Capitol insurrectionist seen wearing a 'Camp Auschwitz' sweatshirt has been arrested on federal felony charges
- Thousands of protesters from across the US gathered in Washington, DC, on January 6 to protest the presidential vote certification in Congress.
- The protests turned into riots, which led to the Capitol being evacuated as rioters stormed the building and halted the vote-certification process.
- One insurrectionist went viral online after being seen inside the Capitol Building wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with "Camp Auschwitz."
- Robert Keith Packer, 56, was arrested Wednesday morning in Virginia on federal felony charges.
A man seen wearing a "Camp Auschwitz" sweatshirt while breaching the US Capitol was arrested on Wednesday by US Marshals in Virginia.
Robert Keith Packer, 56, was extensively photographed and videotaped during the armed protests in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021. The photographs prompted an online manhunt as Twitter users circulated his image far and wide in an attempt to identify Packer, later identifying him through Virginia court records from previous convictions.
Packer had previously been convicted of several crimes that including forging public records, driving under the influence, driving without a license, and once had a warrant placed for failing to appear in court.
According to Packer's arrest warrant as first reported by WVEC of Norfolk, Virginia, he was charged with two felonies: "violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds" and "knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority."
Packer's sweatshirt was an explicit reference to Auschwitz, a concentration and death camp in Poland that was used by Germany to kill 1.1 million Jews, Poles, Roma, and more. The bottom of his sweatshirt read "work brings freedom," a translation of the well-documented metal sign that prominently hung at several death camps to intimidate its prisoners.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a prominent member of the Republican Party's attempt to baselessly challenge the validity of the US presidential elections, chastised President-elect Joe Biden on Twitter for insinuating there was any valid comparison between the Republican Party and the Nazi Party of Germany.
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to Cruz, directly referencing Packer's "Camp Auschwitz" sweatshirt as one of several pieces of evidence of neo-Nazis in the US Capitol.
According to a press conference from the Department of Justice and the FBI on Tuesday, the Bureau has opened more than 170 subject files and has charged more than 70 people. Michael Sherwin, the acting US attorney in Washington, DC, said the number of charges is expected to grow into the hundreds.
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