A man seen in a viral photo lounging at a desk inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s suite of offices amid Wednesday’s chaos at the Capitol allegedly swiped a letter meant for a Missouri congressman.
The man, identified in reports as 60-year-old Richard Barnett, flashed the letter, addressed to Republican Rep. Billy Long, to reporters outside the Capitol building.
In an expletive-laced interview with New York Times reporter Matthew Rosenberg, Barnett, from Arkansas, argued he did not steal the envelope since he left some change on the desk.
“I didn’t steal it. I bled on it because they were macing me and I couldn’t f—ing see,” Barnett said, according to video posted to Twitter by Rosenberg.
“So I figure ‘well, I’m in her office, I got blood in her office, I’ll put a quarter on her desk even though she ain’t f—ing worth it,” he added.
In November, Barnett was interviewed at a pro-Trump rally by KNWA where he backed
