‘Bob’s Burgers’ actor charged on January 6: he allegedly clashed with Capitol police
Jay Johnston surrendered to the FBI on Wednesday.
Actor Jay Johnston has been charged in connection with the January 6 riot at the United States Capitol.
Johnston, whose credits include ‘Anchorman’, ‘Arrested Development’, ‘Bob’s Burgers’ and ‘The Sarah Silverman Program’, is charged with unlawfully entering the US Capitol complex and disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted area during the 2021 insurgency, according to court documents.
He surrendered to the FBI in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Efforts to reach a lawyer for him were unsuccessful.
Johnston was among the crowd in the West Capitol Square where he and others forced police into a tunnel that led to the building, according to the Justice Department. Inside the tunnel, Johnston allegedly used a stolen police riot shield to push the police back several times.
The rioters shouted “Heave! Ho!” as they pushed against the officers, according to an FBI affidavit, which described Johnston as a participant in a “group assault” against officers.
Jay Johnston attends the Comedy Central Emmy After Party at The Falcon on September 20, 2009 in Los Angeles.
Noel Vasquez/Getty Images, FILE
As part of its Jan. 6 investigation, the FBI shared a photo of Johnston on Capitol Hill, and in March 2021 his attorney called authorities to identify him.
Three people who know Johnston corroborated his identity, an FBI agent said in the affidavit, and one of those three people shared a text they said Johnston wrote about being on Capitol Hill.
“The news presented it as an attack. It actually wasn’t,” Johnston allegedly wrote, according to the affidavit. “I thought it kind of turned into that. It was a mess. I was massaged and tear gassed and found it quite unpleasant.”
Johnston’s arrest is one of more than 1,000 cases filed Jan. 6 by Justice Department prosecutors to date.
ABC News
