Derrick Evans: West Virginia GOP legislator who allegedly stormed the US Capitol has resigned

Derrick Evans: West Virginia GOP legislator who allegedly stormed the US Capitol has resigned

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“I hereby resign as a member of the West Virginia House of Representatives, effective immediately,” he wrote in a short letter to West Virginia Government Jim Justice.

Evans is charged with knowingly entering or staying in any restricted building or site without legal authorization; and one count of violent trespassing and disorderly conduct on Capitol Grounds. A federal magistrate’s judge in West Virginia has released him on his personal admission after appearing in court Friday afternoon, according to court statements.

Evans, a Trump supporter, recorded a Facebook Live video in which he could be heard shouting, “We’re in! We’re in, baby!” as he moves among a crowd of rioters as he walks through a door of the Capitol.

He denied involvement in the destruction and violence and has since removed the clip, but not before it was shared on social media and broadcast by CNN subsidiary WCHS. In another video posted on his Facebook page Wednesday morning, Evans laughs as he predicts a riot.

Evans said later Wednesday that he only filmed the event as an “independent member of the media in film history,” although it appears he has no experience working as one.

His lawyer, John Bryan, said in a statement to CNN earlier on Thursday that his client “had no choice but to enter the Capitol” because of the size of the crowd he was in, and that “for Mr. . he may not follow the crowd to this public area of ​​the Capitol, within which members of the public were already located. ‘

The chairman of the West Virginia GOP on Saturday said Evans “made the right decision” to resign.

“The actions of Derrick Evan were unwise and an unprecedented official,” chairman Melody Potter said in a statement.

Justice said during a Friday briefing about Evans ‘involvement: “You know me, I don’ t sugar things and I’m not trying to give you a political answer. I think it’s awful.

“I think it’s a scar in West Virginia,” the Republican governor said. “He can come up with any excuse in the world, but to be there and enter the Capitol of the United States of America. I mean, how in the world can we think it’s anything but bad stuff?”

Katelyn Polantz, Kara Scannell, Amanda Watts, Devan Cole, Taylor Romine and Evan Perez contributed to this report.

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