Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Capitol Rioter Who Lounged In Pence's Chair Is Arrested Despite Bragging That He'd Never Be Caught

Capitol Rioter Who Lounged In Pence's Chair Is Arrested Despite Bragging That He'd Never Be Caught
U.S. District Court

In a turn of events that should probably shock none of us, a Capitol rioter who bragged that he'd never be caught has, well, been caught.

According to the FBI, Christian Secor, a UCLA student who was seen sitting in former Vice President Mike Pence's chair during the coup attempt, was arrested and charged Tuesday for his involvement in the January 6 incident.


Secor is an avowed White supremacist who started what The Los Angeles Times called "an ultra-right campus organization" at UCLA.

Secor's arrest followed at least 11 people reporting him to the FBI.

One of those tipsters told the FBI that Secor had recently moved back in with his mother in the affluent Orange County suburb of Costa Mesa, ditched his cellphone and repeatedly bragged that he'd never be caught for his participation in the riots.

But images of Secor in Pence's chair had appeared in The New Yorker's widely circulated footage of the riot, and the FBI found other clips of him in security footage. Secor had also live-streamed his participation during the event, and the FBI later found images of him wearing the same jacket he'd worn at the Capitol at a far-right rally in Huntington Beach, CA.

Aided by a SWAT team, the FBI arrested Secor at his mother's house Tuesday morning.

Neighbor Elsa Castillo described the dramatic scene for Los Angeles's CBS2 News:

"I just woke up to the lights flashing. I thought something was going on there. I could hear them say come out, come out. I thought they were evacuating us."

In an affidavit, FBI Special Agent Benjamin Elliott gave a sobering description of Secor's involvement in the riots:

"As a result of Secor and others pushing on the double doors ... the doors opened and dozens of additional rioters flooded into the building. The Capitol Police officers were shoved by the crowd, at times trapped between the doors and the crowd, and eventually pushed out of the way of the oncoming mob."

Secor has repeatedly stirred controversy at UCLA for his outspoken White nationalism.

He has been accused of racism and antisemitism, and started a far-right campus group, America First Bruins, that invited White nationalists to UCLA on several occasions. A Twitter account believed to belong to Secor praises fascism as "epic" and lauds the 2017 Charlottesville "Unite the Right" riots that resulted in the death of Heather Heyer.

And in his livestream fro the Capitol, he identified himself as Scuffed Eliot Rodger, in reference to the man who committed mass murder at Isla Vista, California in 2014.

On Twitter, people applauded Secor's arrest.










Secor was charged by federal prosecutors with assaulting or resisting a police officer, violent entry and remaining on restricted grounds, civil disorder and obstructing an official proceeding. He is being held without bail.

More from Trending

Lilly Wachowski; Keanu Reeves
So True with Caleb Hearon/YouTube; Warner Bros.

Lilly Wachowski Shares How She Had To 'Let Go' Of 'The Matrix' After It Was Twisted By Right-Wing Theories

Matrix co-creator Lilly Wachowski has opened up about what it's been like to see her magnum opus The Matrix be co-opted by the far-right.

Anywhere you go in online spaces for the past 10-15 years, right-wing weirdos talk about being "red-pilled," a reference to the film's plot point in which lead character Neo is offered a red pill that will enlighten him to the realities of the systems ruling our lives, or a blue pill that will allow him to stay ignorant.

Keep ReadingShow less
Madonna; Donald Trump
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Madonna Rips Trump Administration's 'Absurd' Decision Not To Mark World AIDS Day For First Time Since 1988

Pop icon, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor Madonna has a bone to pick with the administration of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump.

On Monday, the Queen of Pop noted on Instagram that December 1 was World AIDS Day, but the United States government wouldn't be acknowledging it for the first time since the World Health Organization had established the day in 1988.

Keep ReadingShow less
Franklin the Turtle illustration; Pete Hegseth
CBC Television

'Franklin The Turtle' Publisher Condemns Pete Hegseth For Turning Beloved Character Into Violent Meme

Kids Can Press, the Canadian publisher behind the beloved Franklin children's books, condemned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a statement after he shared an AI-generated image of Franklin the Turtle to justify his attacks on alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean.

Hegseth's original meme, which he inexplicably captioned "for your Christmas wish list," features a doctored book cover titled Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists and shows Franklin, the protagonist of the popular Canadian children's book series authored by Paulette Bourgeois and illustrated by Brenda Clark, firing a bazooka from a helicopter at boats in the water below.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sabrina Carpenter; Donald Trump
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Win McNamee/Getty Images

Sabrina Carpenter Rips White House For Using Her Song In 'Evil And Disgusting' Pro-ICE Video

Pop star Sabrina Carpenter warned the White House not to use her music for their "inhumane" agenda after the executive branch posted a video of ICE raids that used her song "Juno" without her consent.

The video released by the White House repurposed a line from Carpenter’s viral “have you ever tried this one” lyric, turning the playful phrase into a backdrop for a montage of ICE agents pursuing, detaining, and handcuffing immigrants.

Keep ReadingShow less

People Reveal The Strangely Specific Things About Someone That Give Off A Bad Vibe

I have feelings about people.

I'm not an empath.

Keep ReadingShow less