Florida Man Charged For Attacking Cops During Capitol Riot While Wearing ‘Trump’ Flag Jacket

Federal authorities have charged a Florida man who was caught on video attacking police officers with a fire extinguisher while wearing an American flag jacket bearing the name of former President Donald Trump.

Robert Scott Palmer, a 53-year-old business owner from Clearwater, Florida, was arrested on Wednesday, according to court records. Palmer has been charged with assaulting/resisting/impeding officers, engaging in civil disorder, and entering restricted building or grounds, according to court records.

Details of the charges against him, including the FBI affidavit, are not yet public. A lawyer named on his court docket did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

HuffPost, building on the work of the citizen sleuths who have worked to hunt down the identities of members of the pro-Trump crowd that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, first publicly revealed Palmer’s identity on March 5. The FBI had received hundreds of thousands of tips about the Capitol attack, and multiple tips about Palmer’s identity had been in the agency’s possession for more than a month when HuffPost’s story published.

When HuffPost first reached Palmer by phone on March 4, he confirmed that he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 wearing an American flag jacket bearing Trump’s name, and that he’d given an interview and talked about being struck by a police projectile in the stomach. But he clammed up when HuffPost asked about his assault on a police line.

“I’m not, I’m not, I’m not, I’m not, I’m not saying anything ― anything more. OK?” he said when HuffPost mentioned the video of him throwing a fire extinguisher at the police line. “I’m not, I’m not saying anything more,” he said when HuffPost pressed him again. He hung up when HuffPost asked if the FBI had been in touch yet, and Palmer’s Facebook page came down not long after HuffPost’s story ran.

An online sleuth whom HuffPost identified as “Amy” spent time investigating the man she dubbed #FloridaFlagJacket when she was in isolation in January after coming down with COVID-19. She sent in her tips after another online sleuth found a livestream video from Jan. 6 in which Palmer revealed his name. Weeks later, the FBI added an image of Palmer to its page of Capitol suspects. #FloridaFlagJacket was FBI #246 – AFO, meaning he was wanted for assault on a federal officer.

Amy, who has since recovered from the coronavirus, had a plan in mind for what she’ll do when she hears the FBI finally came for Palmer.