Army reservist charged in Capitol riot was a Nazi sympathizer who spoke of non-Jews.

Former employees of an army reserve accused of taking part in the January 6 riot of the Capitol described him as a recognized white supremacist who made no effort to hide his dislike of Jews. It was no secret that Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, who worked as a security contractor and had a secret security clearance, was a racist. When he was arrested on January 15 and accused of storming the Capitol, prosecutors characterized him as a “recognized white supremacist” who had sympathy with the Nazis. But a new court case, first reported by Politico, contains the results of an extensive investigation into the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which revealed disturbing details about his views that were well known to his associates.

Investigators questioned 44 of Hale-Cusanelli’s colleagues and 34 of them agreed that he had ‘extremist or radical views on the Jewish people, minorities and women’. One even said he talked daily about how much he disliked Jews, and a supervisor said he once had to discipline him because he had a “Hitler mustache.” A colleague recalled that Hale-Cusanelli once said, “Hitler should have finished the job.”

The revelations were recorded as part of an attempt to retaliate against an attempt by Hale-Cusanelli’s lawyers to release him. Prosecutors said Hale-Cusanelli should stay behind bars because he cherishes a “fantasy of participating in another civil war,” making him a danger to the community. That danger is sharper now that he has been discharged from the army reserves and no longer has a job. If he is released pending trial, he will go nowhere and look for nothing more than ‘the adrenaline, the rush, the purpose’ he found when he caught the Capitol police officers on January 6, 2021 and stormed the Capitol building. “American lawyer James Nelson wrote.

The case of Hale-Cusanelli attracted a lot of attention because it illustrates how white members of the army took part in the riot in Capitol. It also provides a clear illustration of the challenges ahead as military leaders try to detect extremist and racist views among service members.