7th Washington resident arrested in Capitol insurrection

Associated Press

BATTLE GROUND, Wash. – A Washington resident who investigators say was seen on video saying, “Our house,” while inside the U.S. Capitol with his father Jan. 6 made his first appearance in federal court in Portland on Wednesday.

Jeremy Grace, of Battle Ground, is accused of illegal entering, disorderly conduct and demonstrating inside the restricted building, the Oregonian reported. Grace, 37, was arrested in Molalla, Oregon, on Wednesday, according to federal officials.

His father, Jeffrey Grace, 62, was arrested in February and charged with unauthorized entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds. Although the senior Grace told FBI agents he didn’t think his son had entered the Capitol, a search of the father’s phone turned up video in a “trash” folder that showed both men in the building, according to a federal complaint.

The video appeared to have been taken by Jeremy Grace in the Capitol Rotunda at 2:25 p.m. Jan. 6, according to the complaint.

“Just made it into the Capitol here. Oh yeah, oh yeah,” Jeremy Grace is heard saying on the video, an FBI agent wrote in the complaint. “It gets no better than this … Freedom.”His dad adds, “God bless America.”

During a call with an FBI agent on Jan. 25, Jeremy Grace said he and his dad had traveled to D.C. to sightsee and attend a rally for then-President Donald Trump.

Jeremy Grace said he got separated from his dad when “things got crazy,” and he walked toward the Capitol with a crowd but didn’t go inside, the complaint said.

The videos recovered from Jeffrey Grace’s phone appear to have been taken on Jeremy’s phone, according to metadata the FBI examined.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Youlee Yim You on Wednesday allowed Jeremy Grace to remain out of custody pending his next court appearance.

Grace is the seventh resident of Washington state to be charged after thousands of pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was meeting to certify President Joe Biden’s win. More than 400 people have been arrested in connection with the insurrection.

The senior Grace told agents he entered the U.S. Capitol through an open door on the north side, walked into the Capitol Rotunda, decided to leave when he saw others causing damage to the property and climbed out a broken window.

Neither of the men have entered pleas to the charges. Efforts to find attorneys who represent them were not immediately successful.