Barton Shively of Pennsylvania, who faces several charges in federal court in Washington, DC, was arrested on Tuesday.
The charges against him include aid and complicity, civil disorder, forced aggression, resistance, opposition, impediment or interference with any federal official or employee and violent entry into restricted areas or any Capitol building, according to a criminal complaint. He has not yet filed an appeal.
The lawsuits that opened on Tuesday include an FBI bulletin with photos of people seen in the riot, and prosecutors said the FBI received a tip that one of the men in the photo was Shively.
Shively contacted local authorities to “admit he was on the US Capitol” during the insurrection and said he wanted to surrender, according to a court case.
During an interview with the FBI in Pennsyvlvannia, Shively said he “was caught at the moment” and grabbed a policeman by the jacket, according to the records.
Prosecutors also shared an image of Shively showing up to push a Capitol Police officer – and the United States’ assistant attorney general, Scott Ford, said at a hearing on Tuesday that Shively “laid his hands” on officers.
“His accusations are different from those of most people who were in DC. He didn’t just enter Capitol illegally, he actually got his hands on the police on three different occasions, ”said Ford.
Defense attorney Thomas Thornton said he did not believe there was evidence that Shively was on Capitol Hill, but said he was at the scene and was trampled on by the crowd.
“Mr. Shively was a person who obviously got a little excited during this situation, and stayed on the scene for just over 10 minutes and then left,” said Thornton at the hearing.
Ford said the FBI contacted Shively on Tuesday to inform him that an arrest warrant had been filed and asked him to come and bring his cell phone.
“(Shively) declared, ‘No, not only am I not going to bring it, but besides, I already deleted everything from that cell phone,'” Ford said at the hearing
Thornton told CNN on Wednesday that Shively handed his phone over to authorities on Tuesday, that the items that were deleted were “videos he found on the internet”, adding that Shively did not make any videos or photos on Capitol Hill.
“He fully cooperated after surrendering,” Thornton told CNN.
Prosecutors noted that Shively, described in a court case as a former US Marine, was interviewed by CNN near the Capitol on January 6.
“I’ll tell you what happened, we broke down the barriers and attacked them, we attacked them,” Shively told Elle Reeve of CNN.
Reeve asked Shively what the group’s final game was.
“What should we do? The Supreme Court is not helping us. No one is helping us. Only we can help ourselves. Only we can do this,” said Shively in the interview.
Judge Martin Carlson, a US magistrate, called allegations that Shively assaulted federal officials “serious, serious matters” but allowed Shively to be released from custody.
CNN asked prosecutors whether they plan to appeal the decision.