Former state trooper charged in Capitol riot claims he was just looking for bathroom

A retired New Jersey state trooper arrested last week for his alleged role in the U.S. Capitol riot told the FBI he breached the building because he needed a bathroom, according to charging documents.

Michael Daniele was captured in photos on shared on social media yanking down barricades around the building from "outnumbered" officers, stated the affidavit filed against him Monday. A video of one scene "shows Daniele acting with the mob, as others also participate in moving barriers," according to an affidavit.

“Daniele admitted that he ultimately entered the Capitol building through a broken doorway that was next to a broken window,” an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. “According to Daniele, he only entered one large space of the building and after looking for a bathroom and not finding one, left immediately thereafter,” the affidavit states.

The former state trooper, who retired in 2013, faces federal charges including civil disorder, entering a restricted area and disorderly conduct in a federal building.

IN OTHER NEWS: Florida sheriff hurls expletives at neo-Nazi 'scumbags' invading his county

Daniele initially identified himself in photographs taken at the Capitol in a 2021 interview with law enforcement authorities. They had been posted on Twitter by the self-described “sedition hunter” citizens who worked together online after the Capitol riot to identify participants.

A detective with the State Police Cyber Threat Intelligence Unit had alerted the FBI about the photos, according to the court documents.

Daniele has been released on $100,000 bail.

In another case against an accused high-profile Capitol rioter, law enforcement finally busted the so-called "Sedition Panda" spotted at the scene, according to officials.

Federal authorities announced Monday that Jesse James Rumson was arrested in Florida Friday. Rumson, allegedly the rioter notably photographed in a large panda head the day of the Capitol siege, has been charged with a number of crimes, including assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds.