A Lebanon man will be moved to the District of Columbia to face federal charges in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Kyle Fitzsimons, 37, was arrested last week for his alleged participation in the deadly insurrection by supporters of former President Donald Trump, who’s role in stoking the violence is now the focus of an ongoing impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate. Fitzsimons has been held at the Cumberland County Jail since then, and he appeared in federal court Thursday for a video hearing.

The FBI released this photograph of Kyle Fitzsimons during the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6 as part of court documents charging him with assaulting a federal police officer among other counts. The image is taken from a security camera at the Capitol. Federal court documents

In a brief exchange with the judge, Fitzsimons waived his right to argue bail until he is transferred, although it was unclear how quickly that would happen.

Five people died as a result of the violence, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. The officer was killed while defending the Capitol from the mob of white supremacists, far right extremists and Trump supporters. Federal prosecutors have charged more than 200 people in connection with the riot. Fitzsimons is the only Mainer so far.

Fitzsimons is facing four charges: assault on a federal police officer, knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and attempting to obstruct law enforcement during a civil disorder. Two are felonies that will be presented to a federal grand jury, which will decide whether to indict him.

Fitzsimons declined an interview request last week. But court documents and newspaper articles include some details about his life and his views. And before his arrest, Fitzsimons spoke openly to a New Hampshire newspaper and Lebanon elected officials about his experience at the riot.

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An affidavit included a social media post in which he repeated the baseless view that Trump lost the 2020 election because of voter fraud and offered to lead a caravan to Washington to challenge the election results on Jan. 6.

“If a call went out for able bodies, would there be an answer?” read a December Facebook post signed with the name “Kyle Fitzsimons.”

That document included screenshots from surveillance and police body cameras that allegedly show Fitzsimons at the front of the group of rioters. It said he was observed “pushing and grabbing against officers, who were holding a police line in an arched entranceway on the lower west terrace of the Capitol Building.” When he was hit by officers’ batons, Fitzsimons lowered his shoulder and charged the line of police, the affidavit said. He retreated into the crowd after scuffling with officers. The affidavit does not say Fitzsimons ever entered the building itself, as other participants did.

In the days following the riot, Fitzsimons called into the Lebanon Board of Selectmen and spoke to the Rochester Voice newspaper. He told both that he expected the event to be a peaceful one. He described wearing a “costume” – his white butcher jacket – and he told the newspaper that he carried an unstrung bow as a sign of peace. He also told them he was injured by a police officer’s baton to his head and needed six stitches at a nearby hospital.

“The march was, in my belief, to demonstrate that Trump, a lion, was leading an army of lambs to change the corrupt fraud that had been perpetuated,” he said during the Lebanon meeting.

It is not clear how long Fitzsimons has lived in Maine. In 2018, he testified at the Maine Legislature during a public hearing about a job training bill for immigrants, saying he moved to the state from Rhode Island and New York to get away from “multicultural hell holes.” He expressed anti-immigrant views and highlighted the “white laborers” on the Maine flag. The testimony was reported by the Free Press at the time and The Mainer magazine posted a video clip from that hearing last week.

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“You’re bringing in the new third world,” Fitzsimons told legislators. “You’re bringing in the replacements.”

Court documents indicated he worked as a butcher at Hannaford in York, but a spokeswoman said last week that he is no longer employed there. Two unnamed sources described Fitzsimons to federal investigators as vocal about his political beliefs and firearms, and one said they believed Fitzsimons holds racist beliefs, although the affidavit didn’t elaborate.

During the two court hearings so far, Fitzsimons has only spoken to answer the judge’s questions. Federal rules required that he make his first court appearance in the district where he was arrested, but the case was already expected to be transferred to the District of Columbia, where he is charged.

In a separate case, Portland police said last week that they believe Fitzsimons was the person who left a suspicious package at the Portland Museum of Art on Jan. 23. The package did not contain an explosive device. The Cumberland County district attorney now must decide whether to charge him, but he has not responded to emails about that case.

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