A Republican strategist and former intern for Senator Marco Rubio has been arrested on felony and misdemeanour charges for her actions during the Jan 6 riots.
Barbara Balmaseda, 23, was arrested on Thursday in Miami Lakes after officials investigated her alleged criminal actions on 6 January 2021, when a group of Trump supporters and far-right activists stormed the Capitol building, the Department of Justice announced on Monday.
She has been charged with obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Ms Balmaseda allegedly travelled from Florida and arrived in Washington DC on 5 January 2021 to protest Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election, the DOJ said court documents revealed.
She allegedly exchanged messages with other associates, including members of the neo-fascist militant group Proud Boys, which alleged that she believed the 2020 presidential election had been stolen and knew the certification process would take place on 6 January.
Barbara Balmaseda had allegedly been in contact with facist Proud Boys members before riot— (Department of Justice)
In a DOJ-released arrest warrant, on November 6, 2020, as the presidential race was coming to a close, Ms Balmaseda allegedly wrote in the chat, “Y’all think Biden’s gonna steal this election?”
Three days later, Proud Boys member Gabriel Garcia texted the group chat along with a link to an article about then-President Trump’s plan to raise legal challenges against the election, "We are in La Carreta ready to f*** sh** up again."
Ms Balmaseda responded, "I’ll get the popcorn ready to watch y’all f*** s*** up” with a laughing emoji.
She later expressed her wish to go to Congress on 6 January to go and object to the election.
"So on January 6, I’m joining with the fighters in the Congress, and we are going to object to electors from states that didn’t run clean election," she sent into the group chat on 28 December.
On the day of the riots, Ms Balmaseda was photographed in Black Lives Matter Plaza before she walked over to the Capitol building around 2pm with another person.
She joined the wave of rioters storming the Capitol building, some of whom, by this time, had pushed past officers on the middle landing of the stairs and had surged towards the building.
In this image from Balmaseda’s arrest warrant, she is allegedly seen climbing up into the building— (Department of Justice)
Ms Balmaseda is believed to have meandered her way towards the west front of the building and climbed up on equipment that would be used for the Presidential Inauguration to get a closer look at the Capitol’s northwestern stairs.
She allegedly climbed on top of the concrete stairs and the balustrade toward the Upper West Terrace of the Capitol, along with the individual she had been with from the start.
By 2.16pm, CCTV captured Ms Balmaseda entering the Capitol building via the Senate Wing door, around four minutes after the initial rioters breached the building.
She then allegedly made her way to the front of a crowd that was pushing toward the Crypt, where a line of police were trying to hold them off but were overwhelmed, and the rioters headed to an area known as the ‘OAP Corridor’.
Ms Balmaseda entered the Rotunda and took pictures, exited and entered again when, at around 3.11pm, police were able to corral the rioters towards the exit of the building.
The day after the riots, just after midnight, Ms Balmaseda sent a meme to Mr Garcia showing a Cheeto as a door lock, captioned “the Capitol today.”
Just after midnight, she sent a meme to Garcia showing a Cheeto substituting as a door lock, with the caption: “the Capitol today.”
Between 2018 and 2019, Ms Balamseda interned for Senator Rubio and also worked as an organiser for Governor Ron DeSantis’ 2018 campaign, according to the Miami New Times.
She also was listed as director-at-large for the Miami Young Republicans and served as regional director of Young Conservatives for Carbon Dividends.
The woman’s attorney, Aubrey Webb, said to CBS in a statement, "It was unnecessary for the federal task force comprising of the FBI, Marshals, ATF, and Metro-Dade Police to arrest her for essentially trespassing charges.”
“When the FBI contacted us over a year ago, I told them that she will voluntarily surrender if they ever want to arrest her. We are also disappointed that it took almost three years for DOJ to decide to charge her,” she added.
