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A Texas man who participated in the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6 has been accused of threatening to “assassinate” New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Garret Miller of Texas faces five criminal charges stemming from his participation in the pro-Trump riot, including “knowingly entering or staying in restricted buildings or land without legal authority” and uttering threats.
According to court documents, he tweeted, “Assassinate AOC.”
He is also accused of violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds, obstruction or obstruction of any official procedure and certain acts during the civil unrest.
Asked for a comment on Saturday, Miller’s attorney Clint Broden said in an email: “The charges are based on an inappropriate comment made in the heat of the moment on Congressman Ocasio’s Twitter feed. – Get out. “
On Friday night, Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democratic congresswoman from New York, responded to the news that Miller had been arrested, and posted a selfie on Facebook, writing that he “just wanted to incriminate me a little lol” .
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: “Well you did it!”
She added: “On the one hand you have to laugh, and on the other hand you have to know that [the Capitol rioters] were also cheeky because they thought they would succeed.
Miller also reportedly said that an officer who shot and killed a Trump supporter inside Capitol Hill “deserved to die” and would not “survive long” because it’s “huntin ‘[g] season”.
Broden said: “Mr. Miller regrets the actions he took in a misguided effort to show his support for former President Trump. He enjoys the full support of his family and has always been a law-abiding citizen.
“His comments on social media reflect very thoughtless political hyperbole in very divided times and will certainly not happen again in the future. He can’t wait to put it all behind him.
The criminal complaint filed in federal court in Washington DC lists example after example of social media posts apparently placing Miller on Capitol Hill, participating in the riot.
Several hours after the insurgency, authorities say, Twitter user @garretamiller publicly posted a Capitol video captioned: “From inside Congress.”
“Looking at Miller’s Facebook account, there are numerous articles regarding his involvement in criminal activity on Capitol Hill,” officials wrote.
On January 2, Miller reportedly wrote on Facebook, “I’m about to cross the country for this trump shit. Monday… Crazy stuff is going to happen this week. The dollar could crumble… the civil war could start… I don’t know what to do in Washington.
On January 3, Miller reportedly said he was bringing Washington “a grapple and a level 3 rope and vest. Mouth guards and bump cap”. The last time he was in Washington for a pro-Trump rally, Miller reportedly added, he “had a lot of guns” with him.
Miller also appears to have sought to set the record straight about the participants in the riot. When someone wrote on Twitter that “the people who storm Capitol Hill are not patriots. They are PAID INFILTRATORS, ”Miller reportedly replied,“ No, we stormed him. We were [sic] soft. We were [sic] without weapons. We knew what to do.
In a Facebook chat on January 15, Miller reportedly wrote that he was “happy to make death threats so I got derailed tonight lol” and that he was “happy to be banned now [from Twitter]”. When asked if the police knew his name, he reportedly wrote: “[I]It might be time for me to… be difficult to locate.
A bail hearing was scheduled for Monday.
The Washington Post, meanwhile, reported that the FBI and the Justice Department were considering not charging some of the hundreds of people arrested for the riot.
It was “a politically charged proposal,” the newspaper said, “but an alert to practical concern that hundreds of these cases could flood the local courthouse.”
Donald Trump has been indicted for inciting the attack on Capitol Hill. He will face a trial in the Senate.
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