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Two More Montanans Connected To Mob At U.S. Capitol

Joshua Hughes, wearing a red beanie, walks through an aisle in the Senate Chamber. Jerod Hughes stands nearby looking at papers atop a desk.
U.S. Department of Justice
Joshua Calvin Hughes and Jerod Wade Hughes walk through the Senate Chamber on Jan. 6, 2021. The screenshot was taken from a criminal complaint document filed in the District of Columbia on Jan. 28, 2021.

The FBI says two brothers from Montana were among the first to break into the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and part of a mob that chased a Capitol Police officer.

A criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia Thursday listed nine violations, including destruction of property, obstruction of an official proceeding and impeding law enforcement, for Joshua Calvin Hughes and Jerod Wade Hughes.

Surveillance footage showed the brothers were among the first ten people to enter the U.S. Capitol after several rioters broke a window. According to the complaint, Jerod Hughes also helped kick open a door to allow other rioters inside.

The brothers then joined a group of rioters who chased Eugene Goodman, the Capitol Police Officer who lured the mob away from the Senate Chamber where members of Congress had been debating the Electoral College results from Arizona.

Joshua and Jerod Hughes later found their way to the empty Senate floor where they sat in senators' chairs and looked at sensitive materials stored in their desks.

The criminal complaint said Joshua and Jerod Hughes reported themselves to the police in Helena on January 11 after seeing themselves in news coverage of the riot and believing they were wanted by the FBI.

Several hours later, an FBI special agent interviewed the Hughes who were allowed to return home.

They were not listed on the Lewis and Clark County jail roster Friday morning.

Joshua Hughes posted an image to his Facebook page in April 2017 in which he is posing in a Make America Great Hat next to Kyle Chapman, founder of the former military wing of the far-right group the Proud Boys.