W.Va. lawmaker charged in storming Capitol
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia state lawmaker has been charged with entering a restricted area of the U.S. Capitol after he livestreamed himself rushing into the building with a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters.
Ken Kohl, a top deputy federal prosecutor in Washington, announced the charge against Republican state Del. Derrick Evans on a call in which he presented dozens of new charges against members of the crowd that violently stormed the Capitol on Wednesday.
His lawyer, John Bryan, said he hadn’t seen the complaint against Evans and couldn’t comment. He did not say if Evans had been taken into custody, but television station WSAZ posted a video on Twitter showing FBI agents escorting the handcuffed lawmaker from a home.
“He’s a fine man. And thank you, Mr. Trump, for inviting a riot at the White House,” a woman identifying herself as Evans’ grandmother told reporters.
Legislators from at least seven other states traveled to Washington, D.C., to back Trump and demonstrate against the counting of electoral votes confirming Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
In his now-deleted video, widely shared online, Evans is clamoring inside a jam-packed Capitol building doorway, trying with others to push his way inside. He hollers along other Trump loyalists and fist-bumps a law enforcement officer who let them in.
Evans’ lawyer has said he was acting as an amateur journalist.
After pushing into the building, video shows Evans milling around the Capitol Rotunda, where paintings depict the republic’s founding, and imploring others to not vandalize artwork.
“Our house!” Evans yells inside Capitol halls.