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Dunn said the rotunda no longer resembled the room he once knew on Jan. 6, the day of the siege on the Capitol.

MORE: Congress aims to avoid politics with independent Jan. 6 investigation
“This time you look up, it's just a cloud of smoke, fire extinguishers have been going off,” Dunn recalled walking into the room soon after fighting off a mob of angry rioters. “The floors are covered in white dust, water bottles, broken flagpoles, mask, empty canisters of pepper spray, helmets, Trump flags, everything in the rotunda, just laying there on the floor.”

Dunn recalls gasping for air through the pepper spray and bear mace, blood on his knuckles and the relentless noises from the rioters. He soon found himself in tears, being consoled by a fellow officer who asked him what had happened amidst the chaos.

"’I got called a [N-word] a couple dozen times today protecting this building,’” Dunn recalled telling his colleague. “Is this America? They beat police officers with Blue Lives Matter flags. They fought us, they had Confederate flags in the U.S. Capitol.”

Dunn is a 13-year veteran in the U.S. Capitol Police Department. Speaking only for himself and not the department, Dunn is the first U.S. Capitol Police officer to speak publicly about the events of Jan. 6.

MORE: In new defense, dozens of Capitol rioters say law enforcement 'let us in' to building
The exclusive interview aired Monday morning on "Good Morning America" and will air again next Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on a new ABC News primetime magazine called "Soul of a Nation," a series that examines the Black lived experience in America.

During former President Donald Trump's second impeachment hearing, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., quoted Dunn from a Buzzfeed article, in which Dunn shared his story anonymously a few days after the insurrection.

“Is this America?” said Rep. Raskin, echoing Dunn’s words on the Senate floor.

“It took me back to a dark place because I didn't say it for a catchphrase -- I wasn't trying to create a slogan,” said Dunn. “I struggle… should I be proud? No, not at all.”

Dunn does not know if his words were effective during the trial, but he wishes they did not have to be said at all.

“Those were my feelings and that was my truth -- it wasn't a proud moment. It took me back to a dark place," he said.

CNN)Jessica Watkins, a leader in an alleged Oath Keepers conspiracy in the US Capitol insurrection, changed her story Monday about meeting with Secret Service agents in describing her actions on January 6.

In a court filing over the weekend, Watkins said she was given a VIP pass to the Trump rally, had met with Secret Service agents and was providing security for legislators and others, including in their march to the Capitol.

But on Monday, Watkins took back some of those assertions, saying she had merely spoken with Secret Service members as she passed through security at the rally.

Watkins also continued to point a finger at rally organizers whom she felt had empowered her as a security presence for the private event, according to her court filing on Monday.

Still, Watkins' details in court suggest how the efforts among paramilitants who are now accused of conspiracy on January 6 were closer to the apparatus around then-President Donald Trump and his rally than was previously known.

CNN)Jessica Watkins, a leader in an alleged Oath Keepers conspiracy in the US Capitol insurrection, changed her story Monday about meeting with Secret Service agents in describing her actions on January 6.

In a court filing over the weekend, Watkins said she was given a VIP pass to the Trump rally, had met with Secret Service agents and was providing security for legislators and others, including in their march to the Capitol.
But on Monday, Watkins took back some of those assertions, saying she had merely spoken with Secret Service members as she passed through security at the rally.
Watkins also continued to point a finger at rally organizers whom she felt had empowered her as a security presence for the private event, according to her court filing on Monday...

FBI has conducted searches of two apartments belonging to 69 year old Joseph Bolanos – one on 76th between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, the other in Washington Heights – on suspicions that he was involved in the January 6 capitol riots. Bolanos is also the president of the 76th Street Park Block Association.

According to the report, the FBI combed through both buildings in search of evidence. Bolanos was rushed to the hospital when the agents arrived, apparently panicking at the sight of them.

Some of Bolanos’ Upper West Side neighbors interviewed for the report say that he talked about January 6 “as if it were a great day.”

