contributed to this report.
About Harm Venhuizen
Harm Venhuizen is an editorial intern at Military Times. He is studying political science and philosophy at Calvin University, where he's also in the Army ROTC program.
Harm Venhuizen
1 day ago
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Larry Rendall Brock Jr. was photographed on the Senate floor clad in tactical gear and holding flex cuffs. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
A man photographed in tactical gear and carrying zip-tie handcuffs on the Senate floor on Wednesday is a former Air Force officer who told The New Yorker magazine he stormed the Capitol because he believed the president wanted him to be there as the 2020 election was being certified.
“The President asked for his supporters to be there to attend, and I felt like it was important, because of how much I love this country, to actually be there,” Larry Rendall Brock Jr. told reporter Ronan Farrow in a story published Friday evening.
Brock, a retired lieutenant colonel and combat veteran, was one of many insurrectionists to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Five people died from injuries sustained in the ensuing riot, including two Air Force veterans, one of whom was a Capitol Police officer.
Brock was identified thanks to the efforts of The New Yorker and John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab in the University of Toronto’s Munk School.
“I used a number of techniques to hone in on his identity, including facial recognition and image enhancement, as well as seeking contextual clues from his military paraphernalia,” Scott-Railton told the New Yorker.
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This is why the National Guard didn’t respond to the attack on the Capitol
The response to the siege on the Capitol was mired in red tape.
Meghann Myers and Howard Altman
One of those contextual clues was a 706th Fighter Squadron patch. Brock reportedly served as a chief operations inspector and flight commander within the unit, claiming to have received three Meritorious Service Medals, six Air Medals, and three Aerial Achievement Medals from service in Afghanistan and non-combat service in Iraq.
In a statement to the Military Times, Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokesperson, said, “Lt. Col. Larry R. Brock, Jr. retired from the Air Force Reserves in 2014. As a private citizen, we no longer have jurisdiction over him.”
Brock entered active duty in 1989 and transferred to the Air Force Reserve in 1998. He was an A-10 pilot until 2007, according to Stefanek.
He now works for Hillwood Airways, a Texas-based private aviation company.
Officials from Hillwood Airways did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A man photographed in tactical gear and carrying zip-tie handcuffs on the Senate floor on Wednesday is a former Air Force officer who told The New Yorker magazine he stormed the Capitol because he believed the president wanted him to be there as the 2020 election was being certified.
“The President asked for his supporters to be there to attend, and I felt like it was important, because of how much I love this country, to actually be there,” Larry Rendall Brock Jr. told reporter Ronan Farrow in a story published Friday evening.
Brock, a retired lieutenant colonel and combat veteran, was one of many insurrectionists to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Five people died from injuries sustained in the ensuing riot, including two Air Force veterans, one of whom was a Capitol Police officer.
Brock was identified thanks to the efforts of The New Yorker and John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab in the University of Toronto’s Munk School.
“I used a number of techniques to hone in on his identity, including facial recognition and image enhancement, as well as seeking contextual clues from his military paraphernalia,” Scott-Railton told the New Yorker.
This is why the National Guard didn’t respond to the attack on the Capitol
The response to the siege on the Capitol was mired in red tape.
Meghann Myers and Howard Altman
One of those contextual clues was a 706th Fighter Squadron patch. Brock reportedly served as a chief operations inspector and flight commander within the unit, claiming to have received three Meritorious Service Medals, six Air Medals, and three Aerial Achievement Medals from service in Afghanistan and non-combat service in Iraq.
In a statement to the Military Times, Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokesperson, said, “Lt. Col. Larry R. Brock, Jr. retired from the Air Force Reserves in 2014. As a private citizen, we no longer have jurisdiction over him.”
Brock entered active duty in 1989 and transferred to the Air Force Reserve in 1998. He was an A-10 pilot until 2007, according to Stefanek.
He now works for Hillwood Airways, a Texas-based private aviation company.
Officials from Hillwood Airways did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Researcher John Scott-Railton used Brock's gear, including a 706th Fighter Squadron patch, to identify him. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
As for the helmet and body armor, Brock told The New Yorker that he was afraid of being attacked by members of Black Lives Matter and Antifa. “I didn’t want to get stabbed or hurt,” he said.
The Air Force Academy graduate claimed to have found the flex cuffs he was carrying on the floor. “I wish I had not picked those up,” he said. “My thought process there was I would pick them up and give them to an officer when I see one.”
Brock can also be seen on a video from ITV News exiting Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite with a group of insurrectionists known to have been inside. Brock denied this allegation in conversations with The New Yorker, saying he stopped 5- to 10 feet short of the offices when others entered.
The retired officer’s family and friends expressed concerns about his radical political views. “I don’t contact him anymore ‘cause he’s gotten extreme,” Bill Leake, an Air Force officer who had served with Brock, told the New Yorker.
