WASHINGTON (AP) – An Army reservist accused of taking part in the attack on the U.S. Capitol was known as a Nazi sympathizer wearing a Hitler mustache, federal investigators told investigators.
Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, 30, was working as a security contractor at a Navy base when he was allegedly violating the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to authorities.
In court documents filed Friday, Washington federal prosecutors said his co-workers at Earle Naval Weapons Station in Colts Neck, New Jersey, told investigators he had views on white supremacism.
The presentation included photos of Hale-Cusanelli’s cell phone with Hitler’s mustache, along with pro-Nazi cartoons.
A Navy sailor said Hale-Cusanelli told him that “he would kill all the Jews and eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and that he would not need to season them because the salt of the tears would make it tasty enough.”
Other co-workers recalled that Hale-Cusanelli made derogatory comments about women, blacks and other minorities.
Prosecutors argued in the file that Hale-Cusanelli is a danger to the public and should be jailed while awaiting trial.
Jonathan Zucker, Hale-Cusanelli’s lawyer, wrote in a document that there was no evidence that his client belonged to any white supremacist organization.
Authorities said Hale-Cusanelli made videos of himself yelling at Capitol police officers, climbing a scaffolding to enter the building through the doors opened by the riots and singing “Stop the robbery!” Some of these videos were posted on social media.
According to the archive, Hale-Cusanelli has been discharged from the army reserve and banned from the Navy base.