Jeremy Brown, a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who ran for Congress as a Republican in Florida in 2020, was arrested and charged for his role in the violent riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Brown was arrested Thursday, according to the Department of Justice, and charged with “knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds,” as well as engaging in “disorderly or disruptive conduct.”
The FBI’s complaint says that Brown was more than 100 feet inside the restricted grounds that police had delineated to protect the Capitol from the hundreds of Trump supporters rioting there on Jan. 6 as a joint session of Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Brown was wearing “full military gear,” according to the complaint, including a helmet, radio and tactical vest, and he had visible “large surgical trauma shears” tucked into his vest. When police advanced toward the crowd of rioters and yelled “Back,” Brown did not comply, retreating only once he’d been physically pushed back by police.
Brown also coordinated travel to the Capitol in December and January, according to the FBI documents, which included messages he sent to others online saying he had an RV with “plenty of gun ports left to fill” and instructing people to follow his “Ground Force One departure plan” to come to his house to “route plan and conduct PCIs (Pre Combat Inspections).”
He is one of hundreds of people whom federal authorities have arrested and charged in connection with the Capitol attack that began when Trump supporters stormed the building in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election win by Democrat Joe Biden won.
Five people died in the riot, including a rioter and a Capitol Police officer.