FBI: Woman arrested in Capitol riot allegedly said she wanted to shoot Pelosi ‘in the friggin’ brain’

A woman who was arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot allegedly said she wanted to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “in the friggin’ brain.”

Two women, Dawn Bancroft and Diana Santos-Smith, were arrested in Pennsylvania on Friday in connection with the Capitol attack, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

According to a criminal complaint, the FBI received a tip about a week after the riot with a video purportedly taken by Bancroft that showed her and Santos-Smith attempting to exit the Capitol.

During the video, Bancroft purportedly said, “We broke into the Capitol. … We got inside. We did our part.”

Bancroft continued, “We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin’ brain, but we didn’t find her,” which the FBI agent believed was a reference to Pelosi. 

The FBI stated that when it interviewed Santos-Smith around Inauguration Day, she initially said she attended the Jan. 6 rally but did not enter the Capitol. She later admitted to being inside the building after being shown the video.

On the day of the riots, a mob of Trump supporters breached the building’s security and broke windows, roamed hallways and vandalized lawmakers’ offices, including Pelosi’s. One man was photographed in a chair in Pelosi’s office, and another man was seen carrying the Speaker’s lectern in the building. 

Both women said they were inside the building for no more than one minute and that they had taken videos from inside the Capitol. Bancroft sent the video to her children, according to authorities, and later instructed them to delete it.

The women were charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; knowingly engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in any restricted building or grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to the DOJ.

News of Bancroft’s comment comes as law enforcement steps up security to monitor lawmakers amid heightened threats.

More than 5,000 National Guardsmen are expected to remain in Washington, D.C., through at least mid-March, and Capitol Police officers will be stationed at several D.C. airports as well as the Union Station railway stop to monitor lawmakers as they travel.

More than 150 arrests have been made thus far in connection with the riot that led to five deaths, including that of a Capitol Police officer.