Breach of the Capitol: Consequences, Repercussions & Reactions

A Proud Boys member and his brother from Oregon have been ordered jailed pending trial on federal charges of conspiring to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, including by allegedly wrenching open a door and impeding police using a pole with a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag.

The arrests Tuesday of Jonathanpeter Allen Klein, 21, of Heppner, Ore., and Matthew Leland Klein, 24, of Sherwood, Ore., bring to at least 25 the number of Proud Boys members and associates charged in the rioting that forced lawmakers to evacuate, delayed Congress’s confirmation of the 2020 election results and led to assaults on nearly 140 police officers.

[Both have been involved in clashes in Portland as well. One faces gun charges there.]

Prosecutors have alleged that four leaders communicated with as many 60 users of an encrypted “Boots on the Ground” channel to coordinate actions in Washington that day by members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a history of violence.

Arguing for Jonathanpeter Klein’s conditional release pending trial, assistant federal defender Michelle M. Sweet of Portland said the home-schooled son of missionaries in South America was a responsible and hard-working man.

Southgate resident Anthony Williams used Facebook to show off photos and videos of himself inside the U.S. Capitol, which gave law enforcement officials enough evidence to arrest him last week.

Williams discussed plans to “storm the swamp” on Facebook weeks before he traveled to Washington, D.C., according to a federal criminal complaint, and later said it was the “proudest day of my life lol.”

Williams posted several times about his intent to travel to Washington, D.C. in the months after the November presidential election.

“Every lie will be revealed,” he posted on Nov. 13. “‘Americans’ who participated in fraudulent scheme to overthrow our duly elected president are TRAITORS. China orchestrated the attack and will pay severely for their transgression. American is a nation under a just GOD. Be prepared to #FightBack #HOLDTHELINE #Trump2020 #NoRetreatSurrender.”

it's thanks to former Attorney General Bill Barr that members of the Oath Keepers could be charged with sedition after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"The sedition memo that came out in September of 2020 was penned by the Barr Department of Justice in connection with the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the summer, but now you're seeing discussion of the sedition statute with a very different group trying to do very different things."

Capitol Riot Suspect Wore ‘I Was There’ Shirt When Arrested
Garret Miller's shirt had a photograph of former President Donald Trump, and it said “Take America Back” and “I Was There, Washington D.C., January 6, 2021.

Authorities say Christian Cortez and Benjamin Larocca, both of Seabrook, drove a rental car to Washington, D.C. to attend the march, and entered the Capitol building during the attack. The two men were identified using footage recorded throughout the day, according to court documents.

In one video, Cortez appears on Capitol grounds near a line of officers, alongside other pro-Trump extremists.

"Oath breakers! Oath breakers!," he yells toward a line of officers, according to court documents.

The FBI said another video was found on Benjamin Larocca's Instagram that appears to be shot from inside the Capitol building, with a caption on the screen reading, "We got in."

"Our house!," he repeatedly chanted, according to court documents.

Self-Proclaimed ‘Sandwich Nazi’ Busted by His Ex-Employees as Capitol Rioter
Just down the street from West Virginia University in the city of Morgantown, sandwich shop owner George Pierre Tanios had a terrible reputation. Ex-employees say he’d berate employees in public and physically fight customers. Online reviews show he’d even shove Trump propaganda in your face.

Tanios embraced the caricature of an overly aggressive shop owner so thoroughly that Dantzler and Denkert say he even referred to himself as “The Sandwich Nazi,” and kept a framed photo of the Seinfeld character “The Soup Nazi” behind the counter—next to photos of customers and ex-employees who were no longer allowed inside the restaurant.

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[After seeing rioter's self-incriminating social media post.] “I was laughing,” Denkert told The Daily Beast. “This is exactly what George would do. He’s always been angry, trying to start fights with people. It doesn't matter how wrong he is, he's going to be outspoken, in somebody's face, trying to start something.”

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“I’m surprised it took this long for him to do something stupid,” Dufalla told The Daily Beast.

