NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Brooklyn man who unsuccessfully ran for a New York state Senate seat last year has been arrested and charged with storming the Capitol building on Jan. 6, federal prosecutors say.
Daniel Christmann, 38, was taken into custody at his home in Brooklyn Wednesday morning, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said.
Related
Christmann, who works as a plumber, attempted to unseat state Sen. Julia Salazar in the general election last November, according to Ballotpedia. Salazar’s district includes parts of Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Williamsburg.
Prosecutors say Christmann posted photos and videos to his now-defunct Instagram account from inside the Capitol Building on Jan. 6.
Christmann not only appeared in other Capitol rioters’ photos and videos, but also exchanged messages with another Instagram user about the siege in the days that followed, prosecutors said.
“So you stormed the Capitol, huh? Rebel!” the user messaged him, according to prosecutors.
“Yeah im [sic] not going to lie. I wasn’t one of the first people in,” Christmann allegedly responded. “When realized it was happening I was scaling walls and s--t.
“How could I not?” he added.
After two people Christmann knew — his friend and his former campaign manager — got arrested for participating in the riot, Christmann messaged someone on Facebook asking them to remove videos of the siege in which he appeared, prosecutors said.
Christmann — who also launched an unsuccessful bid for the presidency last year, according to Ballotpedia — was expected to appear in court Wednesday afternoon.
His attorney wasn’t immediately available on Wednesday.
Related
