Photo via @ryanjreilly/Twitter
February 16, 2021, 1:49 pm
Yet another criminal case against an individual who participated in the assault on the Capitol on January 6 has been unsealed, and it’s a doozy.
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The defendant, real name Jonathan Gennaro Mellis, may have made a mistake after he got home and jumped onto Facebook to make sure he and his fellow Trump lovers got credit for the insurrection, not anti-fascists.
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“Don’t you dare try to tell me that people are blaming this on antifa and BLM. We proudly take responsibility for storming the Castle,” wrote Mellis under the name Jon Gennaro. “Antifa and BLM or [sic] too pussy. They just burn your business down. We are fighting for election integrity. They heard us.”
Mellis, who has been dubbed “Cowboy Screech” by observers of the video footage from that fateful day, has been charged with assaulting police as well as violent entry, obstruction of congress, disorderly conduct, and trespassing, according to HuffPost.
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He was easily identified from the many selfies he took and posted on Facebook of himself in the middle of the mob both outside and inside of the Capitol building.
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Security footage also caught him holding a large stick or branch in the chaotic crowd and, according to the complaint, calling for specific violence against Capitol police.
“MELLIS can be heard saying ‘Knock their masks off’ before the BWC shows MELLIS’ hand—wielding the stick—come over the top of the first individual, striking at the officers who were protecting the entryway to the Capitol Building,” it reads according to reporter Ryan J. Reilly.
Mellis also took video of himself admitting that he got inside which soon made its way to Twitter.
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“We’re storming the f—ing castle up there, baby!” he says, pointing to the entrance of the legislative building. “We’re in there. I was in there.”
Multiple insurrectionists and their supporters in Congress have attempted to blame “Antifa” for the assault, claiming that the leaders of the charge were undercover and incited the riot to make former President Trump and his supporters look bad.
The FBI quickly dismissed the idea due to utter lack of evidence while real anti-fascists have tried to explain that violent coups designed to overturn lawful elections are the exact kind of thing Antifa exists to stop.
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Seeing the actual people who attempted the coup argue over this talking point and get angry over being compared to anti-fascists and Black Lives Matter activists never gets old.
*First Published: February 16, 2021, 1:49 pm
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