A one-man gyrocopter landed on the west front of the Capitol Wednesday and Capitol police have taken the pilot into custody.
The Capitol police bomb squad has cleared the gyrocopter and found nothing hazardous. Police are conducting further investigations and charges for the pilot are pending.
The police have moved the aircraft off the lawn, and re-opened streets around the Capitol that were perviously closed.
No official information about the pilot’s identity has been released yet, except that he’s male.
According to Tampa Bay Times, the pilot is Doug Hughes, a 61-year-old mailman from Ruskin, Florida, who planned to show his dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court’s decisions on Citizens’ United. The court ruled in 2010 that campaign contributions are a form of "political speech" and cut down limits on the amount that corporations and unions could give to political contenders.
He told the Tampa Bay Times, “We don't have to accept that it's a corrupt government that sells out to the highest bidder. We can have a government that works for the people, that answers to the people, that can only take money from the people in small amounts.”
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