Rasha N. Abual-Ragheb

Case Summary

According to an FBI affidavit, photographs on Rasha Abual-Ragheb’s phone placed her inside the Capitol building on the day of the attack. A Capitol Police officer who looked at the photograph confirmed to authorities that it was taken on the Senate side of the Capitol building. According to the affidavit, a Facebook page the FBI has confirmed belonged to Abual-Ragheb in November 2020 showed her participating in Facebook and Telegram group chats with members of the New Jersey chapter of the American Patriot 3%, a far-right anti-government militia movement. In one of those chats, a user whom the FBI believes was Abual-Ragheb said that a civil war was coming and that people needed to show support and rise up and fight for the Constitution. During an FBI interview, Abual-Ragheb allegedly told agents she was born in Lebanon and fled to Jordan when she was a child to escape the civil war there. She told agents she had been in the U.S. for 21 years and was a Trump supporter, attended his rallies and was blocked from Facebook and Twitter for some of her pro-Trump postings.

Case History

Abual-Ragheb pleaded Guilty to one charge: Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building. The other charges are dismissed. Sentenced 11/23/2021 to 36 months probation, the first 2 months as Home Detention; 60 hours community service; $10 assessment; $500 restitution. Abual-Ragheb received a full pardon on January 20, 2025

Sources

• Primary Documentation
  NPR Jan. 6 Defendant DatabaseNPR
• Primary Documentation
  Underlying court recordCourt record linked by NPR
• Supporting Reporting
  NPR video evidence pageNPR

Case summary, charges, procedural updates and image are drawn from the NPR Jan. 6 archive snapshot dated 2026-09-25 unless otherwise indicated.