Cowboy politician riding into riot trial
An elected official in New Mexico who helped found the group Cowboys for Trump is headed to trial in Washington this week on a charge related to the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He plans to show up for court on horseback in a defiant show of support for former President Donald Trump.
Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin has been charged with knowingly entering restricted areas of Capitol grounds, one of hundreds of pro-Trump supporters facing charges for disrupting the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win.
He’s one of at least 10 people charged in the riot who either held public office or ran for a government leadership post in the two and a half years before the attack. They include candidates for mayor in west Texas, city council in Kansas and West Virginia, county commission in Washington state, congressional seats in Florida and statehouses in Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia.