STEVE TRUESDELL
The Rally Runner, shown in a file photo making his customary trek around Busch Stadium, attended the "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington, D.C., on January 6.
Cardinals fans knew the Rally Runner as a 30-something man who ran around Busch Stadium to rev up games. But two years ago, then-Fox News personality Tucker Carlson focused in on footage of him at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and accused him of being a government agent planted in the crowd as part of a larger conspiracy to prosecute Trump supporters.
Carlson was, of course, wrong. And a Huffington Post report later identified Carlson's "agent provocateur" as no such government agent, but rather the locally famous St. Louis Rally Runner.
Charging documents filed Tuesday detail just what the Rally Runner allegedly got up to on January 6, 2021.
That day, the runner, now revealed to be Daniel Donnelly Jr., posted on his Facebook page a 26-minute video in which he admitted to being part of the Capitol breach, according to court documents. In the video, Donnelly, his face painted red and capped with a MAGA hat, explained how he got a riot shield and used it to push through the crowd and get to the front of rioters hours earlier.
"I'm trying to be the furthest person to get through all the way, or least get the furthest," Donnelly said in the video. "I took up a lot of space, and I had the rioter shield, and I was right up there, and for some reason, like, the other people there on the front lines with me, they did something similar... It's like they followed by lead, kind of, and it turned out to be a great strategy because the whole crowd was doing that, was able to push further than we had gotten the whole time, the entire time."
He later said he "got further than anyone," despite officers' rubber bullets and tear gas that hurt his "sensitive" skin.
Security and body cam footage, as well as images found by investigators, indicate Donnelly used the shield to hold officers off as other rioters sprayed chemical irritants, threw items and screamed at law enforcement officers trying to deter the crowd, according to court documents.
Donnelly eventually lost the shield after more officers came and pushed him out of the tunnel he was in near the lower west side of the Capitol building. He then raised his fist and arm, "appearing to encourage the group," charging documents say.
The FBI interviewed Donnelly at his home in St. Louis on January 11, 2021.
On Facebook at the time, Donnelly shrugged it off, writing they only say him "as a witness."
Donnelly now faces five federal charges: disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct, obstructing or impeding passage through or within the grounds or any of the Capitol buildings; embezzling, stealing, purloining or knowingly converting public money, property or records: and obstructing, impeding or interfering with any fireman or law enforcement officers.
He was arrested today in St. Louis.
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