Thread by @alanfeuer

Robert Sanford, the retired PA firefighter who has been charged in the DC riot, went to the Capitol following "the President's instructions," a complaining witness told the FBI.

Peter Harding, a Buffalo area man, has been charged by feds in the Capitol riot. The FBI notes that he was captured in social media photo lighting fire to media camera equipment outside building before entering.

The FBI says Kevin Lyons was "evasive" at first about being inside the Capitol. Then, when agents showed him an Instagram pic he'd taken & posted of Nancy Pelosi's office, he caved.
"Wow, you're pretty good," he said. "That was only up for an hour."

Kevin Seefried told the feds that he and his son Hunter went to DC on Jan. 6 from their home in Delaware "to hear President Trump speak."
They brought along the Confederate battle flag from the house "where it is usually displayed outside."

The feds were able to find & charge Jenny Cudd of Texas in part b/c she posted a FB video of her incursion on the Capitol.
"We did break down Nancy Pelosi's office door & somebody stole her gavel..." Cudd said. "...Hell yes I am proud of my actions."

A bail hearing is about to begin in the case of Cleveland Meredith.
Meredith has been charged w/traveling to DC w/an assault rifle, a pistol painted like a US flag and armor piercing rounds. He's also accused of threatening to kill Nancy Pelosi & Mayor Muriel Bowser of DC.

The govt starts the hearing by arguing that the "interstate communication of threats" is a crime of violence and so Meredith should be detained.

Meredith's lawyer counters that's incorrect under case law.

Judge Michael Harvey agrees with the government: sending text messages conveying threats against people is a crime of violence.

Prosecutor is now asking to move onto a secure Zoom channel to avoid revealing non-public information about the investigation into Meredith.

NEW: Feds have charged Peter Stager w/beating a DC police officer with an American flag.

"Everybody in there is a treasonous traitor," Stager said in a video obtained by the FBI. "Death is the only remedy for what's in that building."

According to court papers, Stager claims he thought the guy he was beating w/the flagpole was "Antifa"--even though the words "METROPOLITAN POLICE" were clearly on the cop's uniform.

Back to the Cleveland Meredith bail hearing:
Government says that Meredith is a QAnon believer.

Meredith's lawyer is saying his texts were meant as a joke.
Meredith wrote that he wanted to put a bullet into Nancy Pelosi's "noggin" on "live tv."
He also wrote, of Mayor Bowser, “I may wander over to the Mayor’s office and put a 5.56 in her skull.”

DECISION: Federal judge rules that Cleveland Meredith, charged w/threatening to kill Nancy Pelosi, should be detained pending trial.
Many Capitol rioters have been released. But Meredith, who came to DC w/an arsenal of weapons, was found to be a potential danger, the judge ruled.

New charges filed against Matthew Black, of Alabama, for storming the Capitol.
"We just wanted to get inside the building," Black said in a YouTube video. "I wanted to get inside the building so I could plead the blood of Jesus over it."

According to court papers, Matthew Black felt "like the spirit of God wanted" him "to go in the Senate room."
When he got there, he felt he'd accomplished his goal.

"I praised the name of Jesus on the Senate floor. That was my goal. I think that was God’s goal.”

After the Capitol mob breached the final barricade, court papers say, John E. Sullivan of Utah, in his flak vest & gas mask, shouted, "We accomplished this shit. We did this together. Fuck yeah! We are all a part of this history,” and “Let’s burn this shit down.”

Sullivan, the leader of a protest group called Insurgence USA, filmed the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbit, prosecutors say.
He also filmed rioters scaling the Capitol's walls.
“You guys are fucking savage," he said, according to court papers. "Let’s go!”

The Q Shaman's lawyer says Trump should pardon his client.
"He invited his faithful, those who had been longstanding supporters of him and his cause, those who felt for the first time in their lives that their political voices were being heard."

stltoday.com/news/local/cri…

New court papers filed overnight in the case of Jacob Chansley, the Q Shaman, say that after storming the Capitol in his Viking cosplay suit, Chansley left VP Mike Pence a note on his desk in the Senate.
"It's only a matter of time," it said. "Justice is coming."

Prosecutors say Chansley is a flight risk b/c he is unemployed, a "regular drug user" & able to raise "large sums of money for travel through non-traditional sources
as one of the leaders and mascots of QAnon."

