Timothy Hale-Cusanelli of New Jersey was discovered responsible on all 5 legal counts he was charged with. Hale-Cusanelli breached the U.S. Capitol constructing on Jan. 6, 2021, although he didn’t assault police or commit property harm that day.
Julio Cortez/AP
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Julio Cortez/AP
Timothy Hale-Cusanelli of New Jersey was discovered responsible on all 5 legal counts he was charged with. Hale-Cusanelli breached the U.S. Capitol constructing on Jan. 6, 2021, although he didn’t assault police or commit property harm that day.
Julio Cortez/AP
Editor’s Be aware: This story comprises descriptions of offensive language, together with using racist slurs.
A former Military reservist and safety guard at a Naval weapons station was discovered responsible on all counts for his function within the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Prosecutors portrayed Timothy Hale-Cusanelli of New Jersey as an extremist, who hoped for a second “civil struggle.” The federal government introduced proof of Hale-Cusanelli utilizing racist, antisemitic and anti-gay slurs, yelling obscenities at officers defending the Capitol, and later enthusiastically boasting about breaching the constructing to a roommate. As jurors heard at trial, that roommate was secretly sporting a recording system on behalf of investigators with the Naval Legal Investigative Service (NCIS) and the FBI.
Hale-Cusanelli’s protection didn’t dispute that he entered the constructing. Because the defendant himself put it when he testified in his personal protection, “I shouldn’t have been there.” As an alternative, the protection argued that Hale-Cusanelli was susceptible to creating “bombastic,” “offensive,” and “excessive” feedback, which typically amounted to extra discuss than motion. He was not charged with assaulting police or inflicting property harm. The protection additionally argued that Hale-Cusanelli didn’t journey to Washington with the precise purpose of storming the Capitol, not to mention disrupting the electoral rely. Hale-Cusanelli testified that he couldn’t have supposed to disrupt Congress that day, as a result of he didn’t understand that the Capitol was the place Congress met.
“It sounds idiotic and it’s,” Hale-Cusanelli testified. He stated it was “embarrassing” to confess he lacked that primary data. Prosecutors stated that declare defied frequent sense, particularly since Hale-Cusanelli texted mates concerning the electoral rely course of and he studied American historical past in group faculty.
After deliberating for about five-and-a-half hours, the jury sided with the prosecution.
A historical past of ‘offensive’ conduct
By many accounts, Hale-Cusanelli’s life previous to the Capitol riot was troubled, and he was recognized for occasionally expressing racist, antisemitic and in any other case offensive views.
In 2010, when he was 20 years outdated, Hale-Cusanelli was arrested with three different individuals after experiences that they’d shot frozen corn cobs at a home utilizing a potato gun, in line with court docket papers. The potato gun was emblazoned with the phrases “WHITE IS RIGHT” and a drawing of a Accomplice flag, the paperwork state. The next yr, Hale-Cusanelli stabbed his mom’s then-boyfriend in what information experiences described as a “home dispute.” His legal professional stated in court docket previous to the trial that Hale-Cusanelli was defending his mom towards the boyfriend, and the fees towards him have been dismissed.
After highschool, Hale-Cusanelli signed up with the Military Reserves, the place he served as a human assets specialist. He by no means deployed as a part of his service, the Military stated, and on the witness stand, Hale-Cusanelli described his service as basically an workplace job. He attended group faculty, the place he studied historical past, and, by 2020, Hale-Cusanelli had a job working as a safety guard at Naval Weapons Station Earle. He lived on the bottom on the similar time. His job gave him entry to army explosives and munitions, and he had a “secret” stage safety clearance. The federal government would later painting Hale-Cusanelli as a safety menace, given his delicate submit.
On the bottom, prosecutors said in court docket paperwork, Hale-Cusanelli typically antagonized his coworkers with antisemitic and offensive feedback.
“Hitler ought to have completed the job,” Hale-Cusanelli as soon as stated, in line with a Naval Petty officer who spoke to investigators. A Navy seaman informed the investigators that Hale-Cusanelli as soon as stated, “infants born with any deformities or disabilities must be shot within the brow.” In the future on the base, Hale-Cusanelli went to work with a “Hitler mustache,” prosecutors stated.
He avidly supported former President Trump, and texted with mates about politics utilizing racist, anti-gay, and antisemitic slurs. At one level, he texted a buddy that Democrats may steal the 2020 election via “n***** rigging.”
Hale-Cusanelli tried to clarify his feedback by describing himself on the stand as a “nihilistic millennial.” On the very finish of his trial, he stated that a few of his racist and antisemitic language was “self-deprecating” – he stated, to some shock, that he was “half-Jewish and half-Puerto Rican.” Hale-Cusanelli testified that he was lengthy estranged from each his mother and father, largely due to their substance abuse points. And he stated his offensive feedback have been “a approach I address how I used to be raised” and a method to get consideration.
“It is simply what I do. It is how I grew up. It is an outlet for what I really feel. And a method to see if anybody cares,” he testified.
Previous to his arrest, Timothy Hale-Cusanelli served within the U.S. Military Reserves as a human assets specialist and in addition labored as a safety guard at a Naval base.
