A Dallas man who joined a violent mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol earlier this month was charged with death threats on social media against Attorney Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Garret Miller, 34, of Richardson, Texas, was arrested earlier this week on a number of charges related to Capitol violence, according to a government complaint.
Charges On The Man
Miller’s lawyer, Clinton Broden, told CNBC that the charges against his client had been upgraded to include a charge of threatening on Tuesday, the day before his arrest in Richardson. The upgraded charge came relatively soon after the initial complaint was filed in Washington, D.C. federal court, Broden said.
Other charges include entering or occupying any restricted property or grounds while not having any legal authority; a violent intrusion into the Capitol’s premises; to restrict or prevent any legal proceedings and certain actions during a civil disturbance.
Miller’s indictment is based on what prosecutors say he threatened Attorney Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., on social media. He is serving a five-year prison sentence.
‘Assasinate AOC’
Miller wrote “Assassinate AOC” on Twitter, according to the complaint. Miller also said he wrote about entering the Capitol building on his Instagram account and admitted that he “had a rope in [his] bag on that day.”
Miller also threatened a Capitol police officer who shot and killed a woman trying to break into a Capitol building during a riot. “We will catch [the USCP official] and hug his neck with a nice rope[.],” Miller said, according to the complaint.
“Mr. Miller regrets the actions he took in a misguided effort to show his support for former President Trump,” Broden said. “He has the full support of his family and has always been a law-abiding citizen.”
“His social media comments reflect very ill-considered political hyperbole in very divided times and will certainly not be repeated in the future,” Broden continued. “He looks forward to putting all of this behind him.”
Broden added that he did not believe there was any evidence that Miller had planned to make threats.
AOC’s Statement
Miller is expected to appear on Monday in a Dallas court hearing. Prosecutors have said they want him detained pending trial, but Broden said he will argue for Miller’s conditional release pending trial in Washington.
Ocasio-Cortez responded to a complaint describing Miller’s alleged online bragging about his role in the violence, writing in a tweet: “On one hand you have to laugh, and on the other know that the reason they were this brazen is because they thought they were going to succeed.”
Ocasio-Cortez previously said he feared for his life during the violence and that members of Congress “were almost killed.”
“I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive, and not just in a general sense but also in a very, very specific sense,” the Democratic representative said in an Instagram Live video on Jan. 12, without elaborating the details.
Synopsis
- Garret Miller, 34, of Richardson, Texas faces multiple charges related to the deadly riots in Washington.
- Miller wrote “Assassinate AOC” on Twitter, according to a federal complaint.
- Miller also allegedly posted about entering the Capitol building on his Instagram account and admitted that he “had a rope in [his] bag on that day.”
