Sat 09 January 2021:
US Federal authorities have taken into custody a man photographed casually sitting with his foot on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office at the U.S. Capitol while a pro-Trump mob rampaged the halls of Congress was arrested Friday, law enforcement officials said.
Richard Barnett has been arrested in his home state of Arkansas, spokesman Joshua Stueve confirmed in an email exchange with Anadolu Agency. He has been charged with one count each of entering restricted grounds, violent entry, and public property theft.
Barnett was photographed posing on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk during Wednesday’s riot in a photo that went viral and stirred outrage.
That’s Richard “Bigo” Barnett, 60, from Gravette, Ak., showing off the personalized envelope he took from Speaker Pelosi’s office. He insisted he didn’t steal it — “I left a quarter on her desk.” pic.twitter.com/aST7MCoRwP
— Matthew Rosenberg (@AllMattNYT) January 6, 2021
Aides to Pelosi have said her office was vandalized on Wednesday, and confirmed that a laptop from a conference room had been stolen. The equipment, however, was used only for presentations, an aide said.
Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have called for Trump to be removed from office amid his final days in the White House.
The Justice Department also confirmed West Virginia state lawmaker Derrick Evans has also been charged with illegally entering the Capitol in connection with the riot.
“We’re in! We’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol,” Evans said in a since-deleted live video he published on social media.
The storming of the Capitol erupted shortly after Trump riled his supporters at a nearby location on Wednesday, repeating false charges that the election was stolen from him and vowing to never concede.
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