A San Francisco man who calls himself a member of the Proud Boys and fought the city’s coronavirus mask orders is among the dozens accused by the FBI for allegedly breaking into the U.S. Capitol in a violent crowd last week.
Authorities identified Daniel Goodwyn as one of the Capitol invaders through a series of videos, Instagram messages and Twitter posts, according to an FBI complaint filed on Friday. In the days following President Trump’s riot, officials have been scouring social media to find and arrest those involved.
According to his personal website, Goodwyn is an application and web developer who has worked intermittently in San Francisco and the Bay Area for the past eight years. On his social media accounts, Goodwyn posted extensively in favor of Trump and his false claims that the November election was stolen from him. In October he said he was arrested about Muni for refusing to wear a mask and posted a video in front of the City Hall criticizing the closure of the coronavirus.
More than 70 people were arrested in connection with the January 6 riot, and at least 150 cases have been opened, according to the New York Times. Many, like Goodwyn, reportedly left a trail on social media that connected them to the insurrection.
“I didn’t stop or pick up anything, but I went in for a few minutes,” Goodwyn posted on Instagram on the day of the attack, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, Goodwyn was identified in a video with the name “intelligent criminal”. The video was filmed by Anthime Gionet, a far-right provocateur who calls himself “Baked Alaska” online, according to the complaint. Gionet was arrested this weekend after broadcasting the violent crowd moving through the Capitol live.
In Gionet’s video, Goodwyn was wearing sunglasses, a MAGA cap and a brown and black jacket, according to the FBI complaint. He approached Gionet and claimed that his name was Daniel Goodwyn.
When a Capitol Police officer directed Goodwyn out of the building, he called the officer an “oathbreaker” and shouted for people to pick up the officer ‘s badge number when he left, according to the complaint.
Goodwyn allegedly violated the law by intentionally entering a restricted building and with the “intention to prevent or interrupt the orderly conduct of government business,” according to the complaint. It was not clear whether he had been arrested on Saturday.
The Chronicle called Goodwyn twice on Saturday for comment. Both times, he told a reporter that he was going to call the police and hung up.
The rebel mob – which invaded the Capitol with Trump’s encouragement to interrupt Congressional approval of Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential race – led to the deaths of five people, including a Capitol police officer. The FBI received more than 100,000 tips, including photos and videos, related to the insurrection. More arrests are likely to be imminent.
The FBI asked for “tips and digital media portraying riots and violence in the United States Capitol building and surroundings in Washington, DC”
“Make no mistake: with our partners, we will hold those who participated in yesterday’s siege to the Capitol accountable,” said FBI director Christopher Wray in a statement last week.
Goodwyn’s Twitter account – which had a Trump photo as a profile photo and a cover photo on Saturday – is full of pro-Trump content and baseless claims about COVID-19. He also used the platform to criticize San Francisco’s election results, masks and blockades.
On a video posted on his Twitter account in November, Goodwyn said he drove from San Francisco to Washington DC for a big pro-Trump rally after the election. On the way back to San Francisco, he said he stopped in Georgia to attend a “Stop the Steal” rally, which supported Trump’s baseless allegations of a fraudulent election. He also attended a pro-Trump event in San Francisco this fall.
In October, Goodwyn said on social media that he was arrested and quoted by Muni for refusing to wear a mask. On October 27, he filmed himself outside the Hall of Justice on Bryant Street and said the COVID-19 blockades were “medical tyranny”.
“I believe that this whole pandemic is a false religion,” he said in the video, in which he wore a MAGA cap. “This is just one step in the plot of the globalist elite to control us.”
On January 1, he posted that he was “driving to DC now”. In the days that followed, he retweeted videos of the uproar and posted further baseless claims that the election could still be overturned in Trump’s favor.
On January 8, he said his Facebook and Instagram accounts were disabled “for no reason”. Social media sites have recently cracked down on accounts that spread misinformation and incite violence.
According to his personal website, Goodwyn is a former web designer of the Jews for Jesus and an advocate of the San Franciscans DEMAND Chick-fil-A! movement. He said he is a “highly motivated mobile and web application developer”. He also said that his “ideal company is in San Francisco, prioritizes ethics and social responsibility”.
Trisha Thadani is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @TrishaThadani