CNN reviewed voting information of individuals arrested for his or her involvement within the riot, and decided that no less than eight of these dealing with felony expenses didn’t vote within the presidential election.
Donovan Crowl, an Ohio member of the right-wing Oathkeepers militia group, was amongst them. Crowl, 50, was arrested Jan. 18 on expenses of conspiracy, conspiracy to injure an officer, destruction of presidency property, obstruction of an official continuing, trespassing and disorderly conduct.
His mom instructed CNN that her son instructed her “they were going to overtake the government if they … tried to take Trump’s presidency from him.” However, Crowl apparently wasn’t registered to vote in 2020.
An election official in Ohio instructed the outlet that Crowl registered to vote in 2013, however he “never voted nor responded to any of our confirmation notices to keep him registered.” Crowl was faraway from the voter rolls in 2020, in keeping with the official.
Some others who participated within the riot had been registered to vote final yr however didn’t, together with University of Kentucky senior Gracyn Courtright — who posted a photograph of herself on Instagram from exterior the Capitol doorways captioned, “Can’t wait to tell my grandkids I was here!”
Jessica Stern, a Boston University professor who has spent round 30 years researching extremists, instructed CNN the accused rioters may need believed there was no level in voting because the system was rigged.
In the lead-up to the 2020 election, then-President Donald Trump argued he would solely lose if the election had been stolen from him. He continued to baselessly declare the election had been rigged by Democrats, even after officers declared Joe Biden the winner, and refused to concede.
Many Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol final month as a part of the so-called “Stop The Steal” motion stated that they had carried out so as a result of the president needed them to.
Some Republican lawmakers additionally obtained on board with Trump’s declare, though there was no proof of widespread voter fraud — 147 congressional Republicans voted to overturn the election outcomes.
