Far-right video blogger, man with Confederate flag among latest Capitol siege arrests
Tidewater Regional JailBy ALEXANDER MALLIN and MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — More than a week after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, federal authorities continue to charge people who allegedly participated in the riot, often relying on video taken at the scene to identify suspects.
As of Saturday, approximately 80 cases have been charged in federal court and at least 40 people have been arrested in connection with the attack, the Department of Justice said. Additionally, the FBI has opened approximately 200 subject case files and received roughly 140,000 digital media tips from the public.
Those recently charged include:
Far-right video blogger ‘Baked Alaska’
A far-right video blogger known as “Baked Alaska” was arrested Friday in Houston in connection with the insurrection, authorities said. Anthime “Tim” Joseph Gionet was charged in federal court with unlawful entry to a restricted building and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, court records show.
According to an FBI affidavit, Gionet livestreamed for approximately 27 minutes on the platform DLive while inside the Capitol. The video was captured and posted to Twitter and YouTube.
“The defendant and the individuals he is with be can seen in the United States Capitol Building and can be heard chanting, ‘Patriots are in control,’ ‘whose house? Our house,’ and ‘traitors, traitors, traitors,'” the affidavit stated.
Gionet picked up a telephone in an unnamed Senate office and acted out “a purported phone call with the United States Senate personnel” and later could be heard saying, “Occupy the Capitol let’s go. We ain’t leaving this bitch,” according to the affidavit.
After allegedly entering another office, he encouraged others not to break anything, the affidavit stated.
When asked by law enforcement officers to move, Gionet allegedly identified himself as a member of the media. He allegedly cursed several times at a law enforcement officer and said, “You broke your oath to the Constitution,” before leaving the building, according to the affidavit.
Authorities were able to identify Gionet when he turned the camera around and showed his face while filming, according to the affidavit. “The defendant is a known social media personality and is thus recognizable,” the affidavit stated.
Gionet briefly worked for BuzzFeed years ago, the publication said, before becoming known as a pro-Trump activist. Following the Capitol attack, DLive indefinitely suspended him from the streaming platform.
ABC News was unable to reach Gionet for comment.
Mother of man who allegedly brought zip ties to Capitol
The mother of a man who allegedly wore tactical gear and carried plastic restraints during the Capitol siege was arrested Saturday, authorities said.
Lisa Eisenhart was taken into custody by Nashville FBI agents Saturday on charges related to the Capitol riot. She faces four charges, including allegedly conspiring with her son, Eric Gavelek Munchel, to violate federal statutes.
Munchel, who was arrested in Tennessee Jan. 10, appears to be the man seen and photographed in the Senate chambers wearing black tactical gear and carrying plastic restraints, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
He was charged with “one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds,” according to the U.S. attorney.
Additionally, Munchel faces the same conspiracy charge as his mother, court records show.
The FBI affidavit alleges that the two “knowingly and willfully joined a mob of individuals to forcibly enter the U.S. Capitol with the intent to cause a civil disturbance designed to impede, disrupt, and disturb the orderly conduct of business by the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.”
Both Munchel and Eisenhart were seen in video footage holding “flex cuffs” in each of their hands during the pursuit of two Capitol police officers, the affidavit alleges.
In an interview with the Times of London referenced in the affidavit, Eisenhart said they had entered the U.S. Capitol as “observers.”
“I’d rather die a 57-year-old woman than live under oppression,” she also told the publication. “I’d rather die and would rather fight.”
ABC News was unable to reach Eisenhart for comment.
New York man whose social media allegedly placed him at Capitol
FBI agents arrested a New York man Saturday in connection with the Capitol riot, a law enforcement official told ABC News.
Edward Jacob Lang, 26, of Newburgh, allegedly created several social media posts that placed him at the Capitol during the siege. One Instagram post was allegedly captioned, “1776 has commenced.”
The specific charges were not immediately clear.
Man seen carrying Confederate flag in Capitol
A man whom authorities identified as carrying a Confederate flag while walking through the Capitol halls during the Jan. 6 siege was arrested Thursday morning in Delaware, a law enforcement official confirmed to ABC News.
