A Texas man who took part in the 6 January attack on the US Capitol has been charged with threatening to assassinate Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Garret Miller faces five federal charges, including making threats and entering restricted buildings without lawful authority.
According to court documents, Miller allegedly tweeted: “Assassinate AOC.” He is also accused of posting a selfie on Facebook with the caption: “just wanted to incriminate myself a little lol.” In other posts, he allegedly said an officer who shot a Trump supporter inside the Capitol “deserves to die” and described it as “huntin[g] season”.
Miller’s lawyer, Clint Broden, described the threat as “an inappropriate comment made in the heat of the moment” on Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter feed. He added that Miller “regrets the actions he took in a misguided effort to show his support for former President Trump”.
Ocasio-Cortez responded to the arrest on Friday night, saying: “On one hand you have to laugh, and on the other know that the reason [the Capitol rioters] were this brazen is because they thought they were going to succeed.”
The criminal complaint lists numerous social media posts placing Miller at the Capitol during the riot, including a video captioned “From inside congress”. On 2 January, he allegedly wrote on Facebook: “I am about to drive across the country for this trump shit … Some crazy shit going to happen this week.”
Separately, The Washington Post reported that the FBI and Department of Justice are considering not charging some of the hundreds of people arrested over the riot, due to concerns about overwhelming the local courthouse.
