Two creators of a Telegram group chat called “PATRIOTS 45 MA.GA Gang” have now both been arrested for their violent plans ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and their participation in the event.
According to an indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, defendants Edward Badalian, age 27, and Daniel Rodriguez, age 39, used the PATRIOTS 45 group to support former President Donald Trump, referencing his "Make America Great Again" slogan. They advocated violence against certain groups and individuals in through the group.
Badalian was arrested Nov. 17 and arraigned Nov. 23, according to the Department of Justice. Rodriquez – whose charges include the assault of Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone – was arrested in March and has been detained since. He was arraigned Nov. 16.
The incdictment said violent PATRIOT 45 posts began around the November 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to current President Joe Biden. Targeted groups “either supported the 2020 presidential election results, supported what the group perceived as liberal, or communist ideologies, or held positions of authority in the government,” it said.
“We need to violently remove traitors and if they are in key positions rapidly replace them with able bodied Patriots,” Badalian said in a PATRIOTS 45 post.
“Congress can hang. I’ll do it. Please let us get these people dear God,” said Rodriguez in another post.
Both comments appeared in the chat in late December.
An unnamed person testified that Rodriguez said he would assassinate Biden shortly before he left California for the Capitol in January, the indictment said.
PATRIOT 45 group members would discuss how they believed the election to be fraudulent or stolen. Trump made similar claims at a rally held on Jan. 6 before the riots and has continued to make the claims despite a lack of evidence.
Badalian and Rodriguez – both California residents – conspired with other known and unknown defendants to disrupt Congress’ certification of Electoral College votes for Biden and to impair the integrity of the Grand Jury investigation in to the Jan. 6 attack in the Capitol, said the indictment.
It said that the defendants carried out a conspiracy to achieve these goals by: encouraging each other to attend Trump’s Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally; collecting weapons and tactical gear such as pepper spray, a baseball bat and gas masks, to bring to Washington D.C.; acquiring a rental vehicle to drive from California to D.C.; storming the Capitol; participating in violent obstruction of law enforcement; unlawful entry into the Capitol; property damage inside the building and stealing emergency escape hoods.
Charges against Badalian and Rodriguez included in the indictment are: conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, tampering with documents o proceedings, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, inflicting bodily injury on certain officers using a dangerous weapon, theft of government property, destruction of government property, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.
After they returned to California, the defendants also attempted to destroy evidence of their participation in the attack, the indictment said.
Badalian, however, discussed his participation under the pseudonym “Turbo” on Jan. 8 on the call-in show “War Room” on InfoWars.
The name of a third defendant connected to Badalian and Rodriguez currently remains unsealed.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s National Security Division prosecuted the case, with valuable assistance provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California,” said the Department of Justice. “The FBI’s Los Angeles and Washington Field Offices are investigating the case, with valuable assistance from the Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Capitol Police.”
Since the Capitol riot, more than 675 individuals have been arrested from every state in the nation for crimes related to the attack.
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