DOJ announces arrest of high-level rioters on Capitol Hill



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Justice Department officials on Saturday announced the arrest of three of the most high-profile accused rioters at the Capitol siege last week – including the shirtless, furry, horned invader who has gone viral after transforming the Senate dais into a personal throne worthy of Conan the Barbarian.

Jacob Anthony Chansley called the FBI Washington office on Thursday and then went to police, authorities said.

Chansley said he came as part of a group effort with other Arizona ‘Patriots’ at the President’s request that all ‘Patriots’ come to Washington on January 6, 2021, declared the DOJ.

Chansley, 33, who calls himself the “QAnon Shaman,” was just the strangest of hundreds of pro-Trump extremists who raped the Capitol on Wednesday and are now being arrested across the country.

The federal government also announced the arrest of Adam Christian Johnson, 36, seen in a viral video that allegedly took away the lectern of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a West Virginia lawmaker who was usefully – for investigators – broadcast live shouting, “Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!”

Thanks in large part to footage released by the rioters themselves that day, and now flooding the internet on Saturday, prosecutors had filed at least 17 cases against named suspects in a federal district court, alleging serious crimes such as as a violent entry and assault on federal agents. . At least 40 other District of Columbia Superior Court cases allege less serious charges, including curfew violations and non-violent gun crimes. They face a variety of offenses, including assaults on police officers, entering restricted areas of the US Capitol, stealing federal property and threatening lawmakers.

Adam Christian Johnson carries the lectern of House President Nancy Pelosi through the rotunda of the Capitol building.
Adam Christian Johnson carries the lectern of House President Nancy Pelosi through the rotunda of the Capitol building.
Getty Images

Prosecutors said other cases remained under seal. Mark Warner, a Democrat who is the new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Saturday called on mobile operators to preserve social media content linked to the insurgency, which has left five dead, including a Capitol policeman .

Johnson, the man from Parrish, Fla., Who was reportedly pictured in a viral photo carrying Pelosi’s lectern, was arrested in his home state on Friday and is being held in Pinellas County Jail on a federal warrant after that it was picked up by U.S. marshals, ABC News reported.

He was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in a building or restricted land without legal authorization; one count of theft of government property; and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds, federal authorities said.

Johnson is a stay-at-home dad who lives with his wife and five children, the Bradenton Herald reported.

The lectern was found the day after the siege, in a hallway in the Senate wing, off the rotunda, authorities said. It has a value of “over $ 1,000,” according to authorities, who quoted the House of Representatives conservative. Evans, 35, of West Virginia, a first-year member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. He apparently streamed entering the Capitol, with the crowd, on his Facebook page, shouting as he crossed the threshold: “We are, we are!” Derrick Evans is on Capitol Hill! “

Accused of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct, he resigned from the House of Delegates on Saturday.

“I hope this helps start the healing process,” he said in a resignation letter, “so that we can all move forward and come together as’ one nation, under God “. His lawyer insisted that he “was not part of the main body” of the rioters and had done nothing wrong during the violation.

West Virginia GOP lawmaker Derrick Evans during the Capitol siege.
West Virginia GOP lawmaker Derrick Evans during the Capitol siege.
West Virginia Legislative Assembly via AP; Facebook

Of those whose arrests were announced on Saturday, the horned crown of the oddity still belongs to Chansley.

“This individual carried a spear, about 6 feet long, with an American flag attached just below the blade,” the federal government said of Chansley, 33, also known as Jake Angeli, which was busted on Saturday.

Chansley is a staunch Trump supporter wears the same horned outfit while gushing conspiracy theories in the state capital of Phoenix, according to the Arizona Republic. Waking up QAnon supporters at a Trump rally in February 2020 in Phoenix, Chansley told the crowd, and it’s only getting bigger. We’re the mainstream now, ”the outlet reported.

He was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a building or restricted land without legal authorization, as well as violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds.

“The fact that we had a group of our traitors in the office crouching down, putting on their gas masks and taking refuge in their underground bunker, I consider it a victory,” Chansley, identified as Angeli, told NBC. News after the riot.

He said his beliefs were based on researching the internet for groups he believes control the world, such as the Illuminati.

“At a certain point, everything clicked in a certain way,” he told the Republic. “Oh my God. I now see the reality of what is happening. Also on Saturday, the mayor of Gravette, Arkansas released a public statement after Richard Barnett, a former resident, was arrested after being caught. pictured in Nancy Pelosi’s office, her dirty work boot on her desk. “It’s a shame that something like that is what puts you in the public eye,” Mayor Kurt Maddox told Fox24. “This is not the city of Gravette, this person is not who is Gravette nor who are the people.

Resident Joseph Cowan told the station: “We are a bunch of good people. [and] we just had this spoiled egg, I guess, which has caused Gravette a lot of trouble now.

With Post Wires

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