Texas flower shop owner charged in Capitol riot can take trip to Mexico, judge says
A federal judge will allow a Texas business owner charged in the Capitol riot to visit Mexico for a work retreat.
On Friday, Judge Trevor N. McFadden approved the request by Jenny Cudd, who owns a flower shop in Midland, to travel to Riviera Maya later this month. The four-day trip to the resort area was prepaid before Cudd was arrested and charged for her role in the attack on Jan. 6, the motion to travel filed Monday said.
“This is a work-related bonding retreat for employees and their spouses,” the motion said.
In the order, McFadden noted neither prosecutors nor Cudd’s pretrial services officer opposed the request.
“The Court also notes the Defendant has no criminal history and there is no evidence before the Court suggesting the Defendant is a flight risk or poses a danger to others,” the order said.
On Tuesday, Cudd was indicted along with Eliel Rosa on charges of obstruction of an official proceeding; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building; and aiding and abetting.
The Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was led by far-right extremists — many of them armed and screaming threats of violence — intent on disrupting U.S. representatives and senators as they approved President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
The extremists, along with thousands of other Trump loyalists, had come to Washington, D.C., to support the president in his final days in office. After a high-energy rally at the White House — where Trump urged them to march on Capitol Hill, the mob tore through barricades and smashed windows as they charged and desecrated the Capitol.
Five people died, including a Capitol Police officer.
A week after the attack, the U.S House voted to impeach Trump on charges of “incitement of insurrection” and the FBI warned of more armed protests leading up to Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Those protests never materialized; instead the attack’s aftermath has been filled with arrests of those who stormed the Capitol and revelations about what it was like inside the Capitol the day of the siege.
Cudd streamed a Facebook Live video of herself after entering the Capitol, saying she broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office with others, according to a criminal complaint. A photograph depicts her inside the Capitol rotunda, the complaint says.
The criminal complaint also cites Cudd’s interview with a Midland news reporter, who she told “we the patriots did storm the U.S. Capitol” and “I would absolutely do it again.”
Cudd is the owner of a flower shop and former Midland mayoral candidate, the Midland Reporter-Telegram reported.
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 6:28 PM with the headline "Texas flower shop owner charged in Capitol riot can take trip to Mexico, judge says."