The U.S. Attorney’s office for Washington, D.C., announced Wednesday the arrest of Los Angeles woman Kayla Reifschneider for allegedly joining the violence at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, spurred by lies tracing to Donald Trump of a stolen presidential election. As he runs for president again, Trump continues propagating these claims.
Reifschneider allegedly joined violence directed towards media workers in tandem with the broader attack. “Moments later, Reifschneider is seen approaching a camera on the ground and stepping on it with her foot. She then leans down, lifts the camera, and throws it back to the ground,” the federal press release says. Throughout the confrontations, she was also allegedly expressing glee at the turn of events. “It’s been four years I’ve been wanting to do this!” she reportedly stated in tandem with those attacks, amid which media workers fled the scene.
She reportedly claimed that she injured her foot via what the feds called her “stepping” on a news media camera.
Her specific criminal charges do not accuse her of violence against police, but she reportedly spoke in flippant terms about the extensive attacks on law enforcement seen that day. “I definitely saw one getting help. Limping. We f—ed them up worse than antifa and blm. Lmao,” says a recounting of her texts after the riot provided by authorities, who also say she expressed interest ahead of what became the Capitol riot in getting weapons including a stun gun and pepper spray to Washington, D.C. Reifschneider’s specific criminal charges include obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony offense that carries up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Trump still characterizes detainees with criminal allegations originating in the Capitol attack as “hostages,” alleging political schemes underline the court proceedings implicating them. He is still facing his own criminal case in which the Capitol attack has been invoked, though it’s now awaiting arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on Trump’s claims of wide-reaching legal protections drawn from merely serving as president that supposedly should stop the case.
