HERE’S THE CALIFORNIANS WE IDENTIFIED AT THE CAPITOL STORMING
January 19, 2021
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DESERTBORDER, WATERSPIDER, JAMES STOUT
After four years of amping up his followers on racism and conspiracy theories, Donald Trump brought followers to the Washington, DC, Wednesday, January the 6th. They marched on the Capitol building as Congress was voting to ratify the results of the election Trump lost and pretended was stolen from him. Trump supporters ransacked the building, posing for photos and live-streaming themselves along the way.
The people who stormed the Capitol came from across the United States. Here are some Californians LCRW independently identified as present at the coup attempt, as well as some other notable Californians present that day. Some are cops, pastors, and former government officials. While not everyone identified in this list ransacked the building, they were all present and in support of an attempt to overturn a free and fair election.
This article will be updated as our reporters identify more people.
LOS ANGELES/ORANGE COUNTY AREA
GINA BISIGNANO
Gina Bisignano of Beverly Hills, owner of Gina’s Eyelashes & Skincare, stood above a gang of rioters trying to break into the west side of the Capitol building, shouting for them to pursue their course. Her flashy attire that day, decked out in a Louis Vuitton sweater, designer pink glasses and a long black trench coat, might have you second guess the words coming out of her mouth. “We need gas masks! We need weapons!” Bisignano shouts directly before a man is seen passing a bat through the crowd, which was then used to beat cops.
In another video she is crawling through a broken window into the Capitol building, continuing to holler, but this time for more patriots to follow her inside.
Bisignano was next to one of the entryways bombarded by one of the many mobs battering the Capitol police that day. She was participating vocally with the crowd and threw a water bottle at the police that were attempting to keep themselves from being pummeled by the relentless crowd. At one point, she looks at the camera filming her and makes the white power “okay” symbol and says “proud girl.”
Outside of the Capitol building, Bisignano introduced herself (and her business) to a live-streamer called Political Trance Tribune. “Gina Bisignano, I’m from Beverly Hills,” she says in the video, and then takes the opportunity to promote her eyelash business, “You can find me on Instagram, Gina’s Beverly Hills,” all before going on a nonsensical rant about the Lord and Trump. Lifting her sunglasses from her head, you can see runny black makeup painting her face from her eyes down–a result of getting tear gassed by Capitol police.
Bisignano was interviewed by a Beverly Hills newspaper and said that a man in the crowd had told her what to yell over the megaphone, which seems unlikely given that at one point she yelled “You are not going to take away our Trumpy Bear!” She also claimed that she had tried to call the FBI to talk about her actions in DC, but didn’t get through because she had to go to work. The FBI managed to catch up with her though, and Bisignano was arrested less than two weeks after the riot, January 19th.
The FBI partially relied on LCRW’s work to make a case against Bisignano. In a statement of facts filed to establish probable cause in Bisignano’s case, an agent with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force even included a screenshot of a video Waterspider posted to Twitter, complete with Waterspider’s captions. The agent also quoted from the captions written by Waterspider, writing “In still another video, BISIGNANO is heard speaking into a bullhorn stating ‘We the people are not going to take it any more. You are not going to take away our [unintelligible]. You are not going to take away our votes. And our freedom, and I thank God for it. This is 1776, and we the people will never give up. We will never let our country go to the globalists. George Soros, you can go to hell.” After publishing the video, we determined the “[unintelligible]” was “Trumpy bear.”
The Capitol event wasn’t Gina’s only appearance in the news. Back in November, Bisignano hit it big with an outright homophobic rant, spouting “f*****t” and “piece of shit” to a counter protester at one of the Beverly Hills Trump rallies. Alongside her vitriolic outbursts, she mockingly questioned whether this same person was a boy or a girl, told them that they are brainwashed by MKUltra, and that they probably had an abortion that morning.
Gina told the Beverly Hills Courier “My life is over, I’m going to jail. I’m going to lose my son.” Probably for the best, Gina!
EDWARD BADALIAN
Ed Badalian is an antisemite and a Capitol stormer. And he really likes violence.
Badalian, who posted a list on Facebook of supposed crimes that Jews are allowed to commit against gentiles, gained some limited LA-area fame in October of last year when he stood in the middle of a crowd of antifascists with a giant wooden flag pole screaming obscenities. When he failed to provoke anyone into fighting him, he simply began hitting people in the head with the pole at random. This did not end too well for Badalian, as seen in the picture above.
Having failed to learn his lesson, Badalian traveled to DC and took part in the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6. After getting in a fight outside the Capitol with someone who was trying to break a window (he was apparently under the mistaken impression that the person was Antifa), he entered the building and roamed around for a bit, at one point moving furniture to help other rioters gain access to a hallway leading to Congressional offices.
