Three active duty Marines are charged with participating in assault on the Capitol
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Three men enlisted in the Marine Corps for more than four years participated in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021
Three active duty Marines working in intelligence, one of whom allegedly supported America's having a second civil war, were arrested this week for storming the Capitol building with a mob of Donald Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.
Corporal Micah Coomer and Sergeants Joshua Abate and Dodge Dale Hellonen face various charges, including disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, according to CNN.
Three active-duty Marines who work in intelligence were arrested this week for participating in the US Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021 https://t.co/VupaL9iyGZ
— CNN (@CNN) January 21, 2023
FBI agents first learned about Coomer because he posted photos of himself inside the Capitol building on Instagram, according to a federal affidavit. As agents investigated his account, they discovered messages he wrote to another user that he was expecting a second civil war.
None of the defendants have pleaded guilty nor do they have attorneys listed in court documents.
According to military records, Coomer is an intelligence surveillance reconnaissance systems engineer, based out of Camp Pendleton in California. Abate is a special communications signals analyst with the Marine Corps Cryptologic Support Battalion at Fort Meade, Maryland, and Hellonen is a special communications signals analyst at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
A Marine Corps spokesperson said in a statement to CNN on Friday that it is “aware of an investigation and the allegations” and is “fully cooperating with appropriate authorities in support of the investigation.”
According to authorities, about 140 officers were assaulted by pro-Trump protesters, who were armed with axes, bats, hockey sticks and other weapons, during the storming of the Capitol.
Five people, including a policeman, were killed in the attack.
On January 6, 2021, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the headquarters of Congress when a joint session of the two chambers was held to ratify Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 elections.