Why it matters: Matthew Martin, who held a top-secret security clearance, is now the first person to be acquitted after being accused of taking part in the Capitol uprising. His case could now be used as an example to defend other participants in the January 6 trial, BuzzFeed News notes. Details: U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden acquitted him after a two-day trial, which Martin chose instead of a DC jury trial, saying his actions were “minimal and not serious,” according to NBC News.
The judge found that Martin “reasonably believed” that police had allowed him to enter the Capitol, according to BuzzFeed. Martin was fired from his job to travel to DC after reading then-President Trump’s unfounded allegations of electoral fraud, according to the Justice Department. After attending a Trump rally before the attack, he took videos of the crowd invading the Capitol, including images from a broken window on a US Capitol door. During his trial, he said he did not see clearly what was happening around him during the uprising, although the DOJ said it had admitted to seeing the shattered glass, according to NBC News. “I did not see any violence,” Martin said, adding that he had “positive” personal experiences other than accusations. If he had the opportunity to repeat on January 6, he said he would stay away from the Capitol, but claimed that he “enjoyed everything else”. “It’s hard for me to say I regret coming to Washington, DC”
It is worth noting: McFadden, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, had previously convicted an elected New Mexico official of entering the Capitol on January 6, but acquitted him of disorderly conduct. The big picture: The FBI has arrested more than 700 people in connection with the uprising.
