A Trump supporter has been arrested after federal authorities discovered selfie-style footage on his father’s phone showing the two of them inside the Capitol on the day of the January riot. That footage had been deleted, but agents found the material in the phone’s trash file. The younger Trump supporter, Jeremy Grace, was arrested on Wednesday in Oregon, and he’s now facing federal charges including unlawful entry of a restricted building. Jeremy’s father, Jeffrey Grace, was originally arrested in February.
JUST IN: A Battle Ground father and son have been arrested in connection to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Jeremy Grace was arrested today without incident in Molalla. His father, Jeffrey, was arrested in February. #LiveOnK2 pic.twitter.com/EVHaG20JX4
— Keaton Thomas (@keaton_thomas) May 26, 2021
Jeffrey told the FBI that “he ended up getting separated from his son before he entered the Capitol building,” as summarized by Seattle-area outlet KOMO News — but the evidence recovered from his phone shows a different story. In one of the selfie-style videos found on the device, Jeremy — who was standing right next to his father — said “just made it into the Capitol here.” In other words, Jeffrey’s original claim to federal authorities that he lost contact with his son before entering the Capitol was false, suggesting that the deletion of footage from his phone that was later recovered by authorities may have been an intentional attempt to hide evidence.
Jeremy and Jeffrey Grace are two of well over 400 rioters who have been criminally charged over their roles in the violence. Notably, authorities also found cellphone data indicating that Jeremy’s phone had been in use around the Capitol around the time of the riot, further indicating his involvement. This week, the Senate was set to vote on a bill that would create an independent commission to investigate the Capitol riot, but Republicans appeared to have the votes to launch a successful filibuster against that bill, stopping it in its tracks. A full 35 House Republicans backed the bill when it passed that chamber, but a much smaller number of Senate Republicans have indicated interest in supporting the effort.
Notably, Trump is facing his own legal troubles these days. A grand jury has been convened in connection to the criminal investigation that Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has been conducting of the former president and his business. Convening the grand jury means that the investigation has reached an advanced stage — the group will be tasked with considering whether to issue any charges that Vance’s team may propose.
