A Kentucky man was arrested in Miami almost two years after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Federal agents arrested Israel Easterday in mid-December and filed court records afterward.
This arrest came from the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force meant to investigate national security threats. Throughout the many videos and pictures from that day, a man appeared to be wearing a gray t-shirt, dark brown jacket and a black beanie with a “I heart Trump” statement on it was identified as Easterday.
Federal investigators wrote they identified the man from a YouTube video where he was at times carrying a Confederate flag - and at one point, investigators wrote he sprayed a Capitol police officer with mace.
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In April of 2022, the Washington FBI office contacted the Bowling Green, Kentucky office to go check out Easterday. Based on his Google account information, which location data showed him at the Capitol that day, mixed with pictures online, the agent visited the local sheriff’s department where they knew Easterday.
Officers made the arrest in Miami and charged Easterday with eight criminal counts, including assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon, an act of physical violence at the Capitol, entering a restricted area with a dangerous weapon and others.
Nearly two years after the attack, rioters called to Washington, D.C. by former President Donald Trump are still getting arrested around the country. Nearly 1,000 people have been charged in the violent attack, which tried to stop the 2020 election of President Joe Biden.
