Officer charged in Capitol attack

A Chicago police officer has been charged with breaching the U.S. Capitol and entering a senator’s office during the Jan. 6 insurrection. Karol Chwiesiuk, 29, was arrested Friday and faces five misdemeanour counts, including entering a restricted building, disrupting government business and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds with the intent to impede a congressional proceeding. Prosecutors allege in a criminal complaint that Chwiesiuk was among a mob of people who broke into and damaged the office of Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat. They also say that days before he travelled to Washington, Chwiesiuk said in a text to a friend that he was going “to save the nation” and was “Busy planning how to (expletive) up commies.” The officer later sent photos of himself inside the Capitol, according to prosecutors. Chwiesiuk was on medical leave from the police department, the complaint states.