Army reservist who participated in Capitol insurrection was widely-known white supremacist

An Army reservist who ransacked the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot was widely known to be a white supremacist who made anti-Semitic remarks during his time serving at a naval facility in New Jersey, prosecutors revealed late Friday.

Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, who was a security contractor at Naval Weapons Station Earle and was privy to secret-level intelligence, was arrested in January and described at the time as an “avowed white supremacist” and Nazi sympathizer. However, prosecutors on Friday laid out in a court filing details from interviews with 44 of his colleagues that underscored the breadth of his bigoted beliefs. 

“A Navy Petty Officer stated that Defendant talked constantly about Jewish people and remembered Defendant saying ‘Hitler should have finished the job,’” prosecutors wrote in the filing, which was intended to argue for Hale-Cusanelli’s continued detention as he awaits trial.

One interviewee stated that Hale-Cusanelli held “extremist or radical views pertaining to the Jewish people, minorities, and women,” and another said he expressed a hatred of Jews daily. 

Prosecutors also laid out details of the contents of his personal phone, which they said contained anti-Semitic and racist content as part of his “fantasy of participating in another Civil War.”

Hale-Cusanelli’s lawyer argued he deserved a pre-trial release and that he was not a white supremacist, but prosecutors swatted away that argument, pointing to the trove of comments he made to colleagues and on his phone.

The latest filing underscores the involvement of white supremacists in the Jan. 6 insurrection, which unsuccessfully sought to halt the certification of the Electoral College results from the 2020 presidential election.

Several far-right groups are known to have participated in the insurrection, and video shows several rioters spewing racist remarks. A Confederate flag was also seen being waved across the Capitol once insurrectionists breached the building. 

Hale-Cusanelli’s involvement also highlights the task facing policymakers who are trying to root out white supremacism from the Armed Forces.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last month gathered military chiefs and civilian secretaries of the Armed Forces to ramp up the internal fight against white supremacy in the military and issued a 60-day “stand down” order for each branch to strengthen existing regulations.