Derrick Evans arrested: Newly-elected West Virginia lawmaker posts video in solidarity w/ pro-Trump Capitol rioters as petition for his ouster gathers over 63K signatures Friday night.
### Update: A West Virginia state lawmaker who filmed himself storming into the U.S. Capitol along with a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump is now facing federal charges, including entering a restricted area, the U.S. District Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia said Friday. (more below).
Original post: ‘We in, baby!’ A newly-elected West Virginia lawmaker proudly shared videos of himself online storming the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday with pro-Trump MAGA rioters before removing the footage amid calls for his resignation.
Delegate Derrick Evans (Republican for W.Va.) streamed himself on Facebook Live (see below) wearing a helmet and forcefully entering the building with throngs of Trump flag-wielding rioters but later took it down.
‘Stay on your feet,’ Evans is heard telling one rioter in the video. ‘We in, baby!’
Though he tried to backpedal after publicly identifying as a member of the MAGA hat wearing-mob, the damage was too late as Evans’ since-deleted video began to make the rounds on social media, with calls for for the first-time Wayne County lawmaker to step down less than a month after he was sworn in.
Participating in domestic terrorism?
By Friday night, more than 63,000 people have signed an online petition calling for Evans removal from office following his involvement in the violent riots.
‘Remove him from his seat for leading and participating in terrorism and going against the constitution and rule of law,’ the petition reads.
Democratic elected officials joined the calls for Evans to step down in condemning his participation in what is widely being described as an act of domestic terrorism.
House Minority Leader Doug Skaff, Jr. has sent a letter to Speaker Roger Hanshaw urging action regarding Delegate-elect Derrick Evans WSAZ reports.
ARRESTED: Derrick Evans, West Virginia District 19 Delegate, has been federally charged for his role in invading the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
"Thank you Mr. Trump for invoking a RIOT at the White House!," says his grandmother. pic.twitter.com/DXthoYttpe
— Cleavon MD (@Cleavon_MD) January 8, 2021
Will he be ousted?
In the letter, Skaff says he is writing on behalf of the House of Delegates Minority Caucus to respectfully request Delegate Evans to be disqualified from serving as a member of the House of Delegates and request that he not be seated as a member of this body on January 13, 2021.
Evans is among 15 people who have been charged at the federal level so far, including an Arkansas man who was photographed with his feet up on a desk in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and another man found with 11 Molotov cocktails along with an assault rifle and two handguns in his Alabama-registered truck. The U.S. Attorney’s office has charged 40 others in D.C. Superior Court, officials say.
Evans is facing bipartisan calls for his resignation. But Evans’ lawyer told WVNS-TV that he would not step down and he ‘committed no criminal act that day.’