- An FBI statement went into detail this week in detail as a Trump supporter who participated in the siege on Capitol Hill delivered evidence of his potential crimes to an FBI agent.
- In an email to the agent, whom the defendant referred to as “Good Lady of the FBI”, he attached several videos that allegedly featured his voice and images recorded inside and outside the Capitol.
- The defendant, Kevin Lyons, also described to agents how he got into “big boss” Nancy Pelosi’s office after entering the Capitol.
- Lyons was accused of “intentionally entering or staying in any restricted building or land without legal authority” and “violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds”.
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Federal agents have arrested more than 30 people since a violent mob of supporters of President Donald Trump besieged the U.S. Capitol last week to prevent a peaceful transfer of power.
In a sworn statement against one of the defendants this week, the FBI detailed how he delivered the evidence of his potential crimes to an agent he called “Good FBI Lady” and explained how he got into the office of Mayor, Nancy Pelosi , whom he described as “big boss”.
According to the deposition, the defendant, Kevin Lyons, posted several photos on social media showing his plans to attend a rally on January 6 in Washington, DC, headed by the president. Trump was widely accused of inciting the Capitol rebellion at his rally, during which he asked supporters to march to the Capitol, “fight” for the results of the 2020 elections and “reclaim our country”.
A photo that Lyons posted on his Instagram account was a screenshot of a map that depicted the route from Lyons’ home in the Chicago area to Washington, DC. In the caption, Lyons wrote that he was “going to DC to STOP THE THEFT!” After the coup attempt, Lyons posted another photo on the social media platform of a wooden sign that read “Mayor, Nancy Pelosi.” Lyons’ caption accompanying the photo read: “WHO’S HOME?!?!? OUR HOME !!”
The FBI testimony said that when agents questioned Lyons about the second photo on January 8 – two days after the riot – he expressed surprise that investigators discovered it because it was only active for an hour before it was removed. Lyons added that he could not “guarantee that he posted”, but went on to show agents the same photo, which he saved on his phone, the statement said.
He was also “evasive” in revealing whether he had entered the Capitol, the document said, but told officers he had a “dream” in which he saw “many knocking on doors, papers being thrown and a crowd of people.” Lyons went on to say that the people in the dream “really didn’t have much choice as to where they were going because of the crowd” and that if he was inside the Capitol, it was for about 45 minutes.
Lyons also showed agents video images that were recorded inside the Capitol. When asked if he would be willing to hand the video over to the FBI, the defendant said the file was too big to upload and offered to upload the videos to YouTube and send the links instead.
“Hello, nice FBI lady, here are the links to the videos,” said Lyons in an email to the FBI Land special agent, according to the statement. “It looks like the Podium Guy is on one of them, minus the podium. Let me know if you need anything else. Kevin Lyons.”
“Podium Guy” was a reference to Adam Johnson, another pro-Trump rebel who was photographed carrying Pelosi’s pulpit outside the Capitol and has since been arrested. The pulpit was also recovered.
The FBI statement said that the three videos that Lyons uploaded featured images of people inside and outside the Capitol, and his voice could be heard everywhere.
In the January 8 interview with FBI agents, the deposition said, Lyons gave a detailed description of how to travel to Washington, DC, march to the Capitol with the pro-Trump crowd and enter the Capitol, wandering around the building and entering the ” big boss office “.
“Lyons was asked if this was a reference to Nancy Pelosi and he said it was,” said the statement. Based on Lyons’ description of the events in which he participated, the FBI believed there was a probable cause to accuse him of violating a federal law that prohibits people from intentionally entering or staying in any restricted building or land without legal authority to do so. ; and violating a federal law that prohibits violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Lyons appeared before a judge after being arrested on federal charges this week and was released on $ 10,000 bail. His court-appointed lawyer, Lawrence Wolf Levin, made no comment at the hearing, The Chicago Tribune reported. Levin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.