Trump Supporter Richard Barnett Identified As Man Sitting At Nancy Pelosi’s Desk As Mob Storms Capitol
Richard Barnett has been identified as the person photographed inside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as mobs surrounded the U.S. Capitol and stormed the building, leading to a shooting that has left one woman dead.
As KNWA reported, one of the most viral images from the confusion was a person wearing jeans and a flannel shirt sitting at a chair in front of Pelosi’s desk, putting his foot on the furniture. The report identified the protester as Barnett, a vocal supporter of Donald Trump who has echoed the president’s claims of voter fraud.
The news outlet wrote that several people confirmed his identity.
“Our KNWA & FOX24 team immediately recognized the man, who we believe is from Northwest Arkansas. We also spoke to members of the Benton County Republicans, who also identify the man in this photo as Richard Barnett,” the report noted.
Barnett was part of a large crowd that had stormed the Capitol at a rally supporting Trump’s claims of voter fraud. The president had earlier spoken to the crowd, urging them to march to the Capitol where members of Congress were tallying the Electoral College votes that confirmed Joe Biden had won November’s vote.
The news outlet had previously interviewed Barnett at a rally in Bentonville, Arkansas, in November following the election. At the “Stop the Steal” event, Barnett told KNWA that he believed Trump’s allegations that he really won the election, but had the victory stolen from him.
In the November interview, Barnett said he was not prepared to back down.
“If you don’t like it, send somebody out to get me cause I ain’t going down easy,” he said.
He also went on to say that he believed there was illegal voting that took place.
“People are going to vote and finding out someone already used their vote, it’s just insane.”
Barnett again spoke to a reporter after he was seen inside Pelosi’s office. He showed a picture of a piece of mail he claimed to have stolen from Pelosi’s desk.
Here’s Mr. Barnett, who goes by “Bigo,” telling the story in his own words pic.twitter.com/oSyKiCDXgy
— Matthew Rosenberg (@AllMattNYT) January 6, 2021
In the interview, Barnett bragged about defacing the office. Be warned that the above clip contains strong language.
“I wrote her a nasty note, put my feet up on her desk and scratched my balls,” he said, as quoted in a tweet from Matthew Rosenberg of The New York Times.
As MSNBC reported on Twitter, Pelosi did not appear deterred by the attack on the Capitol, vowing that Congress would meet later on Wednesday night to complete the certification of the election results.
