FBI Is Trying to Track Down Rioter With Confederate Flag

'Desecration' stunned lawmakers, historians
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 11, 2021 2:45 PM CST
FBI Asks for Help Identifying Rioter With Confederate Flag
The FBI released this photo of the suspect.   (FBI)

One of the most jarring images from last week's Capitol insurrection was that of a man walking near the Senate chamber carrying a Confederate battle flag—156 years after a failed Confederate assault on Washington, DC. The FBI, which arrested several high-profile rioters over the weekend, says it is still trying to identify the man, who has a tattoo under his left eye, Fox reports. In a tweet, the FBI's Washington field office said it was seeking the public's assistance in "identifying this individual who made unlawful entry into US Capitol." Tipsters were asked to reference Photograph #30, reports CNN.

On Wednesday, lawmakers said they were horrified to see that the Confederate flag had made it deeper into Washington than it did during the Civil War, the New York Times reports. The Rev. Robert. W. Lee IV, a great-great-great-great nephew of Confederate Gen. Robert. E. Lee who supports the removal of Lee statues, said he didn't know what to say to congregants in North Carolina about the "desecration" of the Capitol. "It shook me to my core in a way that other images haven’t over the past four years," he told the Times. "It struck me as something that, in this moment, as someone who is supposed to know what to say as a clergy person, I have nothing," he said. "I've got nothing on this." (More Capitol riot stories.)

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