The National Archives reports that Shekinah Hollingsworth, a black Republican political candidate, was questioned by the FBI about her Jan. 6 trip to Washington, D.C. FBI agents repeatedly asked her about her ties to terrorist groups.
According to reports, three FBI agents visited Shekinah Hollingsworth’s Home on Friday, Feb. 12, to question her about her actions on Jan. 6. Hollingsworth, who was not involved in what has been described as a “congressional siege,” left the area before the riots began, but was still questioned by the FBI for more than 20 minutes.
Hollingsworth, who has announced her candidacy for state representative in Maryland, began recording videos of her interactions with FBI agents when they visited her home in Maryland. Her father, a U.S. Army veteran who traveled with her to Washington, D.C., was on hand for the taping, along with other Family members.
Although the female FBI agent began the talks by asking questions about the family’s fish and dogs, the tone changed abruptly when one of the male FBI agents began asking questions. The male agent conducted most of the interview, while the female agent took notes and the third male agent remained largely silent.
“Okay, like I said on the phone, your name was submitted.” The agent said.” You’re not in trouble now, and if we were going to arrest you, we would have done it already.”
Hollingsworth’s father explained that they had all left the area for lunch and were at a nearby Shake Shack when the family called them to check on their safety. At this point, they were unaware that civil unrest had occurred.
The FBI agent asked, “Do you, by any chance, belong to any organization?” This seemed to imply that the Hollingsworths might have ties to domestic terrorism. Hollingsworth told the FBI that she had no ties to such organizations.
The agent asked, “Have any of you been inside the Capitol?” Hollingsworth, who traveled to Washington on Jan. 6, were quick to answer in the negative.” Do you know how far away you are?” The agent continued to ask.
The FBI agent then declared that he had received numerous photos of Hollingsworth in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 and demanded to know where and when they were taken.
Hollingsworth said, “When we were on the Capitol grounds, the children were taking pictures and the family was there.” Again, she explained, they left before the civil unrest began.
The FBI agents eventually returned to the question of whether Hollingsworth had ties to a “terrorist group,” which Hollingsworth naturally refused to do.
The FBI agent then asked about Hollingsworth’s candidacy for the Maryland legislature, and went on to acknowledge that he was aware of her history as a Republican activist. Prior to her candidacy, Hollingsworth had been working in Republican politics since 2017. Most recently, she worked as a data analyst for Lauren Witzke’s (R) campaign for U.S. Senate in Delaware.
Photo by Shekinah Hollingsworth (D-Del.)
After Hollingsworth expressed confidence that the civil unrest that occurred Jan. 6 was not part of an organized event, the FBI agent referred back to terrorist groups.
“We follow up on leads that we receive, like, we have to convince people, we have to make sure there’s nothing more sinister, we have to make sure there’s not, like, some kind of domestic terrorist group orchestrating the event here,” the FBI agent said.” It’s like your (confession) opportunity, if you (admit), like, ‘Hey, we did do this or that,’ now it’s Time to say it because we might find out.”
Hollingsworth again denied entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 or committing any other crime. After recording her father’s name and date of birth, the agents left. The interview lasted more than 20 minutes.
Hollingsworth told the National Archives that she believed the visit was politically motivated and intended to deter her from continuing her “America First” political activities.” I think I’m doing pretty well,” Hollingsworth told the National Archives, “but these political persecutions are absolutely out of line.”
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