Federal prosecutors oppose holiday travel plans of accused Jan. 6 participant – Maryland Matters

A former state board of elections official accused of involvement in the failed Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection is seeking a federal judge’s approval to travel to El Salvador.

Carlos Ayala, charged in January for his alleged participation in the storming of the U.S. Capitol, wants the court’s approval to travel between Dec. 23 and Jan. 3. Federal prosecutors are asking U.S District Court Judge John D. Bates to deny the request.

“The defendant awaits trial on serious charges, including a felony, in the instant case,” prosecutors wrote in a three-page memo opposing the request. “While the government may consent to travel if it were necessary for the defendant’s employment or family caretaking responsibilities, this proposed travel is none of those things.”

But James Trusty, an attorney representing Ayala, said his client’s travel should be approved. He noted that Ayala had been aware of the initial investigation and continued to travel “domestically and internationally repeatedly without incident. He has not broken any laws during that period and fully respects the importance of compliance with this Court’s ordered conditions of release. As with his travel to Spain earlier this year, he will be with his family and has every intention of promptly returning to his home in Maryland after the Christmas/New Year celebratory trip.”

Trusty asked the judge to let Ayala pick up his passport, which had been turned over to the government, on Dec. 20 and return it on Jan. 6.

This is the second such request on travel made by Ayala since his indictment.

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In February, Ayala asked a federal judge to modify the conditions of his release to allow him to travel to Madrid for a “celebration of life” event for his deceased father that included family members and academics. Prosecutors likened it to an “academic conference that will be ‘attended by extended familiar members as well as religious and scientific figures in the international community.’”

The court granted Ayala’s request then over prosecutors’ objections, on the condition that he obtain a $25,000 bond and sign a waiver of extradition.

Prosecutors noted differences between the Spain and El Salvador trips.

Ayala traveled to Spain — without his wife and children — for an event honoring his recently deceased father. Prosecutors said the El Salvador trip is purely “for pleasure, proposing to take a family vacation for two full weeks.” They said they “cannot agree” to the request citing “the seriousness of the charges” and the inability to monitor Ayala outside the country.

If the request is approved, prosecutors said in their motion, the court should impose an extradition waiver requirement similar to the one for the Spain trip. El Salvador has an extradition treaty with the United States.

Ayala, of Salisbury, was charged earlier this year after federal investigators said he was identified among a group of rioters illegally gathered on restricted Capitol grounds. The crowd gathered there on the same day Congress met to certify the results of the presidential election.

Federal officials said Ayala wore a sweatshirt hood cinched tightly around his head and a grey 3M-style painter’s mask with large filters on each cheek. At times, he was seen carrying a black and white flag affixed to a PVC pipe flagpole bearing the words “We the People” and “DEFEND,” documents said. An image of an M-16-style rifle was featured prominently on the flag.

Investigators allege that video of the events show Ayala climbing over police barricades. Ayala then allegedly joined the vanguard of a crowd gathered outside a door on the Senate side of the Capitol. Security footage from inside the Capitol, near the Senate side door, allegedly shows Ayala waving his flag inside one of the windows next to the door.

Ayala resigned from the Maryland State Board of Elections the day the charges were announced. The incident has since spurred changes in how state lawmakers review election board nominations.

Ayala also has motions before the court seeking, among other things, a return of firearms he said he needs to protect his family and pets from rabid animals, the return of his personal cell phone, laptop and tablet device.

He has also asked a judge to dismiss various charges and to move a trial — if there is one — from the District of Columbia, where he said media reports label him and others charged in the incident as “insurrectionists” and “domestic terrorists.” Ayala’s attorney suggested a federal court in Western Virginia, or the Northern or Southern Districts of West Virginia would provide an opportunity for a fair trial.

The judge, who has yet to rule on those motions, told prosecutors to file responses by Friday.

The fate of the charges could rest with President-elect Donald Trump (R) — whose 2020 defeat sparked the Capitol attack — who has vowed that on his first day in office he will pardon those who took part in the Jan. 6 attack. Trump will be sworn in on Jan. 20.