West Virginia Lawmaker Who Recorded Himself Breaking Into the Capitol Faces Criminal Charge

Hey, real quick, remember the West Virginia lawmaker we recorded himself breaking into the Capitol during the failed coup on Wednesday? Well, ol’ boy is now facing a criminal charge.

It turns out recording and identifying yourself while committing a crime probably isn’t the move. Who knew?

CNN reports that Derrick Evans, who was voted into his first term on the West Virginia House of Delegates just last month, has been charged in a criminal complaint with entering a restricted area and entering the U.S. Capitol. The charge comes as federal officials have begun identifying and charging those who were seen rioting at the nation’s Capitol on Wednesday. The Department of Justice announced on Friday that 13 people have been hit with federal charges as a result of Wednesday’s riot.

“The lawless destruction of the U.S. Capitol building was an attack against one of our Nation’s greatest institutions,” acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin said. “My Office, along with our law enforcement partners at all levels, have been expeditiously working and leveraging every resource to identify, arrest, and begin prosecuting these individuals who took part in the brazen criminal acts at the U.S. Capitol.”

Evans, obviously a Republican and obviously a Trump supporter, made the brilliant move of recording himself among the horde of people who broke into the Capitol. In the video, Evans can be heard yelling “We’re in! We’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!”

Sidenote: Should I run for office? Because if a motherfucker this dumb can get votes, I’m feeling pretty good about my chances.

Evans tried to defend himself by claiming he was an “independent member of the media to film history,” and not, you know, an elected official breaking the law. An attorney for Evans released a statement on Thursday saying that Evans “had no choice but to enter” due to the size of the crowd, and that “it wasn’t apparent to Mr. Evans that he wasn’t allowed to follow the crowd into this public area of the Capitol.”

I guess he just forgot the part where they broke through barricades to get to the Capitol.

Evans’ dumbassery has resulted in calls for his resignation from multiple West Virginia lawmakers, including the state’s Republican governor, Jim Justice.