A former Maine Senate candidate has pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Matthew Brackley, 40, of Waldoboro entered his plea Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington on charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, according to the Justice Department.
U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols will sentence Brackley on May 14.
Brackley flew from Portland to Washington, D.C., to attend a rally on the National Mall with others loyal to Donald Trump.
While there, he joined the large crowd of rioters amassing at the U.S. Capitol building. Inside the Capitol, Brackley and other rioters pushed against and overwhelmed a line of U.S. Capitol Police officers at the Crypt, allowing them further access into the Capitol, according to the Justice Department.
In a hallway behind the Crypt, they encountered more police officers who tried to keep them from advancing deeper into the Capitol.
Brackley was eventually able to reach the Rotunda and enter the Senate, which had been evacuated minutes earlier.
Near the Senate chamber, he encountered more police officers, two of whom ordered him and other rioters to “back up.” Brackley demanded to know where then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office was as rioters shouted obscenities behind him, the Justice Department said.
Brackley then shouted, “Let’s go,” and forced his way past the officers.
But the progress of Brackley and the other rioters was halted when they encountered officers dressed in riot gear. Brackley joined the rioters in struggling with the officers and shouted expletives directed at members of Congress, including “F— McConnell,” the Justice Department said.
Brackley and the rioters began to retreat after an officer used a chemical spray in the hallway, and he left the Capitol after roaming through its halls for more than 40 minutes, according to the Justice Department.
FBI agents arrested Brackley in Waldoboro on July 21, 2023.
Brackley is the most notable of the eight Mainers charged so far in the Capitol riot. He ran against Maine Senate Majority Leader Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, in a 2022 election in which he lost with 42 percent of votes.
More than 1,265 people have been charged for crimes related to their efforts to stop the certification of the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021, including more than 440 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony, according to the Justice Department.
