Tag: Trump insurrectionists stormed the capitol

Capitol cop beaten with a skateboard by Florida music student during Trump’s insurrection: prosecutors

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Grady Douglas Owens, a 21-year-old music student in Winter Park, FL, remains held in jail on some of the most serious charges filed among the hundreds arrested in connection with the January 6 Capitol riot.

Boyle over the head with a skateboard during the melee at the Capitol. Boyle suffered a concussion and a finger injury from the attack, its report stated.

Owens was denied bail Friday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Irick. The FBI complaint shows that he faces charges of assaulting an officer, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, along with the trespassing and obstruction charges faced by other protesters. Owens faced up to 36 years in prison. Continue reading.

Oath Keepers founder, associates exchanged 19 calls from start of Jan. 6 riot through breach, prosecutors allege

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Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, his deputy and three members who guarded Roger Stone exchanged nearly 20 phone calls over three hours on Jan. 6, coinciding with the first assault on police barricades protecting the U.S. Capitol and spanning the time the three members breached the building, prosecutors charged Thursday.

In a new indictment adding previously charged Stone guards Joshua James, 33, of Arab, Ala., and Roberto Minuta, 36, of Prosper, Tex., to an Oath Keepers conspiracy case that now has 12 defendants, prosecutors bluntly laid a path to Rhodes and a person they said he put in charge of his group’s operations that day.

Prosecutors identified that individual only as “Person 10.” Rhodes in interviews has said he tapped a former Army explosives expert and Blackwater contractor nicknamed “Whip” as on-the-ground team leader. Continue reading.

Mother of injured DC officer unloads on the GOP after Trump claims Capitol rioters were ‘hugging and kissing’ police

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Speaking to CNN’s Don Lemon this Monday, the mother of a DC Police officer who was brutally assaulted during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 said that she and her family are outraged at former president Donald Trump’s claim that the rioters posed “zero threat” and were even “hugging and kissing” police.”

“For us, for our family, and for each and every police officer that I know that Michael’s in touch with constantly, it’s outrageous. It’s so dehumanizing. It’s so devaluing,” Terry Fanone said.

“The thing that is so profound is after [Trump] made those statements, the silence that followed — and where was the outrage from other people who were there … and the silence to me implies indifference, and I could be wrong, but indifference and complicity,” she said. Continue reading.

Accused Capitol rioter arrested in T-shirt reading ‘I was there’ with Trump’s photo, insurrection date

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When police showed up at Garret Miller’s Dallas home earlier this year to arrest him on charges that he had participated in the Capitol riot, his wardrobe spoke for itself.

The 34-year-old unemployed man, who allegedly forced his way into the U.S. Capitol building and threatened a congresswoman and a police officer, was clad in a T-shirt emblazoned with a photograph of former president Donald Trump and text declaring: “I Was There, Washington D.C., January 6, 2021.”

New details of his Jan. 20 arrest were revealed this week in court documents as prosecutors urged a judge not to release him before his trial, noting that he allegedly admitted to bringing a gun into the Capitol during the deadly insurrection. Police also found an array of weapons and gear in Miller’s house, prosecutors said, including a grappling hook, ropes, body armor, night vision goggles, a crossbow and arrows, and multiple firearms with ammunition. Continue reading.

Two Capitol Police officers sue Trump for ‘physical and emotional injuries’ suffered in riots

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Two Capitol Police officers who battled the mob of Donald Trump supporters that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 are suing the former president for the physical and emotional injuries they say they suffered in the attacks.

In a federal suit filed Tuesday in D.C., Officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby allege that for months, Trump rallied the insurrectionists with baseless election fraud claims that eventually culminated in the breach of the Capitol that left five dead, including a Capitol Police officer. About 140 police officers were injured, according to the police union, and two officers who had been on duty at the Capitol that day later died by suicide. 

“Both United States Capitol Police Officers reported for duty on January 6, 2021, without any suspicion that they would soon become the targets of Trump’s followers,” according to the suit. Continue reading.

Former Trump chief of staff calls ex-President’s Capitol riot claims ‘manifestly false’

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The former chief of staff to ex-President Donald Trump on Saturday pushed back against his former boss’ recent attempt to whitewash the history of the January 6 Capitol riot. 

Mick Mulvaney, who stepped down as Trump’s special envoy to Northern Ireland after the insurrection, called Trump’s comments that his supporters were “hugging and kissing” police officers and posed “zero threat,” despite widespread violence, “manifestly false.”

“I was surprised to hear the President say that. Clearly there were people who were behaving themselves, and then there were people who absolutely were not, but to come out and say that everyone was fine and there was no risk, that’s just manifestly false — people died, other people were severely injured,” Mulvaney told CNN’s Pamela Brown on “Newsroom.” Continue reading.

FBI: Texas Man Hurled Lit Firecracker at Cops During Capitol Riot

The FBI arrested a Texas man on Friday who allegedly hurled a lit firecracker at police officers during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. David Judd, 35, has been charged with assaulting police, resisting or impeding officers, and civil disorder for what prosecutors describe as his attack against police guarding the Capitol building’s Lower West Terrace doors. Judd was taken into custody by the Dallas FBI field office on Friday morning. According to an affidavit, he was caught on surveillance footage joining other protesters in trying to shove their way through a line of police officers. He then allegedly helped other protesters use riot shields stolen from police to make a “shield wall” against officers before lighting a firecracker and throwing it at the line of officers.

A fellow member of the crowd was apparently so shocked by the move that they yelled: “You going to do that and run away! What the fuck.” According to the affidavit, that same unidentified person then notified others in the area that “he threw a firecracker, a big giant, what the…” In addition to being captured in footage from the riots, Judd also posted to social media before the rally boasting of having “a license to carry a firearm” before proclaiming it was time to “fight to save this country and support the greatest president,” federal prosecutors say. View the post here.

Scoop: House chamber hardened with bulletproof doors

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The House chamber is being transformed into a massive safe room for members with the addition of bulletproof doors.

Why it matters: One of the most dramatic images from the Jan. 6 attack was Capitol Police officers inside the chamber holding protesters at bay by pointing their guns at them after they broke windows in the doors. The new doors will provide fresh fortification.

Details: An Axios reporter leaving the Capitol on Wednesday night saw workers removing doors on one of the double-doored entrances to the gallery one level above the floor of the chamber. Some members huddled there on Jan. 6. Continue reading.

‘Close ally’ of Marjorie Taylor Greene caught on video inside the US Capitol on Jan 6

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CNN reported last month that “a close ally” of Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene partook in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Now, CNN reports that there’s footage showing Anthony Aguero inside the building on that day.

Aguero refused to say whether or not he was inside the building and claimed he went to the Capitol as an “independent journalist” to document the event, but videos reviewed by CNN’s KFile are the first visual confirmation that Aguero breached the building. He can be heard chanting “heave ho” as rioters were attempting to break in on the West Side of the Capitol.

Another video filmed immediately following the riot, Aguero said “a message was sent” by the rioters, later describing them as “patriots.” Continue reading.

Justice Dept. faces risks, rewards with riot sedition charges

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Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers face risks and rewards if they move forward with sedition charges against members of the mob that overran the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Many legal experts say sedition charges are a natural fit given what happened at the Capitol that day.

Hundreds of former President Trump’s supporters overwhelmed Capitol Police and interfered with Congress’s lawful certification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory. Five people were killed, including a Capitol Police officer, with dozens more injured. Continue reading.