Conservative actor, Siaka Massaquoi, was arrested by the FBI on November 30 and charged with misdemeanors for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol breach. A legal defense fundraising effort was set up for him, stating that he was arrested as he arrived home from a movie premiere, accompanied by his pregnant wife, Charlotte Massaquoi. The FBI separated them and took Mr. Massaquoi to jail. He was told by jail authorities that he was being charged for four misdemeanors pertaining to his presence outside of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. on January 6th.
A fundraising account was set up to cover Mr. Massaquoi’s legal expenses, with a goal of raising $115,000. The account description stated that the couple is expecting their first child in March and described their ordeal as “a circus … of government overreach that they have had to endure.” The fund had raised $42,581 from hundreds of donors as of December 3.
Podcast host Lori Mills reported that Mr. Massaquoi was arraigned on December 1 and released with conditions.
Furthermore, activist group StopHate posted video footage from the Jan. 6 incident showing Mr. Massaquoi inside the Capitol building. The group argued that his actions did not constitute any crime. Mr. Massaquoi also shared a link to this video post on his social media account.
Multiple celebrities and political commentators have come out in support of Mr. Massaquoi. Actress Gina Carano criticized the arrest as “political persecution.” Similarly, the founder of the Babylon Bee, Seth Dillon, called the arrest political persecution and stated that it “can’t be allowed to continue.” Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk commented that “this has gone too far.”
Mr. Massaquoi and his wife had attended the premiere of the Daily Wire movie “Lady Ballers” in Nashville, Tennessee, on the day of his arrest.
The FBI’s arrest of Mr. Massaquoi came a couple of months after he was part of a group that filed a lawsuit against the FBI, agency director Christopher Wray, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and Attorney General Merrick Garland. The lawsuit, filed in a district court in Florida on September 20, requested certification as a class action lawsuit on behalf of people who were peacefully protesting in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, but have been subjected to unconstitutional, illegal surveillance.
The lawsuit insisted that Mr. Wray and Mr. Garland have turned the FBI into their personal “Gestapo” to “target, arrest, and wrongfully prosecute” people who protested on Jan. 6. The complaint also alleges that defendants engaged in “pressuring, and coercing family and friends of protestors to turn them in,” comparing the events to Germans’ being directed by the Nazi government to turn over Jewish people during the Holocaust.
As of a December 6 update from the DOJ, nearly 1,240 people have been arrested and charged with Jan. 6 crimes. The FBI officials did not respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
