DOJ announces charges against man carrying Pelosi’s podium and others in US Capitol riot

Federal prosecutors have charged three men and the FBI arrested another on Saturday in connection with Wednesday’s riot at the US Capitol, including a man seen on video carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern and another wearing a bearskin headdress.

The arrests Saturday, coming a day after federal charges were announced against more than a dozen others, highlighted the consequences faced by some of the most recognizable people who swept through the battered Capitol Building posing for photos and videos.

There are now 18 known federal criminal defendants related to the Capitol riots, which shocked the nation as a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters laid siege to America’s symbol of democracy, determined to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Some are people who grew violent with police, some are photographed in the building during the destruction, and some are people who allegedly brought guns and ammunition and, in the case of one man, Molotov cocktails, around the Capitol.

Adam Johnson, 36, of Florida was arrested in the state Friday and booked into the Pinellas County Jail just days after he was allegedly caught on camera carrying the House speaker’s lectern, according to the release. He has been charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; one count of theft of government property; and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Jacob Anthony Chansley, who allegedly was the man seen in photos dressed in horns, bearskin headdress and face paint, was taken into custody Saturday, according to the release. The Arizona man has been charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

It was not immediately clear Saturday whether Johnson or Chansley had an attorney.

Chansley told the FBI he came to Washington earlier this week “as a part of a group effort, with other ‘patriots’ from Arizona, at the request of the President that all ‘patriots’ come to D.C. on January 6, 2021,” according to a narrative from investigators in his court record.

Chansley had called the FBI the day after the attack Wednesday and confirmed to them he was the person in the photos in the vice president’s chair in the Senate, the court document said.

His voluntary disclosure to the FBI is the strongest wording in court filings yet indicating coordination between followers of the President that led to the violent and destructive overrun of the Capitol.

Also on Saturday, Douglas Jensen, 41, was arrested for his involvement in a violent crowd breaking into the Capitol, according to the FBI and local authorities in Iowa.

FBI officials presented Jensen to Polk County Jail for processing on Saturday and he was booked into the jail.

He faces five federal charges, of unlawfully entering the Capitol, disrupting government business, violent entry and parading in a Capitol building and blocking law enforcement during the riot.

No further information about Jensen’s case was available at this time from the Justice Department.

Derrick Evans, a West Virginia state lawmaker allegedly among the rioters who stormed the Capitol building, has been 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. A federal magistrate judge in West Virginia released him on his personal recognizance after he appeared in court Friday afternoon, according to court records.

Evans, who has denied taking part in the destruction and violence, resigned from the West Virginia House of Delegates on Saturday, saying in a statement, “I take full responsibility for my actions, and deeply regret any hurt, pain or embarrassment I may have caused my family, friends, constituents and fellow West Virginians.”

CNN has obtained video that federal prosecutors say Evans livestreamed on Facebook — and later deleted — while participating in the insurrection at Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

Although he deleted the video, according to the criminal complaint, an individual uploaded a copy of it to Reddit. Prosecutors claim in the criminal complaint that Evans is the man heard in the video.

Evans has said he only filmed the event as an “independent member of the media to film history,” though it does not appear he has any experience working as one.

Before the riot even started, prosecutors also noted in the complaint that Evans did a livestream on Facebook in which he relayed a message he says he heard on a public address system.

“They’re making an announcement right now saying if Pence betrays us you better get your mind right because we’re storming that building,” he said.

Evans’ lawyer, John Bryan, told CNN he hasn’t yet seen the complaint and declined to provide any comment on the charge.

However, Bryan told CNN in a statement on Thursday that his client “had no choice but to enter” the Capitol due to the size of the crowd he was in, and that “it wasn’t apparent to Mr. Evans that he wasn’t allowed to follow the crowd into this public area of the Capitol, inside which members of the public were already located.”

The video shows Evans in the crowd that broke through one of large, ornamental Capitol Hill doors, repeatedly telling people to push.

“Are they still fighting the cops there,” Evans is heard asking another rioter at one point outside.

“We’re in,” he yells once inside Capitol Hill, as rioters continue to enter the building.

A man later approaches him and shakes his hand, saying, “Welcome to Congress.”

This story has been updated with additional reporting.