A California man who allegedly had a machete and bayonet in a truck with white supremacist symbols on it was arrested late Sunday night near the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Donald Craighead, 44, of Oceanside, California, was arrested for unlawful possession of banned weapons, Capitol Police said in a press release Monday announcing the arrest.
An officer pulled over Craighead once he spotted that his Dodge Dakota did not have a license plate, only an American flag, police said.
Craighead “began talking about white supremacist ideology and other rhetoric pertaining to white supremacy” upon his arrest, the USCP said, and he also claimed that he was “on patrol.”
The USCP tweeted photos of the interior and exterior of the truck, which appear to show the machete and swastikas drawn on the rearview mirrors:
USCP Officers Arrest California Man with Bayonet & Machete: https://t.co/0mhsoOC8vX pic.twitter.com/9SR1NXsJV6
— U.S. Capitol Police (@CapitolPolice) September 13, 2021
The arrest comes days before a pro-Trump rally that will be held in D.C. on Saturday in support of the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, whom ex-President Donald Trump and his allies have tried to rebrand as political prisoners.
The DNC headquarters are located just a few blocks away from the Capitol.
Pipe bombs were place near the DNC and the Republican National Committee headquarters the night before the Jan. 6 insurrection. A culprit has not been identified.