On a podcast, prosecutors say, Chansley has confessing to getting high for the 1st time at 11. He's also spoken openly about "his belief that he is an alien, a higher being, and he is here on Earth to ascend to another reality."

In the latest Capitol riot court case filing, prosecutors say that a Capitol Police officer grabbed & shook Bob Bauer's hand as he entered the building w/his cousin.
“It’s your house now,” the officer apparently said.
Bauer believes the cop was acting out of fear.

NEW: Federal prosecutors have unsealed charges against Jennifer L. Ryan, the Texas woman who flew to the Capitol riot on a private plane.

In a now-deleted FB video, prosecutors say, Ryan is heard saying “We are going to f---ing go in here. Life or death, it doesn’t matter."
Just before entering the building, she adds: “Y’all know who to hire for your realtor. Jenna Ryan for your realtor.”

MORE new charges just unsealed against Daniel Goodwyn, described by the FBI as a "self-proclaimed" member of the Proud Boys.

These Instagram DMs b/t Goodwyn and a friend show him appearing to refute in real time the myth that Antifa was behind the Capitol riot.

"My dad said you are Antifa pretending to be Trump supporters."
"Tell your dad if he doesn't want his guns I can find some folks who will."

The FBI charged Matthew Bledsoe w/illegally entering the Capitol w/evidence from his Instagram account including a video of him saying: "This is our house. We pay for this shit."
His wife's FB page corroborated: “Matt was inside the Capitol...My husband is a Patriot solider."

NEW: Prosecutors unseal charges against Dominic Pezzola, aka Spaz, a Proud Boys members and former Marine who led the charge on the Capitol.
According to an FBI witness, Spaz said his crew would've killed anyone they came across inside including Pelosi and Pence.

Pezzola, the FBI witness said, claimed his group would be returning to DC for the inauguration and "that they plan to kill every single 'm-fer' they can."
The witness said the men "all had firearms or access to firearms."

The FBI says Pezzola, aka Spaz, is 44 and from Rochester.
In the bio to his Telegram account, he calls himself “Marine vet / boxer / patriot/ Proud Boy 2nd°.”

Like so many others, Joshua Lollar, of Springs, Texas, found himself charged w/storming the Capitol because of his FB page. It's a story in four acts.

Act 1: Busting In.

Act 2: It's About to Get Spicey Boi!

Act 3: Got Gassed and Fought With Cops

Act 4: This is Your Sister: "Please get off Facebook or delete you in the capital."

In 10 mins or so, a bail hearing is expected to begin in Phoenix for Jacob Chansley, aka the Q Shaman.
Images of Chansley at the Capitol in his strange Viking cosplay went viral. But prosecutors say he was part of a plot to "capture and assassinate" US officials.

In a bail letter filed last night, prosecutors said that Chansley believed VP Pence was a "child-trafficking traitor." He is accused of leaving Pence a note on the Senate floor saying, "It's only a matter of time, justice is coming."
Stay tuned for details of the hearing.

Gerald Williams, a federal defender who is representing Chansley, says he has no concerns about his client's competency.
The govt bail letter last night laid out Chansley's history of drug use and apparent mental illness.

Judge Deborah Fine notes that the govt has raised mental health issues. But the prosecutor, Todd Allison, says he does not want to hold a competency hearing.

AUSA Allison begins by saying the govt wants to detain Chansley as a flight risk and danger to community.
He describes Chansley on the day of the Capitol riot. It's still remarkable to hear it. Chansley wore an outfit of horns, face paint and was shouting into a bullhorn.

Allison says Chansely is "not connected to reality."
He notes that Chansley has said, for example, that he is an extra-terrestrial.
He has no steady job, lives w/his family in AZ, has few assets or incomes, mooches rides from friends.
So, Allison concludes, he's a flight risk.

Even as the Chansley hearing goes on, more charges are being unsealed.
Samuel Camargo of Florida spoke w/federal agents after entering the Capitol, writing on social media, "I believed I've been cleared."
Given that the post was included in his criminal complaint, he was wrong.

The FBI says that Jacob G. Hiles showed up at the Capitol riot wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned w/the logo FUCK ANTIFA.

“Feelin cute...might start a revolution later, IDK – in Capitol Hill,” court papers say he wrote on Facebook.

Charges were also filed against Emily Hernandez (seen here holding up a broken shard of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office sign) after 3 tipsters ID'd her.
The identity of Hernandez, who is from Sullivan, Missouri, was then confirmed by one her high school friends, FBI says.

