A Georgia lawyer who spoke to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about his participation in the riot at the U.S. Capitol and a Georgia woman who is the mother of the man known as the “zip-tie guy” are two of the latest people to be arrested as federal authorities continue to round up those accused of participating in the Jan. 6 events in Washington.
McCall Calhoun, a practicing attorney in Americus for 30 years, had described the mob as patriotic and heroic in an exclusive interview with the AJC.
South Georgia television station WALB and other media outlets reported he is now in custody, facing charges of entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct disrupting the business of Congress, according to federal prosecutors.
Credit: Twitter
Credit: Twitter
Calhoun told the AJC last week that the worst criminal act he did was “trespassing.”
“I would freely admit that I trespassed, but I did it for the love of my country,” he said.
“This was civil disobedience. Anyone who claims it was anything other than civil disobedience was not there, and they did not see it and they do not know,” he said, referring to the riot that left five dead, including a Capitol Police officer and a Kennesaw woman who was reportedly crushed to death in the crowd.
Calhoun, who said he primarily does criminal defense work in his South Georgia city, said the assault on Congress was done out of frustration over what he said was a stolen election.
Meanwhile, the mother of a Tennessee man accused of carrying plastic restraints into the U.S. Capitol during the riot has also been arrested.
Lisa Eisenhart, 56, of Woodstock was taken into custody by FBI agents in Nashville on Saturday, media outlets reported, citing the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Charges include conspiring with her son, Eric Munchel, who formerly lived in Fulton County, to violate federal statutes, prosecutors said. Eisenhart is scheduled to appear before a judge in Nashville on Tuesday.
It was not immediately known if Eisenhart has an attorney to speak on her behalf.
Munchel was previously arrested in connection with the riot. He’s charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Prosecutors say that photos from the riot show a person who appears to be Munchel carrying plastic restraints, an item in a holster on his right hip, and a cellphone mounted on his chest with the camera facing outward, ostensibly to record events that day.
The profile on Munchel’s apparent Facebook page indicated he was from Blue Ridge, Georgia, and attended Fannin County High School. Records show that when he lived in Fulton County, he had faced battery charges in an incident in 2013.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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