Former Marco Rubio Intern Accused Of Storming Capitol
Credit: FBI arrest warrant exhibit
December 19, 2023

This one has connections to all sorts of villains in Florida, as she interned for Marco Rubio, worked on Ron DeSantis' 2018 Gubernatorial campaign, and as campaign manager for Ileana Garcia's controversial 2020 Florida Senate race. The FBI have had their eyes on her for a long time but only arrested her on December 14.

Source: Miami New Times

Authorities have unsealed an arrest warrant for Barbara Balmaseda, a former Florida International University student and South Florida GOP strategist accused of storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Barbara "Barby" Balmaseda — a 23-year-old from Miami Lakes with ties to high-profile Republican politicians in Florida and beyond — was arrested and charged with corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding, knowingly entering and remaining in a restricted building, and engaging in disorderly conduct in a Capitol building with the intent to impede a session of Congress on January 6, 2021.

Balmaseda was arrested on December 14 in Miami Lakes.

An interesting bit from the FBI affidavit:

The FBI affidavit states that in the time leading up to the riot, Balmaseda created and frequented a Telegram group chat which included at least ten participants, including Gabriel Garcia and other Miami-area members of the far-right Proud Boys. Balmaseda, who at one point renamed the group chat "Barby’s Security :)" and "Barby’s Security Detail," sent roughly 900 messages to the group between November 2020 and January 2021.

On November 6, 2020, as the presidential race inched toward a conclusion, Balmaseda allegedly texted in the chat: “Y’all think Biden’s gonna steal this election?”

Three days later, after Garcia wrote in the group chat, "We are in La Carreta ready to fuck shit up again," Balmaseda responded, "I’ll get the popcorn ready to watch y’all fuck shit up," alongside a laughing emoji, according to the affidavit

Garcia was convicted last month, was member of the Proud Boys in Miami who once sat on the Miami-Dade Republican Party Executive Committee. He had close ties to Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, now serving 22 years in Federal prison for his role in orchestrating the Capitol riot.

So she liked hanging around with bad guys and probably had as good an idea as anyone how things were likely to unfold. Given how these things go, no one is charged until the FBI has an airtight case. Convictions are 100% in these cases for January 6 offenders.

Full details of what she did are at the link above, as space precludes that here. Her career as a GOP strategist is probably over, but who knows? Maybe committing a treasonous offense will land her a job with future Republicans.

Another interesting picture from the FBI...

barbara_balmaseda_-_government_exhibit_photo34

Barbara Balmaseda is a 23-year-old Republican strategist who was once listed as director at-large of the Miami Young Republicans group.

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