Two women were arrested after one of them posted video from the Capitol riots to social media in which she said they were looking for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “to shoot her in the friggin’ brain but we didn’t find her,” federal prosecutors said.
Dawn Bancroft and Diana Santos-Smith were arrested on Friday in Pennsylvania after authorities were tipped off about the video, according to NBC News. The “selfie” video appeared to be filmed by Bancroft, and it featured her wearing a red “Make America Great Again” ski-cap style hat and Santos-Smith with a “Make America Great Again” baseball hat as the left the Capitol building with a mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump.
“We broke into the Capitol … we got inside, we did our part,” Bancroft can be seen saying in the video, according to the complaint. “We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin’ brain but we didn’t find her.”
When the FBI interviewed her earlier this month, Santos-Smith had claimed that while she attended Trump’s rally, she did not enter the Capitol building. When confronted with the “selfie” video, however, Santos-Smith admitted that she had lied. She then said that she had entered the Capitol building to protest, claiming that she had not planned to do so in advance.
Both Santos-Smith and Bancroft confessed to entering the Capitol building “for approximately 30 seconds to one minute,” but they denied entering to any offices. They each have been hit with multiple charges, including knowingly entering and remaining in restricted buildings without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
They are two of around 160 people who have been charged in connection with the Capitol riots. Another person who has been arrested is Dominic Pezzola, a well-known member of the far-right nationalist group the Proud Boys. He was one of the people who allegedly led the charge in storming the Capitol, according to prosecutors who want him held in custody until his trial.
“The defendant’s actions show planning, determination, and coordination,” a court document states. “His stated desire to commit further acts of violence, combined with his access to weapons- and bomb-making manuals, is extremely concerning.”
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