The FBI arrested three Floridians precisely three years after the Capitol riots over their alleged attacks on officers during the January 6 attack.
Two men and one woman
Arrested Florida residents are 24-year-old Jonathan Daniel Pollock, his sister Olivia Michele Pollock, 33, and Joseph Daniel Hutchinson III, 27. The trio was arrested at Groveland, around 30 miles west of Orlando.
The trio was charged in 2021
Jonathan Pollock reportedly went into hiding after being charged in July 2021. His sister and Hutchinson were previously arrested in June 2021 in Florida and Georgia, respectively. However, after being released on bond, they fled. The trial was set for March 2023.
The accusations
The prosecution accused Jonathan Pollock of “punching two officers in the face, kneeing a police officer, dragging an officer downstairs, charging at law enforcement with a flag pole,” and allegedly stealing two Capitol Police riot shields in what was considered to a “coordinated attack.”
The trio was caught on tape
The AP confirmed that the 53-page indictment says a video caught Pollock and Hutchinson assaulting officers during the riots. Olivia Pollock was accused of punching and trying to grab officers’ batons. All three were charged with “assaulting officers, violent entry into the Capitol, and other felonies.”
Pollocks’ brother defended the trio
The Pollocks’ brother, Gabriel, told The Ledger, “I do feel like it is a political move that’s being perpetrated, which — it’s sad.” He continued, “It’s not how the country should be run … with everything going on in the country, I think people are pretty fed up with the way the country’s being taken away from the people..”
The award for Pollock was $30,000
The FBI offered $30,000 for the information that would lead to Pollock’s arrest since he is “the most violent of the defendants in this case,” according to the prosecutors.
The “most wanted”
The trio was listed on the FBI’s “most wanted” list. The court documents revealed they lived as relatives and traveled to Washington D.C.dressed in tactical gear.
No details were provided
Apart from a confirmation from FBI Tampa regarding the arrests, no further details were provided. Three years after the attack on the Capitol, over 1,000 defendants have either pleaded guilty or been convicted of crimes. The DOJ released information that 139 were found guilty by the jury or the judges over their involvement in the riots.
The President’s message regarding January 6
President Biden gave a speech on January 5, directly attacking former President Trump and his GOP supporters. Biden said in part, “Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He’s willing to sacrifice democracy to put himself in power.”
“Trump’s mob”
In his speech, the President called the supporters of the 45th president “Trump’s mob” and spoke about the 2020 elections, saying, “The legal path just took Trump back to the truth. That I’d won the election, and he was a loser.” The rioters were doing Trump “dirty work,” Biden remarked.
Trump lost 60 court cases
The President reminded how Trump lost “the Republican-controlled states, Trump lost before a Trump-appointed judge, and then judges. And Trump lost before the United States Supreme Court” in 60 court cases.
“The big Trump lie”
The 46th President continued but stopped before saying an expletive, “He talks about an intruder, whipped up by the big Trump lie, taking a hammer to Paul Pelosi’s skull, echoing the very same words used on January 6, ‘Where’s Nancy?’ And he thinks that’s funny, he laughed about it. What a sick…”
Democracy on the ballot
Biden added that it was “despicable,” adding, “Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot.” The President also recalled how the “MAGA crowd chanted, ‘Hang Mike Pence'” and how they were shouting, “Where’s Nancy?” once they entered the Capitol.
Trump mocked Biden
Following Biden’s speech, Trump fired back, “Joe Biden’s record is an unbroken streak of weakness, incompetence, corruption and failure.” He quipped, “Other than that, he’s doing quite well.”
Trump’s promise
Previously, Trump promised to pardon all January 6 defendants if reelected in 2024. New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said it is a “political advantage” according to Trump, “I don’t think for what he is saying himself — he sees political advantage in continuing to say that he might pardon people. He thinks that it rallies his supporters.”
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