Who is Brandon Fellows? MAGA rioter who smoked weed in senator's office says his Bumble profile has 'blown up'
Brandon Craig Fellows, a 26-year-old from upstate, New York, has barely 46 followers on his Instagram account. But he claims that his Bumble profile has been ‘blowing up’ ever since he identified himself as one of the participants in the US Capitol attacks of January 6. Most notably, he was the Trump supporter who ventured into Senator Jeff Merkley’s office and smoked weed. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, he unabashedly declared, “I have no regrets,” adding, “I didn’t hurt anyone, I didn’t break anything. I did trespass though, I guess.”
Who is Brandon Fellows?
Before January 6, 2021, Fellows had never attended any rally by Trump. But he has always been a devoted Trump supporter. Before the Capitol attack, Fellows was influenced by a tweet from the president that informed about a scheduled protest near Capitol on January 6. In the infamous tweet, Trump urged his followers: “Be there, will be wild!”
However, even as he was driving from New York all the way up to Washington DC, Fellows was unaware of the planned march to the US Capitol. He has been posting videos on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok recently that shows him joining the rioters. The 26-year-old who resides in a converted school bus, left his job as a grocery store worker last spring for the fear of contracting Covid-19. He admits that he suffered from poverty during March and April 2020, after the New York state denied giving him unemployment benefits. At present, he earns his livelihood by repairing chimneys and felling trees.
In the past year, he became motivated by conservative commentators on YouTube like Ben Shapiro and Steven Crowder. He watches channels like Newsmax and One America News, which have been accused of spreading false claims about the 2020 presidential elections being rigged against Trump. Fellows has also entered into conflicts with his own family. But, he claimed that the rioters at the Capitol last week ‘felt like family.’
Fellows' shenanigans inside the Capitol
After attending Trump’s rally, Fellows marched along with fellow MAGA supporters towards the Capitol. Videos show him scaling a wall to break through the Senate side, and later help others up the wall as well. Though Fellows initially was in two minds about breaking into the interiors where police officers were deployed, he did not hesitate after getting the assurance that no one was being arrested.
He shot several videos of the mayhem inside the Capitol and later released them on Snapchat, followed by other social media platforms. He quizzed a police officer about not wearing a helmet and later posted the video with racial connotations and offensive jibes.
Fellows went around filming inside the Capitol for around half an hour. During this time, he managed to break into Senator Jeff Merkley’s office, propped up his feet on his worktable, and smoked marijuana from a joint given to him by another rioter. Much later, after ascertaining the damages in his office, Senator Merkley referred to his office as ‘trashed’.
As far as Fellows is concerned, one can say that he is quite proud of his presence at the ‘historic’ siege of the Capitol. He is yet to face any penalty or charges from the authorities. In the interview with Bloomberg, he casually inquired the reporter if he would go to federal prison, adding a snarky remark: “I was told federal prison is not fun.”