The FBI arrested a Texas man and charged him with illegally entering the US Capitol during the deadly January 6 riot by Trump fans. The bureau says in an criminal complaint that Treniss Jewell Evans III can be seen in a video standing on the Capitol steps saying, “I don’t support looting, I don’t support the violence, I support a peaceful protest to put them on notice that we the people demand justice.” CCTV footage shows Evans entering the building through a broken window, taking a selfie, and appearing to hold a megaphone while inside the building, according to the complaint.
The FBI says it received a tip from an acquaintance of one of Evans’s family members in January that he had been at the Capitol that day. The witness “understood EVANS to have ‘taken shots of fireball’ in Nancy Pelosi’s office and captured video of the days’ events on his cellular telephone,” the complaint reads. At no other point does the complaint mention Evans entering Pelosi’s office, nor the tip that he had a shot of the 66-proof cinnamon whiskey. It relies instead on images that appear to be Evans and cell-phone data that aligned with a Google account registered under Evans’s name.
Evans’s lawyer, Robbie Ward, told the San Antonio Express-News that his client “was never involved in anything violent, as the FBI indicated in the complaint, [and] he advocated for only peaceful protests, and is cooperating with officials.” Evans was released on bond and ordered to stay out of DC except when he’s on court business, the Express-News reports.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
