Capitol Police officer chased by mob on Jan. 6 testifies publicly for 1st time
A police officer lauded for his bravery in the course of the U.S. Capitol riot testified Monday {that a} man carrying a Accomplice battle flag jabbed at him with the flagpole earlier than becoming a member of the mob that chased him up a staircase.
In his first public testimony because the occasions of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman described his encounter with the flag-toting Delaware man, Kevin Seefried, and his grownup son, Hunter Seefried, at their trial on costs that they stormed the Capitol collectively.
Goodman has been hailed as a hero for main a bunch of rioters away from the Senate chamber and up a set of stairs to an space the place different officers had been ready. Goodman additionally directed Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, to show round and head away from the mob.
‘He was very indignant,’ officer recollects
Goodman recalled seeing Kevin Seefried standing alone in an archway and telling him to depart. As an alternative, Seefried cursed at him and jabbed on the officer with the bottom finish of the flagpole three or 4 instances with out making contact with him, Goodman mentioned.
“He was very indignant. Screaming. Speaking loudly,” Goodman mentioned. “Exact opposite of nice.”
U.S. District Choose Trevor McFadden is listening to testimony with no jury for the Seefrieds’ bench trial, which began Monday.
The Seefrieds waived their proper to a jury trial, which suggests McFadden will determine their circumstances.
Extensively revealed pictures confirmed Kevin Seefried carrying a Accomplice battle flag contained in the Capitol after he and his son entered the constructing by a damaged window.
The fees towards each Kevin and Hunter Seefried embrace a felony rely of obstruction of an official continuing — the joint session of Congress that was certifying Joe Biden’s victory over then president Donald Trump within the 2020 presidential election.
In the course of the trial’s opening statements, defence attorneys mentioned the Seefrieds by no means supposed to intervene with the Electoral School vote rely.
“Certainly, [Kevin Seefried] was not even conscious that the electoral rely was taking place or was taking place within the Capitol,” one in every of his legal professionals, Elizabeth Mullin, informed the decide.
One other Capitol Police officer who confronted the mob close to the Senate chamber recalled that Kevin Seefried requested him, “Why are [you] defending them?”
“I assumed he was speaking about Congress,” officer Brian Morgan testified.
Riot ‘like one thing out of medieval instances’
Earlier than his encounter with the mob contained in the Capitol, Goodman joined different officers in attempting to carry again rioters as they clashed with police outdoors the constructing.
“It was like one thing out of medieval instances, with one large pressure clashing with one other opposing pressure,” Goodman mentioned. “I’ve by no means seen something like that ever.”
Goodman mentioned he needed to retreat contained in the constructing after getting pepper sprayed and uncovered to tear gasoline deployed by police.
The Seefrieds aren’t charged with assaulting any officers.
Mullin conceded that Kevin Seefried is responsible of two misdemeanor costs, that he knowingly entered a restricted constructing and illegally demonstrated within the Capitol.
Hunter Seefried, then 22, could have acted “stupidly,” however did not intend to dam Congress from certifying the election outcomes, defence legal professional Edson Bostic mentioned.
Accused travelled to listen to Trump communicate
Goodman recalled that Hunter Seefried was smirking, however he mentioned he did not see him appearing aggressively or hear him yelling at police.
“He was simply disobeying instructions,” Goodman mentioned.
The Seefrieds travelled to Washington from their residence in Laurel, Del., to listen to Trump’s speech on the “Cease the Steal” rally on Jan. 6.
They climbed over a wall close to a stairwell and scaffolding within the northwest part of the Capitol and had been among the many first rioters to strategy the constructing close to the Senate wing door, in accordance with prosecutors.
WATCH | Analyzing the impression of latest Capitol riot footage:
WARNING: This video comprises coarse language. Ian Hanomansing speaks with BuzzFeed nationwide politics reporter Kadia Goba in regards to the impression of the Jan. 6 hearings and the way Individuals will interpret the footage proven by the committee investigating the U.S. Capitol assault.
After watching different rioters use a police protect and a wood plank to interrupt a window, Hunter Seefried used a gloved fist to clear a shard of glass in one of many damaged windowpanes, prosecutors mentioned.
In a courtroom submitting, prosecutors mentioned the Accomplice battle flag that Kevin Seefried introduced from residence was “an emblem of violent opposition to america authorities.”
Mullin mentioned Seefried did not intend “to ship any form of message” by carrying the flag into the Capitol and regrets doing so.
Choose has criticized prosecution’s Capitol circumstances
McFadden, nominated by Trump in 2017, is the one decide to a maintain a bench trial for a Capitol riot case to this point.
In April, he acquitted New Mexico resident Matthew Martin of misdemeanor costs that he illegally entered the Capitol and engaged in disorderly conduct after he walked into the constructing.
In March, McFadden acquitted a New Mexico elected official of participating in disorderly conduct, however convicted him of illegally getting into restricted Capitol grounds.
McFadden has criticized prosecutors’ dealing with of Capitol riot circumstances.
He advised that the Justice Division has been unjustly harder on Capitol riot defendants in contrast with folks arrested at protests towards police brutality and racial injustice after George Floyd’s 2020 homicide by a Minneapolis police officer.
Extra bench trials to return
On Tuesday, U.S. District Choose Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is scheduled to preside over a bench trial for Jesus Rivera, a Pensacola, Fla., man charged with 4 riot-related misdemeanors. Former U.S. president Invoice Clinton nominated Kollar-Kotelly to the courtroom in 1997.
Not less than 4 different Capitol riot defendants have bench trials scheduled for this 12 months.
Juries have unanimously convicted 5 Capitol riot defendants of all costs, an ideal file for prosecutors to this point. Greater than 300 different defendants have pleaded responsible to riot offences, principally misdemeanors punishable by no multiple 12 months in jail.
Roughly 100 others have trial dates in 2022 or 2023. Greater than 800 folks have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Jan. 6 assault.
