Editor’s note: This story includes descriptions of offensive language and the use of racist slurs.
An ex-Army reservist and a security guard at a Naval Weapons Station were found guilty of all charges in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6, 2021.
Prosecutors described Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, New Jersey, as an extremist who wanted to start a second civil war. The government presented evidence that Hale-Cusanelli used racist, antisemitic, and anti-gay slurs against officers protecting the Capitol. He also yelled obscenities at them and then enthusiastically boasted about breaking into the building to his roommate. The jury heard that the roommate secretly carried a recording device for investigators from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI.
Hale-Cusanelli did not deny that he entered the building. The defendant said it himself when he testified in his defense: “I shouldn’t have been there.” The defense instead argued that Hale Cusanelli was more likely to make “bombastic,” offensive, and “extreme comments” than he was to actually do anything. He was not charged for assaulting police officers or causing damage to property. Defense also claimed that Hale-Cusanelli didn’t travel to Washington with the intention of disrupting the electoral process. Hale-Cusanelli stated that he couldn’t have intended to disrupt Congress on that day because he didn’t realize that Congress was at the Capitol.
Hale-Cusanelli said, “It sounds stupid and it is.” He stated that it was embarrassing to admit that he didn’t have the basic knowledge. Prosecutors claimed that this claim was beyond common sense, particularly since Hale Cusanelli had texted friends to discuss the electoral count process. He also said that he studied American history at a community college.
After approximately five-and-a half hours of deliberation, the jury voted in favor of the prosecution.
Many accounts say that Hale-Cusanelli lived a troubled life before the Capitol riot. He was well-known for his racial, antisemitic, and other offensive views.
According to court papers, Hale-Cusanelli, then 20, was arrested along with three others after they were accused of shooting frozen corn cobs at a home using a potato gun. According to court papers, the potato gun was marked with “WHITE IS RIGHT” as well as a Confederate flag drawing. In a dispute that news reports called a “domestic conflict”, Hale-Cusanelli attacked his mother’s boyfriend the following year. In court, his attorney stated that Hale-Cusanelli was representing his mother against her boyfriend. The charges against him were dropped.
After graduating from high school, Hale Cusanelli joined the Army Reserves as a human resource specialist. The Army claimed that he never served in combat. Hale-Cusanelli, who was a witness, described his service as an office job. After attending community college where he studied history and by 2020, Hale Cusanelli was working as a security guard at Naval Weapons Station Earle. He also lived on the base. He was able to access military explosives and munition, and had a “secret level” security clearance. Given his sensitive position, the government would eventually label Hale-Cusanelli a security threat.
According to court documents, Hale Cusanelli frequently made offensive and antisemitic comments about his coworkers at the base.
According to a Naval Petty Officer who spoke with investigators, Hale-Cusanelli once stated that Hitler should have completed the job. According to a Navy seaman, Hale-Cusanelli said once that “babies born with any type of deformity or disability should be shot in their forehead.” According to prosecutors, Hale-Cusanelli arrived at the base with a Hitler mustache and went to work one day.
He was a strong supporter of Trump and often texted friends about politics, using anti-gay and racist slurs. He once texted a friend that Democrats could steal the 2020 election by “n *****rigging”.
Hale-Cusanelli attempted to justify his remarks by describing himself as a “nihilistic young man” on the stand. He said at the end of his trial that some of his racist or antisemitic language was self-deprecating. He also said, surprise, that he was “half Jewish and half Puerto Rican.” Hale-Cusanelli said that he had been estranged for a long time from his parents due to their substance abuse issues. He said that his offensive remarks were a way he used to cope with how he was raised and to attract attention.
It’s what I do. It’s how my family grew up. It allows me to express my feelings. He also testified that it was a way to find out if anyone is listening.”
Prosecutors expressed doubts about Hale-Cusanelli’s claims. According to court papers, Hale-Cusanelli was described by prosecutors as an extremist. They cited the fact that he had copies of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and “The Turner Diaries”, a white nationalist novel, which were used in the Oklahoma City bombings of 1995.