Courtesy of Cynthia Hughes
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Courtesy of Cynthia Hughes
Previous to his arrest, Timothy Hale-Cusanelli served within the U.S. Military Reserves as a human assets specialist and in addition labored as a safety guard at a Naval base.
Courtesy of Cynthia Hughes
Prosecutors, in the meantime, expressed doubt concerning the sincerity of Hale-Cusanelli’s declare. In court docket papers previous to the trial, prosecutors described Hale-Cusanelli as a dedicated extremist, citing the truth that he owned copies of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” in addition to “The Turner Diaries,” a white nationalist novel that helped encourage the Oklahoma Metropolis bombing in 1995.
Naval investigators talked to 44 individuals on the Navy base the place Hale-Cusanelli labored, and reported that 34 described Hale-Cusanelli “as having extremist or radical views pertaining to the Jewish individuals, minorities, and girls.”
Later, at trial, federal Decide Trevor McFadden dominated that a lot of that proof couldn’t be introduced to the jury, as a result of he stated it might be “unduly prejudicial” with out shedding sufficient mild on Hale-Cusanelli’s actions on Jan. 6. Consequently, prosecutors have been unable to probe Hale-Cusanelli’s assertion about his “half Jewish” heritage at trial.
The trail to the Capitol
Hale-Cusanelli incessantly labored the evening shift on the naval base. Proper after he completed work on Jan. 6, 2021, he placed on a grey swimsuit (he stated it was his “favourite swimsuit”), a crimson “MAGA” hat, and drove from Naval Weapons Station Earle to Washington, D.C. He watched a part of Trump’s speech that day, and heard the then-president say, “we’ll stroll right down to the Capitol, and we’ll cheer on our courageous senators and congressmen and girls, and we’re most likely not going to be cheering a lot for a few of them.”
Hale-Cusanelli testified that he determined then to go to the Capitol, and he anticipated Trump to affix the protesters there.
Video confirmed how he joined the mob on the west facet of the Capitol. “The revolution can be televised, c***t!” he yelled at police guarding the constructing. “I used to be very offended,” he later testified, particularly on the police use of pepper spray and flash bangs. One other video taken that day exhibits him shifting a motorcycle rack, which police had been utilizing as a barrier towards the demonstrators. When a bunch of rioters ultimately broke a window on the Senate facet and gave the mob entry to the constructing, Hale-Cusanelli adopted them in.
He finally spent about 40 minutes contained in the Capitol, the place he walked from the crypt to the underground Capitol Guests Middle. At one level, he interfered with a police officer attempting to arrest one of many rioters. At one other, he stood within the Capitol Guests Middle and appeared up via a set of skylights on the individuals above. From that vantage, he may see individuals exterior the Capitol constructing. Prosecutors stated the video confirmed him waving his fingers for the demonstrators to affix the mob inside.
Hale-Cusanelli was capable of go away the Capitol constructing with out being arrested, and with a big blue Trump flag he picked up inside.
Lower than per week after Hale-Cusanelli received residence, investigators from the NCIS knocked on his entrance door. He wasn’t residence. As an alternative, they discovered one in all his housemates on the Navy base. He was a Navy medic – a Black man who testified towards Hale-Cusanelli utilizing a pseudonym, as a result of, the federal government stated, he now feared for his security.
‘Are you sporting a wire?’
Hale-Cusanelli’s housemate testified on the trial below the pseudonym “Mark Jacobs.” He stated he was assigned to stay on the home with Hale-Cusanelli and so they typically had a “cordial” relationship and have been pleasant, although issues may get heated once they talked politics. Jacobs is liberal, and he and Hale-Cusanelli didn’t agree on a lot politically. That didn’t cease them from speaking about loads of issues, however the subject of “race points in America” was utterly off-limits, Jacobs testified. That prohibition didn’t cease Hale-Cusanelli from telling Jacobs that “Jewish pursuits” managed the Democrats, Jacobs stated.
When federal investigators knocked on Hale-Cusanelli’s door and as a substitute discovered Jacobs, they quickly concerned Jacobs within the legal investigation. A few week after the Capitol riot, Jacobs met with authorities brokers at a pizza place, the place they hooked up a recording system to his physique. Jacobs testified that the brokers didn’t give him a selected purpose – simply “to get Tim to discuss no matter he did on Jan. 6.”
“I used to be extraordinarily nervous,” Jacobs testified concerning the determination to put on a wire.
On the tape, Hale-Cusanelli recounted the day on the Capitol to Jacobs.
“I can not describe how exhilarating it was,” he stated.
He stated the storming of the Capitol was “by no means deliberate,” however that “if we had extra individuals, we may’ve cleared the constructing.”
At just a few factors within the dialog, the subject of a possible second “civil struggle” got here up.
“I feel that it’s most likely the only resolution,” Hale-Cusanelli informed Jacobs, saying that it might give the nation a “clear slate.”
At one level on the tape, Jacobs requested Hale-Cusanelli whether or not he would attempt to attend one other occasion just like the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“Are you sporting a wire?” Hale-Cusanelli responded.
