FBI arrests MAGA rioter who attacked cops with flagpole and wrote about it in his diary

A 71-year-old Pennsylvania man has been charged by the Department of Justice with assaulting police officers during the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Like many other MAGA rioters that day, Howard Charles Richardson of King Prussia was captured on video as part of the crowd fighting with law enforcement outside the building. But Richardson was also betrayed by an unusual witness, according to the Feds: His own diary.

The FBI visited Richardson October 25 at his home, according to the criminal complaint against him. Here’s how that went:

‘Agents executed a search warrant for Richardson's residence and person. During the search, agents located two red hats and a black and blue windbreaker with a "Brigantine Beach" logo on the upper left chest, which matches the jacket Richardson is seen wearing (at the riot). Agents also found a day planner that Richardson acknowledged was his. Richardson wrote that he parked at 11:00 a.m., was at the front of the Capitol building at 12: 15 p.m., "gates were breeched" at 1:00 p.m., "moving up to steps" at 1:30-1 :45 p.m., and "got pepper sprayed" at 2:00 p.m. He noted that he "started to leave" the Capitol at 3:30 p.m. (U.S. Capitol surveillance footage in fact shows RICHARDSON, identified by the same blue windbreaker and khaki pants, walking away from the Capitol building at approximately 3: 10 p.m. on January 6.)”

RELATED: FBI arrests Capitol rioter two weeks after he had armed standoff with local police

The FBI also cited more conventional video evidence against Richardson, as reported in a DOJ new release:

“Video footage depicts Richardson in a group near the bicycle rack-style barricades outside the Capitol. At approximately 1:38 p.m., carrying a metal flagpole with a blue flag attached, he approached an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department. In the video, Richardson can be heard yelling, “here it comes,” before swiftly approaching the officer’s position and striking the officer with the flagpole three times. He only stopped swinging after the flagpole broke in his hands.”

Richardson is charged with engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, civil disorder, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a dangerous weapon, among other charges.

You can read the FBI complaint against Richardson here.