Philip Grillo, a Republican official from Queens, New York, is among the latest defendants charged in connection with the violent rioting at the U.S. Capitol last month, the FBI announced Tuesday.
Mr. Grillo was arrested late Monday “for his role in the riot and assault on the Capitol,” the FBI said on Twitter. He is accused of breaching the building upon climbing in through a broken window.
In a newly unsealed court document, an FBI special agent said two individuals contacted investigators last month to say they saw video on CNN that showed Mr. Grillo inside the Capitol on Jan. 6.
One of the witnesses said they knew Mr. Grillo for decades, the FBI agent wrote. When interviewed later, they identified Mr. Grillo in surveillance footage from during the rioting, the agent wrote.
In the same surveillance footage, the FBI agent wrote, “GRILLO can be seen wearing a Knights of Columbus, St. Anne’s Council #2429, Glen Oaks, New York embroidered jacket. The FBI conducted an open-records check of GRILLO and confirmed GRILLO to be a member of the Knights of Columbus chapter, matching the jacket’s description.”
FBI agents subsequently arrested Mr. Grillo at his girlfriend’s home in Glen Oaks, a neighborhood in east Queens, the local Queens Eagle newspaper reported afterward.
The Queens Eagle identified Mr. Grillo as the Republican district leader for New York State Assembly District 24 and reported that he goes by the name “The Republican Messiah” on Facebook.
Mr. Grillo, 46, appeared before a federal magistrate judge Tuesday afternoon and was ordered released on $100,000 bond, the Eagle reported. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged more than 200 people facing counts related to the storming of the Capitol, and the FBI has continued to regularly arrest suspects nearly eight weeks later.
Mr. Grillo faces charges including knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and disorderly conduct, among other counts.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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