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A man from Queens, New York, who had hoped to fill the House seat involuntarily vacated by George Santos has been convicted of participating in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
Philip Grillo, 49, was found guilty Tuesday of five federal charges: misdemeanor offenses of 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; parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building; and felony obstruction of an official proceeding. He has not yet been sentenced.
Grillo was arrested in February 2021. While he was awaiting trial earlier this year, he told the newspaper Newsday, "I didn’t do anything." Yet the mountain of evidence presented at his trial proved otherwise.
According to the Justice Department, Grillo illegally entered and exited the Capitol multiple times — once through a broken window — and was recorded saying: "I'm here to stop the steal. It's our f------ House!" He was seen on surveillance footage pushing against law enforcement officers who were trying to stop the crowd's advance into the building. Prosecutors also presented evidence of him filming himself saying, "We f------ did it, baby! We f------ did it, you understand? We stormed the Capitol. We shut it down." He also recorded himself smoking marijuana inside the building.
Grillo's attorneys argued that Grillo believed he was "authorized to engage in the conduct" laid out in his indictment. At trial, the Marine Corps veteran and former GOP Queens Assembly district leader testified that he had “no idea” Congress convened inside the Capitol, according to a Justice Department press release about the conviction.
Several Republicans are vying to be the GOP nominee in the Feb. 13 special election to replace Santos, who was expelled from the House last week. Grillo filed a statement for candidacy on May 1 (prior to Santos' expulsion), but, as The City reported, his campaign has no visible presence online and has not made any fundraising disclosures to the FEC. That, together with a fresh federal conviction on his resume, means Grillo probably won't be a leading choice to replace Santos.