A Miami man who was charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection is speaking out on what he calls the truth about that day at the U.S. Capitol.
Gabriel Garcia, a former U.S. Army captain who is a member of the far-right group Proud Boys, is planning to commemorate the anniversary of the Capitol riot by holding a news conference Thursday outside of Miami's federal courthouse.
"My main focus was to have Sen. Ted Cruz he wanted to do a 10-day committee, where they go in, bipartisan, and investigate if there was actual voter fraud," Garcia said.
Garcia was inside as violence swept through the nation's Capitol building, allegedly spurred by former President Donald Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
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"There's been a lot of misrepresentation," said Souraya Faas, a friend of Garcia's who is organizing the Thursday news conference. "Everybody seems to think that this is a Trump thing. It wasn’t a Trump thing. It was an American thing, and it's about preserving our freedoms. It's about the voter fraud."
CAPITOL RIOT
Garcia is charged with obstruction of justice and civil disorder while Congress attempted to certify the 2020 election. He claims he didn't go to the Capitol to start violence.
"At the end of the day, I didn't go there to destroy property, burn, loot, or do any of that stuff," Garcia said.
But prosecutors allege Garcia was on Facebook being aggressive toward Capitol Police, telling them, “you ain't stopping a million of us. Storm this s---."
And as officers responded with force, Garcia allegedly called them “f-----g traitors."
"It was more toward Congress for not listening," Garcia said about the name-calling.
"At the end of the day, even if I were to call them traitors (it) is a First Amendment right — which I'm not saying I did — but they’re not traitors," he said.
On Thursday, Garcia plans to release new video he says that will prove that many people there were for democracy and not destruction.
He also condemned the people who were violent and caused damage at the Capitol.
"I can clearly say that because I even asked Capitol Police, do you want water with what you guys are doing," Garcia said. "Of course, they didn’t play that part, but I have the videos for it and those will be released as well."
Even though Garcia is a Proud Boy, he says he was there on his own accord. He believes the investigations into the insurrection are too political and are intended to hurt Trump.
More than 700 people were arrested and 71 convicted. Garcia will go to trial next month.
