Two Montana brothers accused of being one of the first 10 people to storm the Capitol – before chasing a lone black cop through the building and wreaking havoc in the Senate Chamber – have been charged.
Joshua Calvin Hughes and his brother Jerod Wade Hughes have been charged with a variety of crimes, including obstructing official proceedings, destroying property and entering the Capitol without permission. The brothers are among more than 150 rioters charged in the January 6 uprising, including several members of far-right organizations and former law enforcement officials.
Prosecutors allege that the brothers were among the first crowd to enter the building through a window and jerk toward the Senate floor. The pair confronted Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman, who was the only one trying to protect Senate chambers and was caught on video heroically pushing one of the rioters and diverting the crowd. Goodman was eventually chased down the hallways of the building and up the stairs.
Goodman’s actions, who may have saved the lives of Vice President Mike Pence and other elected officials who sat in the Senate, were filmed by HuffPost reporter Igor Bobic in a clip that has been viewed more than 10 million times on Twitter.
Goodman was promoted to Acting Deputy House Sergeant at Arms last week and accompanied Vice President Kamala Harris, the first black woman to hold office, through the inauguration.
According to a criminal charge, the brothers were seen in videos and surveillance footage of a group “breaking open windows and doors and forced entry into the Capitol.” In one video, they can be seen breaking a window with what appears to be a police riot shield before climbing through.
Once inside, Jerod Hughes was seen kicking a door “until the lock broke for other rioters to enter the building.”
After interacting with Goodman, more agents were called in for backup.
“Officers reported they were too outnumbered to try to arrest the rioters, so they used their training to de-escalate the situation by talking to individuals in an effort to calm them,” the complaint says.
Despite these efforts, officers were met with shouting and aggression. When watching a digital video recording of this altercation, rioters can be heard shouting ‘this is our home’, ‘this is our America’ and ‘we are here for the corrupt government’.
During the altercation with police, a rioter knocked a fire extinguisher to the ground, causing it to break in what was described as an ‘explosion’. The incident de-escalated the situation and forced the crowd to leave the Capitol atrium, the complaint said.
However, prosecutors said the Hughes brothers did not leave and eventually made their way to the Senate floor.
“While on the Senate floor, Joshua Calvin Hughes, Jerod Wade Hughes and other rioters sat in senators ‘chairs, opened senators’ desks and viewed sensitive material stored there,” the complaint said.
According to the complaint, the brothers turned themselves in to police on Jan. 11 after seeing themselves on the news and believed they were being wanted by the FBI.
A Facebook account that matches Joshua Hughes’s name and location has several photos of the Montana resident in a MAGA hat. His “likes” include Fox News stars Tucker Carlson and Tomi Lahren, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro and the former president.
According to the social media account, Hughes attended the University of Montana, where he studied health and human performance.
Las Vegas authorities also arrested two men on Thursday who allegedly set up a GoFundMe to fund their trip to DC for the riot.
Nathaniel DeGrave, a 31-year-old from Las Vegas, was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a confined building without legal authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. A criminal complaint also mentions that 31-year-old Ronald Sandlin was arrested in DeGrave’s apartment complex.
Josiah Colt, who went to Washington with the couple, has already been charged with the same crimes after being photographed in Vice President Mike Pence’s chair. Colt also infamous abseiled into the Senate Chamber instead of taking the nearby stairs.
Prosecutors say Sandlin posted online two days before Christmas that he was going to Washington to “show support for our president and do my part to stop the stealing and stand behind Trump when he decides to cross the rubicon. If you’re a patriot, I believe it’s your duty to be there. I see it as my civil responsibility. “
On New Year’s Eve, he posted, “Dear Patriots, I am organizing a caravan of patriots going to Washington DC to stand behind our President Donald J. Trump,” adding that while the trio had already booked their trip, they “get help and support. ”
“Every dollar you contribute to us is a slap in the face for Antifa. Every cent is a boot in the ass against tyranny. Any Buffalo nickel is a body slam against China. If you can’t be there in person, this is the next best thing, ”Sandlin said in the December 31 Facebook post, which included a link to a GoFundMe page titled“ Patriots Defending Our Country On Jan 6. , organized by Ronnie Sandlin. “
In a Facebook post on Jan. 2, Sandlin reported that GoFundMe had removed their fundraiser. “This is tyranny,” he said.
The trio can be seen in several photos and videos storming the Capitol, including one in which Sandlin and DeGrave push agents. The men also recorded videos of themselves before, during and after the riots in which they claimed the election had been stolen.
The complaint says DeGrave speaks directly to the camera in another video, saying, “We’re here to protect the country if something goes wrong, [former Vice President Mike] Pence does what we think he’s gonna do, then we’re here to defend this city, defend every city in this country. Let Antifa try us, we’re here, we’re done. I say bring it. We are no longer silent. “