DECISION: Back at the Jacob Chansley (Qanon Shaman) bail hearing, Judge Deborah Fine mulls the big questions:
"When does a protest turns into a riot?" she asks. "When is a protest an insurrection?"

Wow: Judge Fine finds during the bail hearing that Jacob Chansley, the Qanon Shaman, was, as the govt claimed, "an active participant in a violent insurrection to overthrow the US government."

After describing how Chansley entered the Capitol w/a 6-foot spear and a bullhorn ignoring the police, Judge Fine says: "This is not a protest. This is a riot. This is an insurrection."

Mr. Chansely intended his actions "to stop the process for peaceful transition of power," Judge Fine says.
His actions were "frightening" not only to members of Congress but "to people across the United States of America."

NEW: No surprise--Judge Deborah Fine of federal district court in Phoenix denies Jacob Chansley, the Qanon Shaman, bail and orders him detained pending trial on felony charges connected to the storming of the Capitol.

NEW: According to new charges, minutes after the white nationalist Anthime Gionet, aka Baked Alaska, breached the Capitol, he announced on YouTube: "Unleash the Kraken."
Shortly after, when cops tried to move him on, he yelled, “You’re a fucking oath breaker you piece of shit.”

Jack Jesse Griffith admitted that he stormed the Capitol on social media, even acknowledged that "it only made things worse."
"Why God? Why? WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN US?" he wrote. "Unless...Trump still has a plan."

Overnight the feds unsealed charges against Justin Stoll of Ohio who, they say, posted videos of himself at the storming of the Capitol on his YouTube channel, Th3RealHuckleberry.
"You ain't got enough cops, baby!" he said in one. "We are at war at the Capitol..."

When someone responded online that Stoll could go to jail, Stoll answered w/another video, FBI says.
"You can play that for the DA in court, I don't care," he told his accuser. "If you ever jeopardize me from being w/my family, you will absolutely meet your mother fucking maker."

The FBI says that after storming the Capitol Damon M. Beckley of Kentucky made a YouTube video blaming VP Mike Pence for the death of Ashli Babbit.
“All the violence & everything was 100 percent unnecessary...Her blood is on your hands Mike Pence,” he said.

According to court documents, one photo in particular posted online by Edward Jacob Lang helped investigators find him.
It was the one in which Mr. Lang indicated his position in the Capitol riot with a finger-pointing icon and the words "THIS IS ME."

The FBI says that after storming the Capitol, Cody Connell of Louisiana may return to DC this week. A witness claims that Connell is seeking to buy firearms, ammo & body armor.

Connell doesn't want to return to Louisiana "unless he was in a body bag," the witness said.

Investigators used media interviews that Brandon Fellows of Schenectady NY gave to track him down & arrest him.
Fellows told CNN how he was among people "smoking a bunch of weed" inside the Capitol, adding, "Cops are very cool. They were like, 'Hey guys have a good night.'"

Fellows later told Bloomberg that while he trespassed on the Capitol, he didn't break anything.
He also noted that after posting a pic of himself at the building, his Bumble account was "blowing up."

According to FBI, Troy Smock of Texas posted violent anti-government messages on Parler under the name ColonelTPerez.
"Let's hunt these cowards down like the Traitors that each of them are," one message said. "This includes RINOS, Dems and Tech Execs."
54,000 people viewed it.

The FBI says Capitol riot suspect Bryan Betancur "is a self-professed white supremacist" & "member of several white supremacy organizations."
Betancur "has voiced homicidal ideations, made comments about conducting a school shooting, & has researched mass shootings."

Betancur, who has said he "wanted to run people over with a vehicle and kill people in a church," can be seen in photos wearing a Proud Boys t-shirt and making the distinctive white power OK hand signal, the FBI says.

Newly charged suspect Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, of Colts Neck, NJ, is an Army reservist & contractor at Naval Weapons Station Earle where, the FBI says, he "maintains a 'Secret' security clearance and has access to a variety of munitions."

Hale-Cusanelli was recorded by a confidential source saying that after another rioter threw a flagpole at a police officer like a javelin, he took it & intended to dispose of it.

He also said if there had been more men, "they could have taken over the entire building."

Andrew Hatley at first denied being inside the Capitol, writing online "I don't have...motivation for lost causes."
Then the FBI tracked him to the Capitol w/geolocation data from his Life360 app.

