Roger Stone’s Goon Arrested In Connection To Capitol Rioting

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Roberto Minuta, a goon of longtime Trump ally Roger Stone, has been arrested in connection to the January rioting at the U.S. Capitol, where prosecutors say that Minuta stormed the building with military-style tactical gear and a container of bear spray. Minuta is affiliated with the militia group known as the Oath Keepers and provided personal security for Stone on January 6, the day when the rioting unfolded. Stone himself has attempted to distance himself from the violence — although the rioters used his delusional ideas about a supposedly stolen election as a pretense — but Minuta “was accused of breaching the Capitol after “aggressively” taunting and berating law enforcement officers,” according to the Times.

As summarized by the Times, when federal agents took Minuta into custody, he “asked why he was being targeted for the riot and why they were not investigating Black Lives Matter and the far-left activists known as Antifa.” There is no documented connection between Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and the Capitol rioting, no matter right-wing conspiracy theories insisting that violence was led by outside instigators. As for those who’ve claimed an affiliation with either group and perpetrated violence, authorities around the country have acted swiftly to address outbursts of unrest. Top Democrats have repeatedly condemned violence in all its forms.

When Trump was in office, Stone received a presidential pardon for over half a dozen felony convictions that stemmed from an obstruction of justice plot. Meanwhile, Minuta owns a tattoo parlor in New York, which he reopened last May despite state restrictions demanding action to help stem the spread of COVID-19.

At the time, Minuta proclaimed that he was operating “in complete defiance of the tyrannical authority that our governor here thinks he has over the millions of people in this state.” Opposition to COVID-19 restrictions has been a consistent theme of far-right extremists elsewhere in the country as well. Stewart Rhodes, who founded the Oath Keepers militia group, pronounced Minuta to be a “lifetime Oath Keeper” following the reopening. Minuta’s arrest follows the arrest of Trump era State Department staffer Federico Klein, who also participated in the rioting — and previously held a top secret federal security clearance.