Badalian, a 26-year-old Armenian-American from Burbank, is heavily into violent rhetoric on social media, swearing “physical consequences” for anyone who “violates my right to speak online.” He’s also a hardcore fan of murderous teenager Kyle Rittenhouse, referring to Rittenhouse’s victims as “psychotic bloodthirsty scum” and ranting that the teen’s criminal record “should remain clean so he can become the exemplary officer he has demonstrated he is capable of being.”
Badalian’s Facebook was deleted after we published a Twitter thread about his activities at the Capitol. We’re going to go out on a limb and say that’s not a great loss to the world.
DANIEL J. RODRIGUEZ
Ed Badalian’s buddy Daniel J. Rodriguez, of Fontana, CA, did some serious damage to a window inside the Capitol, using a pole that appears to have come from a broken door or piece of furniture inside the building. Rodriguez was spotted on video inside the west side of the Capitol building, smashing a window repeatedly in an effort to let more rioters in.
Rodriguez has been a fixture in pro-Trump, pro-Covid and anti-democracy protests in the LA area. At one Beverly Hills event, he was spotted on video accosting a man–presumably a counterprotester–in a wheelchair, grabbing the chair from behind and jerking the man about. Thankfully, the man does not appear to have been hurt. Sticking to their long-established pattern of allowing Trump supporters to commit violent crimes with no consequences, the Beverly Hills Police Department did absolutely nothing to stop Danny from assaulting a wheelchair-bound man.
On Facebook, Rodriguez expresses beliefs that go well beyond normal MAGA stuff, which is itself already pretty extreme. Rodriguez believes, among other things, that far-right propagandist Andrew Breitbart was murdered by pedophiles and that Barack Obama was a “Marxist Muslim bisexual traitor,” which is actually kind of a mainstream belief in Republican politics these days except for the bisexual part.
He also claims the leader of the women’s march was a terrorist, and he thinks the royal family was somehow involved in Pizzagate, though there’s no word on which royal family.
Danny drives a very nice car with a III%ers sticker on it, simultaneously undermining the argument that economic anxiety is behind support for Trump and underscoring his dangerous far-right beliefs. The III%ers, or “Threepers” as they’re commonly known, formed under Obama as an anti-government militia and promptly switched to pro-government when Trump took office, kinda suggesting that the government was never really the problem and they were just racist all along.
MONICA ALSTON
Orange County Sheriff’s Special Officer Monica Marie Alston proudly posed for a picture at the Capitol with friends, including the former Irvine Mayor’s executive assistant, Stephanie Martinez. Helpfully, her friend Sunsue Tamai posted a video of Alston, Martinez, and an as-yet-unidentified friend at the very front at the Capitol, which took some “pushing through” to get to, according to Tamai.
In the video you can see Alston rooting on the stormers of the Capitol and chanting “lose your job” at the cops, having already passed the barricades into the restricted zone. In this same video Alston’s friend, Tamai, divulges her thoughts on what happened at the Capitol, proclaiming she’s utterly confused as to why people are criticizing the events.
Alston was very active on Twitter, until a thread we posted about her convinced her to delete her account. She made no secret of her Q-pilled worldview, believing, for example, that the Biden/Harris administration is under control of the Chinese Communist Party.
Before leaving for the Capitol she posted a picture with the caption “We’re gonna fight like hell, I’ll tell you that!” and a week after the ruckus, she commented underneath a post by Mike Pompeo that simply read “AMERICA FIRST” to assure the then-Secretary of State that “We are waiting and preparing.” That same day she remarked on a post linking to Trump’s speech which incited the Capitol violence, “I just read the entire speech… and yep!!! Found nothing in there inciting violence! NOTHING!” She seems to have forgotten her own “fight like hell” post was a direct quote from Trump.
Her clearly unhinged worldview raises questions about how she might handle situations out on the street, in uniform–especially given that she shows oodles of excitement at getting under people’s skin and witnessing their temper tantrums. She also commented approvingly on a friend’s post claiming to have lawn signs made that say “snitches get stitches,” which doesn’t exactly strike us as appropriate online behavior for a law-enforcement officer.
Unlike many LEOs, Alston doesn’t brag about her OC sheriff identity on social media. She slipped up a few times though. Earlier in the pandemic she posted a video of an NYPD policeman knocking on the door of someone who was undoubtedly having a party inside, which was illegal at that time. Alston was disgusted by this police officer’s behavior (patrolling the person’s house due to illegal activity) and mentioned that she would never do something of this nature. It was a blatant representation of communism according to Alston. As mentioned, her social media is packed with Qanon propaganda so she probably (definitely!) doesn’t believe in COVID anyways. She is seen not wearing a mask at the Capitol. Alston also appears to have attended at least one (explicitly illegal) “Curfew Breakers” protest in Huntington Beach, CA.
