Thread by @alanfeuer

Starting Thread #8 of Capitol riot arrests and case updates. Previous threads are archived below.

https://twitter.com/alanfeuer/status/1357294606166200324

"Smoke out the Capitol, baby," Greg Rubenacker, a New York DJ, said in a Snapchat video inside the building on Jan. 6
The FBI has now arrested him for unlawful entry and other crimes.

Rachel Powell, the "Bullhorn Lady," wants to stay home before her trial. In a memo filed today she notes she's a mom of 8, 5 of whom are homeschooled. But she also admits that when she learned the FBI was after her, she returned to PA to surrender herself. Were her kids w/her?

In a YouTube video, someone asked Eduardo Gonzalez, the self-described "Capitol Rotunda Doobie Smoker" why he was getting high inside the Capitol.
The Doobie Smoker's answer?
"Freedom," the FBI said in his criminal complaint.

The Stoners of the Insurrection: Gonzalez, Rubenbacker, Sandlin

Gonzalez was so brazen about breaking into the Capitol, the FBI says, that the next day, he showed footage of himself smoking weed inside the building on a Zoom broadcast.
"Time to smoke weed in here!" he yells at one point.

In case you're disappointed by Trump's impeachment defense case, an FBI agent just testified in Pittsburgh that when his team searched the Bullhorn Lady's house they found a go-bag w/rope, ammo and duct tape & a shooting target w/a slogan reading, "Gun's don't kill people, I do."

DECISION: After saying she was "personally appalled & disgusted" by the behavior of Rachel Powell, aka the Bullhorn Lady, at the Capitol, a federal judge nonetheless allows to be released her on $10,000 bond pending trial.

The judge, Lisa Lenihan in Pittsburgh, ordered Powell to remain on home confinement pending trial.
The government is planning to appeal.

The govt says Patrick McCaughey, 23, should remain in custody pending trial for taking part in the attack on Officer Daniel Hodges, seen below.
McCaughey's lawyer says he should be freed. All he did was protest the govt--"a most American thing"--and "got too close to the action."

Add Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola to the list of Capitol riot defendants who now blame Trump for their actions.

"Defendant is former military who is sworn to protect his country. He was responding to the entreaties of the then commander in chief, President Trump."

As senators hear Trump's impeachment case, Eric Munchel, aka "Zip Tie guy," files papers citing the House's trial brief.
Munchel wants to be free pending trial & has asked a judge to consider Trump "invited Americans" to go to DC on 1/6 & "show strength" taking the country back.

Munchel broke into the Capitol w/his mother, Lisa Eisenhart, and kept close watch on her until she went off in her own direction.
“Mom, where are you going," he called out. "Mom, focus, don’t lose me.”

Prosecutors aren't messing around in their appeal of bail conditions for Rachel Powell, the Bullhorn Lady.
"The defendant abandoned her children & traveled to DC to participate in an act of insurrection. She came prepared, armed with earmuffs designed to muffle gunfire..."

Prosecutors at a bail hearing in DC just said they're seeking a terrorism enhancement vs Proud Boy Dominic "Spaz" Pezzola in the Capitol attack.
It's the second time terrorism allegations have been brought against a Proud Boy--the first was against Seattle leader Ethan Nordean.

After returning home to Rochester after the Capitol attack, prosecutors said, Pezzola fled to Buffalo, then NYC, then Philly. He turned himself in, they added, after the FBI began knocking on doors in Rochester.

House impeachment managers are talking about Dominic Pezzola's violent charge on the Capitol at the exact SAME moment a federal judge is considering whether or not to release him pending trial.

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1359614960251330561

Prosecutors--echoing what's already been said in court papers--maintain they have a cooperating witness who was in Pezzola's group leaving the Capitol. The witness said that some in the group said they planned to return to DC--next time with guns.

SPLIT SCREEN: Dominic Pezzola, in court now, was part of the group that confronted Officer Eugene Goodman in the Capitol hallway, demanding to know where the votes were being counted.
After chasing Goodman off, prosecutors say, Pezzola filmed himself smoking "a victory cigar."

We're about to get a decision about whether Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola, among the first wave of rioters to breach the Capitol, will be released on bond pending trial.

DECISION: Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola has been ordered detained pending trial.

Prosecutors say in a new filing that Oath Keeper Jessica Watkins showed up at the Capitol w/30-40 others ready to execute citizen arrests.
"We are in the main dome right now," she said on a chat app. "We are rocking it."
Someone responds: "Get it, Jess. Do your fucking thing."

