[ad_1]
Thursday’s new charges brought together two people who allegedly injured police officers and a man who shocked many across the country by carrying a Confederate flag inside the Capitol, where he was photographed in depth.
“We know who you are if you’re out there, and FBI agents are coming to pick you up,” he said during a safety briefing at the inauguration at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters in Washington.
The two Seefries were charged on Thursday with entering restricted grounds and violently entering or driving disorderly inside the Capitol, according to a criminal complaint in DC district court. Hunter Seefried is also accused of breaking through a window in the Capitol, according to court records.
Kevin Seefried was one of the most wanted people represented in the riot as the FBI asked the public for advice last week.
The images of him carrying the Confederate battle flag on Capitol Hill deserved his own “information search” leaflet as the FBI sought to identify him; many other viral photos from January 6 weren’t so conspicuously singled out.
Seefried’s alleged violation was the first time the Confederate Battle Flag, which persists as a symbol of racism and white supremacy in modern America, has been inside the United States Capitol. During the Civil War, Confederate soldiers failed to enter Washington.
Violence against the police
Two men have been charged separately for incidents of violence against police during the siege on Capitol Hill, marking the first notable federal charges for alleged crimes against law enforcement.
Robert Sanford was arrested Thursday in Pennsylvania and charged with throwing a fire extinguisher that hit three police officers in the head as they were among the crowd on a terrace at the Capitol. Sanford now faces four federal criminal charges related to the riot, including assault, resisting or obstructing officers on duty.
Court documents and footage from the scene led prosecutors to allege that Sanford threw a red object, which appeared to be a fire extinguisher, at police, hitting the one wearing a helmet. The extinguisher then ricocheted, hitting two other officers, one of whom was not wearing a helmet.
Another man – Peter Francis Stager of Arkansas – faces a criminal charge for allegedly beating a uniformed officer. He allegedly used a flag pole with an American flag placed on it to strike the officer as he lay on the ground surrounded by crowds, according to DC District Court court records.
A video also showed Stager saying “death is the cure” for the people on Capitol Hill, prosecutors said.
There are no known arrests linked to the death of Capitol Constable Brian Sicknick at this time.
Man accused of threatening Pelosi will remain in prison
“If I had a more concerning threats case in front of me, I don’t remember it,” DC District Court Judge Michael Harvey said Thursday in a hour-long hearing on the question. if Meredith was to remain in detention. The judge questioned on Wednesday whether the Justice Department had done enough to address the need to keep Meredith in jail, as he is now being held on two relatively minor counts.
Meredith reportedly drove from Colorado to Washington a day before Trump’s rally, carrying more than 2,500 rounds and an assault rifle. According to court records, he texted acquaintances that he wanted to shoot or run over Pelosi and shoot DC Mayor Muriel Bowser. He also discussed “wartime” and the bloodshed days after Trump’s rally, law enforcement said. He is currently facing two charges, for drafting threats and possession of a gun and unregistered ammunition, according to court documents.
Prosecutors noted in Thursday’s hearing that they believed Meredith was a follower of QAnon and that he butted another person in Washington last week in a road rage incident. .
Harvey rejected arguments that Meredith could not be legally detained or that he could be released and supervised and would not be a danger.
Warnings and security planning continue
New York Police Department deputy commissioner John Miller warned on a teleconference Thursday that the temperature was elevated as it relates to intelligence surrounding the inauguration. There are no credible threats against New York, Miller said.
“Nothing compares to past threats; we’ve never seen Americans fighting Americans on the streets of the nation’s capital, possibly since the Civil War,” Miller said.
Miller said the rioters managed to enter the Capitol, indicating it was a “milestone” for the movement.
But he went on to say that there were indications that arrests made across the country may have hampered this movement.
A recurring theme in descriptions of the allegations against the federal defendants has been the number of people who voluntarily surrendered to law enforcement after being identified as part of the melee and spoke to authorities about their involvement.
A man arrested Thursday in Alabama, Joshua Matthew Black, for example, spoke of spilling blood on the Senate floor in Jesus’ name – as he himself was bleeding from his cheek, according to his criminal indictment documents and pictures of him from that day and after.
Speaking to the FBI later, he told them he had achieved his goal.
Wray, the director of the FBI, said in a security briefing at FEMA’s inauguration Thursday that the office was monitoring all incoming leads, from calls for armed protests to other threats emerging from Jan.6. .
He noted that the FBI had some “confidence” in its preparation and security for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden next week.
CNN’s Evan Perez, Shimon Prokupecz, Allison Malloy, and Paul Murphy contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link