Missouri Man Charged With Assaulting, Taunting Police During Jan. 6 US Capitol Breach

Cale Clayton of Drexel, Mo., taunts police from under scaffolding at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. "You guys are losing lots of bodies," he allegedly said. (U.S. Department of Justice/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

The FBI arrested a Missouri man on March 31, alleging that he stole a police officer’s baton, grabbed at an officer’s riot shield, and repeatedly taunted police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Cale Clayton, 41, of Drexel, Missouri, was charged in a criminal complaint (pdf) filed in Washington with assaulting, resisting, or impeding police; civil disorder; theft of government property; disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; and several other charges.

Clayton made an initial appearance on March 31 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

According to the criminal complaint, Clayton pushed at an officer’s face shield when police tried to apprehend him at about 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. Earlier, he stole a baton after an officer dropped it and repeatedly grabbed at an officer’s riot shield, according to prosecutors.

When a Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) officer attempted to confiscate the baton, “Clayton makes contact with his right hand with one of the MCPD officers,” the criminal complaint reads.

Cale Clayton, 41, is charged in federal court with grabbing a police officer's face shield during violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. Department of Justice/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

When the FBI interviewed Clayton on March 15, 2021, he told agents that “he was arrested while attempting to return a police baton to the police,” according to the complaint. Clayton was detained by police on Jan. 6, 2021, but was released without charges.

At 2:54 p.m on Jan. 6, 2021, according to prosecutors, Clayton taunted police.

“We are going to win. You don’t have enough for all of us. You might hit me once or twice. You might spray me with pepper spray. I don’t give a [expletive]. There ain’t enough for millions of people here, and you know it.”

About 30 minutes later, Clayton stood under the scaffolding set up for the presidential inauguration and berated police. The criminal complaint has a bullet list of eight statements, such as, “You guys fired the first [expletive] shot. You know that, right? You guys fired the first shot.”

“Your [expletive] president told us to be here. You should be on this side, right here, going with us,” Clayton said, according to the complaint. “You are an American citizen. Your [expletive] president told you to do that. You too. You too. You. All of you guys.”

Clayton’s arrest puts the number of Jan. 6-related cases at more than 775 since the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) began the unprecedented, sweeping investigation of Capitol violence and protests.

In a sign that the pace will likely continue, the DOJ submitted a fiscal year 2023 budget request (pdf) seeking $34 million to hire 80 more attorneys and 50 other staff to relieve caseloads from Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutions. Federal prosecutors from across the country have been pulled in to help handle hundreds of related cases.