(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Troy Nehls, R-Texas, are seeking answers about the abuse of a Jan. 6 inmate that allegedly took place at the Washington DC Department of Corrections in September 2022.
The alleged incident involved Jan. 6 inmate Ronald Colton McAbee, who’s serving a 70-month prison sentence for allegedly assaulting Capitol Police officers. McAbee admitted to one count of assault last September and pled not guilty to five others—but was convicted by a DC jury anyway last October.
While in pretrial detention, DOC employee Crystal Lancaster allegedly pepper sprayed him for removing his face mask to take medication.
🚨BREAKING: @Jim_Jordan and I launched an investigation into the D.C. Department of Corrections’ treatment of J6er Ronald McAbee.
For over 15 months, I have requested the footage of an altercation between Lieutenant Crystal Lancaster & McAbee.
Read the full letter below: pic.twitter.com/hBXqaJzAgF
— Congressman Troy E. Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) May 20, 2024
Rep. Nehls began probing the matter in Jan. 2023, when he sent records requests to the DOC, U.S. Marshals, and Metropolitan Police Department for the body camera footage of Lancaster’s encounter with McAbee.
According to Nehls, the government has been stonewalling him.
For instance, the DOC initially told him in February 2023 that it would release the footage “in the consideration of public interest.” However, the DOC later retracted that promise, claiming there had been a “miscommunication” and that the footage would not be disclosed.
Rep. Nehls raised the matter again in February with U.S. Marshals Director Ronald Davis, who said at the time that he’d “commit my team to working with yours to see how we can be responsive to your request.”
Today, I demanded the Director of the US Marshals Service call on the DC jail to release video footage of one of his J6 detainees, who was sprayed with chemicals for removing his COVID mask to take medication.
The director committed to working with my team to meet this request. pic.twitter.com/96KYb1GiL5
— Congressman Troy E. Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) February 14, 2024
However, the Marshals never followed through with that commitment, Nehls and Jordan said Monday in a letter to DOC Director Thomas Faust.
“It has been over 15 months since Rep. Nehls attempted to obtain the relevant footage, and the Committee has serious concerns about the DOC’s continued lack of transparency, obstruction, and unwillingness to work to provide the requested information,” Nehls and Jordan said in their letter.
“The DOC’s repeated attempts to prevent a Member of Congress from obtaining the body camera footage hinders Congress’s ability to conduct oversight and to adequately assess whether the DOC has failed to hold officers accountable for their alleged misconduct,” they said.
Jordan and Nehls demanded the Sept. 5, 2022, body camera footage of Lancaster from the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the C2B pod. They also demanded all documents and communications from that incident.
Jordan and Nehls asked for that information by May 27, saying they’d “resort to compulsory process if these requests remain outstanding.”
Meanwhile, as McAbee serves out his sentence for assaulting Capitol Police, reporter Julie Kelly revealed Monday that a pro-Palestine demonstrator who punched a female Capitol Police officer in the face was sentenced to a mere 48 hours of community service.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