This wasn’t the only example of Alston crossing the thin blue line. After the Capitol riot, she commented that the cop who had been brutally beaten by a fire extinguisher and died due to injuries the following day, was a hoax, a set-up by Antifa. According to Alston, the Capitol rioters (presumably including her and her friends) were not Trump supporters but “Antifa with Lipstick on.”
The present Irvine Mayor, Farrah N. Khan, commented on our Monica Alston thread, tipping us off to the identity of another Capitol rioter pictured with Alston–the executive assistant to previous Irvine Mayor Christina Shea. Thank you, Mayor Khan!
Shea’s executive assistant, Stephanie Martinez, was indeed the lady in the photo. Martinez keeps her Facebook professional. She even posted some COVID stats and asked people to “Stay Home” earlier in the pandemic. Martinez does not have a mask in the Capitol photos.
Martinez is no longer an executive assistant at Irvine City Hall, and removed a reference to her former role after we posted our thread on Monica Alston. Alston, on the other hand, has made bigger changes to her social media presence. Her Facebook is now private and her heinous Twitter account has been deleted. As Alston says, “Twitter is not fun without President Trump!” so that worked out for her.
KENNEDY LINDSEY
Kennedy Lindsey was a little worried when she heard a woman had been killed during the Capitol riot. But not worried enough to let it interrupt her quest for a doobie.
“So one possibly dead right now,” she says in a stream uploaded to her TikTok. “We’re here at the building. And, holy shit. So we’re going to go meet some friends and get centered. We’re smelling weed and we can’t find it! This is our, this is what we’re doing, we can’t, we’re smelling weed, we couldn’t find it!”
In another video, seemingly from the night before the Capitol riot, Lindsey complains that DC police took her weapons away, referring to a pole she had found on the street.
Another video in which Lindsey makes a cameo appearance is Baked Alaska’s stream on DLive, in which Lindsey can be seen inside the capitol building as cops and rioters mill about.
Lindsey is a hardcore QAnoner whose Facebook posts occasionally veer into full-on neo-Nazism, such as a post done in the “fashwave” style that reads “They burn your culture to replace it with their crude mockery. And then say that you never had any.” The post, a straightforward recitation of a common white-nationalist propaganda line, was taken from an openly neo-Nazi Facebook account operated under the name “John H. Holliday,” likely a pseudonym. Lindsey is not white, and identifies herself as Korean, but this does not preclude her from being a neo-Nazi, as the example of Heon “Hank” Jong Yoo makes clear.
Holliday makes no effort to hide his neo-Nazism, frequently posting anti-Semitic content and crossposting content from other neo-Nazis such as the cartoonist Stonetoss.
Lindsey has unsuccessfully tried to make a name for herself as a Q-pilled “reporter” in the LA area, and as of this writing no videos on her Bitchute have garnered more than 100 views. She’s been mildly more successful on TikTok, occasionally gaining a few thousand views.
Lindsey has sometimes teamed up with LA-area videographer Travis Whitcher. During the first months of the George Floyd uprisings, Whitcher was a frequent presence at BLM protests, until he was run off from the movement for being deeply creepy towards women and femmes. At that point, he seamlessly switched to creating far-right content, and travelled around to pro-Trump protests with Lindsey.
In November of last year, Whitcher and Lindsey arrived to a protest by the LA Tenants Union against real-estate developer K3 Holdings. The pair repeatedly inaccurately refer to the Tenants’ Union as “BLM” and Lindsey rants about how much more peaceful Trump rallies are than BLM protests, which is obviously rather ironic given her later activities at the Capitol.
They eventually approach a group of protesters, who hold up umbrellas to prevent Whitcher from filming them. Protesters attempt to explain to Lindsey that Whitcher is not on her side, and was a BLM supporter until he was kicked out of the movement for being a “pervert” and a “predator.” Whitcher responds by whining that “asking somebody out for a date is not anything wrong.”
The protest ends peacefully, and the two fail to secure any interviews. Whitcher and Lindsey were most recently spotted, maskless, with a group of anti-mask conspiracy theorists who illegally entered a Century City shopping mall and Target without masks. A shopper was seen threatening Whitcher (in orange jacket in video below) and other protesters with a bottle of disinfectant spray, which is the objectively correct response.
SAN DIEGO AREA
DEFEND EAST COUNTY
JUSTIN HASKINS
Haskins is a resident of Yuma, Arizona, but he and his wife Allie run the Defend East County (DEC) group. DEC has been de-platformed and renamed half a dozen times this summer. Haskins has attempted to start dozens of other groups and seems to revel in his “leadership” role in East County anti-Black activism. Haskins posted videos on his Instagram of himself at the steps of the capitol near where a Capitol Police officer was beaten by protesters. OSINT analysis of the video obtained by CNN puts Haskins outside of the crowd that beat the officer, but Haskins cut his stream just as the beating was starting.
