Richard Barnett inside Nancy Pelosi's office.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was vandalized on Wednesday when supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol.

The nameplate above her office was stolen, and aides told CNN a large mirror was shattered. There were also messages left behind, including "we will not back down" scribbled on a folder. The Senate parliamentarian's office was ransacked as well, with CNN's Ali Zaslav tweeting a video showing furniture in disarray and paperwork strewn across the floor.

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Richard "Bigo" Barnett of Gravette, Arkansas, bragged to New York Times reporter Matthew Rosenberg that he entered Pelosi's office and "wrote her a nasty note, put my feet up on her desk." He showed the Times an envelope with Pelosi's letterhead, and said he didn't steal it because "I put a quarter on her desk."

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Barnett, who did not have on a mask, said when police entered Pelosi's office, armed with pepper spray, he told officers, "'I paid for this, it's mine,' and I left." Barnett claimed he was knocking on the office door when suddenly the crowd pushed him forward, and he found himself inside the room. "I'll probably be telling them this is what happened all the way to the D.C. jail," he said.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.