Roseberry had been live-streaming from the scene, Manger said. A roughly half-hour Facebook video showed him inside a truck, holding a cannister that he said was a bomb and speaking about a “revolution.” The video and Roseberry’s Facebook profile have since been removed.
On Roseberry’s now-removed Facebook page, he frequently made pro-Trump posts and posted videos from Trump’s “Million MAGA March” on November 14.
In video posted Thursday, Roseberry called himself a “patriot.” He said he doesn’t care if Trump ever becomes president again but also that he thinks “all Democrats need to step down.”
Roseberry’s son, Christopher Roseberry, told CNN on Thursday that he didn’t fully understand what motivated the actions of his father and that he didn’t know about his plans to go to Washington.
“He was home last night and I guess my stepmom woke up this morning and he was gone,” Christopher Roseberry told CNN. “It was just a normal day, but it’s not.”
Christopher Roseberry said his father expressed political frustrations with him after the November election. “Since Biden got elected he’s just been like, man … he doesn’t like change, I reckon. … I tried to tell him … ‘Who cares what goes on up there in DC? Worry about what you’ve got down here.’ I tried to tell him that and he’s like, ‘No, I’m sticking up for my country. We need to get the country back to the way it was,'” he said.
He said his father did not mention violence though, adding, “He just said, ‘I want to make a change.'”
Roseberry’s mother recently died, which his son said may have added to his frustration. Manger mentioned the loss during an earlier news conference, adding, “there were other issues that (Roseberry) was dealing with.”
Multiple buildings evacuated
Roseberry drove a black pickup truck onto the sidewalk in front of the Library of Congress at 9:15 a.m. ET, claiming he had a bomb and displayed what looked like a detonator to the officer on the scene, according to the chief.
Negotiators were in communication with Roseberry and were trying to come to a “resolution,” Manger told reporters at a press conference earlier Thursday near the Capitol.
The pickup truck Roseberry drove to the scene does not have license plates, sources told CNN.
Two Library of Congress buildings — the Jefferson and the Madison — and the Cannon House Office Building were evacuated earlier Thursday due to a suspicious vehicle in the vicinity, according to alerts sent to staffers viewed by CNN.
Staffers in the Madison and Jefferson buildings on Thursday were alerted by email to remain calm and relocate — and not to exit toward First Street. Those in Cannon were advised to relocate to the Longworth House Office Building using the Capitol’s underground tunnels.
The Senate and House are not in session, and most lawmakers are not currently in their offices.
The Supreme Court was also evacuated on the recommendation of US Capitol Police, according to a spokesperson for the court, which is closed to the public because of Covid-19.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thanked the officials who responded to the incident in a statement later Thursday, writing: “The immense gratitude of the Congress is with all law enforcement officers who today and all days sacrifice to keep the Capitol Complex and those within it safe.”
President Joe Biden has been briefed on the bomb threat on Capitol Hill, according to a White House official, who said the President “is receiving regular updates from law enforcement” on the matter.
Officials sound alarm over online rhetoric
“It’s very similar to the stuff we saw prior to January 6,” said Cohen, the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis senior official performing the duties of the under secretary. But the comments have stopped short of specific dates and threats, he noted.
Nonetheless, the department recently issued a new terrorism bulletin warning the public about increasingly complex and volatile threats days after it alerted state and local authorities to an increase in calls for violence online tied to election-related conspiracy theories. The bulletin highlighted the potential for violence surrounding the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, as well as upcoming religious holidays.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Evan Perez, Veronica Stracqualursi, Laura Smitherman, Jessica Schneider, Zachary Cohen, Jeff Zeleny, Geneva Sands, Curt Devine, Natasha Bertrand,Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Paul P. Murphy and Sonner Swire contributed to this report.
