More than two years after Elias Irizarry breached the U.S. Capitol with other Trump supporters, he wrote a letter to Judge Tanya S. Chutkan while waiting for her to determine his sentence.
“I want to make it clear that I am not writing to make excuses or defend my actions,” he told Judge Chutkan of the U.S. District Court in Washington. “My participation in an event like January 6 brought great shame to myself, my family and, unfortunately, my country. »
Now Mr. Irizarry, a recent graduate of Citadel, South Carolina’s famous military college, is mounting a major challenge to a Republican in the state House of Representatives. Its website recently reported lawsuits for participating in “nonviolent activities” at the Capitol in January. 6 as proof that he “always defended the conservative movement.”
“At every pivotal moment of the America First movement,” the website said, “Elias has been there.”
The reference to Jan. 6 disappeared from the website after The New York Times discussed it with Mr. Irizarry’s Federal Public Defender. In a text message Sunday evening, Mr. Irizarry said he had initially mentioned his involvement in the January attacks. 6 riots on the bio of its website “for the sake of transparency”.
Mr. Irizarry declined interview requests, but much of his story is detailed in his court filing.
He was 19 when he entered the Capitol through a broken window, wearing a red MAGA hat and carrying a metal pole. Since then, Judge Chutkan, Republican politicians in South Carolina and the Citadel have debated whether he deserves reproach or redemption — a question posed, in one way or another, to many of the most of 1,200 Americans accused of participating. in January. 6 attack.
In South Carolina’s primaries Tuesday, the question will go to voters in the state’s House District 43, a rural area so conservative that Democrats are not fielding a candidate in the general election. Two years ago, the incumbent, state Rep. Randy Ligon, faced a primary challenger who called him “RINO Randy Ligon.” Mr. Ligon won by just 139 votes; this year, this challenger supported Mr. Irizarry.
Perhaps more importantly, Mr. Irizarry appears to have bet that primary voters would view his federal conviction for trespassing as a badge of honor. Some clearly do.
On Wednesday evening, Grant Martin, 72, a retired real estate manager from Richburg, South Carolina, said he had not yet researched the race. But he said that given Mr. Irizarry’s participation in the riot, “I would be more inclined to vote for him.”
“If I could have, I would have been there,” Mr. Martin said of January. 6 attack.
Although many Republican leaders denounced the attack in the immediate aftermath, former President Donald J. Trump, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, more recently sought to call the rioters “incredible patriots.” A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted in January found that the percentage of Republicans who approved of the January bill. 6 rioters rose to 30 percent, up from 21 percent in 2021. Among self-identified “MAGA” Republicans, approval stands at 43 percent.
As a 22-year-old political neophyte, Mr. Irizarry is the underdog in the race. A number of other January. 6 contestants who ran for office across the country this season lost, including Derrick Evans, a former West Virginia state lawmaker who pleaded guilty to a felony for his role in the attack and was defeated in a Republican primary for a seat in Congress. Can.
Yet conflicting feelings about the attack among MAGA Republicans have landed Mr. Ligon in a difficult position. In an interview Thursday, he responded when asked whether voters should hold Jan. 1. 6 against Mr. Irizarry. “I’m not going to speak for the voters,” he said.
According to court records, Mr. Irizarry spent his early years in Montclair, New Jersey, where his family was struggling economically. “We grew up in a New York suburb that prided itself on being liberal, but on the other hand, it was a city full of upper-class families who made fun of our small two-bedroom apartment,” said her older sister, Aria Irizarry. , wrote in a letter to Judge Chutkan.
He is mentioned in a 2017 newspaper article for speaking out at a town meeting against a resolution pledging to create a welcoming environment for immigrants, including undocumented immigrants.
Eventually his family moved to South Carolina. Mr. Irizarry, who was involved in the military’s Junior ROTC program and the Civil Air Patrol, had set his sights on the Citadel, with the goal of becoming an Air Force officer.
It was other members of the Civil Air Patrol who recognized him on the wanted posters that the FBI distributed in an attempt to identify Jan. 6 participants who had been filmed.
Federal officials, in court papers, said Mr. Irizarry and two friends, Elliot Bishai and Grayson Sherrill, marched to the Capitol after attending Mr. Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally nearby . Mr. Sherrill, at one point, threw a metal pole at a police officer. At another point, Mr. Bishai shouted: “Second civil war!”
