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Many supporters of President Donald Trump who took part in the riot at the U.S. Capitol last week have not shied away from making their identities known.
As rioters climbed the barricades and entered the building, people – often without masks – broadcast the events live, posted photos on social media and marched through the building, smashing windows and destroying property as the members of Congress were in hiding.
Now, federal authorities are using images released by some rioters to make arrests as more information comes to light on who stormed the Capitol.
Here are some of the people who were in the fray.
Richard barnett
An image of Richard Barnett – taken with his foot on a desk in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. – quickly went viral last week. Barnett looked relaxed as he reclined in an office chair and later picked up an envelope from his desk.
“I wrote him a bad note,” Barnett, 60, of Gravette, Arkansas, reportedly said by a New York Times reporter who tweeted that he spoke with Barnett after leaving Pelosi’s office.
He was arrested in Arkansas on Friday on federal charges of restricted entry and stay, violent entry and theft of public property, the Justice Department said.
Barnett said he knocked on the door but was carried inside by other rioters.
The mayor of his hometown, Kurt Maddox, condemned his alleged actions, saying: “It’s too bad something like this is what puts you in the public eye.”
Jake Angeli
Jake Angeli was among those whose images became the public faces of the riot. Doning a fur hat with horns and a face paint inspired by the American flag, Angeli stormed the Capitol shirtless and jubilant afterwards.
“The fact that we had a bunch of our traitors at the office stoop down, put on their gas masks and retreat to their underground bunker, I consider that a victory,” Angeli, 33, said last week. .
Angeli, whose legal name is Jacob Anthony Chansley, is a YouTuber supporting QAnon who was also among the pro-Trump protesters who gathered outside the Maricopa County Elections Department in Phoenix on November 5, claiming the election had been stolen.
He was arrested on Saturday in connection with the riot. Michael Sherwin, the acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, said Angeli was charged with “knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or land without legal authorization and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on the grounds. of the Capitol ”. Before being taken into custody, Angeli compared his actions to those of Mohandas K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
“What I was doing was civil disobedience,” he said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. … I walked through an open door, man.”
Leonard guthrie
Leonard Guthrie from Cape May, New Jersey attended the protest and does not blame Trump for the violence.
Guthrie, 48, told NBC Philadelphia he did not enter the building and was arrested after crossing a police line, admitting he “disobeyed a law”.
Calling the protesters who stormed the building “stupid”, Guthrie said their actions were “not what it was about.”
“It was a revival. It was not about knocking on doors,” he said, stressing that he did not believe Trump had instigated violence.
In some of his public posts, Guthrie talks about the threat of the loose collection of activists known as the antifa: “We may be called tin foil hat groups, but I will wear my tin foil in knowing my family and militia are ready just in case. “
Guthrie, who did not return requests for comment, was arrested on the day of the riot and charged with illegal entry. He was released overnight and on his way home he hit a deer.
“Beautiful end to what started as a God-filled day,” he said of the collision.
Mark Leffingwell
Mark Leffingwell was charged Thursday with assaulting a federal law enforcement officer.
The Justice Department alleged that Leffingwell “entered the Senate side of the Capitol and, arrested by law enforcement, hit an officer in the helmet and in the chest.” He was also charged with illegal and violent entry.
Leffingwell, of Seattle, has been released on his wife’s personal commitment, NBC affiliate KING of Seattle reported. Leffingwell could not be reached immediately for comment on Monday.
Eric Gavelek Munchel
Eric Gavelek Munchel, whom the Internet has dubbed the “zipper guy”, was arrested Sunday on federal charges.
Munchel, of Tennessee, was “charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in a building or restricted land without legal authority and with one count of violent entry and conduct messy on Capitol Hill grounds, ”the Justice Department said. It is not clear if Munchel has a lawyer.
Munchel, a former Florida bartender, was pictured in the Senate chamber wearing a mask and wearing plastic ties known as flexible cuffs.
“Photos illustrating his presence show a person who appears to be Munchel wearing plastic straps, an object in a holster on his right hip and a cell phone mounted to his chest with the camera facing out, apparently to record the events. of the day “, according to the authorities. said.
Derrick evans
One of the people who forced members of Congress into hiding from the riot was himself a lawmaker.
The man, Derrick Evans, a representative for the Republican state of West Virginia, was arrested by federal authorities on Friday for entering a restricted building and raping.
Evans “posted live on his Facebook page a video of himself joining and encouraging a crowd to illegally enter the United States Capitol,” the Department of Justice said in a press release.
In the video, which was deleted, Evans shouted, “Here we are! We’re in it! Derrick Evans is on Capitol Hill!” according to the authorities.
“Bring the tear gas. We don’t care,” Evans yells. “We are taking this country back whether you like it or not. Today is a trial. We are taking this country back.”
At another point, he is heard asking, “Where are the Proud Boys?” referring to the all-male far-right group of “Western chauvinists”.
As the rioters pushed the officers past them, Evans said on the stream that he hadn’t touched anything and was just watching. Evans told people not to vandalize before yelling, “Patriots inside, baby.”
In a Facebook post defending his actions, Evans said he was there as an “independent member of the media.”
The West Virginia Democratic Party called on Evans to step down. Prior to his arrest, his lawyer said he would not resign because “he was exercising his First Amendment rights to peacefully protest and film a historic and dynamic event.”
But Evans resigned on Saturday in a short letter to the state governor, who provided no comment beyond the announcement.
Adam johnson
Adam Johnson, 36, has been charged with entering or remaining in a restricted building, stealing government property and violently entering the Capitol grounds after he was seen carrying the Speaker’s lectern across the Capitol.
Authorities said they found Johnson, of Parrish, Fla., Through an “open source search” as his image carrying the lectern was blasted across the country.
In the photo, Johnson smiled while wearing a Trump hat.
Johnson, a father of five, was released on Monday, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
“He would just like to go home with his family,” his lawyer, David Bigney, told The Times.
Johnson and his lawyer could not be reached immediately for comment on Monday.
Aaron Mostofsky
The son of a New York judge was among the rioters.
The man, Aaron Mostofsky, wore furs during the storming of the Capitol. A spokesperson for his father, Justice Shlomo Mostofsky of the Kings County Supreme Court in Brooklyn, confirmed to Law360 that it was indeed his son pictured on Capitol Hill.
In an interview with the New York Post during the riot, Aaron Mostofsky, who gave only his first name, said he stormed the Capitol because the election was “stolen.” The Post said Mostofsky was holding a Capitol Police riot shield, which he claimed to have found on the ground.
He was spotted by the Post leaving his home on Friday and it is not known whether charges are being laid.
A representative for her father, the judge, did not respond to requests for comment.
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