Man Accused Of Carrying Pelosi’s Lectern Arrested

 

A man from Florida was arrested Friday for allegedly entering the U.S. Capitol building and removing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) lectern from its storage place Wednesday.

Adam Johnson, 36, has been charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted area without legal authorization, According to the Department of Justice, Johnson appears to be the man in the widely circulated viral photo, which depicts a man in a Trump beanie carrying the speaker’s lectern through the U.S. Capitol Rotunda while appearing to wave at a photographer.

The Bradenton Herald reports that Johnson is a stay-at-home father with five children, and was identified as the man in the photo with the help of residents in his community. The lectern was reportedly found by the Rotunda, in the Senate wing of the building.

Johnson is one of more than a dozen people who have been arrested for participating in the Capitol unrest, which resulted in the deaths of a police officer and one participant. Three others have also died from what police have referred to as medical emergencies, but details of those deaths remain unclear.

More than a dozen others have been charged in federal court for crimes associated with the Capitol unrest, and roughly 40 have been charged in Superior Court as of Friday.

According to the Department of Justice, the man photographed with his feet up on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk has also been arrested, as has a West Virginia state lawmaker who lived-streamed himself entering the Capitol building and who shouted out his own name once he had.

The state lawmaker, 35-year-old Derrick Evans, has since resigned from the West Virginia House of Delegates and said in a statement:

The past few days have certainly been a difficult time for my family, colleagues and myself, so I feel it’s best at this point to resign my seat in the House and focus on my personal situation and those I love.

I take full responsibility for my actions, and deeply regret any hurt, pain or embarrassment I may have caused my family, friends, constituents, and fellow West Virginians. I hope this action I take today can remove any cloud of distraction from the state Legislature, so my colleagues can get to work in earnest building a brighter future for our state. And more importantly, I hope it helps to begin the healing process so we can all move forward and come together as ‘One Nation, Under God.’

Another man, Mark Leffingwell, 51, has been accused of assaulting a police officer in the Senate wing of the Capitol “repeatedly with a closed fist,” per an officer’s statement.

One man, Lonnie Coffman, was arrested after authorities spotted a handgun handle in his truck, and proceeded to uncover materials for making molotov cocktails. It’s not clear whether Coffman ever participated in the unrest inside of the Capitol building.one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and one count of theft of government property.