The federal government wants an Army reservist and security contractor at the New Jersey Naval Weapons Station. Earle kept behind bars for his role in the Capitol riot because of his history as a Nazi sympathizer, including parading with a “Hitler” mustache and his support for the civil war, according to court documents.
Timothy Hale-Cusanelli had a “secret” security clearance for his work at the Colts Neck Navy base, but he disclosed his political inclinations to co-workers.
Court documents say that Hale-Cusanelli often made jokes and anti-Semitic and anti-minority comments to colleagues. A Navy noncommissioned officer told investigators at the Navy Criminal Investigation Service that he constantly talked about Jews and remembered him saying, “Hitler should have finished the job.”
Another colleague from the Navy remembered Hale-Cusanelli saying that “Jews, women and blacks were at the base of the totem pole”. And a labor supervisor said Hale-Cusanelli received a reprimand for wearing a “Hitler’s mustache” to work, according to court documents filed on Friday.
Investigators found several photos of Hale-Cusanelli sporting the ‘stache badge on his phone, which they sent to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday.
“The defendant’s affinity for Hitler and the Nazi party went well beyond facial hair, however,” say court documents, providing several other photos from his phone showing hostility towards Jews. One of the images is a cartoon that portrays the Nazi Party as the savior of the white Americans of the Republic (sic) and of the democratic parties ”, affirm the court documents. Other images showed animosity against blacks, including George Floyd, whose death by Minneapolis law enforcement officials sparked protests across the world last summer.
The government acknowledged in the petition that Hale-Cusanelli’s political inclinations are not sufficient to keep him in custody. However, court documents said, the statements he made to investigators “make it clear that his ideology is the driving force behind his declared desire for civil war. Given that the defendant’s desire for civil war makes him a danger to the community, this Court can and must consider the defendant’s ideology within the context of his dangerousness. “
The feds also accused Hale-Cusanelli – who faces a series of charges stemming from his role in the January 6 attack on the nation’s Capitol, although none includes violent acts – of trying to destroy the evidence in the case. He is accused of deleting his Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, all of which he used to share photos and videos of the insurrection, before being arrested.
He also deleted videos posted on his “Based Hermes Show” on YouTube, hid the suit and tie he wore during the operation and told NCIS investigators that he planned to destroy other evidence so as not to be arrested with them, Friday filing said.
Hale-Cusanelli also sent a letter of support from a colleague, claiming that he had been “slandered in the press” for being called a “white supremacist”, but that the colleague had never heard jokes or unpleasant language. But the same colleague, the sergeant. John Getz told the opposite story when he spoke to NCIS investigators, court documents said. Getz made no attempt to reconcile the opposing representations.
Hale-Cusanelli was arrested on January 15. NCIS investigators interviewed 44 colleagues on January 20 and January 21, and 34 agreed that Hale-Cusanelli had openly declared pro-Nazi views.