The New York Times
Capitol rioters face the consequences of their ‘Selfie Sabotage’
WASHINGTON – On January 6, Joe Biggs, a former Army sergeant, Proud Boys lieutenant, led the far-right group to the Capitol from the Washington Monument, charged over the wreckage of police barricades, pulled down another barrier and confronted with the police and then filmed himself. “We just took the Capitol!” Biggs shouts for the world. It was all set out in court documents, but it was also clearly seen. Biggs, who was indicted last month on charges that include conspiracy and destruction of government property, could face decades in prison for his role in the riot in Capitol. Subscribe to The Morning Newsletter of the New York Times He has himself to blame. Like other Proud Boys, he helped document the case of the prosecution. “Grant Fredericks, a forensic video analyst in Seattle who wanted to show the allegations against them, basically set out the allegations against them, which investigated the online evidence against Biggs and Proud Boys. The Department of Justice predicted last month that the Capitol assault investigation and prosecution would be one of the largest in U.S. history.In the case of Biggs, prosecutors rely heavily on private communications obtained through search warrants.The government is also reviewing records of 1,600 electronic devices and more than 210 000 tips, a large part of which includes video, photos and social media, “said the justice department. Many of the tips come from independent investigators and amateur investigators who search gigabytes of social media material. On one Facebook page, a man posted a selfie with the caption: “I just wanted to incriminate myself a little bit.” Biggs was perhaps equally aware of his behavior at the time. In a clip of d ie Capitol he is late dressed to put on a mask, apparently to obscure his identity, only to take it off and exclaim, “This is great!” The Proud Boys, a self-described ‘Western chauvinist’ ‘group, has a history of violent street clashes with left-wing anti-fascist protesters, but not much legal acumen. “There’s a lot of bravado, but not much thinking ahead,” said Fredericks, who was not involved in the investigation. He compared Biggs and his group to ‘people getting face tattoos’, another activity that might have seemed like a good idea at the time. By this time the footage of the Capitol had become known. Rioters filmed themselves and each other with law enforcement, destroyed property, looted offices and smashed news media equipment. One of them, Eduardo Nicolas Alvear Gonzalez, stored photos and videos of himself in the Capitol in a folder on his laptop with the misspelled title “Captiol Storming”, according to court documents. Gonzalez’s extensive collection included a video of himself in the Capitol Rotunda, in which he shouted, “Time to smoke weeds here!” Then he made his plea well: “Here it is, I’m flaming up at the Capitol. Mary Jane. “It seems that Biggs, a podcast and self-described former reporter for Alex Jones’ Infowars, realized the mistake of these ways: he surrendered to the authorities after hearing ” from a video he posted in the Capitol shows ”, his attorney, John Daniel. Hull, said in a court report. Hull declined to comment. Biggs did not respond to a request for an interview. As the cases against the rioters dive, state some judges in favor of banning them from social media, one advocate of an accused argued: “If it were not social media, she would not even be an accused,” Charles Peruto, a lawyer for Gina Bisignano, an esthetician in Beverly Hills, California, who was indicted in the Capitol riots, told the Los Angeles Times, prosecutors quoted Biggs’ messages on social media from before January 6 last week in a motion for his provisional release. revoked and jailed in one report, two days after the presidential election, Biggs wrote that it was time for ‘war’, using an explicit. The government says Biggs’ posts before rioting ‘show a clear trend’: declaring the election results fraudulent; encourage others to ‘fight’ to overcome the alleged fraud; and encourage his followers to help him fight the alleged fraud, including by donating funds and equipment for their effort. Biggs announced the Proud Boys’ plans on December 29 to come to Washington on January 6 on the social network Parler. “We will merge as one of you. You will not see us, ‘he posted, adding:’ January 6 becomes epic. ‘The activities of Biggs that day were expanded by himself and others. His walk from the Washington Monument was filmed by Eddie Block, a proud boy on a motorcycle who rolled behind and identified Biggs and others in his comments. Biggs appears repeatedly in photos and picks himself up as he climbs the Capitol stairs. It was a long, powerful road that brought him to that point. Biggs, 37, also known as Rambo, was a record player in Florida and “runs ecstasy in the nightclubs all the time dancing” before joining the military in 2007, he said in his broadcasts. He was deployed to Iraq for a year and then to Afghanistan. He made his debut in the news media after leaving service in 2012. In 2008, Michael Hastings, a reporter at Biggs’ unit in Afghanistan, encouraged him to fulfill a news media role on camera on his return to the United States. said. Before Hastings died in a car accident in 2013, he had a profile of Genl. Stanley McChrystal wrote for Rolling Stone which ended the general’s military career. Biggs ‘break came after he fueled conspiracy theories surrounding Hastings’ death. Jones invited him to Infowars, the far-right, conspiratorial radio and online program. Biggs joined Infowars in 2014 and traveled the following year to racial justice protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and to the occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon by armed extremists in 2016. Biggs joined Jones at the Republican National Convention in 2016 accompanied. in a fraka with communist protesters, including one who burned an American flag. He and another Infowars employee claimed they were burned to put out the blaze. In a damn video titled “Joe ‘Rambo’ Biggs: Commie Crushing Crusader!” Biggs said he skipped the ‘police’, ripped off the protester’s shirt and gave him a ‘knock’. However, the police protester, Gregory “Joey” Johnson, of felony assault charges. When Johnson’s lawyers saw the videos with Biggs’ allegations, they demanded that the assault charge against Johnson be dropped. Johnson sued the city of Cleveland and his police, saying they violated his rights for first amendment. He received a settlement of $ 225,000. Biggs left Infowars in late 2016. He bounced around and at one point sold ominous T-shirts, then broadcast for a pro-Trump online channel called Right Side Broadcasting Network. He met Proud Boys leaders through his Infowars contacts, including Roger Stone, the Trump adviser and Infowars regular. Biggs helped lead Proud Boys rallies in Portland, Oregon in 2019 and 2020. He recorded a shaky interview with a Proud Boy known as Bobby Pickles, which was posted three days before the Capitol attack. “Dude, when I was deployed, I did not pay attention to politics because I did not have time for that. But now that I’m not there anymore, I can now focus 100% on it, ‘Biggs said, denouncing social media, especially Facebook,’ I mean, the fact that we’re brainwashed to get all our information on the internet and just to allow it? He also complained that he could not get a job due to his social media history. Biggs’ lawyers cite his online activity to keep him out of jail. ‘Biggs often satisfied the FBI staff with his answers’ when agents asked him’ what Biggs meant by something he said on air or on social media on political or cultural challenges about a national issue, political parties, the Proud Boys, antifa or other groups, ”his lawyer wrote in a court motion that he opposed the government’s submission to withdraw his release before the trial. “On January 6, this accused did not ‘storm’ anything,” reads the documentation. “Except for ‘It’s Wonderful,’ there is no report that he said anything in the building.” This article originally appeared in The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company