FBI looks for those who entered US Capitol; SWFL man who did, speaks

The Capitol Building riot in Washington D.C. was a little over a week ago Thursday.

The FBI is not letting up in its investigation, as it searches for everyone who entered the Capitol illegally.

“If people entered the Capitol, we want to know who they were and what they did and what they know,” said Michael McPherson, the FBI special agent in charge of the Tampa Division.

Our Safety & Security Specialist checked in with the FBI in Florida. Agents at FBI field offices around the country are working to track down everyone who entered the Capitol, as the protest turned into a violent criminal breach. That includes people living in Southwest Florida.

Alfie Oakes, the owner of Oakes Farms and Seed to Table, attended the protest.

He, along with former WINK News employee and independent journalist Brendon Leslie, organized a bus trip for nearly 100 Trump supporters. Once there, Leslie posted videos of himself.

“I kind of wish we could just storm in there, get on that floor with them and be like, ‘Hey, this is what we want,’ not just wait outside in the cold and hope for the best,” Leslie recorded himself saying.

We asked Leslie, who considers himself a conservative advocate, about those statements, given the violence that erupted afterward.

“All you can say is freedom of speech,” Leslie said. “Never did I think that was going to happen. People wish things all the time, but it was just a horrible coincidence.”

Leslie did end up entering the building. Now, he said he’s speaking with the FBI on his own accord.

We asked Leslie under what authority he entered the Capitol.

“Lawfully,” Leslie replied. “Based on I didn’t go anywhere where people told me not to go to, and I spoke with police.”

McPherson oversees all FBI investigations in the area.

“We take it very seriously, and we intend to run down every lead out there of everybody that we can identify who entered the Capitol,” McPherson said.

The FBI will not discuss the ongoing investigations’ specifics.

But after our initial story aired on Thursday, Leslie said he met with the FBI on Friday, “They assured me right off the bat I’m not a suspect of any crime. there were no Miranda rights or anything like that.”

Regarding his conversation with the FBI, Leslie said, “They said we were fully aware you were in the capitol and that you were there. We just want to hear your account and put things together and piece it together with things that we are investigating from other people and also see what video I may have that might help them bring violent agitators to justice.”

With the threat level extremely high for next week’s inauguration, security has stepped up to unprecedented levels, both inside and around the Capitol Building and across Washington D.C., as the hunt for the rioters continues.

“So if you were up there, you know someone was up there, you have video, you have connections, we would love to talk to you to figure it out, to know what you know, so we can make better decisions, prevent future violence and hold those accountable who did commit violence,” McPherson said.

We reached out to Alfie Oakes and have not heard back yet.

The Capitol Police got caught unprepared last week. With security preparations in full stride and thousands of national guard and extra police in town, that is not likely to happen again.

Leslie said they did talk about people who traveled by bus to Washington, D.C. with him, but he didn’t want to get into specifics.

“I am fully cooperating. There is nothing for me to hide. I was never worried from the beginning about it.” He added, “There were some crazy, crazy, out of this world stories told to them, about certain individuals. I was glad I was able to tell them that no, that was indeed false.”

McPherson said his mission is to get answers and hold people accountable.

Note: The original story is below. After the video aired on Thursday, Leslie said he spoke to the FBI the next day.