- Wendi Strauch Mahoney
On Jan. 6, 2021, Casey Cusick arrived at around 3:00 p.m. at the Capitol, entering the building through an open door on the West Side. He had traveled to D.C. on Jan. 6 with his 73-year-old father, who is a pastor and Purple Heart Veteran, and his father’s elderly friend David Lesperance. On June 24, 2021, approximately nine cops and FBI agents showed up at Cusick’s door around 7:45 a.m. and put Cusick in handcuffs and ankle shackles in front of his wife Ruth, and their two young girls, ages three and one year old. The three-year-old innocently asked, “Mommy, why are they locking Daddy’s hands?” Cusick says his daughter, now six, no longer trusts law enforcement. His wife captured part of his arrest in the footage below:
His little girl asked a good question because Cusick is yet another J6 defendant who quietly walked inside the Capitol building to find a bathroom and went back out the same door 10 minutes later. Cusick told UncoverDC, “We literally did nothing besides walk in the building. We didn't throw anything. We didn't shout anything. We didn't even chant.” He, his father, and Lesperance now have four misdemeanor charges on his record for looking for a bathroom with permission from Capitol police inside the Capitol building.
On the day of his arrest, Cusick describes what he experienced:
"Cops arrived at my doorstep with AR15s while my girls, ages three and one at the time, watched. It terrified them. Nine cops, I think there were, with all the FBI agents and everything. It was just terrible. FBI were all over my front yard in front of neighbors and my family. They took me out and cuffed me in front of the girls and my wife."
Then they showed me a picture of myself in a Trump beanie and a North Face jacket and said, 'We want these two things.' I told them I would get those things if they promised not to raid my house. They told me they were not going to do that. At that point, they had me shackled at my wrists and ankles. I asked them how they could do this to innocent Americans. One of them told me I was the easiest one whom they had arrested and that they had been doing this all over Florida. I told them I would quit the FBI if I was asked to do their job. There's no way I could start doing that to Americans. I don't care what side of the aisle they were on. It is pure insanity."
Cusick's father was arrested the same day. Cusick says he had been followed for months prior to his arrest as well. He guesses they had been following him since Jan. 20, 2021, up until the day of his arrest on June 24th. At one point, he asked the agents what they had been doing to tail him.
"They told me they began to worry when my truck went missing. A couple of weeks before my arrest, I had to bring my truck to the shop because there was a chip shortage at the time. To buy another used car would have been expensive. So I took the truck to the shop to see how much it would cost to rebuild the engine. Long story short, at that point, I asked the agent, 'Were you sitting outside my house 8 hours a day?' He said, 'Well, let's put it like this. I know you went to Home Depot two days ago and bought a piece of wood. Not only did I follow you there, I walked inside. I watched you make your purchase and everything.'"
The agents also asked him about his affiliations, whether he was in the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, or the Three Percenters. Cusick says he has no interest in any of those groups but told the agents they surely must know his affiliations if they were following him to Home Depot. He would have attended meetings after all.
As with all J6 defendants who have been arrested, Cusick’s life has changed dramatically. He lost his business and has struggled to keep a job due to what he believes is fear on the part of those who might employ him. Local news channels have “trashed him,” showing little curiosity for his side of the story. Cusick's social media accounts have been permanently disabled without recourse.
The truth of the matter is that Cusick, his dad and friend never did anything but peacefully protest on Jan. 6. By the time he arrived at the Capitol building, there were no signs of violence or restricted access. In fact, one of the four misdemeanor crimes he is charged with is 40 U.S.C. § 5104 (e)(2)(D) (Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building), one of the usual J6 charges. Given he entered the building through a “wide open door with police standing at the door watching people go in and out,”the charge makes no sense whatsoever. He spent most of his time looking for a bathroom after asking an officer where it might be. It was too crowded, so he turned around and left the building in under 10 minutes.
Cusick describes the demeanor of the police he encountered “They were standing by the door. And the fact that they were letting people walk in and out, people were shaking their hand, and they weren't saying anything. It made me think that they had the thing under control. So whatever had happened that day, we didn't know. We had no idea. It wasn't until we got back to the hotel that night that we were like, what the heck is all this?” referring to the riots being reported all over legacy media.
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