So this newly discovered image from Jan. 6 might not look very important. But it is. Let me explain why.
(Thread warning.)
Citizen sleuths noted that Matthew Beddingfield, a 20-year-old North Carolina man currently out on bond in an attempted murder case, bore a striking resemblance to a Capitol rioter who was captured on video jabbing at a police line with his American flag. huffpost.com/entry/facial-r…
Jason Beddingfield, Matthew's father, previously brought his son to the "Million MAGA March" in November. Note those shoes, note the flag pole.
That brings us to Jan. 6. "We are here to take this country back from those commie bastards," Jason Beddingfield writes on Facebook. Who's we, exactly? Jason Beddingfield admits he went to the Capitol, but denies his son was with him in DC. huffpost.com/entry/facial-r…
Citizen sleuths found video of the men believed to be Matthew Beddingfield and Jason Beddingfield at the Capitol. While the men arrive at the same time and are within feet of one another at one point at the from of the police line, they arrive from separate paths.
Welp, guess what? Here's the father-and-son pair together on Jan. 6, seen in the location where Jason Beddingfield took his Facebook photos. Note the flags, note the outfits, note those Nikes with the reverse swoosh. Incredible detective work from the Sedition Hunters community.
You'll find the father-and-son duo together at 27:00, in this YouTube video with barely 100 views. Turn the quality all the way up. Blink and you'll miss it.
“He was not there, he was not with me. He did not do the things that have been speculated about. I mean, there’s a lot of doppelgangers in the world, isn’t it?” huffpost.com/entry/facial-r…
Here’s the video HuffPost put together, built on the work of citzen sleuths, that shows Matthew Beddingfield’s activities at the Capitol:
Now given how much law enforcement has used facial recognition (see this BuzzFeed piece today) why hasn’t the guy with the pending attempted murder charges been arrested yet? Good question! One potential answer: Bureaucracy! buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanma…
The D.C. Metropolitian Police Department did release an image of the suspect.
But it was low-quality, and it was buried on literally the last page of this PDF that most Americans never set eyes on.
My latest on the case against Jack Wade Whitton, the Trump fan who dragged a D.C. police officer down the Capitol steps by the neck. A federal magistrate judge in Georgia said he could be released, but the feds want him held until trial. #scallopshuffpost.com/entry/jack-wad…
This is yet another case that shows the FBI is really buried. The bureau received a solid tip on the identify of #scallops, who dragged an officer into the mob by the neck, on Jan. 17. But there’s no indication the investiation advanced until Feb. 25. huffpost.com/entry/jack-wad…
Great piece here. Got a glimpse of how much of a role these regional Facebook groups play in certain places in a story I was working on last year. Pretty eye-opening.
A detention hearing for Daniel Rodriguez is now underway in a California courtroom. Rodriguez has waved his appearance, and a lawyer is representing him. huffpost.com/entry/daniel-j…
NEW: Daniel Rodriguez — who electroshocked D.C. Police Officer Mike Fanone — has been ordered detained ahead of trial. Defense didn’t put up a fight. Judge cites video evidence, and orders Rodriguez transported to D.C. huffpost.com/entry/daniel-j…
It was a pretty quick hearing. The government proffered video that shows Rodriguez using electroshock weapon as well as pretrial report recommending detention.
From @kashhill’s piece on facial recognition: "detectives in Alabama and Florida who collaborate with the bureau at real-time crime centers said they had identified possible rioters using Clearview and sent them to the F.B.I.” nytimes.com/interactive/20…
An “image search” does not get you from one image of a suspect to a completely different photo of a suspect wearing a different outfit, (even if he is wearing the same hat).
ICYMI: Danny “DJ” Rodriguez was arrested yesterday. He electroshocked DC Police Officer Mike Fanone, who suffered a heart attack. The FBI received tips about him in January, but it wasn’t until HuffPost made an inquiry that they contacted a key witness: huffpost.com/entry/daniel-j…
Here’s our February 26 story, which was built on the excellent sleuthing work of the #SeditionHunters network. A federal grand jury indicted DJ Rodriguez on March 24, and he was arrested yesterday. huffpost.com/entry/fanone-t…
Read the eight-count indictment here, and stay tuned for Rodriguez’s bail hearing this afternoon: m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_60…