Capitol invaded: conspirators, pro-arms, neo-Nazis, who are the rioters?

Images of the Capitol being invaded by pro-Trump protesters on Wednesday very quickly went viral. One of them immortalizes Richard Barnett, a pro-arms activist, with his feet resting on the desk of Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives. It’s “my office,” the 60-year-old from Arkansas told local KFSM 5News. “I am a taxpayer. I am a patriot. This is not his office. We loaned it to him, ”he added.

Known locally for running a pro-gun Facebook group, 2A NWA STAND, Richard Barnett, known as “Bigo,” claimed to have found himself in this office almost by accident. “I was pushed there,” he said, as “I looked for the toilet”. Before leaving, he left an insulting note with Nancy Pelosi. Last I heard, he was free, although he could be arrested quickly. “Am I scared? No ! But prison is a possibility, ”he told reporters after leaving the building.

A conspirator in the buffalo headdress and a neo-Nazi

Shirtless, Native American headdress with buffalo horns, makeup, Jake Angeli describes himself as a “spiritual warrior”. He has magnetized photographers and cameras all over the Capitol. Originally from Arizona, this thirty-something has already been seen many times during pro-Trump protests in Phoenix in recent months, systematically wearing his famous headdress. Jake Angeli presents himself as a “digital soldier of QAnon”, the conspiratorial movement of which Donald Trump is the hero and which saw Wednesday’s intrusion as a triumph. “We are patriots, on the front lines in Arizona, who want to bring our positive energy,” he wrote in a message posted in December on the beloved social network of the ultraconservative Parler.

Photographed alongside Jake Angeli, Matthew Heimach is a 29-year-old, round-faced, surrounded by rimless glasses. He is considered by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an observatory of extremist groups, as “the face of a new generation of white nationalists”. Matthew Heimbach is considered one of the organizers of the far-right rally in Charlottesville (Virginia), in August 2017, on the sidelines of which a woman was killed by a neo-Nazi sympathizer.

A desk thief and a former air force

Surprised carrying Nancy Pelosi’s desk, a man in a Trump beanie spontaneously gave the photographer a friendly sign, all smiles. He was quickly identified as Adam Johnson, a resident of Parrish, Florida, according to local press. In the immediate future, it was more his wife, a doctor, who bore the brunt of the break-in. The latter has been inundated with sarcastic messages on the many sites on which it is referenced.

Ashli ​​Babbitt was the first known victim of this violence. While trying to get through a broken window in a hallway of Congress, the 30-something was shot at point blank range by a Capitol policeman. She later succumbed to her injuries. Active on social networks, conspiratorial, this Californian “libertarian”, according to her Twitter account, saw the surge of supporters of Donald Trump on Washington as a “storm”, which would bring the country “from darkness to light” .

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