The U.S. Justice Department mentioned on Sunday that it had arrested an elected official from New Mexico who had vowed to journey to Washington with firearms to protest President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Cuoy Griffin, a New Mexico county commissioner and founding father of a bunch known as “Cowboys for Trump,” was arrested in Washington on expenses associated to the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, in line with paperwork posted on the Justice Department’s web site.
Griffin was amongst hundreds who stormed the Capitol in an try to dam Congress from certifying Democrat Biden’s victory over Republican President Donald Trump, in line with charging paperwork. He stood on the steps of the constructing however didn’t enter it.
After the riot, Griffin mentioned he deliberate to return forward of Biden’s inauguration this Wednesday. “If we do, then it’s gonna be a sad day because there’s gonna be blood running out of that building,” he mentioned in a video posted to Facebook, in line with an FBI doc.
Back in New Mexico, Griffin informed a Thursday assembly of the Otero County Council that he deliberate to drive to Washington with a rifle and a revolver. He faces trespassing expenses.
Federal authorities have introduced prison expenses in opposition to greater than 100 folks to date in reference to the Jan. 6 riot, through which Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol, ransacked places of work and attacked police. Investigators are scouring greater than 140,000 movies and images from the siege through which 5 folks died, together with a police officer.
U.S. officers arrested 10 extra folks on Saturday and Sunday. Among them was Chad Barrett Jones of Kentucky, who authorities mentioned was captured on video utilizing a picket flagpole to attempt to break glass door panels within the House of Representatives.
He faces a number of expenses, together with assaulting a federal officer. Two cousins, Daniel Adams of Texas and Cody Connell of Louisiana, likewise face expenses of assaulting a federal officer for allegedly pushing their well past Capitol Police into the constructing.
Connell posted movies of their exercise on social media and informed others he deliberate to return to Washington with firearms and physique armor, in line with FBI paperwork. Law enforcement officers have been bracing for additional violence.
More than a dozen states activated National Guard troops following an FBI warning of armed demonstrations by right-wing extremists. But by late Sunday afternoon, solely handfuls of demonstrators had taken to the streets.