Not for the first time, prosecutors mention Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder, in a filing.

Here they note that on Jan. 4 Rhodes put out a call "to
to stand tall in support of President Trump’s fight to defeat the enemies foreign & domestic who are attempting a coup."

The level of paranoia among insurrectionists never fails to astonish.
Prosecutors say Watkins told an Oath Keeper "recruit" that if Biden won "our way of life as we know it is over. Our Republic would be over. Then it is our duty...to fight, kill and die for our rights.”

Watkins, prosecutors say, was "awaiting direction from President Trump."

"Unless the POTUS himself activates us, it’s not legit," she said in a text one week after the election. "POTUS has the right to activate units too. If Trump asks me to come, I will."

In December, Watkins texted co-defendant Donovan Crowl "if Trump activates the Insurrection Act, I'd hate to miss it."
She also texted co-def Thomas Caldwell who seemed to suggest bringing guns to DC before 1/6.
"That way the boys don’t have to try to schelp weps on the bus.”

When the FBI raided Watkins' home in Ohio, agents found numerous firearms, a paintball gun with rubber-steel balls and a cylinder, pool cues cut down to baton size, zip/cable ties and a recipe for making "a destructive device."

NEW: The feds have arrested the Proud Boy who looks (a lot) like Gavin McInnes from the Capitol riot. He's identified as William Chrestman, of Kansas City, and has been charged w/four others w/conspiracy in the case.

Some people misidentified Chrestman as McInnes in the early days after the attack, the FBI admits...

Prosecutors say Chrestman was in the crowd of Proud Boys led by Joe Biggs and Ethan Nordean that marched on the Capitol. Here he's pictured with Nordean.

Under orders from their chairman, Enrique Tarrio, the PBs showed up at the Capitol "incognito" on Jan. 6. Many wore orange hats or stripes ostensibly as an ID marker.
The feds say Chrestman had an orange strip on his helmet. His co-defendants did too, they say.

Prosecutors say that after the police barricades were breached, Chrestman donned his helmet and brandished a wooden club.
"Do you want your house back?" he asked the crowd.
"Yes," they said.
"Take it!" Chrestman said, according to a criminal complaint.

When the FBI found Felicia Konold's Snapchat account, there was video of her saying that she'd been recruited into the Proud Boy's KC chapter (even tho she's not from KC.)
In the video, she displayed a "challenge coin" from the KC Proud Boys.

NEW: Prosecutors say that when the FBI searched the house of Oath Keeper Thomas Caldwell they found a document titled "Death List."
On it was the name of "an election official from another state."

This is nuts:
When the FBI searched Oath Keeper Thomas Caldwell's home, they found a firearm "intentionally built to look like A CELLPHONE."
It's sold, court papers say, by “Ideal Conceal Cellphone Pistol.”

It's now clear the FBI has extensive text messages shared by Caldwell & his two Oath Keeper co-defendants, jessica Watkins & Donovan Crowl.
As early as 11/16, Crowl wrote Caldwell, "War is on the horizon."

On Nov 23, Caldwell wrote Watkins discussing the December MAGA march in Washington.
Signing the note as Spy (Caldwell claims he had long experience in top secret ops), he wrote, "I believe we will have to get violent to stop this."

Preparing for the December event, prosecutors say, Caldwell researched weapons, including this "Zombie Killer" surgical steel tomahawk axe.

Looks like Oath Keeper Thomas Caldwell may have been in touch with the Proud Boys before Jan. 6.
On Dec 23, prosecutors say, he wrote a text saying he expected "a big turn out of the Proud Boys" in Washington DC.

Crazy stuff >>>>>
Here is Oath Keeper Thomas Caldwell texting a fellow militiaman & suggesting that they get a boat capable of crossing the Potomac ready for a Quick Response Team with "heavy weapons."

DECISION: DC Chief Judge Beryl Howell rules that Rachel Powell, aka the Bullhorn Lady, can be released pending trial.
A district court in Pennsylvania released Powell earlier this week. The govt appealed. Judge Howell denied the appeal.

The FBI tracked down Florida bail bondsman Adam Honeycutt after he posted a pic online of a broken chair leg from the Capitol. Honeycutt later downplayed his role in breaching the building saying he was "at the food truck when the shit hit the fan."

Something is going on in the Texas real estate community.
Prosecutors unsealed charges today in connection w/the Capitol riot against Joseph Barnes of Austin, the 4th Texas realtor to face charges.