In a sworn statement in federal court, a special agent of the U.S. Capitol Police says the man, John Lolos, was identified by a police officer from the Washington Metropolitan Airport Authority after Lolos started a Delta flight on the afternoon of 8 January at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The crew decided to turn the plane around while it was taxiing, according to the agent, because Lolos was causing a disturbance “continually shouting ‘Trump 2020!'”
The officer, identified only as Officer Braddock, witnessed Lolos being escorted off the flight, according to the statement.
“Officer Braddock was alerted to LOLOS ‘activity and witnessed his return from the plane to the gate, but did not stop or arrest LOLOS when he returned to the gate,” the statement said. “Delta booked a later flight for LOLOS to its destination, and LOLOS continued to wait at the gate.”
About 45 minutes later, Braddock was browsing his Instagram feed when he saw a video showing protesters inside the Capitol building, the statement says. The video showed a man coming out of a Capitol door and Braddock identified him as the same man who saw him kicked out of the flight, the agent said.
“During the video, LOLOS can be seen walking out of the US Capitol door, wearing the same shirt he wore at (the) airport, and was holding a red ‘Trump 2020 Keep American Great’ flag attached to the United States flag , shouting ‘We did it, yes!’ “wrote the agent. During the arrest, the agent found the flags seen in the video among Lolos’ belongings, according to the deposition.
Braddock notified Capitol Police Dignity Protection officers – who were already at the airport on other missions – about Lolos. They then approached Lolos, according to the statement, and “informed LOLOS that he was being detained and was not free to leave at that time”.
The United States Capitol Police special agent then placed him under arrest, according to the deposition.
Since then, Lolos has been accused of intentionally entering or staying in a restricted building without legal authority and of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds on January 6.
A lawyer for Lolos was not listed in the federal court records and CNN was unable to contact Lolos for comment. CNN also contacted Delta for comment, but has not yet received a response.