A UCLA student from California who founded a right-wing campus political organization is facing federal charges of participating in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, where he was allegedly seen sitting in then-Vice President Mike Pence's Senate chair, officials said Wednesday.
Christian Secor, 22, was taken into custody Tuesday after agents searched his home, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. He was charged with suspicion of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, violent entry and remaining on restricted grounds, civil disorder and obstructing an official proceeding, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in the District of Columbia.
Secor appeared in Santa Ana federal court Tuesday where a magistrate judge ordered him held without bail.
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According to an affidavit filed in support of the charges, Secor can be seen on video footage pushing his way past officers attempting to block doors leading into the Capitol, while wearing a red hat bearing the slogan "Make America Great Again.''
He can also be spotted on the floor of the Senate and sitting in the chair of the presiding officer, while carrying a flag with the words "America First,'' according to the document.
Bill Kisliuk, UCLA's director of media relations, did not comment specifically about Secor.
"Information on this person is not available to the public,'' Kisliuk said. "What I can tell you is that UCLA believes the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol was an attack on our democracy. As an institution, UCLA is committed to mutual respect, making decisions based on evidence and using rational debate and not physical violence.''
The affidavit states that a fellow student identified Secor as a UCLA undergrad and founder of America First Bruins, a conservative campus organization. Other people who allegedly knew him supplied photos of the defendant participating at a rally in Huntington Beach, and told agents that he has written on social media that America should become a "whites-only'' nation, according to the complaint.
Last month, a Huntington Beach man was arrested on federal charges of participating in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Mark Steven Simon, 49, was charged with misdemeanor counts of entering restricted buildings or grounds, unlawful activities on Capitol grounds and disorderly conduct.
Also in January, a Beaumont man and Federal Aviation Administration employee who subscribed to the QAnon conspiracy theory was charged after allegedly confessing to taking part in the U.S. Capitol breech, according to court documents. Kevin Strong, 44, was charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, entering or remaining in a restricted area and being disorderly or disruptive in a restricted area.
