Capitol Rioter Said January 6 Was ‘Modern Day Boston Massacre’

• A Tennessee man who entered the Capitol compared the attack to the historic Boston Massacre.
• “Trump Lives Matter,” he wrote on Facebook, prosecutors said, in reference to Ashli Babbitt’s death.
• Clifford Meteer, who claims there was “no violence” at the siege, faces up to six months in prison.

A Tennessee man who prosecutors say entered the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and then pushed wild comparisons on Facebook about the riot has pleaded guilty to one charge of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building, according to court documents seen by Insider. 

The day after the attack, Clifford Meteer wrote on Facebook he had been “right there” when “our honored veteran was viciously assassinated,” according to court documents seen by Insider. He was referring to the death of QAnon supporter and Iraq War veteran Ashli Babbitt, who was shot in her left shoulder by a cop as she tried to climb through a door in the Capitol. 

“I was there. No riot. Trump Lives Matter,” Meteer wrote in a Facebook comment before making his remark about Babbitt.

“Dems protest by looting Walmart; reps protest by ‘petitioning’ Congress. And their answer is a modern-day Boston Massacre,” he continued, referencing the deadly confrontation between American colonists and British soldiers on March 5, 1770.

Meteer also said there was “no violence” and “no destruction” at the Capitol on January 6, despite five people dying at the insurrection. 

Meteer was identified several times by the FBI walking through the Capitol in security camera footage carrying a homemade sign that said: “Save the Republic.”

The FBI arrested him on August 10, 2021, and found 10 firearms with ammunition in his home — an assortment of shotguns, handguns, bolt action rifles, and revolvers, per court filings.

A criminal complaint filed against him by the FBI in August sought to press four different charges related to his entering of the Capitol grounds, but a guilty plea agreement signed by Meteer mentioned only the sole count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building, according to court documents filed last week.

He faces up to six months in prison and must pay $500 in restitution for damage to the Capitol.