The FBI on Monday searched the Huntington Beach apartment of a well-known far-right activist who initially claimed in a video that he participated in the siege earlier this month at the U.S. Capitol, then backtracked as he became the target of death threats.
Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, confirmed that an FBI SWAT team executed a search warrant around 10 a.m. at an apartment on Viewpoint Lane. She did not release the identify of the resident named in the search warrant. However, public records show that right-wing activist Kristopher Martin, 32, resides at the address.
One person, whose identity was not released, was at the residence and was cooperative, she said. Undisclosed evidence was seized but no arrests were made.
Photos circulating Monday on social media purported to show members of the SWAT team wearing camouflage and getting out of a pickup truck at the location.
Eimiller said the search warrant is sealed and declined to disclose if the raid is tied to the FBI’s nationwide roundup of far-right supporters of President Donald Trump responsible for the Jan. 6 insurrection and vandalism at the Capitol.
Shortly after the mob stormed the Capitol, Martin made a video in his Washington hotel room praising the insurrectionists as patriots and dispelling rumors that Antifa members had any involvement the siege that delayed Congress’ certification of electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden.
“I just got back from storming the Capitol,” Martin said in the video. “It was successful. For all you bitches on Facebook going crazy talking about it was Antifa, and saying it wasn’t us, it was us. We proudly took back our Capitol. They brought the National Guard out for us. We had the (expletive) cops running from us. Not because they are bitches but because they are smart. We did it. God it’s so exhilarating!”
However, two days later, in a phone interview with the Southern California News Group, Martin changed his story, adding that he had received death threats as a result of the video.
Martin, who owns a hair salon in Huntington Beach, also claimed he was only speaking collectively in the video about participating in the siege and that he actually watched from afar. He also distanced himself from the destruction and now believes Antifa was indeed involved in the riot.
“I do regret not doing my research and not knowing what people were in there,” Martin said at the time. “I am proud we took back our house, but I thought we took it back peacefully.”
There is no evidence that Antifa, a left-wing, anti-fascist, anti-racist political movement, was involved in the Capitol building attack, the FBI said.
Martin also expressed fear at being arrested by the FBI, but maintains he did nothing wrong.
“I never went inside the Capitol,” he said. “I am a waste of time (for authorities to investigate), but there are other people who did terrible things and should be arrested. I didn’t go to Washington for Donald Trump. I went there for everyone’s vote to count.”
"later" - Google News
January 19, 2021 at 10:55AM
https://ift.tt/2M5dyMe
FBI raids home of Huntington Beach activist who initially admitted, later denied taking part in Capitol siege - OCRegister
"later" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KR2wq4
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "FBI raids home of Huntington Beach activist who initially admitted, later denied taking part in Capitol siege - OCRegister"
Post a Comment