共和党参议员乔希·霍利(Josh Hawley)的妻子对上个月在他们弗吉尼亚州的家外面举行的抗议活动的组织者之一提出了刑事指控。
这个人被指控犯有非法示威的轻罪，但没有像这位密苏里州参议员最初所说的那样被指控威胁或破坏他人财产。据一名警方发言人说，当地一名地方法官找到了足够的“可能原因”对此案发出传票。
霍利的办公室表示，该投诉是在弗吉尼亚州费尔法克斯县的一家法院提出的，被告被认定为华盛顿特区的活动家帕特里克·杨(Patrick Young)。但截至周五上午，杨告诉美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)，他没有听到任何关于刑事投诉的消息，直到收到投诉后，才会公开。
杨在一份声明中说:“如果发出了传票，一个有钱有势的人——一名美国参议员——可以去他们的地方法官那里拿到传票来骚扰一个正常人，这是令人愤慨的。”他承认自己帮助组织了上个月的抗议。
根据弗吉尼亚州的法律，任何公民都可以提起刑事诉讼并寻求传票，尽管治安法官必须找到足够的“可能的原因”来发出传票。
更多:在抗议者冲击国会大厦后，一些共和党参议员撤销了对选举团认证的反对
网上发布的1月4日事件的视频显示，抗议者在霍利家门前大声示威近30分钟，反对他关于2020年总统选举不合法以及乔·拜登不应在两天后被认证为下一任美国总统的说法。
当时，霍利和这对夫妇的两个儿子在密苏里州，而他的妻子艾琳和他们新生的女儿在弗吉尼亚州维也纳的住所。
抗议发生后几个小时内，霍利在推特上发布消息称，“反法西斯卑鄙小人”已经“大声威胁、破坏并试图砸开我们的门”，谴责这一切为“左翼暴力”。但抗议者和其他人对他的说法提出质疑，警方表示，他们没有在抗议中发现暴力证据。
艾琳·霍利(Erin Hawley)在一份支持她的投诉的声明中，主要讲述了在网上发布的50分钟视频中可以看到的内容，她说，她跟踪了一群聚集在附近购物中心的抗议者，然后走到她家附近，在那里他们“威胁性地大喊大叫”。
更多:参议院共和党人加入挑战选举团结果的长期努力
这位参议员的妻子说，她通过对抗议活动的新闻报道认出了杨，抗议活动是由自称为“反法西斯”的组织ShutdownDC组织的。作为一名关闭华盛顿特区的组织者，杨在抗议后对新闻媒体发表了讲话，并为其辩护说“没有威胁”。
他向美国广播公司新闻描述了整个示威活动，称之为“烛光守夜”
正如在线视频所描述的那样，多达20名抗议者站在离霍利斯家前门仅几英尺远的地方，愤怒地大喊大叫，并使用扩音器反复呼喊诸如“你真可耻”和“站起来，反击。”
人行道上用粉笔写着“特朗普输了”之类的短语，他们家门前放着一把牌子。
参议员的妻子打开前门，抱着她的孩子，平静地要求人群“请离开”。
“我们有邻居和一个孩子，谢谢你，”可以听到她在视频中说。
一名女性抗议者喊道:“我们需要你的孩子有一个未来。”
在支持她的投诉的声明中，霍利的妻子说，“我很害怕，关上门锁了起来。”
几分钟后，一名抗议者通过扩音器宣布，“我们中的一些人要去敲他的门，我们可能会留下一些标志，我们会留下一份宪法，希望霍利参议员真的能读到它...他停止了对我们民主的危险攻击。”
从网上发布的视频中可以看出，三名抗议者随后走向前门。
这位参议员的妻子在声明中写道:“门铃响了，从楼下，我可以听到很大的声音:敲门、跺脚、大喊大叫，或者两者兼有。”。“我上楼去看发生了什么事。...抗议者拿着扩音器尖叫着，喊着“出来，出来！”我吓坏了。"
大约12分钟后，维也纳警察局的一名官员到达现场，并告诉该组织，根据州法律，在一所房屋前设置纠察队“实际上是非法的”。一名警察部门的发言人告诉美国广播公司新闻，城市法令也禁止使用这种扩音器。
他们继续抗议了10分钟，在他们祈祷后，更多的警察来了。
霍利的办公室向美国广播公司新闻部提供了艾琳·霍利的声明，称该声明是与投诉一起提交的。
她在声明中说，抗议发生后，她现在“担心”她的家人，他们雇佣了私人保安，尤其是在抗议者“威胁要在清晨或夜间返回”之后。
维也纳警方发言人告诉美国广播公司新闻，“基于一名公民，治安法官发出传票，要求被告违反弗吉尼亚法典18.2-419(纠察或破坏家庭安宁)，这是三级轻罪”。
杨称任何这种说法都是“诽谤”。
1月4日，也就是抗议的当天，ShutdownDC组织在网上发布了一条消息，警告霍利“毫无根据”地声称2020年总统选举是偷来的，他试图阻止国会在不到两天后认证结果的努力将“给已经危险的局势增添火种”。
该组织表示，1月6日，在华盛顿的一次集会上，时任总统唐纳德·特朗普的“许多”支持者威胁要对国会议员和警察“实施暴力”，当时选举将得到认证。
霍利首先说抗议者威胁他的家人，“破坏”他的家，“试图敲开我们的门”，《华盛顿邮报》和其他媒体质疑这些说法的准确性。
美联社指出，“活动人士发布的视频和当地警方的描述与他的描述不符。”《华盛顿邮报》指出，抗议者和当地警方称抗议是和平的，报道称“维也纳警方表示，他们没有看到任何人敲打霍利一家或他们邻居的门，没有听到任何威胁，也没有看到人行道上除粉笔之外的任何破坏行为。”
对此，霍利在推特上说被告《华盛顿邮报》称“印刷了反法西斯组织的弥天大谎，他们现在把自己描述成甜美的天使。”
2021年1月6日，特朗普的支持者试图突破华盛顿国会大厦外的警察屏障。
霍利在推特上写道:“你通过扩音器尖叫，当我妻子要求你离开时，你对她大喊大叫，破坏财产，敲我们的门，恐吓邻居。”“你是人渣。我们不会被吓倒。”
霍利在福克斯新闻上重申了他的说法，他说，“关键是要恐吓和恐吓。”
根据霍利发言人的说法，公众对参议员最初声明的争议引发了新的安全担忧。
霍利的通信总监凯利·福特(Kelli Ford)在给美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)的一份声明中表示:“由于过去几周媒体和左翼分子的袭击，乔希的家人一直是他们生命中无数威胁的对象，这些威胁正受到当局的监控。”
1月6日上午，在他家发生抗议不到48小时后，霍利抵达国会山，准备正式反对乔·拜登被认证为下一任总统。
