(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Nearly four years after the fact, the Justice Department is still rounding up protestors from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill uprising.
The DOJ announced its latest charges Monday against a 66-year-old federal employee of the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency, who entered the Capitol for about 16 minutes on Jan. 6. The defendant, Utah man Hal Ray Huddleston, entered through doors that were breached nearly an hour beforehand, and walked around before leaving.
The DOJ continues to charge J6ers, the latest defendant is noteworthy for several years: He's a senior citizen, he posted references to QAnon and III%ers, and he worked for the DoD (though his Facebook makes it seem like he was just an electrician on an Air Force base) pic.twitter.com/e5HI1rrLhy
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) August 28, 2024
Nevertheless, he now faces a felony offense of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder, as well as misdemeanor offenses for entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in the Capitol building and grounds, and parading, picketing, and demonstrating in a Capitol building.
According to DOJ charging papers, FBI agents first attempted to interview Huddleston in November 2021, and he declined to speak with them. FBI agents then contacted Hill Air Force Base Office of Special Investigations agents and requested they attempt to interview Huddleston where he worked at the Defense Logistics Agency, and Huddleston agreed to a voluntary interview with OSI on Nov. 9, 2021.
Huddleston reportedly told agents that the Capitol Police invited protestors inside the Capitol building. Agents asked him about violent rhetoric he made about fighting with police on Jan. 6, but he told them his intention was to describe what he saw at the rally, not what he personally did.
Huddleston’s social media posts included references to the III%er militia, which the FBI co-opted as part of its dubious Whitmer kidnap case in 2020. He also allegedly made posts referencing QAnon, such as one photo with the hashtag #WWG1WGA—a common acronym among followers of QAnon standing for “Where We Go One, We Go All,” according to the DOJ.
Huddleston’s felony charge stems from another protestor holding a wooden flagpole horizontally and pushing it into the backs of rioters pushing into police in order to reinforce them. Video footage purportedly shows Huddleston grabbing the pole and joining the other rioter in pushing it as part of the effort to hold back the police line.
Infamous J6 provocateur Ray Epps was caught on camera doing similar activities—helping others push a sign into the police—but unlike Huddleston, he was never charged with a felony.
It’s not clear why law enforcement waited nearly three years after interviewing Huddleston to charge him.
More than 1,488 individuals have now been charged in nearly all 50 states for J6-related crimes.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