“He’s an embarrassment, to fellow hard-working, God-fearing, humble citizens of Morgantown and fellow Trump supporters,” Dufalla added. “I can’t imagine how many of his former employees and fraternities are enjoying his apparent downfall right now. He was easily the most hated man in Morgantown.”

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Tanios and a fellow college-town restaurateur from another state, Julian Elie Khater, were indicted on March 17 for attacking three police officers at the Capitol with bear spray.

When FBI agents showed up at Alford’s Paint and Body Shop to talk with him, Alford said “I wondered when y’all were going to show up. Guess you’ve seen the videos on my Facebook page,” according to the affidavit.

Fontana [CA] man arrested on charges of assaulting officer in Capitol riot

Daniel Rodriguez, 38, was accused of injuring a D.C. Metropolitan police officer with an electroshock weapon as the mob of Trump backers was forcing its way into the building in an attempt to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.

In an eight-count indictment unsealed Wednesday, a federal grand jury also charged Rodriguez with smashing a window of the Capitol and carrying deadly weapons — a flagpole and the electroshock weapon — during his unlawful presence in the building.

Rodriguez is also accused of stealing one of the emergency escape hoods stored beneath the seats of members of Congress. Many lawmakers grabbed their hoods — designed for protection in a terrorist attack — as they fled the House and Senate chambers moments before the mob’s arrival.

[I don't think I'd seen that detail before. Interesting]

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.

“Patriots are storming the Capitol building; there’s violence against patriots by the D.C. police; so we’re en route in a grand theft auto golf cart to the Capitol building right now . . . it’s going down, guys; it’s literally going down right now Patriots storming the Capitol building . . .” Minuta allegedly stated during the drive, the indictment said

April 2 The US Capitol is on lockdown due to an external security threat.

CNN's Lauren Fox reports seeing ambulances and a helicopter outside the building. One person was seen on a stretcher.
DC Fire spokesman Vito Maggiolo says they are responding to a reported shooting at the north barricade of the Capitol and there are indications they will be transporting patients.

U.S. Capitol on lockdown after two USCP officers rammed by car amid reports of shooting

USCP says a suspect is in custody and both officers are injured. All three have been transported to the hospital.

Half of Republicans believe false accounts of deadly U.S. Capitol riot-Reuters/Ipsos poll

Three months after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to try to overturn his November election loss, about half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a non-violent protest or was the handiwork of left-wing activists “trying to make Trump look bad,” a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found.

Six in 10 Republicans also believe the false claim put out by Trump that November’s presidential election “was stolen” from him due to widespread voter fraud, and the same proportion of Republicans think he should run again in 2024, the March 30-31 poll showed.

“Republicans have their own version of reality,” said John Geer, an expert on public opinion at Vanderbilt University. “It is a huge problem. Democracy requires accountability and accountability requires evidence.”

According to the new Reuters/Ipsos poll, Trump remains the most popular figure within the party, with eight in 10 Republicans continuing to hold a favorable impression of him.

CNN

Former House Speaker John Boehner said former President Donald Trump "incited that bloody insurrection" at the US Capitol and blamed his false election claims for the GOP losing control of Congress, according to excerpts from his forthcoming book obtained by The New York Times.

Republicans have wobbled over whether to embrace the 45th President's legacy as an electoral strategy, and Boehner's scathing rebuke amounts to the latest plea by the former de facto head of the GOP to resist Trump's influence as it defines itself in the Biden era.

Trump's "refusal to accept the result of the election not only cost Republicans the Senate but led to mob violence," the former speaker writes in his forthcoming book, "On the House: A Washington Memoir," adding, "It was painful to watch," the Times reported Wednesday.

Boehner also said the former president "incited that bloody insurrection for nothing more than selfish reasons, perpetuated by the [manure] he'd been shoveling since he lost a fair election the previous November."

@TheRickyDavila

Proud Boys insurrectionist Chris Worrell requested a release from jail, citing that he was so worried about covid due to his treatment for his lymphoma. A Judge rejected it saying [Worrell] wasn’t worried about that when he attacked the Capitol without a mask.