As for the helmet and body armor, Brock told The New Yorker that he was afraid of being attacked by members of Black Lives Matter and Antifa. “I didn’t want to get stabbed or hurt,” he said.
The Air Force Academy graduate claimed to have found the flex cuffs he was carrying on the floor. “I wish I had not picked those up,” he said. “My thought process there was I would pick them up and give them to an officer when I see one.”
Brock can also be seen on a video from ITV News exiting Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite with a group of insurrectionists known to have been inside. Brock denied this allegation in conversations with The New Yorker, saying he stopped 5- to 10 feet short of the offices when others entered.
The retired officer’s family and friends expressed concerns about his radical political views. “I don’t contact him anymore ‘cause he’s gotten extreme,” Bill Leake, an Air Force officer who had served with Brock, told the New Yorker.
Some family members said white-supremacist beliefs may have motivated Brock to storm the Capitol.
Brock cited the president’s false claims of massive election fraud as his motivation and denied holding any racist views. “The President asked for his supporters to be there to attend, and I felt like it was important, because of how much I love this country, to actually be there,” he said.
He also added that he thought has was welcome to enter the Capitol when he arrived at its doors, despite the crowd of violent insurrectionists clashing with law enforcement.
Officer killed in Capitol attack was an Air National Guard vet
Brian Sicknick was a former staff sergeant with the New Jersey Air National Guard and deployed overseas during his time in the military.
Leo Shane III and Stephen Losey
The FBI is working to identify and charge the insurrectionists recorded entering the Capitol building. More than a dozen rioters have been charged so far, including a West Virginia lawmaker.
“We have deployed our full investigative resources and are working closely with our federal, state, and local partners to aggressively pursue those involved in criminal activity during the events of January 6,” the FBI said in a statement.
More than 1,000 National Guard troops were activated in response to the attacks, which were condemned by former Secretaries of Defense Mark Esper and Jim Mattis. All told, more than 6,000 National Guard troops are headed to the district.
“Today’s violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump,” Mattis said in a statement. “His use of the presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice.”
Military Times managing editor Howard Altman contributed to this report.
About Harm Venhuizen
Harm Venhuizen is an editorial intern at Military Times. He is studying political science and philosophy at Calvin University, where he's also in the Army ROTC program.
Seattle police officers who were in DC during riot at US Capitol placed on administrative leave
By Elise Takahama and Lewis Kamb
Seattle Times staff reporters
Jan. 8, 2021
At least two Seattle police officers who were in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday during the riot at the U.S. Capitol have been placed on administrative leave, according to a Friday night statement from interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz.
“The Department fully supports all lawful expressions of First Amendment freedom of speech, but the violent mob and events that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol were unlawful and resulted in the death of another police officer,” Diaz said in the statement. “… If any SPD officers were directly involved in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, I will immediately terminate them.”
The city’s Office of Police Accountability (OPA) is investigating whether any Police Department policies were violated and will conduct a “full review of any SPD employee activities at the U.S. Capitol.”
Officer Valerie Carson, a spokesperson for the Police Department, said Friday night the officers were not on duty while they were in D.C. The department did not release any other information about the officers and Carson referred further questions to OPA.
Andrew Myerberg, OPA’s civilian director, said late Friday that the patrol chief notified his office about the officers around 9 p.m. Thursday evening, and an internal investigation case was initiated early Friday.
“We learned about this in an email last night,” Myerberg said in a phone interview. “There’s a picture that circulated on social media of the two officers at the protest rally. So, yes, we believe they were there, but we don’t know all the facts yet, so that’s why we’re doing the investigation.”
The OPA will try to determine “what role the officers played” at the D.C. protests, including whether they participated with the mob in the deadly riot that breached the Capitol, he said.
“The fundamental question will be, ‘Is being present at the rally in and of itself a violation of department policy?’” Myerberg said. “And I just don’t know that yet. I think it really depends on what they did and what their role was in those events.”
OPA investigators will also seek to find out if any other Seattle officers may have attended or participated in Wednesday’s events, and if so, to what extent, he said.
Seattle Police Officers Guild Mike Solan did not immediately return a message seeking comment late Friday.
Diaz’s statement comes after a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, protesting President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, interrupting congressional debate and marching through the building, ransacking many areas. A woman was shot and killed inside the Capitol, and Washington’s mayor instituted an evening curfew in an attempt to contain the violence.
U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who responded to the riot, died from injuries sustained during the violence, police confirmed Thursday evening.
“The Department fully supports all lawful expressions of First Amendment freedom of speech, but the violent mob and events that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol were unlawful and resulted in the death of another police officer,” Diaz said in the statement. “… If any SPD officers were directly involved in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, I will immediately terminate them.”
