This photo, taken by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, shows Garret Miller. Miller has been arrested for allegedly participating in the US Capitol storming this month and posting violent threats, including a call to the Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
The Sheriff’s Office in Dallas via AP
A Texas man accused of invading the Capitol and threatening Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Monday that he was effectively following the orders of then-President Donald Trump when he joined a crowd that stormed Congress on Jan. 6 .
Garret Miller also apologized to Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., for writing “Assassinate AOC” in a Twitter post. He said he would be willing to testify about the riot before Congress or in a trial.
Miller, 34, had also on a social media account threatened a Capitol Police officer who fatally shot a fellow rioter, saying he intended to “hug his neck with a nice rope,” authorities said.
The Richardson resident’s apology came when a federal judge in Dallas ordered him to hold him without bail pending trial, after determining that he was both a community hazard and a flight risk, according to the U.S. Attorney- office for the Northern District of Texas.
MIller is one of dozens of people accused of participating in the riot, which began shortly after Trump held a rally outside the White House calling on supporters to pressure Congress to reject Joe Biden’s election as president .
In a statement by attorney Clinton Broden, Miller said he was motivated by Trump’s false claims that he had been cheated on re-election by ballot fraud, saying, “I’m ashamed of my comments.”
“I was in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021 because I thought I was following former President Trump’s instructions and he was my president and the commander-in-chief. His statements also led me to believe the election had been stolen from him,” said Miller.
“Nonetheless, I fully acknowledge that Joe Biden is now President of the United States and that the elections are over. Donald Trump is no longer president and I would have no reason to continue to follow his lead.”
While I never intended to harm Congressman Ocasio-Cortez or harm members of the Capitol Police, I acknowledge that my social media posts were completely inappropriate. They were made at a time when Donald Trump made me believe that a US election was stolen, ”he said.
Miller said, “I would like to apologize to Congressman Ocasio-Cortez and the Capitol police officers. I have always supported law enforcement and I am ashamed of my comments.”
He also said in the statement that he was unarmed when he entered the Capitol and remained in the roundabout.
He said he left Washington and returned to Texas “immediately after President Trump asked us to go home.”
Miller, who was arrested on Wednesday, said he was not interested in or involved in politics “until recently”.
Nonetheless, what Donald Trump had said about the election really moved me and I felt I had to support him. Still, I recognize that I am solely responsible for my actions and that there are no excuses for what I did, ”he added.
“I come from a good and supportive family. My parents and brothers do not deserve the pain I have caused them. I accept full responsibility for my actions and I am willing to testify at any trial or at any convention,” Miller said.
Miller is charged in the US District Court in Washington, DC, with: knowingly entering or staying in restricted buildings or areas without legal permission; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; hindering or obstructing an official procedure; certain acts during civil disorder and threats in interstate commerce.
Ocasio-Cortez had responded to Miller’s accusation by writing on Twitter: “On the one hand, you have to laugh, and on the other, you know the reason they were so bold is because they thought they would succeed. “
Ocasio-Cortez has said she feared for her life during the riot and that members of Congress were “nearly killed.”
“I didn’t know if I would make it to the end of that day alive, and not just in a general sense, but in a very, very specific sense,” she said on an Instagram Live video on Jan. 12. without giving more details.
Trump has been charged by the House of Representatives for instigating the riot. He will stand trial in the Senate next month, where he will be banned from ever running for president again.