Nashville bartender carrying zipties and Army officer with plastic handcuffs are arrested for riot

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The MAGA rioter pictured carrying zip-ties and wearing full paramilitary gear has been arrested, along with a retired army lieutenant colonel, Larry Rendall Brock Jr, who was seen with plastic handcuffs. 

Both men are charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. 

News of the pair’s arrests came on Sunday as Ryan McCarthy, Army Secretary, said that at least 25 domestic terrorist cases have been opened up following Wednesday’s assault on the Capitol. 

Eric Munchel, a Nashville bartender, 30, has been named as the man pictured in the Senate press gallery with a bundle of flex-cuffs, heavy duty restraints used by law enforcement in mass arrests on Wednesday.

He attended the riot with his mom. 

He told The Times of London: ‘We wanted to show that we’re willing to rise up, band together and fight if necessary. Same as our forefathers, who established this country in 1776. It was a kind of flexing of muscles.’

His mom, Lisa Eisenhart, 57, said: ‘The left has everything: the media, organizations, the government. We have to organize if we’re going to fight back and be heard.’

The nurse, who wore a bullet proof vest like her son, added: ‘This country was founded on revolution. If they’re going to take every legitimate means from us, and we can’t even express ourselves on the internet, we won’t even be able to speak freely, what is America for?

‘I’d rather die as a 57-year-old woman than live under oppression. I’d rather die and would rather fight.’ 

The pair are said to have driven from Nashville, Tennessee for the protest.    

Brock, 53, has already admitted he invaded the Senate floor and roamed Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office dressed in combat gear and carrying zip-tie cuffs. 

But he told The New Yorker he thought he was welcome to enter the U.S. Capitol and claimed he ‘found’ the zip ties on the floor and merely picked them up so he could hand them in to a police officer.  

Footage from the lobby of a DC hotel shows a man identified online as Munchel speaking about the rally with an unidentified woman. That same woman is seen earlier in the day with the rioter wearing full paramilitary gear.  

A Facebook account said to belong to Munchel has since been deleted but it listed him as working at Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille in Florida. 

The bar said in a statement: ‘It’s been brought to our attention that a former employee of ours from 2+ years ago was involved in the recent events at the Capitol Building. We have no affiliation with this employee and their actions were their own.’ 

In a detailed breakdown of his clothing The Sparrow Project say his ‘expensive camouflage and tactical larp-flare’ helped identify Munchel. 

They list specific items of clothing the rioter, and later Munchel, was seen in as well as noting his Tennessee ‘blue line’ patch.

The FBI is said to be investigating whether any of Trump‘s supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol were conspiring to hurt lawmakers or take them hostage. 

‘We’re not looking at this as a grand conspiracy, but we are interested in learning what people would do with things like zip ties,’ a law enforcement official told The Washington Post.

Brock, a father-of-three who now lives in Dallas, was pictured on the Senate floor Wednesday after the group had broken through barricades, pushed back law enforcement and sent lawmakers fleeing for safety. 

Images show him wearing a combat helmet, body armor and a vinyl tag with the Punisher skull on – a symbol adopted by white supremacists and believers of conspiracy theory QAnon.

He carried zip-tie handcuffs and appeared to be speaking with fellow rioters, several of which were dressed in MAGA caps.  

Brock, who was in the Air Force for more than two decades and now works for an aviation company, was also seen in footage, shot by ITV News, appearing to exit Nancy Pelosi’s office – which was vandalized and looted in the chaos. 

McCarthy, the Army Secretary, on Sunday provided a detailed breakdown of events on Wednesday.

He said the Pentagon offered help, but was rebuffed by Capitol Police and by DC police.

‘DOD made several more attempts to offer National Guard resources to DC Metropolitan Police and USCP and repeatedly were told no additional resources needed,’ according to a memo.

He said that the Capitol Police and DC Police had seriously underestimated the crowd that Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’ rally on Wednesday would draw, and expected the attendance to be in the ‘low thousands’.

McCarthy said that at least 25 domestic terrorism cases had been opened.

‘Long guns, molotov cocktails, explosive devices and zipties were recovered which suggests a greater disaster was narrowly averted,’ the memo, obtained by CNN, stated.  

One Trump supporter, who allegedly told his friends that he wanted to shoot and run over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has been arrested on federal charges stemming from the riot at the Capitol last week as authorities arrest an Alabama man with possessing 11 Molotov cocktails near the building. 

According to CNN, Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr traveled to Washington, DC, last Tuesday with hundreds of rounds of ammunition and an assault rifle.

Authorities also said Meredith had texted his friends that he wanted to shoot or run over Pelosi.

In one text, Meredith allegedly wrote that he was thinking of ‘putting a bullet in [Pelosi’s] noggin on Live TV’.

Meredith is one of 13 people who have been charged with federal crimes. Others include Alabama man, Lonnie Coffman, whose vehicle contained 11 Molotov devices and Richard Barnett, of Arkansas, who was photographed sitting at a desk in Pelosi’s office, according to a statement from the Justice Department.  

A Florida man identified as the person seen in a photo shared widely on social media carrying the speaker of the House’s lectern was also arrested Friday. 

Adam Johnson faces charges including theft of government property.

Prosecutors say these charges are just the beginning. Authorities said Friday that additional cases remained under seal and dozens of other people were being sought by federal agents.

US attorneys in several states, including Kentucky, Ohio and Oregon, said people could face charges in their home states if they traveled to Washington and took part in the riot. 

Investigators will also consider whether there was any concerted plot targeting Vice President Mike Pence, who enraged Trump and his loyalists by refusing to illegally intervene in Congress to overthrow the election.

As the attack unfolded, Trump took to Twitter to vent fury at Pence, a message that quickly spread among the president’s followers at the Capitol.  

The protesters were riled up by Trump, Giuliani and Donald Trump Jr. during a rally near the White House and told to head to Capitol Hill where lawmakers were scheduled to confirm Biden’s presidential victory. 

A violent mob stormed the Capitol, breaking through police barricades and smashing windows to enter the building.

Lawmakers were forced to go into hiding for several hours as Capitol police grappled to take back control while the mob defecated in the Senate and House, invaded Nancy Pelosi’s office and looted items potentially including state secrets.  

One female Trump supporter, US Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, was shot dead by Capitol Police as she tried to climb through a window. 

Three other Trump supporters died after ‘medical emergencies’ related to the breach and Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick died Thursday from injuries sustained in the attack after the thug allegedly hit him over the head with a fire extinguisher.