The Navy investigators spoke to 44 people at Hale Cusanelli’s Navy base and found that 34 of them described Hale Cusanelli as having “extremist or radical views pertaining the Jewish people, minorities and women.”
Federal Judge Trevor McFadden decided that most of this evidence could not be presented at the jury’s trial. He said that it would be “unduly prejudiced” and that it wouldn’t shed enough light on Hale Cusanelli’s actions on January 6. Prosecutors were not able to investigate Hale-Cusanelli’s “half Jewish” heritage statement at trial.
Hale-Cusanelli worked night shifts at the naval base. After he had finished his work on Jan. 6, 2021 he changed into a gray suit (he claimed it was his favorite suit) and wore a red “MAGA hat as he drove from Naval Weapons Station Earle, D.C. He listened to part of Trump’s speech and was able to hear the president say that he would walk to the Capitol to support the brave senators and representatives. Some of them, however, might not be so enthusiastic.
Hale-Cusanelli stated that he went to the Capitol and decided to follow the protesters.
Video shows how he joined the mob at the Capitol’s west side. “The revolution will be broadcast on television, c***t!” He yelled at the police officers who were guarding the building. He later said that he was angry at police for using pepper spray and flash bangs. He also moves a bike rack that police used as a barrier against protestors. Another video was taken that day. Hale-Cusanelli was there to help them when a group of rioters broke the Senate window and allowed the mob entry to the building.
He spent approximately 40 minutes in the Capitol, walking from the Capitol Visitors Center to the crypt. He interfered with one officer who was trying to arrest one rioter. Another time, he stood in front of the Capitol Visitors Center and gazed up through the skylights at those above. He could see people outside of the Capitol building from this vantage point. Prosecutors claimed that the video shows him waving at the demonstrators to allow them inside.
Hale-Cusanelli was free to leave the Capitol Building without being arrested and he had a large blue Trump flag that he took inside.
Investigators from NCIS knocked at his door less than a week after Hale Cusanelli returned home. He wasn’t there. They found one of his roommates at the Navy base. He was a Navy doctor – a Black man who gave evidence against Hale Cusanelli under a pseudonym because he now feared his safety.
Under the pseudonym Mark Jacobs, Hale-Cusanelli was represented by his housemate. He claimed he was assigned to the house and that they had a cordial relationship. However, things can get heated when they discuss politics. Jacobs is liberal and he and Hale Cusanelli didn’t agree on many political issues. Jacobs testified that they did talk about many topics, but “race issues in America” was off limits. Jacobs stated that Hale-Cusanelli did not break the prohibition by telling Jacobs that the Democrats were controlled by “Jewish interests”.
Federal investigators knocked at Hale-Cusanelli’s door, but instead found Jacobs. They soon included Jacobs in their criminal investigation. Jacobs met with federal agents at a pizza joint a week following the Capitol riot. They attached a recording device on his body. Jacobs stated that he was not given a goal by the agents – they just wanted to get Tim to talk about what he had done on Jan. 6.”
Jacobs said that she was “extremely nervous” when she decided to wear a wire.
The tape was recorded by Hale-Cusanelli, who recounted Jacobs’ day at Capitol.
He said, “I cannot describe how exhilarating that was.”
He stated that the storming at the Capitol was not planned, but that if there were more people we could have cleared the building.
A few times during the conversation, the topic was brought up of a possible second “civil War”.
Jacobs was told by Hale-Cusanelli that “it is probably the most simple solution,” and that it would allow the country to start over.
Jacobs asks Hale-Cusanelli at one point if he would attend another event such as the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot.
“Are your wires on?” Hale-Cusanelli responded.
Jacobs replied sarcastically, “Yes, Tim. I’m wearing an f ******wire.”
Hale-Cusanelli said, “I would love be part of an historical event.”
