Washington, Sept 13 (AFP/APP):A California man espousing white supremacist views and armed with a bayonet and a machete was arrested on Monday outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in Washington, police said.
Donald Craighead, 44, of Oceanside, California, was arrested for possession of prohibited weapons, US Capitol Police said.
Craighead was spotted outside DNC headquarters by law enforcement overnight in a Dodge Dakota pickup truck that had a swastika and other white supremacist symbols painted on it, police said.
Authorities released pictures of Craighead’s truck, which showed a swastika daubed on his rear view mirror and inside the cab of the vehicle.
Instead of a license plate, the truck had a picture of an American flag. A pair of deer antlers was mounted on the front grille of the truck.
Officers saw the bayonet and machete inside the truck, and Craighead was arrested.
“Craighead said he was ‘on patrol’ and began talking about white supremacist ideology and other rhetoric pertaining to white supremacy,” police said.
Police said it was not immediately clear if Craighead was planning to attend any upcoming demonstrations in Washington or had any links to previous cases in the city.
A group called Look Ahead America founded by a former employee of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has announced plans to hold a rally on Saturday at the US Capitol.
The rally has been called to support the hundreds of people arrested for the violent January 6 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, who Look Ahead America claims are “political prisoners.”
US Capitol Police chief Tom Manger told reporters Monday that fencing would be placed around the Capitol ahead of the upcoming event.
“The fence will go up a day or two before and if everything goes well, it will come down very soon after,” Manger said.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he expected police to be “much better prepared than things were before January 6.”
Craighead’s arrest comes three and a half weeks after a right-wing extremist who claimed to have a bomb in his truck was arrested near the Capitol.No explosives were found.
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