“I was walking down the street and I overheard him bragging about having been there and having video,” said one neighbor.
https://ilovetheupperwestside.com/uws-b ... volvement/

Federal prosecutors have charged Thomas Webster, a former Marine and retired New York Police Department officer, with allegedly using an aluminum pole to assault a police officer during the Capitol riot on January 6.

Prosecutor Benjamin Gianforti said that Webster, 52, turned himself into the FBI field office in New York's Hudson Valley at 2:35 p.m. A law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN that Webster retired from the NYPD in 2011 and had been part of the uniformed security detail at City Hall and Gracie Mansion -- the traditional residence of the New York City mayor.

Recounting what's in the body cam video of the incident, Gianforti told the court in a virtual hearing Tuesday based in White Plains, New York, that Webster is seen allegedly attacking a police officer with an aluminum pole that had a Marine Corps flag fixed on it.

Afterward, Gianforti claimed that Webster is then seen in the video allegedly beating the officer with his hands, ripping their gear off, which "caused the police officer to choke," because it "cut off [the officer's] air for a short period of time."

The prosecutor also said that Webster is allegedly heard in the body cam video calling that the police officer he was attacking "a f---ing piece of s--t" and "commie mother f---er."

A judge ordered Webster detained without bail because of his potential danger to the public.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/23/politics ... index.html

Philip Grillo, 46, a Republican district leader for Assembly District 24 who uses the name “The Republican Messiah” on Facebook, was arrested Tuesday at his girlfriend’s home in Glen Oaks, New York, the Queens Daily Eagle reported. Grillo’s Facebook page also touts District 24 as “President Trump’s Hometown District.” Indeed, the Queens Daily Eagle twice noted that a certain Queens man had been impeached.

According to the criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., authorities were able to identify Grillo based on cell phone and security camera footage showing him inside the Capitol Building wearing a Knights of Columbus jacket that included the specific St. Anne’s Council #2429 chapter to which he belonged.

Two anonymous witnesses who grew up with Grillo contacted the FBI and reported seeing him on television broadcasts of the riots. One of those witnesses noted that he was also a member of the local Knights of Columbus chapter, which proved key to confirming Grillo’s identity.

“GRILLO can be seen wearing a Knights of Columbus, St. Anne’s Council #2429, Glen Oaks, New York embroidered jacket,” the criminal complaint stated. “The FBI conducted an open-records check of GRILLO and confirmed GRILLO to be a member of the Knights of Columbus chapter, matching the jacket’s description. Additionally, as stated above, WITNESS 2 reported to the agent s/he met with that GRILLO was a member of the Knights of Columbus.”

As it turns out, Grillo is neither the first nor the second Capitol siege defendant who was identified because of the jacket they wore that day.
https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-sie ... us-jacket/

The FBI said in the statement of facts that a cell phone number registered to the name of Grillo’s mother, who is in her early 70s, was used in and around the Capitol building on the day of the riot. She has not been charged in the case.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/23/new-yor ... -case.html

The cost of repairing damages from the attack on the U.S. Capitol and related security expenses have already topped $30 million and will keep rising, Architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton told lawmakers on Wednesday.

The events of Jan. 6, he said, were "difficult for the American people and extremely hard for all of us on campus to witness."

Blanton said that congressional appropriations committees have already approved a transfer request of $30 million to pay for expenses and extend a temporary perimeter fencing contract through March 31.

But more money will be needed, he added: "History teaches us that project costs for replacements and repairs beyond in-kind improvements across campus will be considerable and beyond the scope of the current budgetary environment."

More than 90% of the people charged in the riots so far are white, researchers at the Chicago Project on Security and Threats found. About 40% are business owners or have white-collar jobs, the researchers found, and compared with previous rightwing extremists, relatively few of them were unemployed.

