Amanda Voisard for The Washington Post
A special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration trespassed with his government-issued firearm on the Capitol grounds Jan. 6 and then lied about his actions, according to federal prosecutors.
Mark Ibrahim, who was arrested Tuesday, is not accused of entering the Capitol building. Prosecutors say he entered the restricted grounds around the building shortly after barricades were torn down by the mob and then repeatedly showed off his badge and gun to other protesters. He then falsely claimed he was there to help the FBI, prosecutors say.
According to the court record, Ibrahim, of Orange County, Calif., arrived at the Capitol just after 1 p.m. Jan. 6 and was there when the barricades around the building were torn down. He appears in several photographs inside the collapsed barricades, near the Senate steps. About 3 p.m., he filmed a video of himself on the Peace Monument outside the building.
Ibrahim took personal leave to attend the Jan. 6 rally, the government said.
In a voluntary interview, according to the government, Ibrahim told an agent for the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General that he went to the Capitol to assist a friend who was documenting the event for the FBI. The friend told the agent that he was not there in any formal capacity for the FBI and that Ibrahim had concocted the story, according to the court records. According to the friend, Ibrahim went to the Capitol to promote a podcast and cigar brand he planned to launch after leaving the DEA.
Ibrahim was a probationary DEA employee and had given notice of his intention to resign several weeks before Jan. 6, according to prosecutors.
Ibrahim has said he was suspended and then fired, protesting the punishment through an attorney.
“Mr. Ibrahim was not part of, affiliated with nor participatory in any trespass or violent acts and vehemently denounces them. Those participants comprised only a fraction of the total attendees,” Ibrahim attorney Darren Richie wrote in March.
In an interview on Fox News in March, Ibrahim said he attended the rally with his brother, an FBI special agent.
“They got it wrong,” Ibrahim said. He said a friend he served with in Iraq asked him to help “document everything” and said he handed footage over to the FBI “so those criminals could face justice.”
Richie did not immediately return a request for comment
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July 21, 2021 at 01:19AM
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Mark Ibrahim arrested, accused of lying about role in Jan. 6 Capitol riot - The Washington Post
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