Feds: Texas man joined Capitol mob with cousin.
FBI says suspect assaulted officer; cousin from Louisiana also arrested
Federal agents have apprehended an East Texas man suspected of assaulting a police officer during the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol this month, according to court records.
Daniel Page Adams — charged alongside Cody Connell, his cousin from Louisiana — was arrested Saturday near the Houston area and is now among 80 or more people who have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection. Authorities suspect Adams shoved a U.S. Capitol Police officer while trying to overcome a wall of police officers as lawmakers sought safety inside. The next day, a tipster led investigators to the cousins, court records show.
A statement of facts from FBI agent Michael Sahadi Jr. says he reviewed videos from the Capitol violence that Connell posted to social media and found that the cousins — who had the same mullet-style haircut — often appeared in the footage. It provides the following account:
The cousins at one point appeared to shield their faces from tear gas in the area.
In one video, Adams can be heard saying, “Let’s go — Are you ready to push?” to encourage others attempting to push through a line of Capitol Police officers.
The FBI agent said Adams could be seen in front of the line as police tried keeping the rioters at bay with protective shields. The same video shows Adams then sprinting up the Capitol steps and “chasing the officers.”
The officers tried holding Adams off again at the top of the stairs, the agent continued, describing what he watched.
“The video ends with a loud thud and Adams holding his head and uttering an expletive,” he wrote.
The incident followed a speech by President Donald Trump encouraging thousands of people to march on the Capitol to disrupt the
certification of the Electoral College results. The riots left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer who was fatally beaten during a clash with rioters. The House has impeached the outgoing president for “incitement of insurrection.”
Adams faces several federal charges, including assault of a federal police officer. It was not known when he would appear in court. A woman who answered a phone number listed for a local man named Daniel Adams declined to comment, citing trauma that her family has experienced.
Investigators alleged that Connell, of Vivian, La., posted about his role in the insurrection on social media, including a comment that “4 of us breached the cops blockage and us same 4 breached the Capitol.” He identified a cousin as one of his accomplices and said the cousin was clubbed and shot with a rubber bullet.
“But we pushed the cops against the wall,” Connell allegedly wrote, according to court documents. “They dropped all their gear and left. That’s when we went to doors of Capitol building and breached it.”
The court documents primarily focus on Connell, whose social media
comments were said to indicate that he believed the fallout from the attempted takeover would lead to a civil war.
Investigators believe Connell intended to return to Washington, D.C., for the presidential inauguration and that he was planning with at least two other Texans — both
unidentified — to buy body armor, ammunition and weapons. The agent, citing a witness interview, also believed Connell intended to “cause violence that may result in the end of his life.”
“According to the witness, Connell explained that he was not returning to Louisiana unless he was in a body bag,” the agent wrote.
Attorneys could not be immediately identified for the men.
Meanwhile, members of the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force on Friday arrested Anthime Joseph Gionet — a far-right media personality known as “Baked Alaska” — in Houston. He is charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to a criminal complaint filed last week in federal court.
Charges were also expected against a former Houston police officer — Pam Tham — who resigned last week after being identified as having entered the Capitol building amid the violence. The officer
told the Chronicle last week that he was among the crowd to take pictures.
The FBI on Sunday raided the home of a San Antonio man allegedly involved in the riots, arresting 37-year-old Matthew Carl Mazzoco. He is charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, authorities said. Mazzocco was identified by social media, largely on TikTok, as being at the Capitol the day of the riots, authorities said.
In North Texas, police arrested a Wylie man — Guy Reffitt — at his home and charged him with obstruction of justice and unlawful entry. According to an affidavit, the 48-year-old was recorded on video outside the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot and later threatened his wife and children if they turned him in.