Justice Department corrects Mackrell indictment: Wellington man didn't pose danger to Kamala Harris

Clifford Mackrell was not a threat to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris when he allegedly stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and attacked a police officer, according to a federal grand jury. Mackrell, 21, of Wellington, was arraigned Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the second time. He pleaded not guilty again to mostly identical charges, but with one subtle difference. Language related to Harris' whereabouts was removed to reflect that she was not on the Capitol grounds when a mob forced Congress to halt its joint session and evacuate. At first clouded by security precautions, it's now clear Harris was actually inside the Democratic National Committee headquarters during the attack. She was evacuated from that building by the Secret Service that day when a pipe bomb was discovered outside. News reports indicate she had been at the Capitol in the morning but did not return until after the riot, when Congress reconvened to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election. Grand jury indictments in a slew of Jan. 6 cases, including Mackrell's, resulted in counts related to both the safety of Vice President Mike Pence and Harris. The Department of Justice has spent the last several months convincing the grand jury to issue superseding indictments to correct that error. Mackrell is free on a personal recognizance bond. He appeared by videoconference Tuesday for a hearing with Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. His next status hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. March 21, with a trial tentatively scheduled for June. That date has been repeatedly pushed back not only because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to give prosecutors time to organize and provide unprecedented volumes of evidence. Investigators are waging one of the largest and most complex probes in American history, with some 20,000 hours of video footage processed, 725 arrests and 165 guilty pleas to date. Mackrell faces felony counts of physical violence on the Capitol grounds, assaulting a police officer and civil disorder, as well as lesser counts of entering and remaining on the Capitol grounds and engaging in disorderly and disruptive conduct. In a lengthy profile of the case, FBI Special Agent Timothy Kolonick alleged that Mackrell repeatedly struck a Capitol police officer, grabbed his mask and attempted to expose him to a chemical agent that had been released by the rioting crowd. According to the FBI, Mackrell posted on Facebook the same day: "hey libtards and conservatives let's stop fighting for a minute so I was thinking you libtards think the government was corrupt in 2016 right well I've thought they were corrupted for a very long time now how about we get rid of all of them because well it is out literal job as american's to kill the tyrannical government. Also f*** all news stations." [sic] Agents also found Facebook Messenger records in which Mackrell appears to have admitted to being part of the riot and skirmishing with law enforcement. The FBI said he was part of the mob that helped people break through a police line and past a barricade. "I mean the cops got there ass handed to them but at the same time we also made sure they were ok like we helped them make it inside of the capitol," [sic] he allegedly wrote. In the chat log, Mackrell called the incursion "just a warning" and said rioters didn't use any weapons except flags. He also expressed that he didn't like that people went inside and stole items from the Capitol. "That's acting like BLM I don't support that which is why I helped save the cops. Yo I got 2 free flags now," [sic] he allegedly wrote. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.