Maryland election official resigns after arrest on Jan. 6 charges
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Supporters of President Trump storm the U.S. Capitol building. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein for The Washington Post via Getty Images
A Maryland elections board official resigned after the FBI arrested him on charges related to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot this week.
The big picture: The Maryland State Board Elections chair confirmed Thursday he accepted the resignation of the Republican official, Carlos Ayala, who's accused of climbing a police barricade and "jabbing a flag and flagpole" at a U.S. Capitol Police officer while also urging a police line defending the complex to "join us."
State of play: Ayala, of Salisbury, Md., was charged on Tuesday with civil disorder, a felony and related misdemeanor offenses, per a Department of Justice statement.
- "Ayala was identified as among a group of rioters illegally gathered on restricted Capitol grounds near the scaffolding erected for the upcoming Inauguration," the DOJ alleges.
- "Ayala wore a sweatshirt hood cinched tightly around his head, a grey 3M-style painter's mask with large filters on each cheek, and, at times, carried a distinctive black and white flag affixed to a PVC pipe flagpole bearing the words 'We the People' and 'DEFEND.' Featured prominently on the flag was an image of an M-16-style rifle."
Flashback: The 52-year-old had been unanimously confirmed last March by the Maryland Senate to serve on the Board of Elections, which oversees most all functions for elections, the Washington Post notes.
Go deeper: FBI captures three Jan. 6 defendants on third anniversary of Capitol riot
