A New Jersey Trump supporter who faced multiple charges in connection with his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, told jurors this week that he is “an idiot” and didn’t know the Capitol building is where Congress meets, in an attempt to generate sympathy. It didn’t work.
As reported by NBC News, Timothy Hale-Cusanelli was charged with five criminal counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding. While he admitted to engaging in criminal activity on January 6, he claims he didn’t know that he was interfering with Congress because he’s an idiot.
“Hale-Cusanelli, who has been in jail since Feb. 2021, did not dispute that he entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, and his defense lawyer explicitly admitted that Hale-Cusanelli engaged in criminal activity that day. Video shows Hale-Cusanelli yelling at cops outside the Capitol, entering the Capitol moments after it was breached, waving other members of the mob into the building, and attempting to grab another rioter away from police,” NBC News reprted.
“I know this sounds idiotic, but I’m from New Jersey,” he told jurors on Thursday. “I feel like an idiot, it sounds idiotic, and it is.”
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“I didn’t know the Capitol building was the same as the congressional building,” Hale-Cusanelli told a federal prosecutor.
Hale-Cusanelli, who became infamous after photos surfaced that showed him with a “Hitler mustache” and for telling co-workers that “Hitler should have finished the job,” has been held in jail partly due to his alleged extremist views. A
At least 34 of his acquaintances came forward, telling prosecutors that Hale-Cusanelli, held “extremist or radical views pertaining to the Jewish people, minorities, and women.”
Despite his admission of being an “idiot,” the jury convicted Hale-Cusanelli of all five counts on Friday.
Sentencing is set for September 16, NBC News reported.
