On Thursday, the Justice Department charged a US Capitol rioter with bringing a handgun onto Capitol grounds — two days after a hearing where Republican lawmakers downplayed the deadly attack and claimed the pro-Trump rioters were unarmed.
The new charge was filed against Guy Reffitt, a Texan whose case received national attention after his own family members told the FBI that he threatened to kill them if they turned him in.
Prosecutors said in the new indictment that Reffitt carried a “deadly and dangerous weapon,” specifically a “semi-automatic handgun,” while he was unlawfully on Capitol grounds. He isn’t accused of entering the building itself. But it’s still against the law to breach the perimeter of the Capitol complex and storm past fences and barricades, which Reffitt was photographed doing.