Prosecutors have charged Cuoy Griffin, a New Mexico commissioner & the founder of Cowboys for Trump, with invading the Capitol.
On his group's FB page, Griffin wrote: "You want to say that that was a mob? You want to say that was violence?
No sir. No Ma’am."

Griffin said he plans to return to DC for the inauguration and hopes "the protests will be non-violent."
He told the FBI he hopes the transition of power can happen "w/o a single shot being fired" but noted there was "no option that's off the table for the sake of freedom."

The FBI was able to track down & arrest Gracyn Courtright of West Virginia from a social media post she made of herself in a crop-top & jacket saying, "Infamy is just as good as fame. Either way I end up more known. XOXO."

NEW: Prosecutors unseal charges against Robert Gieswein, 24, of Colorado, in connection w/the Capitol attack.
According to the FBI, Gieswein appears to be affiliated w/the 3 Percenters militia & runs a private paramilitary training group called the Woodland Wild Dogs.

A criminal complaint against Gieswein includes a photo of him wearing combat gear inside the Capitol and pictured w/ Dominic Pezzola, a former Marine & self-described member of the Proud Boys (far right).

In a media interview before the Capitol assault, Gieswein said that corrupt politicians like Pelosi & the Clintons have "destroyed our country & sold them to the Rothschilds and Rockefellers."

This too about Robert Gieswein

Overnight, prosecutors unsealed charges in connection w/the Capitol attack against Jon S. Schaffer, a member of the rightwing militia the Oath Keepers. Schaffer, from Columbus, Indiana, was among the rioters who sprayed bear spray at the Capitol Police, the FBI says.

Schaffer, the front of the heavy metal band "Iced Earth," has long held far-right extremist views, prosecutors say.
He has described himself as an anarchist and the federal government as a "criminal enterprise."

The feds have also charged William Watson, of Alabama, seen below in a photo w/Jacob Chansley, the Q Shaman.
Watson.
Watson told agents he drove through the night with a friend to be at the Capitol to “support the patriots, support Trump, support freedom.”

Watson initially denied taking part in any violence or vandalism but in later interviews w/the FBI admitted he was carrying a canister of Mace & a "flip box cutter" in his waistband "to help tear down cloth around the Presidential Inauguration scaffolding."

Shane M. Daughtry, who runs a business called "Crazy Coon's Armory" from his home in Baker County, Georgia, told the authorities he was in the first of wave rioters to enter the Capitol.
“We was the first ones over the fence," he said. "Everybody followed us.”

Investigators found evidence of Daughtry's anti-liberal views & interest in firearms in his social media feeds.
"I love a woman in a housecoat reloading ammo," he wrote on 12/26. "Ain't our Purple Anti-Liberal bullets pretty?"

William McCall Calhoun, a Georgia lawyer, claimed on FB that he was among the first people to kick in Nancy Pelosi's office door.
He said that he and other "stormed" through the building "looking for members of Congress."

The FBI identified Michael Sparks as the first person to enter the Capitol through a window. Before he went to DC, Sparks posted on social saying, "TRUMP WILL BE YOUR PRESIDENT 4 more years in JESUS NAME...Be ready for a lot of big events."

A witness, the romantic partner of Riley June Williams, claims to have seen a video of Williams stealing a laptop from Nancy Pelosi's office. The witness said that Williams intends to sell the laptop to Russian intelligence.
"The matter remains under investigation," the FBI says.

NEW: Prosecutors unsealed charges this morning against Guy Reffitt, of Wylie, Texas, identified by his spouse as a member of the Three Percenter militia.
Reffitt showed up at the Capitol riot in a helmet fixed w/GoPro camera.

In an interview w/federal agents, Valerie Ehrke of California said she heard Trump tell crowd in DC to go to the Capitol. She went back to hotel room instead--then changed her mind after she seeing news coverage of the riot.
"She decided she wanted to be part of the crowd."

Hours after the Capitol riot, Leo Kelly, of Iowa, gave an interview w/an "Internet service emphasizing traditional Judeo-Christian principles," FBI says.
Kelly said cops he encountered were "as respectful as
you can be when you’re kind of really pushing in on somebody’s space.”