Kevin Seefried was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and one count of depredation of government property, the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. announced.
His son, Hunter Seefried, faces the same charges, authorities said. ABC News could not immediately reach them or their attorneys for comment.
The FBI had put out several bulletins over the past week seeking to identify the elder Seefried. Both men were identified after the FBI received a tip from Hunter Seefried’s coworker that he “bragged about being in the Capitol with his father” on Jan. 6, according to an FBI affidavit.
Both men allegedly entered the Senate building through a broken window, soon after which Kevin Seefried was spotted walking through the halls with a Confederate flag, according to the affidavit.
FBI agents interviewed the men on Tuesday, during which they confirmed they participated in the riot, according to the affidavit. Kevin Seefried “explained that he brought the Confederate Battle flag … from his home in Delaware where it is usually displayed outside,” the FBI said.
Kevin Seefried told law enforcement they traveled with their family to see Trump speak, and then he and Hunter participated in the march to the Capitol, according to the affidavit.
Retired firefighter who allegedly threw fire extinguisher at police
Robert Sanford, a retired firefighter from Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, was arrested Thursday morning on three federal charges for allegedly hurling a fire extinguisher that hit three Capitol police officers at the riot last week, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News.
The assault is separate from the ongoing investigation into the death of Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, the official told ABC News.
Sanford, 55, was charged with four federal offenses — knowingly entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, civil disorder and assaulting officers engaging in their official duties.
A federal judge in Pennsylvania Thursday afternoon ordered Sanford to remain in government custody pending his next hearing in Washington, D.C., saying his alleged actions show he presents a danger to the community.
During the detention hearing, a Department of Justice attorney accused Sanford of traveling across multiple state lines “as part of a group” that attended President Trump‘s speech and then subsequently marched to the Capitol for “purposes of basically participating in a riot that was an insurrection against the United States government.”
Rejecting the defense’s argument that Sanford’s long service as a firefighter should count in favor of his release pending further proceedings, the judge described his actions as “clearly … a danger to the community,” adding the riots were “a danger for the Capitol, it was a danger to our democracy, and our legislators.”
Authorities identified Sanford from two videos that captured the attack on the Capitol, stills of which were included in the FBI affidavit.
Sanford allegedly threw an object, which from the video appeared to be a fire extinguisher, at a group of police officers, according to the affidavit.
“The object appears to strike one officer, who was wearing a helmet, in the head,” the affidavit stated. “The object then ricochets and strikes another officer, who was not wearing a helmet, in the head. The object then ricochets a third time and strikes a third officer, wearing a helmet, in the head.”
One of the officers was evaluated at a hospital before being cleared to return to duty, according to the affidavit.
Sanford was identified after a longtime friend of his contacted the FBI in Pennsylvania and said they recognized Sanford from photos put out by the FBI, the affidavit stated. The friend said Sanford traveled to DC “on a bus with a group of people” who “had gone to the White House and listened to President Donald J. Trump’s speech and then had followed the President’s instructions and gone to the Capitol,” according to the affidavit.
Sanford had recently retired from the Chester Fire Department in Chester, Pennsylvania, authorities said. The man identified as Sanford in the videos can be seen wearing a stocking cap with the logo for the fire department.
In a statement released Thursday, Chester Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland said Sanford served as a member of the fire department from January 1994 to February 2020.
“While Robert Sanford adorned a hat with a Fire Department logo, he is not a current employee of the city of Chester,” Kirkland said.
Man who allegedly beat officer with American flag
A man seen in a viral video beating a police officer with a flagpole that had an American flag attached to it has been charged, the Department of Justice said Thursday.
Authorities identified Peter Stager of Arkansas as the man in the video. Stager allegedly repeatedly struck an officer with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department on the steps of the Capitol building with the flagpole, according to the criminal complaint.
A confidential source tipped the FBI off to Stager’s identity from two videos posted on a Twitter thread, according to the FBI affidavit.
In one of the videos, the source identified Stager as saying, “Everybody in there is a treasonous traitor. Death is the only remedy for what’s in that building.”