BRET SCHAFER
Schafer was a member of DEC Choir Boys, a group of extremists more dedicated to violence than the rest of DEC. He posted video from the steps of the capitol just feet from where a police officer was beaten after being dragged down a set of steps by protesters
DIANNE MCCORMICK
Diane posted her airline itinerary on Facebook. She also indicated she was interested in attending the Facebook event for the “Stop The Steal” rally. She’s a member of Defend East County and may have worked in the past as a realtor.
LA MESA YELLOW VESTS
SCOTT MCMILLAN
McMillian is a lawyer in El Cajon who rose to prominence advocating mass die offs to save the economy. He has also tried to organize a armed civil defense patrol in La Mesa. He gave and interview to NBC in DC . McMillan has been spotted surveilling protests in La Mesa and El Cajon and has advocated for violence against protesters all summer.
SHAWN MCMILLAN
Brother of Scott McMillan. They ran or run a law office and law school together, which appears to have never had a graduate. He also unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the San Diego Superior Court. His campaign was derailed by numerous racist and transphobic memes he had posted. He, along with a younger member of their family, was identified by Scott McMillan in his interview.
“P” MCMILLAN
Scott’s nephew was also present in DC, he may be a minor and we have decided not to give any more information because of this.
MARINA WALLIS
Wallis is a member of McMillan’s “La Mesa Civil Defense” group . She works as a nurse and lives in El Cajon. She is also a Brand ambassador for “The Patriot’s Cave” and posted a picture of herself at the capitol, though her personal social media accounts have now been deleted.
CHURCH GROUPS
DAVID CHIDDICK
Chiddick lives in Escondido Ca where he owns a coffee shop called “The Koffie” that openly flouts COVID regulations and likes to post its cups on Instagram lined up to spell “KKK”. The local Branch of the Anti-Defamation League has called his rhetoric “dangerous” . Chiddick is also a pastor at Awaken Church and has spoken at an anti-mask event in San Diego hosted by The Village Café.
JON HEINRICHS
Heinrichs is also a pastor at Awaken Church and lives in El Cajon, CA. According to his bio there. He was spotted in a live video with Chiddick and has also appeared at The Village Café.
DEVIN R. QUINN
Devin conducts outreach to Messianic Jews at the Rock Church in San Diego and posted his airline ticket he also posted a video to his Twitter. He posted videos of barricades (archived) , himself at the capitol, and his DC Hotel.
He lives in North County.
RAPPERS
FORGATIO BLOW
Blow is a vehemently pro Trump white rapper whose son attended the Pacific Beach Patriot March. He is interviewed occasionally by conservative publications and has complained that “being a white rapper can be difficult”. He has performed at anti curfew protests in Huntington Beach this year.
ROCKY LUCIANO
Luciano is an associate of Blow and also makes pro trump music. Both he and Blow were easily identified based on facial tattoos.
NEW PATRIOT WAVE
FRANCESCO DE MEO
De Meo lives in Vista Ca, and appears in several videos from the capital. He likes to record death threats to antifa . He was seen chatting with SDPD officers in Pacific Beach on Saturday. He is visible along with other group members in their Instagram posts. He was outed by his mother (archived.)
DAVID RAMSES
Ramses is a member of “New Patriot Wave” and was identified by anti fascists reflected in a riot shield in DC. He also attended the Pacific beach rally. He is visible along with other group members in their Instagram posts which were identified after DeMeo’s mother outed them in a reply to Lin Wood on Twitter.
KICK CUNNINGHAM
Cunningham is also a member of “New Patriot Wave” and also returned from DC to protest in Pacific Beach the following Saturday He is visible along with other group members in their Instagram posts.
TONY BE
Be is also a member of “New Patriot Wave”, this may not be his legal name. He is visible along with other group members in their Instagram posts. He is visible along with other group members in their Instagram posts.
UNAFFILIATED INDIVIDUALS
ASHLI BABBIT
You’ve probably heard her name by now. Ashli was an Air Force Veteran and Q anon believer who owned a pool cleaning company. She died in DC.
JEFFREY “ALEX” SMITH
Alex Smith was pictured inside the capitol, and attended High School in Coronado. Smith posted selfies in his Instagram page. He has since deleted the account. Smith lives in Coronado, CA.
BLAKE MARNELL
Blake works at Costco and owns a jacket that looks like a wall. Marnell travelled to a trump rally in Phoenix in February and appears to have travelled the country attending rallies for Trump this year. He’s visible in his own selfies at the protest. He used to attend fun runs under the hilarious team name FEMA(le) search and rescue. He thinks Antifa did the coup, He’s wanted by police for his actions at the capitol because he took videos of himself storming the capitol.