Investigators say they used police body cams to ID Craig Bingert, of Slatington Pa., as one of the rioters who used "their collective force" to shove through a barrier at the Capitol.
At one point, FBI says, Bingert faced the crowd behind him w/a flag yelling “Fuck the Police.”

As Nicholas Moncada, a 20-year-old student at NYC's Fashion Institute of Technology, was taking part in the DC riot, court papers say, he got an Instagram message from a friend.

"What is going on," it said.
"Storming the Capitol Building," Moncada wrote.

Prosecutors have unsealed the charges against Jessica Watkins, a commanding officer of Ohio State Regular Militia.
Watkins, also affiliated w/the Oath Keepers, prefaced her incursion on Congress w/a social media post saying: "Me before forcing entry into the Capitol Building."

Watkins also posted a photo of her co-defendant, Donovan Crowl, at the assault on the Capitol.
"One of my guys at the Stop the Steal Rally today," she wrote.

When Vitali Goss-Jankowski turned himself in to the FBI last week, he admitted he had wielded a Taser while storming the Capitol in a scrum of rioters. But he denied using it on a Capitol police officer who had a heart attack after being Tased several times in his neck.

Ryan Nichols, an ex-Marine from Texas, turned up at the Capitol riot w/pepper spray, a crowbar & a bullhorn, FBI says.
“If you have a weapon, you need to get your weapon!” he urged the crowd. “This is the second revolution right here folks!...This is not a peaceful protest.”

The feds say Nichols went to the riot w/another Texan, Alex Harkrider, 32.
After breaching the Capitol, Harkrider posted a Snapchat pic w/a caption: “We’re in. 2 people killed already. We need all the patriots of this country to rally the fuck up and fight for our freedom..."

The day after he & his friend took part in the riot, Ryan Nichols refuted the myth that Antifa led the attack on FB.
"Know that every single person who believes that narrative have duped again...The MSM wants you to believe that ONLY ANTIFA stormed the Capital. That's not true."

Prosecutors have unsealed assault charges against Emmanuel Jackson (see below w/mask) for beating a group of Capitol and Metro DC police officers with a baseball bat.
Jackson turned himself in on Jan. 18, court papers say.

NEW: In newly unsealed charges, Thomas E. Caldwell, a Virginia Oath Keeper, is accused of helping plan the Capitol attack. Caldwell instructed others on FB to find rooms at the Comfort Inn in Arlington.
“This is a good location & would allow us to hunt at night,” he wrote.

After the attack, prosecutors say, Caldwell sent another FB message praising the Proud Boys for driving the police away and apparently planning more violence. “We need to do this on the local level,” he wrote. “Lets storm the capitol in Ohio.”

NEW: Prosecutors unseal charges against a part-time actor/filmmaker for threatening "public execution" of Pelosi & AOC before the Capitol riot.
The suspect, Brendan Hunt, aka XRay-Ultra, wasn't at the Capitol but wrote on FB in Dec: "Trump, we want actual revenge on Democrats."

Two days after the Capitol riot, prosecutors say, Hunt put a video on Bitchute titled "KILL YOUR SENATORS."
Speaking to camera, he says: "What you need to do is take up arms, get to D.C., probably the...so called inauguration of this motherfucking communist Joe Biden."

Prosecutors have unsealed charges against a Massachusetts man, Mark Sahady (see below, bottom right, in the stars and bars hat), for illegal entry to the Capitol.
Sahady, court papers say, runs a group called Super Happy Fun America which advocates for the "straight community."

Sahady was arrested w/another "straight community" advocate, Suzanne Ianni, a town official from Natick, Mass, who organized 11 buses to the DC event.
In a photo in her criminal complaint, Ianni is pictured w/Sahady.

When FBI agents told Tam Dinh Pham, of Richmond, Texas, that it was a crime to lie to them, he admitted that he did in fact have some of the photographs he took from inside the Capitol building during the riot.

The federal investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has now passed the 100-defendant threshold.
Charges have been unseal against 101 people and counting.

Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey in DC is about to begin 10 consecutive hearings for 10 defendants charged in the Capitol riot. I'll try to cover them all. Stay tuned.

Judge Harvey starts w/Kevin Lyons who was surprised when the FBI found a deleted Instagram pic he'd taken of Nancy Pelosi's office.

Lyons, 40, a high school graduate from the Chicago area, is charged only w/a misdemeanor. Government consents to release him pending trial.
He is ordered to stay away from any federal, state or local government buildings and released.