A Florida crypto entrepreneur bragged in the middle of his January 6 testimony about his ‘legs day’ personal record at the gym

• Crypto advocate Samuel Armes had an eventful interview with the January 6 committee in July 2022.
• While being requested a couple of key riot planning doc, he ended up on the ground with a leg cramp.
• Before talking about his ties to the doc, he bragged about how a lot weight he had squatted.

A Florida cryptocurrency advocate struggled to keep up his composure throughout questioning over a planning doc prosecutors have alleged was tied to the Proud Boys and their efforts in the January 6. revolt.

Samuel Armes, the founding father of the Florida Blockchain Business Association, told the January 6 committee in a July 2022 interview that his identify isn’t hooked up to a doc titled “1776 returns,” which was in the possession of Proud Boys chief Enrique Tarrio forward of the revolt. Prosecutors have alleged in the Proud Boys’ upcoming trial on seditious conspiracy charges that the doc was circulated by the group in December 2021.

The members of the group have pleaded not responsible and have denied the charges.

In the center of being grilled about who authored the doc, Armes ended up on the ground with a leg cramp after which bragged about how a lot weight he had simply lifted.

“Sorry, I’m cramping,” Armes told Rep. Zoe Lofgren throughout the digital interview, per the transcript released on December 23.

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“He’s on the floor. Charley horse. Charley horse,” Anessa Santos, Armes’ lawyer, responds. “Just exhale.”

According to the transcript, Armes then took the opportunity to shift the dialog to his gymnasium routine.

“I’m good. I just did leg day today, and I maxed out my PR squats,” Armes said. “By the way, that PR was 425 pounds.”

“That will now be in the congressional Record, so that’s good,” an unnamed January 6 investigator responds.

Throughout the course of the interview, Armes confirmed that he had met with Tarrio however denied authoring “1776 Returns,” a 9-page right-wing planning doc tied to the January 6 riot, which included plans to occupy congressional places of work, the Supreme Court, and CNN. The goal, in keeping with the doc, was to “fill the buildings with patriots and communicate our demands,” and to demand a re-do of the 2020 election with “Paper Ballots only.” 

Armes said that an affiliate of his in the crypto world, Erika Flores, and Tarrio, who knew one another, had been “trying to get me to help him figure out a way to make money off of selling T-shirts online.”

Flores didn’t reply to Insider’s request for remark.

“And they wanted me to, like, brainstorm with them on, like, T-shirt ideas and setting up some kind of warehouse in Miami to help underserved kids,” Armes said.

He added that he drafted his own 3- to 5-page doc, which he had shared with Flores, claiming that he used his political science background to play out “war gaming” eventualities in case there was not a peaceable transition between administrations. He acknowledged in the interview with the committee that parts of his plan had been used in the lengthier “1776 returns” doc he was proven.

“I ended up sharing it with her on a Google Drive,” he told the committee, referring to Flores. “And after that, I thought nothing of it. I would’ve never imagined that it turned into the document that I was shown last week, would’ve had zero clue, zero idea. It’s horrific for me to even imagine that something that I would’ve written would’ve been used to source this kind of, like — I guess call it ‘terroristic document.'”

Armes’ lawyer didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s requests for remark. An lawyer for Tarrio didn’t return Insider’s request for remark.