D.C. chiropractor who stormed Capitol arrested on Jan. 6 charges

Ryan J. Reilly
Updated ·2 min read
7

WASHINGTON — A D.C. chiropractor who stormed the halls of Congress on Jan. 6 was arrested on federal charges Wednesday as FBI special agents descended on his office just blocks from the Capitol.

A source familiar with the case confirmed to NBC News the arrest of David Walls-Kaufman of the Capitol Hill Chiropractic Center. It was not immediately clear exactly where Walls-Kaufman was arrested.

An FBI official confirmed that the bureau was conducting law enforcement activity at the location of Walls-Kaufman’s office. An independent witness also confirmed law enforcement activity at the office.

Walls-Kaufman faces four misdemeanor charges in connection with the Jan. 6 attack: 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, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. An official said Walls-Kaufman would make a court appearance Thursday, the same day the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot holds its first public hearing.

The FBI affidavit in Walls-Kaufman's case includes surveillance images that the bureau snapped of the chiropractor in October. The FBI said he was spotted on "approximately nine different U.S. Capitol security cameras, and approximately twenty Metropolitan Police Department body worn cameras on January 6, 2021."

NBC News has reached out to Walls-Kaufman's lawyer for comment.

David Walls-Kaufman at the U.S. Capitol, on Jan. 6, 2021. (DOJ)
David Walls-Kaufman at the U.S. Capitol, on Jan. 6, 2021. (DOJ)

Walls-Kaufman was identified by online sleuths in August. Images and videos released in other Jan. 6 cases show Walls-Kaufman pulling up his hoodie as he joins the mob forcing its way past officers and into the Capitol building, in the hallway outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. He could be seen at the front of the mob by the Speaker's Lobby where rioter Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by police after she jumped through a broken window as members of Congress were evacuating the House floor.

Body camera footage from a device worn by the late D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith shows Walls-Kaufman's fist wrapped around Smith's baton as police struggled to get rioters out of the Capitol building.

Later on the night of Jan. 6, outside the Capitol, Smith was struck with a flying metal pole. He later told his wife that he was “punched in the face” and “hit in the head with a metal pole.”

Smith died by suicide days after Jan. 6; his death was ruled as in the line of duty.

David Walls-Kaufman grapples with police as law enforcement forces members of the mob out of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (DOJ)
David Walls-Kaufman grapples with police as law enforcement forces members of the mob out of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (DOJ)

Walls-Kaufman, whose Facebook page showed that he promoted conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, is already facing a civil lawsuit from Smith’s widow.

More than 820 people have been arrested in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol, and more than 300 have pleaded guilty. Charges have ranged from misdemeanor picketing counts to seditious conspiracy.