The city’s Office of Police Accountability (OPA) is investigating whether any Police Department policies were violated and will conduct a “full review of any SPD employee activities at the U.S. Capitol.”
Officer Valerie Carson, a spokesperson for the Police Department, said Friday night the officers were not on duty while they were in D.C. The department did not release any other information about the officers and Carson referred further questions to OPA.
Andrew Myerberg, OPA’s civilian director, said late Friday that the patrol chief notified his office about the officers around 9 p.m. Thursday evening, and an internal investigation case was initiated early Friday.
“We learned about this in an email last night,” Myerberg said in a phone interview. “There’s a picture that circulated on social media of the two officers at the protest rally. So, yes, we believe they were there, but we don’t know all the facts yet, so that’s why we’re doing the investigation.”
The OPA will try to determine “what role the officers played” at the D.C. protests, including whether they participated with the mob in the deadly riot that breached the Capitol, he said.
“The fundamental question will be, ‘Is being present at the rally in and of itself a violation of department policy?’” Myerberg said. “And I just don’t know that yet. I think it really depends on what they did and what their role was in those events.”
OPA investigators will also seek to find out if any other Seattle officers may have attended or participated in Wednesday’s events, and if so, to what extent, he said.
Seattle Police Officers Guild Mike Solan did not immediately return a message seeking comment late Friday.
Diaz’s statement comes after a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, protesting President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, interrupting congressional debate and marching through the building, ransacking many areas. A woman was shot and killed inside the Capitol, and Washington’s mayor instituted an evening curfew in an attempt to contain the violence.
U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who responded to the riot, died from injuries sustained during the violence, police confirmed Thursday evening.
By Jesse O’Neill
January 8, 2021 |
Supporters of President Trump clash with police at the US Capitol on Wednesday.James Keivom for The New York Post
A Georgia lawyer who was among the first rioters to storm the U.S. Capitol now claims the mob acted “heroically” — and were like “tourists” who looked at, but didn’t disturb the property.
Self-described “Anti-Communist Counter-Revolutionary” McCall Calhoun, a lawyer for three decades, also excused his retweet of a death threat against President-elect Biden, saying Trump supporters are just naturally “ornery.”
Calhoun made the abhorrent claims in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
When asked about his sharing of a doctored photo of Joe Biden that referenced hanging the president-elect, Calhoun told the outlet, “Trump voters say that all the time,” he said. “We’re just ornery.”
Calhoun even claimed that the violent uprising that left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer, was a peaceful event.
In fact, rioters left feces, urine, trash, busted windows and vandalized offices in their wake.
“The people who went in there, what they did was heroic. It was very patriotic,” he told AJC. “I’m not saying it was the ideal thing to do. I am saying at that time and place those people felt like that was their only hope. They don’t want to lose their democratic republic.”
Calhoun said the worst criminal act he committed was “trespassing,” which he did for the “love of his country.”
Georgia State University law professor Clark Cunningham shared a more realistic legal definition with the newspaper.
“I would say what he did – I would say what all of them did that entered the Capitol —is the serious federal felony of sedition. It’s the domestic equivalent of treason,” he said.
“It wasn’t a sit-in. They knew the Congress was convened to do perhaps the most important thing a Congress can do: preside over the peaceful transfer of power from one president to another.”
Sedition is punishable by 20 years in prison.
Rioters left feces, urine in hallways and offices during mobbing of US Capitol
By Carl Campanile and Yaron Steinbuch
January 8, 2021
They turned the US Capitol into a craphouse.
Some invading rioters defiled the hallowed seat of democracy with their dung in their ill-fated effort to overturn the election, a source close to incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told The Post.
“Congressional staffers saw feces in the hallways,” the source said Friday.
The vile vandals apparently took dumps in bathrooms and then spread around their poop, a Schumer insider said.
“It came from the bathroom and they tracked it around,” the source said. “There was an intentional effort to degrade the Capitol building.”
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) of Brooklyn also reported that some members of the mob urinated on the floors during the rampage.
“There was urine. There was clear desecration,” he told WNYC on Thursday.
Jeffries said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) had a posterboard memorial tribute to late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis on the wall in his office.
“That was missing. It was in an area where protesters had clearly penetrated,” Jeffries said.
Authorities are trying to get to the bottom of who stormed the Capitol and caused widespread vandalism, breaking windows and damaging property as they infiltrated offices and posed for selfies.
Rioters clash with police trying to enter Capitol building through the front doors in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021.
ZUMAPRESS.com
The assault on the building turned deadly when a Capitol Police officer shot and killed one demonstrator, Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force vet who was among those who broke into the bulding.
Police said three other people died from medical emergencies. And Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died in the hospital Thursday after being hit in the head with a fire extinguisher during the riots.
