His name is Kevin Finkenaur. He runs a local moving and storage company.
He’s also a self-identified insurrectionist.
“Saw first hand today how close the citizens of the US came to overthrowing a corrupt government,” said a Facebook post under Finkenauer’s name following Wednesday’s invasion of the U.S. Capitol by thousands of Donald Trump die-hards.
“I was there…you weren’t,” said another post under Finkenaur’s name. “On the upper level, there was thousand of US citizens (versus) 40 or so riot police.”
Among the many shock waves emanating from last week’s attack on Congress is the brazen, some might say half-witted, willingness of many participants to go online and not only admit they were there, but boast about it. Already, FBI agents and other law enforcement officials are fanning out nationwide to track down and arrest people now showboating their participation in the riot as a twisted badge of honor.
Finkenaur, who identifies himself on his LinkedIn page as the founder and CEO of Liberty Bell Moving and Storage of Maine, appears to be one of those people.
The story begins with Tom Quinn, who retired in August from his job as an assistant attorney general for the Maine Attorney General’s Office. No stranger to Facebook himself and no fan of Trump, Quinn posted just before the November election that despite all their tough talk, he couldn’t find any Trump supporters willing to bet that their guy would win re-election on Nov. 3.
Enter Finkenauer, who at some point – Quinn doesn’t recall when or how – became a friend of Quinn’s on Facebook.
“He piped up that he would bet $20,000 on (the election),” Quinn recalled in an interview on Friday. “Needless to say, I didn’t really engage him on that point.”
Which brings us to Wednesday, when Quinn, watching in horror like the rest of the world as the riot unfolded on Capitol Hill, posted, “Well it took a lot longer than they’d hoped, but the Confederate battle flag finally got paraded through the halls of the Capitol.”
In the comment thread that followed, up popped Finkenaur.
After saying he saw the chaos firsthand, he continued: “With no weapons except sheer numbers, will, determination and brute force….they almost CLEARED the capital building. If this relatively small, disorganized band of US citizens came THIS close to taking over the capital building and with no weapons, god help the globalist America hating members of this country should any moderately organized militia ever decide to REALLY organize and take back their country.”
Another commenter soon pointed out that police, not the rioters, cleared the building and that the mob didn’t overthrow anything.
“I was there…you weren’t,” countered Finkenauer. “If it weren’t for a few US citizens on mega phones telling the THOUSANDS of people to stop moving forward and not break through the riot police line…it would have happened EASILY. Otherwise, the building would have been easily taken over.”
Of course, as we all saw in real time, the police lines were broken. The Senate Chamber, along with the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were taken over. One of the rioters was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer. Another Capitol Police officer was murdered with a fire extinguisher.
Back to Finkenauer.
“Wait,” posted a commenter. “Were you there participating in this insurrection?”
Replied Finkenaur, with two emojis crying tears of laughter, “Biden, Hillary and Biden’s crack head son. You must smoke crack to think your on the winning side. Go get your Covid injection u dub.”
Chimed in another commenter, “Hey idiot keep us updated when they charge you with treason.”
And another, “Kevin appears to have gone quiet. Perhaps he’s decided that courting an FBI interview is a bad idea.”
Quinn, the retired prosecutor, tried to goad Finkenaur into expanding on his public confession. Believing all the while that Finkenauer had in fact been there, he wrote, “Kevin Finkenauer, I’m familiar with the Capitol complex. I doubt very much that you were there, from your description. Post some photos or it didn’t happen.”
No response.
Nor was there any response to my phone call on Friday to Finkenauer at Liberty Bell Moving and Storage, or to my Facebook message explaining that I planned to write about his claims for Sunday’s paper.
Saturday morning, I drove out to Finkenauer’s home in Standish. After turning into the long, sloping driveway festooned with “No Trespassing” signs and posted warnings that I was under 24/7 camera surveillance, my gut told me to avoid any provocation and I left – not without first noticing a pickup truck with a small camper attached parked by the house.
Odd time to go camping, I thought to myself.
Finkenaur, we should note, isn’t the only tie between the Capitol intruders and this neck of the woods. In a video posted on Twitter, a man taking a selfie with a startlingly cooperative police officer holds up his camera and says, “We’re from Maine.”
So now what? As federal officials start the laborious task of rounding up those who were in the Capitol, and businesses nationwide start firing employees bold (and stupid) enough to crow about their exploits on social media, how many revolutionary wannabes are now back home in Maine, caught between their own hubris and the growing realization that their acts might, and must, have consequences?
As one person posted on the Facebook page of Maine Republicans of All Ages, a link to which can be found on Liberty Bell Moving and Storage’s Facebook page, “Most of US will need to go ‘underground’ in some way. Others need to learn to ‘hide’ or ‘blend’ better with those from the Left that hate us and want to ‘cancel’ and kill us.”
Halsey Frank, U.S. attorney for the District of Maine, issued a statement on Thursday vowing, “If the District of Maine has jurisdiction over any of the criminal activity that took place at the U.S. Capitol yesterday, we will prosecute it.”
In a follow-up email to the Portland Press Herald that evening, Craig M. Wolff, assistant U.S. attorney for Maine, noted that federal charges can be filed against people who travel or communicate across state lines with the intent to riot.
“In general, there could be jurisdiction in the District of Maine if the travel or communication initiated in Maine,” Wolff said.
To U.S. Attorney Frank, whom Trump appointed in 2017 after firing Frank’s predecessor, Obama appointee Thomas E. Delahanty II, the ball’s in your court now.
Are guys like Kevin Finkenauer just blowing smoke? Was he just fantasizing back on Dec. 28, when he posted on Facebook in response to Trump’s call to arms on Jan. 6, “LET GLOBALIST COMMIES RIG THE ELECTION AND IGNORE THE CONSTITUTION?? YEA …NO! WE’LL BE THERE!”?
Or, as we now read the claims that he was in fact there, in the thick of it all, trying to overthrow our government, should someone with a badge take a ride down that slippery slope of a driveway and knock on his door?
At the very least, the man with the Liberty Bell on his moving trucks has some explaining to do.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