“Sure, Tim, I am sporting a f****** wire,” Jacobs responded sarcastically.
“I’d like to be a part of a historic occasion,” Hale-Cusanelli then stated.
On Jan. 17, 2021 – not lengthy after that dialog – a bunch of federal brokers arrested Hale-Cusanelli. Jacobs acquired $4,000 from the federal government as compensation for sporting the wire.
At bail hearings after his arrest, prosecutors introduced the litany of maximum statements Hale-Cusanelli had made. The choose – a Trump appointee – determined Hale-Cusanelli posed too nice a hazard to the general public to be launched on bond.
By the point his trial started in Might 2022, Hale-Cusanelli had been locked up for about 16 months.
Throughout Hale-Cusanelli’s time in jail, a longtime household buddy of his named Cynthia Hughes started advocating for him and different Jan. 6 defendants, referring to them as “political prisoners.” Hughes ultimately based a nonprofit referred to as the Patriot Freedom Undertaking, which has raised greater than 1,000,000 {dollars}, partly via the assist of figures like former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, right-wing commentator Dinesh D’Souza, and the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate J.D. Vance. The group has additionally attracted controversy amongst some Jan. 6 defendants and their households, who query how the funds are distributed. Hughes has defended the group’s practices, and different households of defendants have effusively praised the group.
Hughes attended Hale-Cusanelli’s trial, and tweeted about Jacobs’ testimony, “Hope that $4,000 {dollars} was value destroying somebody’s life over politics you rat!”
Almost three-dozen of Hale-Cusanelli’s coworkers at Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey informed investigators that he had expressed white supremacist or antisemitic views. Hale-Cusanelli has denied that he’s a white supremacist.
Courtesy of Cynthia Hughes
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Courtesy of Cynthia Hughes
Almost three-dozen of Hale-Cusanelli’s coworkers at Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey informed investigators that he had expressed white supremacist or antisemitic views. Hale-Cusanelli has denied that he’s a white supremacist.
Courtesy of Cynthia Hughes
The Trial
Given the copious video proof towards him, Hale-Cusanelli’s protection at trial relied largely on a declare of ignorance. Probably the most severe cost Hale-Cusanelli confronted was “obstruction of an official continuing” – principally the intentional disruption of Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s electoral faculty win. Hale-Cusanelli testified that he couldn’t have deliberately disrupted Congress, as a result of “I didn’t understand that Congress was within the Capitol constructing.”
He additionally tried to clarify his feedback recorded by Jacobs’ wire – he testified that he was “embellishing” and “exaggerating what occurred” on that tape.
Hale-Cusanelli’s legal professional, Jonathan Crisp, stated in court docket that his shopper “could not shut as much as save his life,” that he was “simplistic in his thought processes,” and in contrast him to a “little one having a mood tantrum.” (Hale-Cusanelli was 30 years outdated on the time of the riot.) Crisp additionally stated that Hale-Cusanelli is “offensive” and “abusive” along with his language, however that it was, basically, simply discuss.
Prosecutors argued that Hale-Cusanellit’s declare that he didn’t know that Congress met within the U.S. Capitol defied frequent sense. They identified that the Capitol Guests Middle, the place Hale-Cusanelli was for a part of the riot, is designed for vacationers and has indicators saying “Home of Representatives” and “Senate.” Additionally they famous that Hale-Cusanelli studied American historical past, and infrequently texted with mates concerning the electoral faculty course of.
Prosecutor Karen Seifert stated Hale-Cusanelli had by no means beforehand talked about this supposed confusion about Congress and the Capitol.
“He hadn’t considered that excuse” till the trial, Seifert stated.
The Verdict
After three days of testimony, the jury started deliberations. 5 and a half hours later, they returned a verdict: responsible on all counts.
NPR spoke to 2 jurors as they left the courthouse, who spoke on the situation of anonymity. The jurors stated the deliberations have been “intense” at instances, and three jurors have been initially skeptical that Hale-Cusanelli deliberately breached the Capitol with a purpose to hinder Congress. Ultimately, after listening to the opposite members of the jury clarify their reasoning, these three jurors have been satisfied to convict.
One juror stated Hale-Cusanelli’s testimony truly damage his case. “He wasn’t credible in any respect,” this juror stated.
The opposite juror described Hale-Cusanelli’s testimony as “contradictory,” and was troubled to listen to Hale-Cusanelli’s antisemitic feedback given his testimony that he’s “half Jewish.”
“I could not fathom how he slandered his personal tradition,” this juror stated.
In court docket, Decide Trevor McFadden additionally stated he discovered Hale-Cusanelli’s testimony that he didn’t know congress met within the U.S. Capitol “extremely doubtful.” Consequently, McFadden stated he was open to a sentencing enhancement for obstruction or impeding of the administration of justice. He set the sentencing date for September 2022.
Standing exterior the courthouse, Hughes, who describes herself as Hale-Cusanelli’s “adoptive aunt,” stated he was “convicted due to phrases and for being offensive, and for no different purpose.” She referred to as on different trials of Jan. 6 defendants to be moved out of Washington, DC, as a result of, she stated, “there’ll by no means be a good and neutral jury on this metropolis.”