Eventually, Mr. Irizarry climbed through the scaffolding to the upper west terrace of the building, where he motioned other rioters towards the stairs. After entering the Capitol, he walked around with his metal pole, shot video in a Senate conference room, took an elevator and hung out in the Rotunda. He left 27 minutes later.
He was arrested in March 2021 and pleaded not guilty to four misdemeanors. In December 2022, the Citadel suspended him for “conduct unbecoming a cadet,” but said he could respond to admission.
None of this dampened his interest in politics. Some time after his arrest, Mr. Irizarry asked if he could work as an intern for U.S. Representative Ralph Norman, a far-right lawmaker who represents the northern part of South Carolina where Mr. Irizarry had completed high school. .
David O’Neal, a member of the South Carolina House who served as Norman’s district manager at the time, said he thought the hiring was a “great idea” but that Mr. Chief Norman’s cabinet rejected the idea.
“The image of him working in the Capitol that he was accused of trespassing in was just not good,” Mr. O’Neal said in an interview.
So Mr. O’Neal finally found Mr. I’m looking for a job as a page at the Columbia State Capitol. “He’s a good kid,” Mr. O’Neal told The State newspaper at the time. “He made a mistake.”
Ultimately, Mr. Irizarry pleaded guilty to a trespassing charge as part of a plea agreement. Before the sentencing hearing in March, teachers, parents and friends wrote to Judge Chutkan, vouching for his character and noting his good grades and volunteer work. “I have no evidence that he gave up or resigned himself to an ignominious future,” wrote DuBose Kapeluck, then chair of the political science department at The Citadel.
Judge Chutkan told the court that day she had had a fitful sleep before her sentencing, calling it “one of the hardest I’ve had” among her many convictions in January. 6 cases, taking into account Mr. Irizarry’s youth and his “commendable” record before the breach.
The government took a different position, recommending 45 days in prison and painting Mr. Irizarry as a remorseless figure. Prosecutors said he and Mr. Bishai participated in a group chat titled “Civil War” after the attack, in which they “discussed the use of small planes to cross undetected borders” and discussed of their possibility of joining the Russian army if they were deported from the United States.
But Judge Chutkan was influenced by Mr. Irizarry’s note of contrition. “It’s not who you are; It’s something you did,” she told him. She ordered that he be jailed for 14 days. She later wrote a letter to the Citadel about M. on behalf of Irizarry as he sought reinstatement at the school. In it, she said he had “demonstrated impressive sincerity, remorse,
And a determination to make amends.
The Citadel, a public school founded in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1842, holds a special place of respect in a state that places a high value on military service. He is known for subjecting his cadets to grueling physical and mental challenges and for his code of honor: “A cadet does not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.” »
The school reinstated Mr. Irizarry at the start of the 2023 school year; A spokesperson declined to explain the school’s reasoning. On May 4, Mr. Irizarry graduated magna cum laude.
Mr. Irizarry had already started running for Mr. Ligon’s seat. In April, he went to a local Republican Party meeting in Chester County, where he and Mr. Ligon were invited to speak briefly. Neither mentioned January. 6.
Mr. Ligon, 63, a real estate company owner, spoke about his wife of 40 years, the sanctity of the Second Amendment and “a flood of immigrants crossing the border wanting to infiltrate our elections.”
Mr. Irizarry told the group that the state Republican Party had moved away from fiscally conservative principles, suggesting that taxpayer dollars were being recklessly spent to subsidize electric car factories.
A low-cost rural competition like this usually takes place not through physical events, but through social media, signage, push polls and text messages. Online, Mr. Irizarry’s supporters wrote articles calling him a “Trump-supporting J-6 patriot” and a “J6 prisoner” with the intent of putting “America first.”
Mr. Ligon received the approval of Mr. Atout. Mr. Irizarry was endorsed by Mr. Norman and the Republican Party of York County, the other county that partially covers the district.
After the Chester County meeting, James Reinhardt, 80, a retired radiologist and vice chairman of the county Republican Party, said he was voting for Mr. Ligon, whom he has known personally for years. But he praised Mr. Irizarry for running.
January. 6 insurrection, he said, “should not have happened.” But he also said it had been “disproportionately advantaged to Democrats.”
Mr. Irizarry, in a coat and tie, was still working in the room, surrounded by a group of clean-cut fellow cadets who had come to show their support.
“He seems to be a bright young man,” said the Dr.,” Reinhart said. “I like him because he has a haircut.” And he went to the Citadel.