Capital Breach Rally January 6 1/6
Police circle a man, center with glasses, during a rally near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

By Michael Balsamo, Eric Tucker and Colleen Long, AP

A federal law enforcement officer was arrested carrying a gun at Saturday’s rally at the U.S. Capitol billed to support the suspects charged in January’s insurrection but will not be prosecuted.

The 27-year-old New Jersey man is an officer with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He was arrested by Capitol Police for illegally possessing a gun on the grounds of the Capitol after people in the crowd reported seeing him with a handgun and notified nearby officers.

His arrest and presence at the event were surprising because the rally was billed as an event to support those who have been charged in January’s riot. That riot left dozens of police officers beaten, bloodied and bruised as the crowd of pro-Trump rioters, some armed with pipes, bats and bear spray, charged into the Capitol, quickly overrunning the overwhelmed police force.

 

During January’s riot, one officer was beaten and shocked with a stun gun repeatedly until he had a heart attack; another was foaming at the mouth and screaming for help as rioters crushed him between two doors and bashed him in the head with his own weapon.

Law enforcement officials had prepared extensively for the possibility that Saturday’s rally could devolve into violence — bringing back the fence around the Capitol, activating the city’s entre police force and requesting assistance from the National Guard — taking no chance as they aimed to avoid a repeat of the Jan. 6 attack. Police had also warned they would come down hard on anyone who violated Washington’s gun laws.

But there were very few incidents on Saturday and only a handful of arrests. Four people were arrested, including the Customs and Border Protection officer.

Generally, under federal law, law enforcement officers are given reciprocity to legally carry their weapons in other states, even those with restrictive gun laws. But the law has an exemption for government property or military bases where it is illegal to carry a gun, like the U.S. Capitol.


A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington said prosecutors were “not moving forward with charges” but did not provide additional information about the decision.

Two law enforcement officials said the officer was not at the rally in any official capacity. The officials could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general was also notified of his arrest.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it was aware of the arrest and was “fully cooperating with the investigation.”

“CBP stresses honor and integrity in every aspect of our mission and expects officers to adhere to the oath they take to uphold the laws of this country,” the agency said in a statement.

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42 COMMENTS

    • Is it just me, or does the pic at the top of the page show the Fedz dressed up in riot gear uncannily similar to how “police of the mid 21st Century” were depicted in the pilot episode of Star Trek: TNG? Aired late ’80s and showed the character “Q” grilling Picard in a mock courtroom. The topic came up regarding the massive breakdown of society in the mid-21th Century (the catastrophic event in the Star Trek timeline that led to the formation of a better futuristic One World Order on Earth), and the police of that futuristic period were shown as dressed up in black riot gear that resembled military rumble more than anything.

      Back when the episode aired, we still had the vestiges of an Officer Friendly force that made the show’s depiction look legitimately dystopian.

      Ladies and gentlemen…I introduce to you the year 2021. Fed Boiz. Coming to a city near you.

  2. That description of the January 6 protest is *pure* creative writing. Somehow US journalism keeps finding ways to get even worse.

    • Indeed.

      Concerning the protest; the only instance of pipes and bats that I’m aware of were those being passed out from a basement window of the capital building. MSM is silent on that little tidbit…

    • Ya, that jumped out at me right away.
      Somebody didn’t bother to check the actual accounts, vid evidence etc.

      Then again, it’s a journalist…..from the AP.

      • TTAG shouldn’t just parrot AP propaganda articles. It is lazy, and badly undermines the credibility of this site.

        • I agree. Who wrote this hack piece? It sounds as if it were written out of AOC’s office. Incredible amount of totally false statement in it from what I have read on other sources.

  3. Nothing like a pro-capital po-leece narrative to start this “article” out…dude isn’t allowed to carry a gat but does anyway? Off duty? A bit gung-ho? They’re special you hillbilly serfs. He should be fired minimum. Whatever🙁

  6. The article was a work of fiction written by Michael Ballsoff, Eric Fvcker and Colleen Dong, for the Azzwipe Press on behalf of His Fraudulency in the White House.

    • It looks like some kind of “preppy pride” parade. I mean, who dresses like that? Ever?
      Nobody answer that, I don’t wanna know…

  8. To remember, any, march, sit in,gathering, rally, has secret agent man there to stir up trouble.
    The loudest voice of “Burn Baby Burn” is agent 13’s.
    Call in the cops. Call in the Guard. Beat them with sticks and release the dogs.
    .
    The Capitol Building is still there?
    I thought I heard on the news it was bombed and burned to the ground during the invasion.