在一群支持特朗普的暴力暴徒袭击国会大厦，造成五人死亡，认证推迟几个小时后，霍利是少数投票反对认证选举团结果的参议员之一。
上周，国土安全部发布了罕见的公共公告，警告，“信息表明，一些有意识形态动机的暴力极端分子反对...总统换届，以及其他由虚假陈述引发的不满，可能会继续煽动或实施暴力。
据DHS称，“威胁加剧的环境”将持续数周。
Wife of GOP Sen. Hawley files criminal complaint over protest at their home
The wife of Republican Sen. Josh Hawley has filed a criminal complaint against one of the organizers of a protest last month outside their Virginia home.
The individual has been charged with a misdemeanor count of illegally demonstrating, but not charged with making threats or vandalism, as the Missouri senator initially alleged. A local magistrate found enough "probable cause" to issue a summons in the case, according to a police spokesman.
Hawley's office said the complaint was filed in a court in Fairfax County, Virginia, with the defendant identified as activist Patrick Young of Washington, D.C. But as of Friday morning, Young told ABC News he had heard nothing about a criminal complaint, which wouldn't become public until he receives it.
"If a summons has been issued, it is outrageous that a rich and powerful person -- a United States senator -- can go to their magistrate to get a summons to harass a normal person," Young said in a statement, acknowledging that he helped organize last month's protest.
According to Virginia law, any citizen can file a criminal complaint and seek a summons, though a magistrate must find enough "probable cause" to issue one.
MORE: Some GOP senators reverse objections to Electoral College certification after protesters storm Capitol
Video posted online of the Jan. 4 incident showed protesters loudly demonstrating in front of the Hawley home for nearly 30 minutes, objecting to his claims that the 2020 presidential election was illegitimate and that Joe Biden shouldn't be certified two days later as the next U.S. president.
At the time, Hawley and the couple's two sons were in Missouri, while his wife, Erin, and their newborn daughter, were at the Vienna, Virginia, residence.
Within hours of the protest, Hawley posted on Twitter that "Antifa scumbags" had "screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door," condemning it all as "leftwing violence." But protesters and others disputed his claims, with police saying they had not found evidence of violence at the protest.
In a statement supporting her complaint, Erin Hawley largely recounted what can be seen in the 50-minute video posted online, following the group of protesters as they gathered at a nearby shopping center and then walked to her family's neighborhood, where they "shout threateningly," she said.
