Former FBI agent who compared police to Nazis charged for Jan. 6 involvement
A former FBI supervisory agent has been charged by federal authorities on allegations that he joined a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, calling police officers Nazis and encouraging rioters to kill them.
Jared L. Wise, 50, the former agent, was arrested Monday and charged with four misdemeanor counts related to his actions, including trespassing and disrupting the orderly conduct of government.
According to a criminal complaint, Wise told police officers at the Capitol, “You guys are disgusting … you are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo.”
The complaint alleges that when violence against the officers started, Wise told rioters to “kill em!”
It also includes supposed photos of Wise among the rioters in the Capitol, wearing a mask, blue jacket and a dark backpack, and claims that Wise exited the building through a window at approximately 2:32 p.m ET.
Law enforcement was tipped off about the former agent’s appearance at the Capitol by an anonymous source, the complaint said, and found that he most recently lived in Bend, Ore., after living in Texas.
Wise worked on counterterrorism in the FBI in its New York field office from 2004 to 2017, according to The New York Times. He briefly investigated the attack in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead in 2012.
He left the FBI after supervisors became unhappy with his work, the Times reported.
The arrest of Wise continues the Justice Department’s investigation and arrests into those who stormed the Capitol.
The probe has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests to date. But the arrest of Wise is one of just a few current and former law enforcement officers who have faced charges in connection to the riot — at least 20 officers have been charged, according to USA Today.
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