A 47-year-old Texas man charged with storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, told the FBI he had no idea what kind of business went on in there, according to a newly unsealed complaint filed in Washington, D.C., federal court.
However, Duong Dai Luu, who documented the riot with cell phone video of ransacked offices and MAGA-hatted selfies, said he probably should have known he wasn’t supposed to be on the premises.
“Luu was unable to describe the function of the Capitol building, but admitted that he recognized that it wasn’t good to be inside the building as it was the property of the government and that he was not allowed to enter without permission,” a member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) wrote in an affidavit.
Luu, who does not yet have an attorney listed in court records, was arrested Thursday in Houston. Multiple calls to Luu’s phone—which was what ultimately outed him to authorities—rang through to voicemail.
Following the Jan. 6 insurrection, federal authorities served Google with a subpoena for all accounts present inside the Capitol building that day. Among them, according to the affidavit, was a mobile device associated with a Google account belonging to Luu. Location data showed the device arrived on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 at roughly 2:41 p.m., was inside the Capitol building between 2:58 p.m. and 3:11 p.m., and left the area at 3:27, the affidavit states.
On July 14, 2021, a second JTTF officer interviewed Luu about his activities on Jan. 6, the affidavit goes on. Luu said he attended that morning’s Trump rally, during which the former president exhorted his supporters to descend on the Capitol and “fight like hell” to stop Joe Biden’s electoral win from being certified, after which Luu said he walked to the Capitol and “follow[ed] a group of others into the building,” according to the affidavit.
Luu handed over a pair of selfies he took on Capitol grounds, the affidavit continues.
Three weeks later, the affidavit says Luu sent agents two videos he took inside the Capitol.
“One of Luu’s cell phone recordings that he sent to the FBI in August 2021 appears to have been taken while Luu was inside one of the offices within the Capitol—specifically, based on my review of the U.S. Capitol layout, Room S132,” the affidavit states. “In the video, papers and other debris are strewn about the office space and the floor, while others in the recording appear to be rummaging through the office space.”
Room S132 is the Senate Parliamentarian’s office, according to the Capitol floor plan.
CCTV footage captured Luu entering the building, confirming the Google location data, the affidavit states.
He was wearing a “distinctive white Northface puffer jacket with black chest and shoulders, red MAGA trucker-style hat with American flag pattern on the mesh rear portion with a black and gray beanie underneath, a black and gray plaid scarf, and a bluish-green or teal colored COVID facemask, which was consistent with the selfie-photographs he provided to the FBI,” the affidavit says, noting, “The CCTV video that recorded Luu in the Capitol shows that, when he was present, there was broken glass and other debris in the hall within the Capitol.”
Luu was interviewed again by an FBI JTTF officer at a Houston coffee shop on Dec. 13, according to the affidavit. There, he “again admitted to being inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Luu was arrested Thursday morning. He faces four misdemeanor counts: knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of government business or official functions, engages in disorderly or disruptive conduct; and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.