MORE: Senate Republican joins long-shot bid to challenge Electoral College results
The senator's wife said she identified Young through news accounts of the protest, which was organized by the self-identified "anti-fascist" group ShutdownDC. As a ShutdownDC organizer, Young spoke to news outlets after the protest and defended it as "not threatening."
He described the entire demonstration to ABC News as a "candlelight vigil."
As depicted in the video online, as many as 20 protesters stood just feet away from the Hawleys' front door, angrily shouting and using bullhorns as they repeatedly yelled chants such as, "Shame on you" and "Stand up, fight back."
Phrases like "Trump lost" were written in chalk on the sidewalk, and a handful of signs were placed in front of their house.
At one point, the senator's wife opened the front door and, while holding her baby, calmly asked the crowd to "clear out please."
"We've got neighbors and a baby, thank you," she can be heard saying in the video.
A female protester shouted back: "We need a future for your baby."
In the statement supporting her complaint, Hawley's wife said, "I was fearful and closed and locked the door."
A few minutes later, a protester announced through a bullhorn that "a few of us are going to go up [to] knock on his door, we can maybe leave some signs, and we'll leave a copy of [the] Constitution in the hopes that Sen. Hawley actually reads it ... and he quits his dangerous attack on our democracy."
As seen in the video posted online, three protesters then approached the front door.
"[T]he doorbell rang, and from downstairs, I could hear loud noises at the door: knocking, stomping, shouting, or some combination," the senator's wife wrote in her statement. "I went upstairs to see what was happening. ... The protestors were screaming with bullhorns and shouting 'Come out, come out!' I was frightened."
After about 12 minutes, an officer from the Vienna Police Department arrived on the scene and told the group that, under state law, it was "actually illegal" to picket in front of a home, according to the video. City ordinances also prohibit such use of bullhorns, a spokesman for the police department told ABC News.
The continued protesting for another 10 minutes, after they said a prayer and more officers arrived.
Hawley's office provided ABC News with Erin Hawley's statement, which it said was filed with the complaint.
In her statement, she said, in the wake of the protest, she's now "fearful" for her family and that they have hired private security, especially after protesters "threatened to return in the early mornings or during the night."
"[B]ased on a citizen, the magistrate issued a summons for a defendant for a violation of Virginia Code 18.2-419 (picketing or disrupting tranquility of home), a Class 3 misdemeanor," the Vienna police spokesman told ABC News.
Young called any such claims "slanderous."
On Jan. 4, the day of the protest, the ShutdownDC group posted a message online warning that Hawley's "baseless" claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and that his efforts to stop Congress from certifying the results less than two days later would "add kindling to an already dangerous situation."
The group said "many" of then-President Donald Trump's supporters were threatening "to commit violence against" members of Congress and police during a rally in Washington on Jan. 6, when the election was to be certified.
After Hawley first said the protesters threatened his family, "vandalized" his home and "tried to pound open our door," The Washington Post and other media outlets questioned the accuracy of those claims.
The Associated Press noted that "video posted by activists and a description from local police don't match his account." And The Washington Post noted that protesters and local police described the protest as peaceful, reporting that "Vienna police said they did not see anyone pounding on the Hawleys' or their neighbors' doors, did not hear any threats and did not see any vandalism other than chalk on the sidewalk."
In response, Hawley on Twitter accused The Washington Post of "printing outright lies from the Antifa group who now describe themselves as sweet angels."
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier outside the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.
"You screamed through bullhorns, shouted down my wife when she asked you to leave, vandalized property, pounded on our door, and terrorized neighbors," Hawley tweeted. "You're scum. And we won't be intimidated."
Hawley reiterated his account on Fox News, saying, "The whole point was to terrorize and to intimidate."
According to a Hawley spokeswoman, the public controversy over the senator's initial claims has sparked new safety concerns.
"Because of the attacks in the media and from the left over the past few weeks, Josh's family has been the subject of numerous threats on their lives that are being monitored by authorities," Hawley's communications director, Kelli Ford, said in a statement to ABC News.
On the morning of Jan. 6, less than 48 hours after the protest at his home, Hawley arrived on Capitol Hill prepared to formally object to Joe Biden being certified as the next president.
After a violent pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, leaving five people dead and delaying the certification for several hours, Hawley was one of only a handful of senators to vote against certifying the Electoral College's results.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security issued a rare public bulletin, warning, "Information suggests that some ideologically motivated violent extremists with objections to ... the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence."
The "heightened threat environment," according to DHS, will persist for weeks.
