Three Active-Duty Marines Arrested for Participating in Jan. 6

Facts

• US Authorities arrested three active-duty Marines, Cpl. Micah Coomer and Sgts. Joshua Abate and Dodge Dale Hellonen, this week on charges including disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, for allegedly breaching the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
• An FBI affidavit stated there is video evidence of the trio present inside the Capitol that day. They're also facing charges of trespassing and intending to disrupt government business.
• Court documents also showed that some of Coomer's Instagram posts appeared to be taken from inside the Capitol after the 2020 election, as well as Instagram messages where he said the election was rigged.
• According to official documents, the men spent about 52 minutes inside the Capitol, at one point entering the rotunda and putting a red MAGA hat on a statue to take pictures with it.
• The three men, all of whom work in jobs connected to the intelligence community, are the first active-duty military members to be arrested in connection with Jan. 6 since Marine Maj. Christopher Warnagiris was charged in May 2021.
• A number of those who were present in the Capitol on Jan. 6 have military or paramilitary backgrounds, such as a Navy reservist who was convicted this week and a former Army reservist described by prosecutors as a Nazi sympathizer.

Sources: CNN, Guardian, Associated Press, Bay, Military and Associated Press.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by CBS. It's simply shocking that so many people with military backgrounds participated in storming the Capitol, one of the US's most respected institutions. Micah Coomer even spoke of a second Civil War and the anti-government extremist Boogaloo movement. These men must be held accountable for their seditious actions.
• Republican narrative, as provided by FOX News. It's absurd to call Jan. 6 an 'attempted coup' by unarmed citizens who largely committed no acts of violence. The only ones truly representing anti-American sentiment are those who are targeting patriotic citizens and labeling them as 'domestic terrorists.' Walking into the Capitol and yelling makes you a nuisance, not an insurrectionist.