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FBI seeks Jan 6 suspect accused of attacking Capitol police while wearing upside-down swimming goggles

Over 850 convicted so far in connection with Capitol riot

Josh Marcus
San Francisco
Tuesday 06 September 2022 20:08 BST
Trump says he is financially supporting Jan 6 suspects

Federal officials are still looking for people who participated in the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, including a man who seems to have been at the riot wearing upside-down swim goggles.

The FBI shared a photo of the man on Sunday on Twitter.

He’s pictured wearing a red, patterned knit hat, a brown jacket with what appears to be the Ferrari logo and a pair bright-blue goggles.

The agency has been looking for the individual since January of 2021, and featured him in a July 2022 call for tips. Video released by the FBI shows the apparent aquatics fan ramming himself into an officer’s riot shield.

“As we have seen with dozens of cases so far, the tips matter,” Steven M D’Antuono, assistant director of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, said in statement along with the release of the videos. “The public has provided tremendous assistance to this investigation, and we are asking for additional help to identify other individuals for their role in the violence at the U.S. Capitol.”

As of 2 September, more than 850 people from 48 states have been charged for participating in the Capitol riot, according to a USA Today database.

On Tuesday, a judge ordered that a county official in New Mexico is “barred for life” and “constitutionally ineligible” to hold public office after he was convicted for his role in the attack on the US Capitol.

Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin – a founder of “Cowboys for Trump” – will be removed from office, effective immediately, according to the court’s order on 6 September. Griffin was convicted on misdemeanor charges for his role in the Capitol riots on 6 January, 2021, and he recently refused to certify local election results, relying on debunked conspiracy theories about voting machines, fuelled by spurious legal challenges and false narratives from Donald Trump and his allies.

The ruling relied on Section 4 of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, holding that any person who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or gave “aid or comfort” to insurrectionists is disqualified from holding public office. It’s the first  time in more than 100 years that a court has disqualified a public official from holding office.

Top Republicans continue to embrace those tied to the January 6 attacks.

Donald Trump’s recent rally in Pennsylvania featured two speakers whose family members were convicted of crimes at the insurrection, including an individual federal officials believe is an avowed neo-Nazi.

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