Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a U.S. Army reservist and naval security contractor arrested for allegedly breaking the Capitol during the January 6 riot, was a well-known white supremacist, federal prosecutors said Friday. said, as first reported by Politico.
Why it matters: “The accused’s White Supremacist and Nazi Sympathizer ideology is not only clear from the evidence, but the same ideology drives the accused’s enthusiasm for another civil war,” prosecutors said.
- Hale-Cusanelli allegedly discussed his hatred of Jews, minorities and women while working as a security contractor at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Context: A new application from federal prosecutors on Friday included the results of a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation into Hale-Cusanelli.
- The investigation included interviews with 44 of Hale-Cusanelli’s colleagues, 34 of whom agreed that he had ‘extremist or radical views on the Jewish people, minorities and women’.
What they say: One of Hale-Cusanelli’s colleagues said the accused ‘shaved’ his facial hair into a ‘Hitler mustache’, and prosecutors extracted photos of the mustache from Hale-Cusanelli’s phone.
- A naval non-commissioned officer told investigators they remember Hale-Cusanelli saying, “Hitler should have done the job.”
The whole picture: Hale-Cusanelli’s case has garnered attention from the military because its reservist status and service at a military facility underscore the challenges of the Department of Defense while trying to combat extremist ideologies within the ranks of the military.
- The Pentagon reported this month that domestic extremist groups were trying to recruit active and former service members into their ranks.
- Several former military members and police officers took part in the Capitol riot on January 6, which the FBI classified as domestic terrorism.
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last month ordered commanding officers and supervisors to finally hold a one-day ‘stand-down’ to discuss extremism within the military.