The man’s lawyer said his actions were a “misguided effort” to support Trump.
A man who allegedly made an online threat to “assassinate” MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., faces five charges in connection with the US Capitol insurrection, officials said.
Garret Miller was arrested on Wednesday in Texas. His charges include threats and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. A detention hearing is scheduled for January 25.
Newly released court documents report a series of social media posts that Miller allegedly made on January 6 and in the days following the riot, including threats to the Democratic lawmaker, a regular target of conservatives, and to a U.S. Capitol Police officer .
“Murder AOC,” tweeted Miller on Jan. 6 in response to an Ocasio-Cortez plea to accuse former President Donald Trump, according to the criminal complaint.
In a discussion on Facebook on January 10 about the Capitol Police officer who fatally shot a rioter, Miller allegedly said, “Let’s get in touch with [the USCP officer] and hug your neck with a beautiful rope[.]”
On January 11, Miller reportedly posted a selfie of himself inside the Capitol Rotunda on Facebook. When someone commented in the post, “bro, did you come in ?! Cool,” Miller replied, “just wanted to frame me a little lol”, according to the statement.
A few days after the siege of the Capitol, Miller “admitted on Instagram that he ‘had a rope in [his] scholarship that day, ‘”according to the statement.
Miller’s Twitter account has been suspended and his Facebook page has been deleted. The FBI statement included screenshots of social media posts they attributed to Miller and photos of surveillance images that allegedly placed him in the Capitol building on January 6.
In a statement to ABC News, Miller’s lawyer said his client “regrets the acts he performed in a wrong effort to show his support for former President Trump”.
“Your comments on social media reflect a poorly regarded political hyperbole in very divided times and will certainly not be repeated in the future,” said lawyer Clint Broden in the statement. “He accepts responsibility for his actions.”
In response to the news of Miller’s arrest, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: “On the one hand, you have to laugh and on the other hand, to know that the reason they are so brazen is because they thought they would succeed.”
Ocasio-Cortez spoke about the threat to representatives in an Instagram live broadcast on January 12, saying that she “had a very close encounter in which I thought I was going to die”.
“Perhaps my colleagues were not fully present at Wednesday’s events, but half of – almost half of the Chamber almost died on Wednesday,” said Ocasio-Cortez in an interview with “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on January 10.