Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a U.S. Army reservist and Navy security contractor who was arrested for allegedly violating the Capitol in the January 6 riot, was a known white supremacist, federal prosecutors said Friday, as for the first time. was reported by Politico.
Why it matters: “Not only is the ideology of the white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer clear from the evidence, that same ideology is driving the defendant’s enthusiasm for a new civil war,” prosecutors said.
- Hale-Cusanelli reportedly discussed his hatred of Jews, minorities and women while working as a security contractor at Earle’s Naval Weapons Station in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Context: A new filing from federal prosecutors on Friday included the results of a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation into Hale-Cusanelli.
- The research included interviews with 44 colleagues of Hale-Cusanelli, 34 of whom agreed that he had “extremist or radical views on the Jewish people, minorities and women.”
What they say: One of Hale-Cusanelli’s colleagues said the defendant had “shaved his facial hair into a ‘Hitler mustache,'” and prosecutors pulled photos of the mustache from Hale-Cusanelli’s phone.
- A Navy petty officer told investigators they remembered Hale-Cusanelli saying, “Hitler should have done the job.”
The big picture: Hale-Cusanelli’s case has received attention from the military as his reservist status and service at a military facility underscore the challenges facing the Department of Defense in combating extremist ideologies within the ranks of the armed forces.
- The Pentagon reported this month that domestic extremist groups have been trying to recruit active and former servicemen into their ranks.
- Several former military members and police officers took part in the January 6 riot at the Capitol, which the FBI labeled domestic terrorism.
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last month ordered commanding officers and supervisors to eventually hold a one-day “stand-down” to discuss extremism within the armed forces.