Capitol rioters have been ratted out by loved ones, high school friends and 'Facebook stalkers': analysis

On Wednesday, The Daily Beast released an episode of the "Fever Dreams" podcast in which Will Sommer and Asawin Suebsaeng interviewed Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly about the ways that Capitol rioters have been caught by federal authorities.

One of the key takeaways, Reilly told them, is that many of the rioters have either outed themselves by mistake, or been ratted out by girlfriends, other loved ones, or just random people in their current or past lives.

"Reilly has spent the past three months meticulously cataloguing the dark, perversely humorous ways in which many of these far-right extremists have found their way into FBI custody," said the report. "They gratuitously incriminate themselves. They pretend to be tough guys, and then are revealed to be impersonating a trooper or a federal agent. The feds keep making fun of the defendants in affidavits and in court documents. Often, they get ratted out by old high-school chums and rivals, loved ones, or even a random 'Facebook stalker' from their home town."

Many of these rioters' stories have been catalogued over the past few months. One was busted in February by an ex-girlfriend after he called her a "moron" in a text message incriminating himself. In another case, a Florida man was identified by the FBI because he stood out in the crowd "screaming and brandishing a flagpole with a U.S. flag emblazoned with a coiled snake."

Listen to the full podcast here.