On Monday, one of the men charged with invading the Capitol and threatening Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez apologized.
Garret Miller, a Texas resident, claims he was only following Trump’s orders when he joined the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6 and is willing to testify to Congress or in a trial. He also wants to apologize for writing “Assassinate AOC” in a Twitter post.
Authorities say that Miller, 34, also used a social media account to threaten a Capitol Police officer who fatally shot another rioter, saying that he planned to “hug his neck with a nice rope.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, Miller decided to apologize after a federal judge in Dallas found him to be both a danger to the community and a flight risk. He was detained without bail pending trial.
“I am ashamed of my comments,” Miller said in a statement released by his defense attorney Clinton Broden.
Miller alleges that he was motivated by Trump’s false claims about being cheated out of re-election by ballot fraud.
He said, “I was in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, because I believed I was following the instructions of former President Trump, and he was my president and the commander-in-chief. His statements also had me believing the election was stolen from him.”
“Nevertheless, I fully recognize Joe Biden is now the President of the United States and that the election is over. Donald Trump is no longer president, and I would not have any reason to continue to follow his lead,” Miller explained.
He added, “While I never intended to harm Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez nor harm any members of the Capitol police force, I recognize that my social media posts were completely inappropriate. They were made at a time when Donald Trump had me believing that an American election was stolen.”
He said: “I want to publicly apologize to Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and the Capitol police officers. I have always supported law enforcement, and I am ashamed by my comments.”
Miller also said in the statement that he was not armed when he entered the Capitol.
He said he left Washington and headed back to Texas “immediately after President Trump asked us to go home.”
Miller said that he had not been interested in or involved with politics “until very recently.”
He added, “Nevertheless, what Donald Trump had been saying about the election really got to me, and I felt I had to support him. Still, I recognize that I am solely responsible for my actions and that there are no excuses for what I did.”
Miller said, “I come from a good and supportive family. My parents and brothers do not deserve the pain I have caused them. I accept full responsibility for my actions, and I am prepared to testify at any trial or Congressional proceeding.”
The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., has charged Miller with: knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted buildings or grounds without lawful authority; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; obstructing or impeding any official proceeding; certain acts during civil disorder, and threats in interstate commerce.
“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 tweeted in response to Miller being charged with threatening her.
She said that she feared for her life, and other Congress members were “nearly assassinated” during the riot.
On January 12, Ocasio-Cortez said in an Instagram Live video, “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.”
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