The man who allegedly walked around the Capitol with a Confederate flag has been arrested.
Kevin Seefried, the man who was allegedly seen at the Capitol during the siege with a Confederate flag, was arrested on Thursday along with his son, Hunter Seefried, in Delaware.
The Justice Department said Thursday that the men were both charged with “one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and one count of depredation of government property.”
The father and son entered the Senate Building through a broken window, and Kevin Seefried was photographed holding a Confederate Battle flag inside the Capitol Building shortly thereafter, according to court documents. Video footage indicates that the two men spent less than a half hour inside the Capitol.
FBI special agent Katherine Pattillo wrote a criminal complaint laying out the reasons for arresting the two, noting that Twitter video footage shows Hunter Seefried “punching out glass in a window in the Capitol complex” after people next to him in the crowd had broken it with a wooden plank, and the father confirmed to law enforcement agents that his son “was asked by an individual unknown to the Seefrieds to assist with clearing the window” because Hunter was wearing gloves. The crowd was then able to enter the Capitol.
The agent said the two men entered the Capitol around 2:13 p.m., and while in the building they were “part of a larger group of individuals who verbally confronted several U.S. Capitol police officers for approximately 15 minutes” during which time video footage from Capitol Police “shows Hunter Seefried using a phone to take a selfie photograph or video” around 2:29 p.m. The father and son left the building a few minutes later.
“Defendants Kevin Seefried and Hunter Seefried were identified after the FBI received a report from a coworker of Hunter Seefried relaying that Hunter Seefried had bragged about being in the Capitol with his father on January 6, 2021. The reporting individual confirmed that Hunter Seefried was visible in a Metropolitan Police Department flier depicting individuals who breached the Capitol Building’s security,” Pattillo wrote, adding, “On January 12, 2021, both Kevin Seefried and Hunter Seefried participated in voluntary and separate interviews with the FBI. Both defendants confirmed their participation in the events at the Capitol.”
Kevin Seefried “explained that he brought the Confederate Battle flag … to the District of Columbia from his home in Delaware where it is usually displayed outside” and “told law enforcement that he had traveled with his family from Delaware to the District of Columbia to hear President Trump speak and that he and Hunter Seefried participated in a march from the White House to the Capitol led by an individual with a bull horn.”
The chaos at the Capitol, which occurred as Congress sought to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, led to five deaths, countless injuries, the destruction of federal property, a lockdown of the Capitol, and dozens of arrests. It only temporarily stopped Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote for Biden.
Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin said on Tuesday that the Justice Department opened more than 170 case files related to the storming of the Capitol and that a strike force was also looking into possible charges of sedition and conspiracy, along with specialists exploring charges related to the targeting of law enforcement and the media.
A number of others who participated in the violence surrounding the Capitol on Jan. 6 have been charged with federal crimes, including one who was allegedly in possession of 11 Molotov cocktails, one who repeatedly punched a police officer in the face and chest, one who was wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt, another who dubbed himself the “QAnon shaman” and was pictured on the Senate dais, and many more.
Two off-duty Virginia police officers were also charged and arrested on Tuesday in federal court in the District of Columbia for their actions at the Capitol.
