Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr: Man with assault rifle who threatened to kill Pelosi on live TV arrested
A Trump supporter who had reportedly texted a friend to say that he wanted to shoot House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi live on TV has been arrested. The Capitol rioter, Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr, allegedly sent a message which said that he was thinking of "putting a bullet in [Pelosi’s] noggin." He had also allegedly sent a text message about running over Pelosi and had used purple devil emojis.
He also used slurs for women in his text messages. On Wednesday, January 6, several hundred Trump supporters had breached the Capitol to prevent lawmakers from declaring President-elect Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election. According to CNN, Meredith Jr also said that he was going to Washington with "a s**t ton of … armor-piercing ammo."
The feds have now charged him with writing threats and also possession of an unregistered firearm and ammunition. He will be held until a court hearing which will take place next week. The FBI conducted a search of his room at a Holiday Inn located in southwest Washington. They also searched his phone, truck and its trailer. The agents found three guns — a Glock 19, a 9 mm pistol, and an assault rifle all inside the trailer. In addition to this, they had also found "approximately hundreds of rounds of ammunition."
As per the complaint, Meredith Jr was aware of the city's gun laws and was not supposed to have firearms so he had put them in the trailer. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he had erected a billboard in 2018 in Acworth, GA, which read "#QANON" along with the name of his business Car Nutz Car Wash.
He is one of 13 people who are being charged with federal crimes. Others include Alabama man Lonnie Coffman whose pickup allegedly had 11 homemade napalm bombs. Another person arrested was Richard Barnett who had been pictured sitting at a desk in Pelosi's office. The arrests come as Pelosi slammed President Donald Trump calling him "deranged and unhinged" while blasting Capitol rioters for choosing "whiteness" instead of democracy.
We had earlier reported that Trump was not really concerned about the destruction or insurrection that was occurring but was more worried about how the rioters seemed to appear "low class". As a result of the violence, at least five people, including one police officer, lost their lives. 14 people were injured during the riots allegedly incited by Trump's speech regarding false claims about the 2020 election which saw him lose.
Trump had called on his supporters to march to the Capitol building as the Congress got ready to certify the results of his electoral defeat. According to the New York Magazine, Trump was very displeased with the appearance of the rioters and believed his supporters looked "low class". A White House source who chose to remain anonymous told the publication, "He doesn’t like low class things."
Democrats have called for Trump's impeachment and arrest after he told his supporters to march to DC while speaking at a rally. He was also slammed as he kept reiterating that there had been election fraud though he failed to provide any evidence to back his claims.