  9. I had some family there that day and this is their first hand accounts;
    “…after a live billy goat was crowd surfed to the front is was then set on fire with gasoline before being used to stab 6 to 25 capitol police.
    A uranium filled van was dropped from a crane through the roof of the build but failed to detonate it’s dirty payload. However it was successful in creating yet another entry point into the building. Pro-machine gun toting Trump-ists began flooding into the building, the scene resembling the Brad Pitt zombie hoard movie World War Z.”

    Now to copyright this and see which biased news media outlets wants to publish it.

  11. The whole problem with cops are the ones who otherwise play it straight are always covering up for the ones who don’t. Then the shit gets on everybody’s uniform.

  12. The whole problem with cops are the ones who otherwise play it straight, are always covering up for the ones who don’t. Then the shit gets on everybody’s uniform.

  13. “During January’s riot, one officer was beaten and shocked with a stun gun repeatedly until he had a heart attack; another was foaming at the mouth and screaming for help as rioters crushed him between two doors and bashed him in the head with his own weapon.”

    Please provide photo evidence that has been date and time stamped. Also medical reports about doctors caring for the injured officers. And police written reports of when an officer deployed his or her weapon. Their tazer(s).
    \
    However I do understand that the election was stolen from President Trump by the Democrat party.

    btw
    Where is all the government security camera footage from the Jan 6th “riot”??? The Speaker of the House controls the release of all that CCTV video.

    • “I do understand that the election was stolen from President Trump… “

      Yes, it appears there were incidents of election fraud, and the department of justice is currently investigating these allegations.

      “WASHINGTON — A Republican political operative pardoned by President Donald Trump after his conviction in a 2012 bribery plot has been charged again with campaign-related crimes, this time involving a 2016 illegal campaign contribution scheme and a Russian national.

      Jesse Benton, 43, of Louisville, Kentucky, was accused in an indictment unsealed Monday in federal court in Washington.

      Trump pardoned Benton in December after his conviction in a case involving false records and campaign reports to the Federal Election Commission. Prosecutors said Benton and two others who were working on the 2012 presidential campaign of Ron Paul tried to hide $73,000 in payments to an Iowa state senator, Kent Sorenson, for his endorsement of Paul.

      The most recent case is similar in nature to the 2012 charges. Benton, who was the former chief strategist for the pro-Trump Great America PAC, and Roy Douglas “Doug” Wead, who served as an adviser to multiple presidential campaigns and is a presidential historian and author, were accused of conspiracy to solicit and cause an illegal campaign contribution by a Russian foreign national during the 2016 presidential election.

      Both men appeared in court Monday. Benton’s attorney did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Wead attorney Jay Sekulow said Wead pleaded not guilty.

      According to court papers, Wead, 75, of Bonita Springs, Florida, told a Russian foreign national that he could meet an unnamed presidential candidate at a political event in exchange for a contribution. It is illegal to solicit campaign contributions from foreigners.“

      Well wadda ya know, here’s some more of the Russian connection that the conservatives ignore.

      Fortunately, federal prosecutors are not as willing to ignore criminal violations of federal law and the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause.

  14. To the original spirit of the J6 protest: that was a good idea. Highlight the difference between the BLM/antifa, “Fiery, but mostly peaceful protests . . .” and what too place at the J6, 18SEP21.
    More MSM pundits.
    More undercover FBI agents than actual J6 protesters.
    Good all around.
    What is not to like?

  15. Two southpaws, and one right-hander. That means, statistically, there are at least 17 more righties out there…

  16. From what I’ve seen reported, there press and police each outnumbered the rally goers, and the rally speeches had complimentary things to say about law enforcement. Of the 200 attendees, who knows how many were undercover feds, confidential informants, or provocateurs. Of the 4 arrests, there was a fed with a gun, 2 arrested for unrelated outstanding felony warrants, and a guy with a knife. A big nothing burger.

  17. Did the main stream media write this story? Sure seems to be a vapid embellishment of what actually occurred that day.

  18. I would like to see the video of all that so-called violence going on on Jan 6th because every bit I have seen is very different than that

    • I’ve got a real good cgi version.
      They made it look just like real and as accurately depicted as they could.
      The horror, the horror.

      • Just lable the blm pantifa attack footage on the white house “Jan 6th patriot insurrection”. It’s easier than CGI.

  20. Ah man… I was hoping he was going deep undercover in the DC gulags. Well, it would have made a nice story at the fed asshat reunion.

  23. What rational thought leads one to print any of the BS from the marxists at the Assoc Press? Can yoy say trollbait?

  24. Articles like this is why I quit coming here. The bats and pipes along with pro Trump rally. Why would a pro 2a site continue to broadcast the same crap as the main stream media? Quit printing crap

  25. How odd.

    Usually, totalitarian regimes that set up elaborate false-flag operations make sure to leave a few token, ‘staged’ bodies strewn about, or arrange to have a designated representative executed to distract from the figures actually behind the event.

    This regime can’t even do this sort of thing correctly.

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