Shawn Bradley Witzemann had operated a successful small plumbing business for years, but his life drastically changed after attending a Trump rally at the nation’s capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“I (also) did different contracting jobs and that helped me when I decided I wanted to start a media company," he said. "It was because that plumbing business took care of itself in a lot of ways.”
The Mountain View resident attended the rally that was staged in support of Trump as a journalist and now is facing criminal charges after following a crowd of protestors into the U.S. Capitol.
“That plumbing business really evaporated as a result of the negative press,” he told the St. Louis Record. “Obviously, when everyone's running around from the mainstream media screaming insurrectionist, insurrectionist, insurrectionist. That’s a problem.”
About a week after the Jan. 6 rally, Witzemann was interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
“I turned over everything I had to the FBI and did everything I could on that,” he said.
Everything he turned over includes video footage Witzemann filmed from within the U.S. Capitol. Some four months later on April 1, 2021, Witzemann was arrested and charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds as well as disorderly and disruptive conduct.
“The police used to tell you what to do but there was not a whole lot of clear direction going on at any point that day,” Witzemann told the St.Louis Record. “It was chaos. I don’t think the large majority of people who were there had any idea that what they were doing was illegal.”
Department of Justice (DOJ) charging documents obtained by the St. Louis Record accuse Witzemann of attempting to climb up the scaffolding to get a better view of the crowd with his cell phone camera.
“He came down off the scaffolding after a police officer told him to get down,” according to a DOJ statement of facts posted online. “Witzemann stated that he then walked to the North entrance of the Capitol building and entered there at approximately 2:30 p.m. Witzemann made his way to the rotunda of the Capitol building. While inside the Capitol building, Witzemann used his cell phone to make video recordings. Witzemann stated that at approximately 4:30 p.m., after being told by a police officer to leave, he left the Capitol building through what he believed were the back doors.”
Witzemann’s trial is scheduled for July 19 in Washington, D.C.
“That's the way they framed it but the way they've picked and chosen which journalists have been charged, doesn't make a whole lot of sense,” he added. “A lot of people might say that I have the wrong political ideas or whatever and that's why they have decided to come after me but that doesn't really make any sense either because I've seen people who say much more inflammatory things than me that went in and they're fine. I think it's just a lot of government overreach. They're missing things.”