Jake Angeli of Arizona says he will testify in former President Trump’s impeachment trial./Getty Images
By Richard Ruelas |Arizona Republic
When the pizzas arrived and the sliding glass doors opened for the delivery, the group, including the man in the fur hat with horns, saw its chance to rush inside one of the buildings of the Arizona Capitol.
Bypassing security, they would squat in the lobby for hours, chanting, shouting and arguing with security.
The move was a desperate attempt to have Arizona lawmakers decree the November election fraudulent and declare a victory for then-President Donald Trump. In the end, state troopers would force them from the building and make two arrests.
It was Dec. 3, a little more than a month before the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Before rushing into the House of Representatives, the group stood outside and heard a series of speeches meant to motivate them for days of occupation.
Among the speakers was Jake Angeli, a self-designated shaman who would become one of the faces of the U.S. Capitol raid when he was photographed roaming the Rotunda and U.S. Senate chamber in his signature outfit of a fur hat topped with horns and face paint. Angeli was arrested and ordered held in custody in D.C. pending federal trial on six criminal charges that could get him more than 25 years in prison.
In December, outside Arizona’s stone-walled Capitol museum, Angeli told the crowd that what they were about to do was a virtuous act.
