State lawmaker charged after entering Capitol with rioters

West Virginia House of Delegates member Derrick Evans as he was given his oath of office.

Jan. 8, 2021 12:07 PM PT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia state lawmaker has been charged with entering a restricted area of the U.S. Capitol during Wednesday’s incursion, the Justice Department announced Friday. Republican state Delegate Derrick Evans had livestreamed himself rushing into the building with a mob supporting President Trump. .

Ken Kohl, a top deputy federal prosecutor in Washington, announced the charge against Evans on a call in which he presented dozens of new charges against members of the crowd that violently stormed the Capitol.

Evans’ lawyer, John Bryan, said he hadn’t seen the complaint and couldn’t comment. He did not say if Evans had been taken into custody, but television station WSAZ posted a video on Twitter showing FBI agents escorting the handcuffed lawmaker from a home.

Legislators from at least seven other states traveled to Washington, D.C., to support Trump and demonstrate against the counting of electoral votes confirming Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. It’s unknown if any other elected official joined the attack on the Capitol.

A growing number of Republicans and Democrats said they want to expel Evans from the legislature if he does not resign. Bryan said late Thursday that the delegate did not commit a crime and doesn’t plan to resign.

In his now-deleted video, widely shared online, Evans is clamoring inside a jampacked Capitol building doorway, trying with others to push his way inside. He hollers along with other Trump loyalists and fist-bumps a law enforcement officer who let them in.

“Our house!” Evans yells inside Capitol halls. “I don’t know where we’re going. I’m following the crowd.”