Thread by @alanfeuer

Good morning. Starting Thread #6 of posts on Capitol riot arrests and case updates. Previous threads can be found below.

https://twitter.com/alanfeuer/status/1354805882492579846

The FBI says Ryan Samsel, of Bristol PA, was in a mob that assaulted a Capitol police officer in a confrontation at a barricade. "We don't have to hurt you," Samsel said, according to the officer. "Why are you standing in our way?"
The officer later blacked out, was hospitalized.

When the FBI investigated Samsel, they found he was already wanted on a assault warrant out of New Jersey.

How did the FBI track down Troy E. Faulkner of Ohio and charge him w/kicking in a window during the Capitol riot?

He wore his work jacket saying FAULKNER PAINTING w/a phone number during the insurrection.

Prosecutors have unsealed new charges against a widely amplified live-streamer at the Capitol riot, Stephen M. Baker of NC, who posted under the pseudonym Stephen Ignoramus.
Baker's video was picked up by numerous news outlets, the FBI says.

The FBI notes that in his livestream, Baker appears to implicate Vincent James, the leader of rightwing media collective Red Elephants as being inside the Capitol during the attack.
James has not been charged.

Just before smashing the glass on doors inside the Capitol, the FBI says, Zachary Alam confronted police officers shouting at them multiple times, "Fuck the Blue!"
Now he's been charged w/assaulting a cop among other counts.

The FBI is closing in on a chilling figure at the Capitol riot, according to a search warrant unsealed last night. Agents say David Blair, of MD, roamed the Hill after dark w/a Confederate flag & a skull mask.
"Hell naw, quit backing up," he told a mob confronting the cops.

During the standoff with the police, prosecutors say, Blair (who was charged early on by local cops) hit an officer known as KP in his chest with a lacrosse stick the Confederate flag was attached to.

After the assault, the cops searched Blair and found a silver knife and tape inside his bag.
"Looks damn suspicious," Blair admitted, according to the warrant.
He explained he had the knife b/c he was "worried about Antifa."

When the FBI went to Louisville KY to talk w/Dalton R. Crase & Troy D. Williams about the Capitol, both men admitted they were in the bldg illegally.
“I was breaking the law," Crase told agents, "but it didn’t register with me.” Williams said he was drawn in by “herd mentality”

In a letter to the court pleading no contest to breaking into the Capitol, Damon Beckley, of Cub Run, KY, says he wrote a letter to VP Pence apologizing for "wrongly implicating" him in the riot.
Beckley also wants his 9-yr-old's tablet back from the FBI for home schooling.

The FBI says there's a video of three Capitol riot suspects coughing in a car (on their way to DC?) when one of their canisters of bear mace went off in their pocket.
The video was taken by Capitol pot-smoker ("Thank you patriot") Ronnie Sandlin.

https://twitter.com/alanfeuer/status/1355214037232087042

The new docs note that the FBI got a warrant for Sandlin FB page and found an exchange between him and one of his co-defendants, Nate DeGrave.
Sandlin: "Are you down for danger, bro?"
DeGrave: "I'm bringing bulletproof clothing."

DOJ's new strategy in many Capitol cases seems to be to enhance liability against defendants, like Richard "Bigo" Barnett, by indicting an aiding and aiding count.
It's the 4th or 5th time in the past few days aiding & abetting has been charged.

So...the Q Shaman has now filed a formal motion requesting to be fed organic food in jail--or get released.

The motion includes an extensive section explaining Shamanism.
"The primary focus of North American shamanism is to heal."

The Q Shaman's motion for "sustenance" includes emails from a corrections official denying his "request for an organic diet."
DOC's "Religious Services staff" were unable to find "religious merit pertaining to organic food or diet for Shamanism Practitioner."

The FBI found Capitol rioter, Zachary Alam, by pinging his iPhone & tracking it to a motel in Denver, PA two weeks after the insurrection, new court papers show.
Alam--who is obsessed w/Superman, the feds say--had a cell account under the name of "Clark Kent."

Alam is accused of smashing windows in the Speaker's Lobby just before Ashli Babbitt was shot & killed.
When the FBI arrested him in Room 17 of the Penn Amish Motel, they found a survivalist magazine w/a lead article titled “Riot Response, Survive & Succeed During Civil Unrest.”

DC Prosecutors say Capitol riot suspect Brandon Fellows wrapped his cell in tinfoil after the attack to evade law enforcement. They want Fellows, who boasted of having guns at his hotel room, put on home confinement pending trial.

Amazingly, the Q Shaman's request for emergency organic food has gone to hearing in federal court in DC. Stay tuned!

Judge Royce Lamberth wants to know if the Shaman's belief in Shamanism is sincere.
Yes, his lawyer, Al Watkins says.
Does he need organic food? the judge asks.
Yes, Watkins says, adding, he needs food that "doesn't suck the life out of his body."

Watkins says the Shaman--real name, Jacob Chansley--is being forced to choose between starvation, death or something adverse to his health by not getting jailhouse organic.

What food would satisfy the request, Judge Lamberth asks.
Watkins hands off to Chansley.
Chansley says he needs food w/the green and white circular label w organic certification.
No preservatives, he adds.
(This is real.)

Judge Lamberth says that food can be obtained at normal grocery stores?
Yes, your honor, the Q Shaman says.
His lawyer, Watkins, says the food Chansley needs is readily available all over the DC area.

A DOC official is saying that the initial request for organic food was denied b/c corrections staff couldn't find a religious imperative for organics in their study of Shamanism.

Ok, the Shaman's lawyer, Watkins, is now offering to bring in "a reliable Shamanism adviser" to inform the court about his client's need for organic food.
Such food helps him having "spiritual contact w/nature" and "other spirits."

Judge Lamberth to DOC guy: "The defendant has the burden of proving it's a religious tenet?" (I.e. the organic food.)
Correct, the DOC guy says.
"We have found no case linking" organic food to Shamanism.

To be clear, one of the most prominent Capitol riot cases has now bogged down into extended litigation over whether a guy who stormed Congress in a horned helmet & face paint can get organic food in the DC jail.

DOC guy: We don't do organic food as a regular thing so we'd have to modify our contract w/our food vendor.

Q Shaman's lawyer: "I take pride in my knowledge of religions...Shamanism is a faith that transcends boundaries...It is primarily linked to indigenous peoples, but it has grown in its scope of practitioners."

So...give my client organic food, dammit.

DOC guy: "I don't contend that Shamanism is UNrecognized as a religion..." But it would be a major pain to give the Q Shaman organic food, so, please, judge, don't make us do it.

DOC guy: "It's simple. The defendant has not established that an exclusively organic diet is an exercise of his Shamanism." And...it's a pain.

Q Shaman's lawyer is saying that if his client doesn't get that organic food, Judge Lamberth has no choice but to release him.

DECISION: Federal judge rules that the Q Shaman can get organic food in the DC jail.