Former congressman Dana Rohrabacher breached Capitol police barricades on Jan. 6

Newly released footage from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol shows former Orange County Congressman Dana Rohrabacher joined a crowd that crossed police barricades, making him the highest profile politician known to be on the ground that day.

Rohrabacher is not among the 500-plus people who’ve been charged with crimes connected to Jan. 6, and there’s no evidence he entered the Capitol building or participated in any of the violence that unfolded.

He didn’t respond to requests to speak for this story, though he told the Press Herald in Maine that he marched peacefully Jan. 6 and “was not there to make a scene and do things that were unacceptable for anyone to do.”

But online critics also are pointing to a speech Rohrabacher gave during a “Stop the Steal” rally in Huntington Beach a few weeks before the insurrection, where he referenced the Revolutionary War and told the cheering crowd that “Communists” were trying to “take control of our government.”

‘This is your crisis, patriots,” he said in video posted to his Facebook page. “…It’s all up to us.”

The Dec. 12 rally was organized by former La Habra police chief Alan Hostetter of San Clemente, whose nonprofit, American Phoenix Project, advocates for overhauling the U.S. government and news media. Rohrabacher stood by and grinned as Hostetter made claims about a rigged presidential election and said “execution is the just punishment for the ringleaders of this coup.”

Hostetter was charged June 10 for his suspected role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. He pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and aiding and abetting his alleged co-conspirators, which carry a total possible sentence of 30 years prison.

Hostetter’s attorney, Bilal A. Essayli, said Rohrabacher and Hostetter were not together at the Capitol.

“My client did not see Congressman Rohrabacher in Washington, DC. We believe anyone peacefully protesting outside the capitol is protected by the First Amendment and should not be facing felony charges.”

Former Costa Mesa Councilman Jim Righeimer, who was Rohrabacher’s campaign chairman, said his former boss was always a “bit of a rebel” but not the type to “go against Capitol police.”

“I could see Dana being at a rally,” Righeimer said. “I could never see Dana breaking the law.”

But for more than an hour on Jan. 6, Rohrabacher stood on the West lawn of the U.S. Capitol far inside breached barricades and watched as rioters battled with police, according to Capitol Hunters, which describes itself as the “Wikipedia of sedition.”

Over the weekend, the collective made up of volunteer open-source researchers posted three video clips on Twitter @capitolhunters that purport to show Rohrabacher, who is wearing an overcoat and gray ski cap.

In one video clip, gleaned from the now defunct Parler social media site, Rohrabacher can be seen holding up a cell phone while standing among a crush of protesters, many of whom are waving Trump flags and chanting “We the People” while others are perched on a nearby media tower.

1:58 PM (Parler). At this point the mob has just broken through the police lines under the NW Scaffold. https://t.co/WVDNQxrZfb sighting 0:25

Clip by @StevieG54099097. 16/ pic.twitter.com/65qFKj22ie — capitolhunters (@capitolhunters) June 14, 2021

In another video clip from a different angle, Rohrabacher can be seen looking on as protesters help one another over police barricades.

In a third clip, he is standing in a crowd while one individual can be heard shouting, “Climb over the wall, move forward” and another person adds, “We’ve gotta fight.”

On Monday, Capitol Hunters added Rohrabacher to its Capitol Suspects Database.

“We do not include perps in the Capitol Suspects Database unless they are seen on restricted Capitol grounds, past the barricades that marked the limits of public access,” the collective said on Twitter.

The FBI on Monday declined to comment on whether they were investigating Rohrabacher’s involvement in the Jan. 6 attack.

Rohrabacher served 15 terms in Congress. But in 2018 concerns about his ties to Russia that led to him being derided by critics as “Putin’s favorite Congress member” damaged him politically. With that controversy brewing, Harley Rouda ousted Rohrabacher from Orange County’s coastal 48th District during that year’s Democratic blue wave.

In April of this year Rohrabacher terminated a “Rohrabacher for Congress” committee that federal records show he’d had open since 1987. He’s still paying off an Orange County consultant who helped him win prior elections.

After his loss in 2018, Rohrabacher sold his Costa Mesa home and moved to Maine.

He quickly took leadership roles with several cannabis companies, having been an outspoken advocate for medical marijuana during his time in Congress and using cannabis to treat his own arthritis.

Rohrabacher also launched a lobbying firm called R&B Strategies with his former top aide Paul Behrend, who was staff director with the House Foreign Affairs Committee until Rep. Ed Royce fired him in 2017 over growing concerns about Behrends’ ties to Russia.

Rohrabacher’s primary lobbying client in 2020 was Linear Therapies, which said it was developing treatments to cure Covid-19. Rohrabacher canceled that lobbying contract in November.

Rohrabacher also isn’t done with politics. Local media reports that, in their new hometown of York, Maine, he and his wife have become involved in supporting local conservative politicians.