New York man is charged with storming the Capitol after being caught on video smoking joint during the siege and chanting 'Whose house? Our house!'
A man from upstate New York has been charged with storming the US Capitol after videos have emerged on social media showing him smoking a joint inside the government building and bragging about it.
James Bonet, from Glen Falls, was arrested this week on federal counts of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or ground without lawful authority and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds stemming from his suspected role in the deadly January 6 siege.
According to a criminal complaint, a week after the insurrection, a witness contacted the FBI and shared links to two videos on Bonet's Facebook page, which were said to show him smoking a marijuana cigarette inside the Capitol.
Accused rioter James Bonet, from Glen Falls, New York, was arrested this week for allegedly taking part in the US Capitol siege after videos emerged showing him smoking what looks like a marijuana cigarette inside
Bonet's co-workers alerted the FBI after seeing multiple videos depicting the man entering the Capitol and bragging about 'taking it back'
Other videos that were found on the social media account depicted Bonet joining other rioters in the chant 'Whose house? Our house!' and celebrating entering the Capitol.
On Thursday, an FBI agent interviewed a co-worker of Bonet's in Saratoga Springs where he worked as a shift manager, who revealed that he has been known to openly talk about government conspiracy theories at work and try to convince his colleagues 'to subscribe to those theories, including the conspiracy theory that the 2020 Presidential Election was "stolen,"' according to the complaint.
The co-worker also reported that Bonet traveled to Washington DC in November to protest the results of the election, raising concerns that he would contract COVID-19 and spread it at work 'because they saw photographs of Bonet...not wearing a facemask' at the pro-Trump rally.
On January 6, another co-worker of Bonet’s sent a screen-recorded video to their colleagues in a group chat showing him at the Capitol.
In the video that shows this screenshot, Bonet reportedly can be heard responding to the chant 'Whose house?' with 'Our house!'
Still photos that were allegedly taken by Bonet on January 6 outside the Capitol show Donald Trump flags being carried by his supporters
The cellphone recording is captioned 'Smoking at the capital [sic] building’ and reportedly shows Bonet puffing on what looks like a marijuana cigarette and saying into the camera: 'Capitol building smoking with all my people!'
Another video from the screen recording is taken from inside the Crypt of the Capitol, where Bonet is filming rioters celebrating and chanting. He can be heard responding to the chant of 'Whose house?' with 'Our house!'
A third video, titled 'Made it in,' captures Bonet saying: 'we made it in the building b****es! We're taking it back! We're taking it back, we made it in the building!'
The New York resident also allegedly shared still photographs showcasing a Donald Trump flag on display outside the Capitol, which he titled 'taking our country back' and 'this is our house we will take it back.'
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