COLUMBIA, S.C. — Five members of a South Carolina family were among the people closest to the doorway to the U.S. House of Representatives as members of Congress convened to certify the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.
Linwood Alan Robinson, Sr., Linwood Alan Robinson II, Benjamin S. Robinson, and Brittany Robinson appeared in a South Carolina courtroom Thursday to face charges in connection to the deadly assault on the US Capitol.
All four family members are charged with the following:
- Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds
- Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds
- Disorderly conduct in a capitol building
- Parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building
According to court documents, FBI investigators interviewed a witness who has known the Robinson family for several years. That witness was able to provide social media evidence that the individuals captured in surveillance video on Jan. 6, 2021, were also the same individuals in Facebook photos.
Investigators believe the Robinson family traveled together to the capitol on Jan. 6, as seen in the pictures below.
Video footage that was taken by other rioters and members of the media, according to investigators, shows five Robinson family members -- one is a minor -- entering the capitol through the Senate Wing Door around five minutes after the first rioters breached the building.
"From there, all five Robinson family members went down the hall to the Crypt on the first floor and were part of the group that breached the police line to gain access to the rest of the building," according to investigators. "...They walked into the Speaker's office suite for a few moments...then they walked through Statuary Hall to join a crowd amassing outside the House chamber."
Investigators wrote a capitol employee recalled in an interview that the Robinsons were part of a larger group waving another crowd to follow them toward the Speaker's lobby door.
At one point, officers were forced to retreat from the area because of escalating violence from the crowd, according to court documents.
Benjamin Robinson, according to investigators, "used his body and foot to pound the door" leading to the House chamber. At the same time, a rioter named Ashli Babbitt climbed through a broken window and was shot moments later.
In total, the Robinson family was inside the capitol less than a half hour, according to court documents.
The new charges against the Robinson family highlight federal prosecutors and investigators' continuance to find those allegedly connected to the deadly attack on the capitol.
So far, more than two dozen North and South Carolina residents have been charged. Several pleaded guilty and served jail time.