Skip to content

Richard Barnett, who breached Speaker Pelosi’s office during the insurrection, is arrested

AuthorAuthorAuthorAuthor
UPDATED:

The Arkansas man who was pictured in Speaker Pelosi’s office with his legs up on a staffer’s desk during the mob storming of the Capitol was arrested Friday, according to U.S. Justice Department officials.

Richard Barnett, 60, of Gravette, Ark. was arrested in Little Rock, Ark. Friday and charged with entering and remaining on restricted grounds, violent entry, and theft of public property.

“The shocking images of Mr. Barnett with his boots up on a desk in the Speaker of the House’s office on Wednesday was repulsive,” said Jeffrey A. Rosen, the recently Trump-appointed Acting Attorney General. “Those who are proven to have committed criminal acts during the storming of the Capitol will face justice.”

Richard Barnett
Richard Barnett

Barnett, after coming to Washington from Gravette, said he took an envelope with Pelosi’s letterhead from the desk, leaving behind a quarter to cover its cost. The rioter claimed he was pushed into Pelosi’s office by the crowd in the hallway, though he acknowledged the tale was unlikely to appease law enforcement.

“I’ll probably be telling them this is what happened all the way to the D.C. jail,” he acknowledged.

Richard Bigo Barnett, a supporter of US President Donald J. Trump, takes a seat in the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi after breaching Capitol security during a protest against Congress certifying Joe Biden as the next president in Washington, DC, on Jan. 6.
Richard Bigo Barnett, a supporter of US President Donald J. Trump, takes a seat in the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi after breaching Capitol security during a protest against Congress certifying Joe Biden as the next president in Washington, DC, on Jan. 6.

“I wrote her a nasty note, put my feet up on her desk,” he said to The Times.

“‘Bigo’ was here you b—h,” he said, referencing his nickname.

The arrest will send a message to other people who committed crimes at the Capitol on Wednesday, said Steven M. D’Antuono, assistant director in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office.

“This arrest demonstrates to all individuals involved in January 6 incursion into the U.S. Capitol that the FBI will find you and hold you accountable for your crimes, no matter your location,” he said in a statement.

Barnett faces up to one year in prison on the charges and was set to go before a judge in Arkansas on Friday.

With Larry McShane

Originally Published: