WASHINGTON — A Connecticut politician who admitted to an NBC News affiliate last year that he entered the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack is now facing federal charges.
Derby, Connecticut, Alderman Gino DiGiovanni is set to self-surrender and appear in federal court on Tuesday afternoon, NBC Connecticut reported. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut confirmed that DiGiovanni, the Republican nominee for mayor in Derby, will make a court appearance at 3:30 p.m. in New Haven.
Online sleuths known as “Sedition Hunters,” who have identified hundreds of participants in the Jan. 6 attack, tipped off NBC News about DiGiovanni, who was wearing a “DiGiovanni & Sons” jacket when he entered the Capitol unmasked.
“I was there, I went inside there, and, you know, I didn’t damage or break anything,” DiGiovanni told NBC Connecticut last year.
It is not clear what charges DiGiovanni will face, but most defendants who entered the Capitol and didn’t have any aggravating conduct are charged with four misdemeanor counts. About 1,100 defendants have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack, and more than 300 have received sentences of incarceration.
DiGiovanni is not the only Republican candidate to be charged in connection with the Capitol attack. Last month, former Michigan gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of entering and remaining on restricted grounds. He will be sentenced in October.
DiGiovanni said last year that he was “going to have to deal with that” if he got a call saying he would be charged.
“I wouldn’t want to be arrested for it,” DiGiovanni said last year. “I guess hindsight is 20-20.”