Documents released by federal prosecutors included this screen capture of a video that shows Frank Scavo, wearing his ‘end the rain tax’ facemask, standing in front of a painting at the East Senate Grand Staircase inside the U.S. Capitol. The FBI says that the video, taken during the Jan. 6 riots, was turned over to investigators by Scavo himself.
Via Federal Court documents
Investigators say video, photos turned over by Old Forge man document his time inside the building on Jan. 6
Just what Frank Scavo did in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021 has varied with each telling.
But evidence FBI investigators say they collected from Scavo himself seems to place the Lackawanna County political activist solidly — and apparently enthusiastically — inside the U.S. Capitol after it had been breached by rioters.
“This is top-secret (expletive). We’re in the Capitol. Stormed the (expletive) Capitol of the (expletive) United States at 58 years old,” investigators say Scavo said in a cellphone recording made inside the building on the afternoon of Jan. 6.
According to federal court documents provided to the Times Leader on Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Scavo turned over to the FBI videos and pictures of himself and what he saw inside the Capitol building that afternoon, including the video quoted above.
Scavo, 58, a former Old Forge School Board member, appeared Thursday before Chief Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick of the Middle District of Pennsylvania in federal court in Scranton for a 10 a.m. hearing in which he was charged with four misdemeanors stemming from the insurrection at the Capitol Building.
Scavo’s attorney, Ernie Preate Jr., said his client will plead not guilty to all charges.
Lawyer: Scavo was pushed
Preate on Thursday said Scavo was pushed into the Capitol, and that he wants to see more video from that day to determine how Scavo got into the building.
Preate also said Scavo took a video that shows him being pushed into the building; that Scavo was in the building for “about eight minutes”; and that Scavo asked two police officers for directions on how to leave the building.
“And I am sure there is more video evidence to show his story is accurate,” Preate said.
The FBI’s account of an interview with Scavo says he admitted being inside the building for about eight minutes; investigators raise doubts about whether he was pushed, however.
Scavo’s remarks to media
What Preate told reporters in Scranton on Thursday at the federal courthouse differs from what Scavo said to reporters in the immediate wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Scavo had organized 200 local residents for a charter bus journey to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, to take part in what they hoped would be a peaceful protest against the election certification in Congress.
In an interview with the Times Leader a few days later, Scavo told this newspaper — as well as other regional media — he was not in the Capitol Building when the rioting erupted.
“We stayed about 15-20 minutes and I took some photos. We received a text from the D.C. mayor that a curfew would begin at 6 p.m. We decided to round up our people to return to the buses and leave,” Scavo told the Times Leader in early January.
“We didn’t see what was going on inside the Capitol.”
Getty Images emerge
By Jan. 14, however, public evidence to the contrary had emerged.
Two Getty Images photos that began to circulate on the Internet appear to show Republican Scavo — complete with his unmistakably parted silver hair and an “end the rain tax” mask — among a crowd filled with Trump hats and flags inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. In one image, Scavo is holding his cellphone aloft to take a photo.
Times Leader efforts to reach Scavo for comment after those photos emerged in mid-January were unsuccessful.
Probe started with tip
According to federal court documents filed in the case, the FBI received a tip about Scavo’s bus trip on Jan. 7, the day after the riots.
The FBI’s report indicates that investigators also saw the Jan. 14 Times Leader report about the Getty Images photos, which investigators viewed online.
On Jan. 15, the report states, Scavo and his attorney voluntarily agreed to be interviewed by an FBI special agent and an FBI task force officer at the FBI’s office in Scranton.
“His physical appearance matched that of the man with silver hair and glasses depicted in the Times Leader article and the Getty Images photo,” the report notes.
In his interview with the FBI, Scavo acknowledged chartering buses to bring fellow supporters to Washington on Jan. 6 to attend the rally, which had been announced by President Donald Trump.
According to the FBI, Scavo admitted that after he heard Vice President Mike Pence was not going to contest the election results, he eventually made his way to the Capitol.
“According to publicly viewable information on Facebook, at 1:26 p.m. on January 6, 2021, a Facebook account with the screenname ‘Frank Scavo’ and featuring a picture of Scavo in its cover photo posted a message reading, ‘V.P. PENCE FAILS AMERICA … .’” the report adds.
During his interview with the FBI, Scavo admitted that when he and the group with him arrived at the Capitol “a large crowd had gathered there and some in the crowd behaved unruly,” the report continues.
“The crowd began pushing toward doors to the Capitol building, and three doors opened outward. Scavo claimed he was pushed inside the Capitol due to the movement of the large crowd and was unable to resist getting pushed into the building,” investigators wrote.
Inside the Capitol
However, the FBI says it reviewed a video Scavo recorded before entering the Capitol that “does not depict him being pushed into the building or otherwise entering the building involuntarily, though this video does not appear to be a single continuous cut from the time Scavo was outside to the time he was inside the building, and does not appear to capture the moment Scavo crossed the threshold into the building.”
The FBI says that video shows rioters opening the entrance doors to the building from the inside and pushing police in the entranceway, with some from the outside trying to force themselves inside the building.
Amid the chaos, the video depicts Scavo saying, “I gotta put this (expletive) mask on” before cutting to Scavo turning the camera on himself, wearing his “end the rain tax” facemask, and saying, “Here we go.”
During subsequent footage he climbs a staircase, the FBI adds. Then, in a hallway, Scavo allegedly can be heard introducing himself to a woman as “Frank Scavo,” as well as saying, “God bless America!” and joining chants of “Treason,” and “Defend the Constitution, defend your liberty!”
2:40 p.m. entry
The FBI’s report says other video footage from inside the Capitol shows that Scavo crossed the threshold of the building at approximately 2:40 p.m. with a large throng of individuals following close behind him.
Scavo admitted to the FBI he was inside the Capitol from approximately 2:42 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. on January 6, the report adds.
Once inside, according to FBI review of that other video, Scavo is seen stopping to hold up his cellphone, apparently to take video or photos, before climbing a staircase with his phone held aloft.
“Scavo admitted to the FBI that once he got inside the Capitol, he started taking pictures and videos with his cellphone to document what was happening,” the report indicates.
‘Stormed the (expletive) Capitol’
That, the FBI says, included Scavo’s own video in which he referenced “top-secret (expletive).”
“We’re in the Capitol. Stormed the (expletive) Capitol of the (expletive) United States at 58 years old,” he is allegedly heard to say. “What the (expletive) is wrong with America?”
Scavo stopped a passerby and asked the individual to take a photo of him in front of a painting of a boat, he told the FBI.
“A screen capture of that video … shows Scavo still wearing his “end the rain tax” facemask, standing in front of a painting that, based on information from the Architect of the Capitol, is located at the East Senate Grand Staircase inside the Capitol,” the FBI report states.
That is the photo which accompanies this article.
Whether Scavo knew it or not, the painting is one with deep significance to American — and Pennsylvania — history. The 19th century work by William Henry Powell depicts Oliver Hazard Perry’s victory over the British fleet in the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie, which ensured American control of the Great Lakes.
Another video Scavo recorded inside the Capitol shows his first-person perspective as he roamed the halls, the FBI report states.
“He is not in the camera’s view during the video, but can be heard saying, ‘Your own personal tour of the freaking Capitol. We (expletive) took it back. Took it back,’” the report adds.
Next steps
Scavo faces a maximum of one year in prison on two of the counts and up to six months on the two other counts. He can also be fined from $100 to $5,000 on the counts.
A hearing has been set for Wednesday, March 31, in Washington D.C. Depending on the outcome of that proceeding, a probable cause hearing has been scheduled for Thursday, April 1, in Scranton.
Scavo was not detained, but he is restricted in travel, not being allowed to leave the U.S. and to report to the court’s pre-trial services.
Preate assured the court that Scavo will continue to cooperate and he noted that Scavo has no prior criminal record.
When pressed by reporters Thursday about Scavo’s statements in the days immediately after the riot that he was not in the building, Preate said, “Yes, he was there with a large crowd. He was pushed into the building.”
“Mr. Scavo was more in awe of what was happening around him,” Preate said.
