Veteran who served in Marine One unit charged in Capitol insurrection

A veteran who was charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack once served in the unit responsible for maintaining and operating the president’s helicopter, known as Marine One, according to his service records.

John Daniel Andries, 35, of Piney Point, Md., was arrested and charged last month with two felonies in connection with the Capitol riot. He has pleaded not guilty.

Andries served in the Marines from 2004 to 2009, reaching the third enlisted rank of lance corporal, according to records released by the service.

His last assignment was as a crew chief for Marine Helicopter Squadron 1, also known as HMX-1, the unit responsible for transporting the president. A crew chief’s duties include aircraft maintenance.

His records include no combat deployments.

Andries’s service records were first reported by The Washington Post.

Andries is facing charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Citing videos posted on YouTube and obtained from Capitol Police, prosecutors allege Andries entered the Capitol building Jan. 6 through a broken window after the mob broke through the police perimeter outside.

Once in the building, Andries was allegedly seen among a crowd that attempted to “push past U.S. Capitol Police officers,” according to charging documents.

In the basement of the Capitol, Andries allegedly got “within inches” of police officers and waved his hands up and down in an apparent effort to egg on the crowd, but the charging document does not say he physically engaged the officers.

The military has been grappling with extremism in the ranks since the Jan. 6 attack. The issue is longstanding, but the riot brought it to the forefront, particularly after a January analysis of court cases found nearly 20 percent of people arrested in connection with the insurrection had military histories.