A group of federal agents detained Hale-Cusanelli on Jan. 17, 2021, not long after the conversation. Jacobs was paid $4,000 by the government for the use of the wire.
After his arrest, the prosecutors presented a list of extreme statements that Hale-Cusanelli made at bail hearings. Trump appointee Judge Hale-Cusanelli was deemed too dangerous to release on bond.
Hale-Cusanelli was already in prison for 16 months by the time of his trial, which began in May 2022.
Cynthia Hughes, a longtime friend and family member of Hale-Cusanelli, began advocating for him, as well as other Jan.6 defendants. She called them “political prisoner” during his time in jail. Hughes founded the Patriot Freedom Project, a non-profit that raised more than a million bucks. This was partly thanks to the support of former Trump advisor Steve Bannon and Dinesh D’Souza (right-wing commentator) and the Republican nominee to the U.S. Senate. Vance. Vance. Hughes has defended the group’s methods, while other defendants’ families have lavishly praised it.
Hughes was present at Hale-Cusanelli’s trial and posted about Jacobs’ testimony: “Hope that $4,000 Dollars was worth destroying somebody’s life over politics, you rat!”
Given the overwhelming video evidence against him Hale-Cusanelli relied heavily on his defense at trial, relying largely upon a claim to ignorance. Hale-Cusanelli was charged with “obstruction in an official proceeding”, which is basically the intentional disruption to Congress’s certification of Joe Biden’s electoral college victory. Hale-Cusanelli stated that he couldn’t have deliberately disrupted Congress because he “did not know that Congress was in Congress.”
Jacobs’ wire also recorded him trying to explain his comments. He testified that he was “embellishing and exaggerating” what had happened on the tape.
Jonathan Crisp, Hale-Cusanelli’s attorney, stated in court that his client could not shut up to save himself, that he was “simplistic” in his thinking processes, and that he was like a child having a temper tantrum. At the time of the riot, Hale-Cusanelli had turned 30. Crisp said that Hale Cusanelli is offensive and abusive with his language but it was essentially just talk.
Prosecutors claimed that Hale-Cusanellit’s claim he didn’t know Congress met at the U.S. Capitol was absurd. They also pointed out that the Capitol Visitors Center where Hale-Cusanelli participated in the riot was designed for tourists. There are signs saying “House of Representatives”, “Senate” and other phrases. They also pointed out that Hale-Cusanelli was a student of American history and frequently texted friends about the electoral college process.
Karen Seifert, the Prosecutor, stated that Hale-Cusanelli never mentioned this alleged confusion regarding Congress and Capitol.
Seifert stated that “he hadn’t considered that excuse” before the trial.
The jury began deliberations after three days of testimony. They returned a verdict on all charges five and a quarter hours later.
NPR spoke with two jurors who left the courthouse on condition of anonymity. Three jurors initially doubted that Hale-Cusanelli deliberately breached the Capitol to block Congress. After hearing the reasoning of the other jurors, the three jurors eventually agreed to convict.
One juror stated that Hale-Cusanelli’s testimony had actually hurt his case. This juror stated that Hale-Cusanelli’s testimony was not credible.
Another juror called Hale-Cusanelli’s testimony “contradictory” and was disturbed to hear Hale–Cusanelli’s antisemitic remarks given his testimony that Hale-Cusanelli is “half Jewish.”
This juror stated, “I couldn’t fathom how this man slandered our own culture.”
Judge Trevor McFadden stated that he considered Hale-Cusanelli’s testimony that he didn’t know congress met at the U.S. Capitol “highly doubtful.” McFadden stated that he was open for a sentencing increase for obstruction or impeding the administration of justice. McFadden set September 2022 as the date for his sentencing.
Hughes, who calls herself Hale-Cusanelli “adoptive aunt”, stood outside the courthouse and said that he was “convicted for words and being offensive and for no other reason.” She demanded that other Jan. 6 defendants’ trials be moved from Washington, DC because she believes there will never be an impartial and fair jury in the city.
