WASHINGTON — A man arrested on Thursday in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol assaulted law enforcement officers with a Donald Trump flag while holding a “stop the steal” sign, according to an FBI affidavit.
The case, along with several more arrests this week, once again underlines the motivation of the violent pro-Trump mob that attacked officers and tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power, even as Trump supporters continue to spread conspiracy theories baselessly blaming left-wing activists and federal agents.
Lance Ligocki, who had been nicknamed “Full Flag Suit” by online sleuths because of the stars and stripes he wore that day, was arrested in Illinois on Thursday, according to court records. He faces felony charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers as well as obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder, and other misdemeanor charges.
NBC News has reached out to a federal public defender who represented Ligocki during his initial appearance in federal court in Illinois.
Ligocki, according to an FBI affidavit, “was observed approaching the Lower West Terrace entryway of the Capitol building and swinging a pole with a ‘Trump’ flag at law enforcement officers three times while carrying a ‘Stop the Steal’ sign.”
The FBI obtained a search warrant for Ligocki’s Facebook account and obtained numerous images and a video confirming his “attendance at and participation in protest events at and near the U.S. Capitol grounds on January 6, 2021, as well as his distinctive apparel from that day.”
One of the images cited by the FBI shows Ligocki posing at Peace Circle, where rioters first breached the restricted grounds of the U.S Capitol, and another features him posing in front of the inauguration platform.
In messages, according to the FBI, Ligocki described Jan. 6 as “awesome” and said they “did breech the capital,” misspelling both “breach” and “Capitol.” He also called Trump “a lone Wolf” and then-Vice President Mike Pence “a snake.”
“Everyone I seen is ready to fight,” Ligocki wrote, according to the FBI. “No one wants to talk anymore. I see a civil war of some sort coming.”
At the time of his arrest on Thursday, Ligocki’s Facebook page featured a photo of him wearing a comically oversized “Make America Great Again” hat, wearing a Trump shirt, and standing in front of a truck featuring six large Trump flags as well as a flag expressing, in vulgar terms, his disagreement with President Joe Biden. The FBI affidavit features another image from his Facebook page, in which Ligocki is sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle while holding a miniature Trump statue and wearing a hat with “TRUMP” written in black on the underside of the brim of an American flag hat. Ligocki appears to have worn the same hat to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Hours after Ligocki’s arrest, President Joe Biden said during his State of the Union address that Trump and some of his supporters in Congress wanted to continue to obfuscate what happened on Jan. 6.
“My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about January 6,” Biden said. “I will not do that. This is a moment to speak the truth and to bury the lies. Here’s the simple truth: You can’t love your country only when you win.”
More than 1,300 people have been arrested in connection with the Capitol attack, and more than half a dozen arrests took place on Thursday alone.
Donald Moss and James Behymer of Indiana were arrested on felony charges, accused of assaulting officers near the lower west terrace on Jan. 6. Indiana resident Annie Vo, whose son Antony Vo was convicted at trial last year and is set to be sentenced on April 10, was arrested on misdemeanor charges. Richard Staples was arrested in Alaska, with authorities saying he climbed through a broken window on Jan. 6. Ivan Todd, a Florida man, was also arrested on Jan. 6 charges. Charges were also unsealed against Jan. 6 defendants Jennifer Mitchell, John Flanagan, Sarah Flanagan and Jason Griffin, the latter of whom allegedly confessed to the FBI that he recalled being hit by pepper balls and tear gas and hearing law enforcement tell the mob to disperse before he and others breached the Capitol.
David Kuntz, an Indiana militia member who went by the name “Reaper,” was also arrested Thursday and charged with the felony offense of obstruction of an official proceeding, with federal authorities saying Kuntz was wearing a black tactical vest when he called out “f— the police!” as rioters stormed into the Capitol. Court documents indicated that Kuntz originally planned to make “a big stand” on inauguration day, telling supporters they were “going fully armed” and that they should “be ready to not go home if something goes down.” After Trump’s infamous “will be wild” tweet on Dec. 19, 2020, inviting people to Washington for the Electoral College count, Kuntz shifted his focus to Jan. 6.
Earlier this week, on Wednesday, federal authorities in California arrested Kayla Reifschneider, a 27-year-old California woman who accompanied the rioter who drove a stun gun into Officer Michael Fanone’s neck on Jan. 6 on their trip to Washington. Reifschneider was in the “PATRIOTS45 MAGA Gang” group along with that rioter, Daniel “D.J” Rodriguez, as well as Ed Badalian, a Jan. 6 rioter who said at his sentencing that he was “frustrated” that officers “did not join us in arresting the traitors” on Jan. 6.
Several Jan. 6 defendants pleaded guilty this week, including rioters nicknamed “Shield Grampy” and “Conan O’Riot.” Curtis Tate, a rioter arrested in August, admitted to assaulting officers with a metal baton on Jan. 6, and Marcus Martin admitted to assaulting an officer by pushing his body onto an officer and using his body weight to pin the officer to the ground near his head.
Federal prosecutors have secured more than 950 convictions of Jan. 6 defendants, and about 500 defendants have been sentenced to periods of incarceration that have ranged from just a few days to 22 years in federal prison.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
