A retired Navy SEAL defended his involvement in the Capitol riots in a video uploaded to Facebook on Jan. 6, but later regretted that the riots had happened due to its consequences, ABC News reported.
Adam Newbold, a Lisbon, Ohio native, described the riots from his perspective in the video posted after the riots at the U.S. Capitol building. “There was destruction breaching the Capitol. Our building, our house. To get in, you had to destroy doors and windows,” Newbold said.
Newbold defended the riots in his video saying that destruction only happened while entering the building, according to ABC News. According to ABC News, Newbold’s claims that destruction only happened while entering is false. The video has since been taken down from Facebook but ABC News gained access to it recently.
He said in the video that he hoped the rioters’ message reached their opponents. “Maybe they just didn’t get the message, unfortunately. I’m hoping the message was strong enough. Unfortunately maybe it wasn’t. I’d hate to see this escalate more.”
Newbold had been photographed during the riot sitting on a U.S. Capitol Police motorcycle. In an interview with ABC News, he said he had tried to calm the violence and even thanked Capitol police for their service. He also told ABC News that he had stopped some of the rioters from attacking officers.
He told ABC News that he cooperating with the FBI, granted an interview with them and has been asked to be interviewed again. Newbold could potentially face charges, but he has not currently been charged with any crime claiming that he did not partake in raiding the building or attacking police officers, according to The New York Post.
Newbold is the first known veteran of the Navy to have involvement in the riots, according to ABC News.
Retired Navy SEAL Eric Oehlerich and retired Marine Mick Mulroy released a joint statement to ABC News after Newbold’s video.
“Any military member who participated [in the riots] violated their oath to defend the United States’ Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” the statement said.
Despite Mulroy and Oehlerich’s statement, Newbold told ABC News that he had good intentions regarding his involvement. “I would like to express to you just a cry for clemency, as you understand that my life now has been absolutely turned upside down. I am not a terrorist. I am not a traitor,” Newbold told ABC.
Newbold said in the interview with ABC that his views had changed after learning about the deaths of Ashli E. Babbitt, 35, and Officer Brian Sicknick. “The riots accomplished nothing. What the hell was it all for?”
At the time of the video, he was unaware of the deaths that had eventually resulted from the riots leading to the death of five people. Despite the violence that took place to overturn the election, Congress certified the electoral votes, confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s win.
Although initially attempting to overturn the election results, Newbold has since acknowledged that Biden will be the next president.
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