Actor Siaka Massaquoi says his Christian faith sustained him during his years-long battle with the U.S. Department of Justice over his presence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Massaquoi, who’s also the first vice chair of the Los Angeles County Republican Party, was arrested by FBI agents at Hollywood Burbank Airport on Nov. 30 after returning from the Nashville premiere of The Daily Wire’s new film “Lady Ballers,” which he plays a role.
The arrest came two years after the FBI raided his house in June 2021. Massaquoi was charged with four misdemeanors, including trespassing, disorderly conduct and parading or demonstrating in a Capitol building. He spent a night in jail before being released on bond on Dec. 1. In an interview with The Christian Post, Massaquoi said that during this time, he was encouraged by God’s provision, the outpouring of support and the “collective grace” he received from his fellow Christians as he fights what he believes to be political persecution.
When we went to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, to attend then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally, Massaquoi remembered that after returning to his hotel room after Trump’s speech at the Ellipse, he went to the U.S. Capitol upon seeing news coverage he thought was inaccurate. He remembered, “I see the news reporting it not like how I saw it when I left. It was peaceful. Everyone was having fun or marching over, singing and laughing, so I put on my shoes to go find a camera crew to stand behind them and say that they’re lying.”
After a 30-minute walk from his hotel to the Capitol, Massaquoi joined a group of people peacefully singing the national anthem but also noticed masked men grabbing other men and pushing them forward while not leading the way themselves. He said, “I knew there was something off about that. I knew there was just something wrong.” Massaquoi, who had attended a Trump rally in Beverly Hills weeks earlier during which left-wing protesters clashed with Trump supporters, said he saw Antifa militants from the crowd decked out in Trump gear that day.
During the night he spent in jail on Nov. 30, Massaquoi said he loudly recited the Lord’s Prayer from his cell and managed to share his faith with the agents who arrested him.nMassaquoi grew emotional recounting how, as he was shuffled in chains through the courtroom for his bond hearing the next day, about 15 of his friends were there to support him, including the pastor who married him.
Despite his ordeal, Massaquoi said he doesn’t regret having gone into the Capitol on Jan. 6. He believes the fallout from that day has exposed the tactics of the Democratic Party, drawn him closer to God, and shown him who his true friends are. He said, “It sucks, the things that have happened, but I don’t regret it because I’m looking at it and seeing everything [else] that’s happened, what it’s done. There are people in my life, my mom included, where it’s opened their eyes to a lot of what the Democratic Party is about. And that’s a good thing.”
Recent years have also “pushed me closer to the Word specifically; not just to God, but to the Word itself, so I can hear and see what He’s about,” he said. In 2023, he wed his wife, Charlotte Young Massaquoi, with whom he is expecting their first child.