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David Anthony Medina is charged with a felony offense of obstruction of an official proceeding and several misdemeanors, officials said. (Photos from court documents)
A 34-year-old Oregon man who appeared in a video slamming down then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s wooden sign outside her office during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack and waving an American flag in the rotunda faces charges in connection with the insurrection, authorities said.
David Anthony Medina is charged with a felony offense of obstruction of an official proceeding and several misdemeanors, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release. He was arrested on Friday.
Court documents document the allegations. Medina allegedly traveled to Washington for the “Stop the Steal” rally and used social media to solicit donations to fund travel for himself and others, the documents said. He joined thousands of Donald Trump supporters protesting Congress certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win that day, officials said.
Someone who knew him from an athletic club in Oregon saw him in a video on his Instagram page inside the Capitol and tipped agents off. Twitter posts identified him as being inside the building on Jan. 6, court documents said.
“David Medina: a trump supporter that willingly provided evidence to his breaking into the Capitol and destroying property -part 1/3,” read a Twitter post with four photos.
In an ITV News video clip that the U.S. Attorney’s Office included in court documents, Medina appears to be slamming a wooden sign down in a hallway outside Pelosi’s office.
As Medina moves away from the corner, the camera pans, showing the area above the entryway, where the previously affixed sign is missing, the video allegedly shows.
In the next scene, Medina stands next to rioters holding a shattered wooden sign with partial lettering visible, spelling “of the House” on the top line and “Nancy P” on the lower line. The sign was estimated to cost $870.
“We were normal, good, law-abiding citizens, and you guys [the government] did this to us. We want our country back,” he says as he faces the camera before walking further into the Capitol building.
Medina appeared in an Instagram post in the Capitol’s rotunda, waving an American flag that authorities said he later admitted to taking from a flag stand near the rotunda entrance and waving around before giving it back to a police officer.
In another video, Medina, wearing a black shirt with the words “Million MAGA,” says, “So as these guys break into the Capitol, obviously the doors are wide open. I walk in and I am screaming 1776, cause its powerful man. It’s a powerful move, a powerful time.”
Medina continues, ” … we weren’t, you know, breaking windows, we weren’t breaking stuff. Ummm, I know someone had torn down Speaker Pelosi’s wooden sign above her door, and there was like fragments of it like on the ground and I just took a piece and I just kinda broke it in half. It felt so good.”
He allegedly continues, ” … did it go too far? Yes, there were a select few that took it too far. I went in there mainly to document. When I was in there, I had the flag, that a lot of people encouraged me to take. I just didn’t feel right taking that, it just felt like stealing to me, which it is. But I did wave it because it felt like a patriotic moment. This is our time. I didn’t understand the extent of the damage when I was waving the flag …”
In an interview with FBI agents on March 1, 2021, Medina admitted he went to Washington on Jan. 6 to “see Trump one last time” and to “peacefully protest.”
Medina allegedly told agents that when he went to the Capitol building, he saw no barriers or anyone fighting with police. “The Capitol police greeted us,” he allegedly said.
He admitted to going inside and yelling “Freedom” and “1776,” court documents said.
“He claimed that his ‘heart sank’ when he found out that people fought the police,” the documents said.
Medina said he stayed inside until security “pushed people out.”
Last fall, more than two years after the insurrection, authorities said, he allegedly continued to claim on X that the 2020 election was “stolen.” He appeared to make light of his participation in the riot, authorities said.
On Aug. 23, a social media user tagged him in a post with a picture of him waving the flag.
“lol this u, David?”
“Yes it is #FBIsFavoriteCitizen,” Medina allegedly replied in a post punctuated with a face with tears of joy emoji.
A crowdfunding page, “Support David Medina’s January 6 Fight,” says the FBI raided the single father’s house on March 1, 2021, and “drew guns” at his then 13-year-old daughter. The site says he lost his job with the state of Oregon. Authorities said his LinkedIn page listed his job as “Political Consultant/Activist.”
“TO BE CLEAR, David never assaulted officers or broke into the Capitol, nor was he there to ‘stop the election,”” the site said. “He was flown out by his supporters to show his final, peaceful support for Trump.”