“That building” was believed to be a reference to the U.S. Capitol building, and “everybody in there” a reference to the congresspeople inside at the time, according to the affidavit.
Stager allegedly told a separate individual in touch with the confidential source that he thought the cop was “Antifa,” despite the officer’s jacket identifying him as police.
Stager was taken into custody Thursday by Little Rock FBI agents, authorities said. ABC News was unable to reach him for comment.
Man who filmed fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt
John Sullivan, the leader of activist group Insurgence USA who followed rioters throughout the Capitol and taped the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt, has been charged with multiple federal offenses — entering a restricted building, civil disorder, violent entry and disorderly conduct — authorities said.
Sullivan, 26, was arrested Thursday in Provo, Utah.
The complaint alleged that Sullivan, while wearing a ballistics vest and gas mask, entered the Capitol through a window that had been broken out.
The affidavit for the charges is based almost entirely on a 50-minute video Sullivan taped as he filmed rioters attacking the U.S. Capitol, as well as an interview Sullivan gave to an FBI task force officer last week.
In the video, Sullivan can be heard saying, “It’s our house motherf—–” and “We are getting this s—,” according to the affidavit.
The agent also cited interviews Sullivan gave to both CNN and ABC’s “Good Morning America” in which he described the situation inside the Capitol.
According to the affidavit, Sullivan told investigators he is an activist and journalist “but admitted that he did not have any press credentials.” He told investigators he was willing to provide a copy of all his footage from within the Capitol, the affidavit stated.
In July, Sullivan was charged with rioting and criminal mischief in connection with a protest in Provo, authorities said. The case is still pending.
ABC News has reached out to Sullivan for comment.
Former Texas mayoral candidate who posted selfie videos from Capitol
A former Midland, Texas, mayoral candidate was arrested and charged with two federal offenses Wednesday after she posted multiple selfie videos of her participating in last week’s riot in the Capitol, authorities said.
In one Facebook video cited in the FBI affidavit, Jenny Cudd made statements “indicating her admission of entering the U.S. Capitol,” the affidavit stated, including allegedly being a part of the crowd that stormed the Capitol and broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
According to the affidavit, Cudd said in the video, “We did break down Nancy Pelosi’s office door and somebody stole her gavel and took a picture sitting in the chair flipping off the camera.”
“I am proud of my actions, I f—– charged the Capitol today with patriots today. Hell yes, I am proud of my actions,” Cudd allegedly said.
The Facebook livestream video has since been removed.
Cudd was charged with entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors. Her attorney told the Midland Reporter-Telegram she plans to plead not guilty at her court appearance next week.
Cudd ran for mayor of Midland in 2019 and lost to Patrick Payton. Following her arrest, Payton’s office released a statement to Austin ABC affiliate KVUE: “The mayor will reserve any further comment for much later and would encourage us all to reserve any further speculation or judgment on these matters until more is known and the federal authorities progress in their work on this matter.”
More high-profile arrests
Among the dozens of people charged in recent days in connection with the Capitol attack, a man seen smoking a cigar during the siege was taken into custody Friday, according to the FBI. He was charged with smashing a window at the Capitol, according to an FBI affidavit.
On Wednesday, a man who authorities identified as the rioter wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” hoodie during the Capitol siege was arrested in Newport News, Virginia. He faces charges of unlawful entry into the U.S. Capitol and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Olympic gold medalist Klete Keller was charged Wednesday with obstructing law enforcement engaged in official duties, unlawfully entering Capitol grounds and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
The man who was photographed inside the Capitol wearing fur pelts and a bulletproof police vest while holding a Capitol Police riot shield was arrested Tuesday in Brooklyn and faces four federal charges.
Last weekend, Capitol riot suspects who allegedly brought zip ties and wore tactical gear were arrested in Texas and Tennessee.
The man seen carrying Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern through the Capitol halls and the shirtless man dressed in horns, a bearskin headdress and red, white and blue face paint were arrested on Jan. 8 in Florida and Arizona, respectively.
ABC News’ Luke Barr, Aaron Katersky, Matt Foster, Alexandra Svokos and Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.
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