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This photo provided by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office shows Garret Miller. Miller was arrested for participating in the assault on the U.S. Capitol this month and issuing violent threats, including a call to assassinate Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York City.
Dallas County Sheriff’s Office via AP
A Texas man accused of invading the Capitol and threatening Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Monday he was indeed following orders from then-President Donald Trump when he joined a crowd that took to assault Congress on January 6.
Garret Miller also apologized to Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., for writing “Murder AOC” in a Twitter message. He said he would be prepared to testify in Congress or at a riot trial.
Miller, 34, also threatened on a social media account a Capitol Police officer who had shot and killed another rioter, claiming he planned to “tie his neck with a nice rope,” authorities said .
The Richardson resident’s apology came as a Dallas federal judge ordered him to take him into custody without bail pending trial, after finding he posed both a danger to the community and a risk of leaked, according to the North Texas District Attorney’s Office.
MIller is one of dozens of people accused of taking part in the riot, which began shortly after Trump called a rally outside the White House, where he urged his supporters to pressure Congress to that he reject the election of Joe Biden to the presidency.
In a statement released by defense attorney Clinton Broden, Miller said he was motivated by Trump’s false claims that he was cheated out of re-election by electoral fraud and said: “I am ashamed of my comments.”
“I was in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021, because I believed I was following former President Trump’s instructions and he was my President and Commander-in-Chief. His statements also made me believe that the election had been stolen from him. Miller said.
“Nonetheless, I fully recognize that Joe Biden is now President of the United States and that the election is over. Donald Trump is no longer President and I would have no reason to continue following his example.”
“While I never intended to harm MP Ocasio-Cortez, nor to injure members of the Capitol Police, I admit that my social media posts were totally inappropriate. They were made at a time when Donald Trump was leading me to believe that an American election had been stolen, “he said.
Miller said, “I want to publicly apologize to Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and the Capitol Police. I have always supported law enforcement and I am ashamed of my comments.”
He also said in the statement that he was unarmed when he entered the Capitol and remained in his rotunda.
He said he left Washington and returned to Texas “immediately after President Trump asked us to go home.”
Miller, who was arrested last Wednesday, said “until very recently” he had not been interested in or involved in politics.
“Nonetheless, what Donald Trump said about the election really touched me and I felt I had to support him. Yet I recognize that I am solely responsible for my actions and that there is no has no apologies for what I did, ”he added.
“I come from a good and supportive family. My parents and brothers do not deserve the pain I have caused them. I accept full responsibility for my actions and I am ready to testify in any trial or proceeding. Congress, ”Miller said.
Miller is indicted in US District Court in Washington, DC, for: knowingly entering or remaining in restricted buildings or land without legal authorization; violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds; obstruct or prevent any official proceedings; certain acts during civil unrest and threats in interstate commerce.
Ocasio-Cortez had responded to Miller accused of threatening her by writing on Twitter: “On the one hand you have to laugh, and on the other hand knowing that the reason they were so cheeky is that they thought they were going to succeed.
Ocasio-Cortez said she feared for her life during the riot and that members of Congress were “nearly murdered.”
“I didn’t know if I was going to make it to the end of this day alive, and not just in a general sense but also in a very, very specific sense,” she said on an Instagram Live video on the 12th. January. without giving more details.
Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for inciting a riot. He is due to be tried next month in the Senate, where he risks being banned from becoming president again.
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