Judge ALLOWS Texas florist charged in Capitol riot to take luxury ‘work bonding retreat’ in Mexico’s Riviera Maya with her employees while on bail
- US Magistrate granted Jenny Cudd’s request for ‘company retreat’ in Mexico
- Cudd from Midland, Texas, was arrested on January 13 over the US Capitol riot
- She posted a video claiming: ‘we did break down Nancy Pelosi’s office door’
- Cudd, who ran for mayor of Midland in Nov 2019, was charged with illegal entry
- She was released on bond and ordered to stay in the state of Texas
- On Monday she requested permission to travel to Mexico on February 18-21
- She wants to go to a ‘work-related bonding retreat’ which she already paid for
- Cudd owns Becky’s Flowers in Midland and said she employs nine people
Jenny Louise Cudd plans her Mexican work retreat for four days in February
A judge has granted the request of a woman charged in the U.S. Capitol riot to travel to Mexico‘s Riviera Maya for a ‘company retreat’ with employees at the business she owns.
Jenny Louise Cudd, who runs Becky’s Flowers in Midland, Texas, on Monday requested court permission for the trip from February 18 to 21 while she is free on bail pending trial for misdemeanor charges of entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct.
A U.S. magistrate approved the request, ordering that Cudd’s pretrial travel restrictions to be amended to allow the four-day trip, according to USA Today.
Cudd was originally arrested on January 13, after photos showed her inside the Capitol and her social posts suggested that she helped break down the door to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s office.
Jenny Cudd, on the left of the picture wearing a Trump flag, was among the mob on January 6
Cudd owns Becky’s Flowers in Midland, and said on Facebook that she employs nine people
The request Cudd submitted to the court had asked permission to participate in ‘a work-related bonding retreat for employees and their spouses.’
‘Prior to the alleged offense at issue, Ms Cudd planned and prepaid for a weekend retreat with her employees,’ her attorneys stated in their court filing.
One of the conditions of Cudd’s pretrial release was that she not travel outside the continental United States without court approval.
Cudd’s florist shop has about nine employees. Her court request did not specify where they planned to stay in the Riviera Maya, a stretch of Caribbean coastline on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula that is filled with luxurious all-inclusive resorts.
Cudd went viral following the January 6 riot when she made a video from inside the Capitol, saying: ‘We didn’t knock down any statues, we didn’t vandalize anything – but we did break down Nancy Pelosi’s office door.’
Cudd denies doing anything violent or damaging property and has pleaded not guilty.
‘I went inside the Capitol completely legally and I did not do anything to hurt anybody or destroy any property,’ she told KWES-TV.
She said that she didn’t personally go into Pelosi’s office or see the breaking down of the door, but was speaking in a collective sense about people at the Capitol.
Her attorney, Don Flanary, said that the misdemeanour charges reflected that.
‘She’s basically just been charged with being there,’ he told CBS. ‘She did not break into Nancy Pelosi’s office. She didn’t go anywhere inside or near it.’
He added: ‘We’re pretty confident that the cameras will show she was only in the public portions of the Capitol.’
Cudd was one of several political candidates who took part in the siege, along with former US House nominee Rick Saccone of Pennsylvania and recently-elected lawmaker Derrick Evans of West Virginia, who later resigned.
Cudd came last in a three-way mayoral race in Midland, Texas, in November 2019, and current mayor Patrick Payton said he was ‘saddened’ by her involvement in the mob.
‘It saddens me. And that’s just as far as I’m willing to comment on that. It saddens me,’ he said.
A large crowd stormed the Capitol as terrified politicians ran for safety
Cudd is also a cannabis entrepreneur, with interests in two Oklahoma-based farms.
Cudd is scheduled to appear in a preliminary hearing on February 4 before Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather, sitting in Washington DC, where the charges were filed.
Cudd is facing up to a year behind bars or a $100,000 fine if found guilty.