Facebook Posts Linked MN Man To U.S. Capitol Attack: Officials

MINNESOTA — A Minnesota man was arrested Friday in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the FBI's Minneapolis Division said.

Federal officials identified the man as Jordan K. Stotts, 31, of Moorhead. According to charging documents, a witness tipped off federal officials about Facebook posts that Stotts posted indicating he was involved in the riot.

According to the documents, one of the posts that the witness took a screenshot of said:

"For too long our voices have gone unheard! For too long our lives
have been slowly taken! For too long has Satan ran this country!
They attack our religious freedom, freedom of speech, and our
freedom to do as we please! They work for us and have no right
telling us what we can and can’t do! I’m sick of it and so are the
Patriots! With God on our side we will prevail! "

On Jan.8, Stotts posted on Facebook that he was going off the grid for a while because he was a wanted man, the documents said.

According to the charging documents, Stotts said he was a supporter or President Donald Trump and saw that the former president wanted supporters to attend a rally in Washington D.C. Stotts was traveling in a van over the winter and drove to Washington D.C. in early January and stayed in his van overnight at a state park in Virginia and then attended the rally at Freedom Plaza on Jan.5, the documents said.

The documents said law enforcement was able to confirm that Stotts' van passed a license plate reader in D.C. around Jan. 4.

On Jan.6 — the day Congress convened in a joint session to count the Electoral College votes — he attended a Trump rally near the White House and after Trump finished speaking, walked with others to the Capitol building, the documents said.

According to the documents, Stotts admitted to the FBI agent who interviewed him that he climbed onto a balcony and chanted with the crowd. He later entered the building and walked to the rotunda area where he stayed for about an hour, the documents said. He took a short 360 degree video inside the rotunda that he posted to Facebook, the documents said.

Stotts wore the same jacket, cap and glasses during his interview with the FBI that he wore on Jan.6 and officials were able to identify him through surveillance footage that showed him wearing those same clothes, according to the documents.

Once he left the building, he posted a photo of the crowd on the Capitol steps to Facebook, the documents said.

The photo was captioned, "Patriots! I got kicked out but I'll be back!," the documents show.

Stotts is accused of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building of grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

A pro-Trump mob breached the U.S. Capitol building on Jan.6 as members of Congress counted the Electoral College votes that affirmed the win of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The violence resulted in at least five deaths and hundreds of injuries.

Since then, hundreds of people have been arrested in connection with the attack. On Monday, two men were charged with assault against U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died in the violence.

According to Politico, prosecutors have begun to seek a slowdown in the probe, calling it "likely the most complex investigation ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice."