Capitol Breach Suspect Asks Judge for Permission To Travel to Peru to Get Married

People storm the Capitol Building in Washington on Jan. 6, 2020. Ahmed Gaber/Reuters

A man facing multiple charges in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol breach has asked a court for permission to travel to Peru later this month in order to get married.

Troy Williams was arrested on Feb. 1 in Lexington, Kentucky, and charged with unlawful entry on restricted grounds and violent entry or disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to the FBI. He told investigators he went inside the Capitol building after the doors were breached but didn’t participate in any violence or vandalism, court records show (pdf).

Williams was released shortly after his arrest, with a court order (pdf) setting out the terms of his pre-trial release, including that he surrender his passport, not seek international travel documents, and not leave the Eastern District of Kentucky except for work purposes and travel to court hearings.

Dwight E. Crawley, his attorney, requested in a Feb. 9 court filing obtained by CNN (pdf) that Williams be allowed to travel to Peru, where his fiancée lives, so that the two can get married.

Crawley wrote that Williams “understands that he must abide by all the terms and conditions” concerning travel set out in the court order, but hopes the court will allow him to travel to Peru on Feb. 23 and return around two weeks later.

Court documents allege the photo shows Troy Williams standing outside the U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Department of Justice

According to an FBI affidavit, Williams admitted to entering the Capitol twice on Jan. 6, although he insisted he did not take part in any violence.

“I wasn’t doing anything wrong or inciteful,” he told investigators. “We were a part of something, there’s cops here, they tried to stop us, they are not letting us in, but not fighting us,” he said, the court document shows.

The FBI agent conducting the interview said in the affidavit that Williams “also recalled talking to two elderly gentlemen outside of the Capitol building who said they were not going inside because it would be a felony.”

“When WILLIAMS heard this, he thought to himself that they were probably right,” the agent wrote.

Williams is one of some 200 people who have been arrested and charged in connection with the Capitol breach, which a number of FBI affidavits suggest had been pre-planned, weakening the allegation leveled against former President Donald Trump that he is guilty of “incitement to insurrection.”

Trump is facing an impeachment trial in the Senate over the incident, with Democrat prosecutors alleging Trump incited an insurrection and committed the “most grievous constitutional crime,” while lawyers for the former president have dismissed the trial as “political theater.”