“There’s been this assumption that the most reactionary folks on the frontlines would be what’s often referred to as white working-class, but that’s of course not what we saw,” said Vanessa Wills, a political philosopher who studies the intersections of race and class. “The people who showed up are disproportionately small business owners.”
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The people charged in the attack so far also did not come exclusively from Republican states or conservative enclaves. In fact, a majority lived in counties that Biden won, like Beverly Hills, nestled next to Hollywood in liberal Los Angeles county.

Only 10% of the people charged so far had identifiable ties to rightwing militias or other organized violent groups, the Chicago researchers found. Many more were people who had identified as mainstream Trump supporters.

neonzx wrote: ↑Wed Feb 24, 2021 11:53 am Justin Baragona@justinbaragona
As we move further and further away from the Jan. 6 insurrection, we will continue to see this kind of revisionism from the right.

Dinesh D'Souza: "In reality, this was a bunch of rowdy people walking through a hallway."

Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said Thursday that security will remain tight because of intelligence that some militia groups that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 have threatened to "blow up" the complex when President Biden delivers a joint address to Congress.

A date for when Biden will deliver a joint address to Congress in a State of the Union-like speech has not yet been established.

But Pittman said that officials want to maintain the current security posture while that threat remains.

"We know that members of the militia groups that were present on Jan. 6 have stated their desires that they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible with a direct nexus to the State of the Union," Pittman revealed during testimony before a House Appropriations subcommittee.

Standing on the Capitol steps on Jan. 6, Richard Michetti allegedly took a break from the rioting to argue with his ex-girlfriend over text message. After sending photos and videos of the mob and boasting how he had avoided tear gas, Michetti parroted Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud.

“If you can’t see the election was stolen you’re a moron,” Michetti wrote in a text to the woman, according to court documents.

The next day, the woman he had insulted promptly told the FBI that her ex was at the Capitol, handing over to law enforcement the string of texts, photos and videos he had sent to her.

Michetti, who lives in Ridley Park, Pa., has now been charged with knowingly entering a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and obstruction of Congress. If convicted, Michetti, who was arraigned Tuesday in federal court in Philadelphia, faces up to 20 years in prison, reported the Philadelphia Inquirer.

noblepa wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 1:49 pm Have any of those arrested had their charges upgraded yet?

When they first began making arrests, I was a little outraged that the insurrectionists were being charged with, effectively, disturbing the peace, and other misdemeanors.

Then, with the help of some cooler heads on this forum, that these were "placeholder" charges and that, as more facts were uncovered and the prosecution built their cases, the charges would be upgraded to more serious felonies.

So, have any of the charges been replaced (or augmented) by superseding indictments for more serious charges? I'm thinking that some of them, like Shaman-man and zip-tie guy will be among those given more serious charges.

Federal prosecutors have now charged more than 300 people, and arrested more than 280, in connection with the events of January 6, Acting Deputy Attorney General John Carlin said Friday. A Justice Department official said this week that the department had opened files on approximately 540 subjects.

"The investigation into those responsible is moving at a speed and scale that's unprecedented, and rightly so. Those responsible must be held to account, and they will be," Carlin said.

Snip-

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin said last month that prosecutors would move away from charging the easily identifiable "internet stars" who appeared in photos and on social media and begin to build more complicated conspiracy cases related to militia groups' coordination during the attack. So far, at least 18 have been charged with conspiracy, a charge that alleges they coordinated with others to commit an offense.

More than 20 have been charged under a destruction of government property statute. During proceedings for two of those defendants, the government said their crimes amounted to "terrorism" — an allegation that is not itself a charge but could influence prison sentences if the men are found guilty.

The FBI told CBS News earlier this month that 40 people have been arrested for assault on law enforcement officers. The crime carries penalties ranging from one to 20 years, depending on the circumstances of the assault. Federal prosecutors have also charged at least 195 alleged rioters with "restricted building or grounds" charges.

noblepa wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 1:43 pm I know this is probably premature, with the first trials at least six months away, but what can the prosecution do to prevent attempts at jury nullification? I'm sure that many sympathizers will try to get on juries, for the express purpose of voting for acquittal.