A New Jersey gym owner and former ultimate fighter who is accused of assaulting a federal officer during the US Capitol riots is the brother of a Secret Service agent who led former first lady Michelle Obama’s security detail, according to a report.
Scott Kevin Fairlamb of Stockholm, N.J., who fought under the name “Wildman,” was charged Friday in federal court in Washington, DC, according to court documents.
Now it has been revealed he is the brother of Preston “Jay” Fairlamb III and the son of retired New Jersey Trooper Preston “Jay” Fairlamb Jr., who was killed in a 2012 motorcycle accident, the Huffington Post reported.
When Obama was first lady, she attended a memorial service for the elder Fairlamb, according to the news outlet, because of her relationship with Preston “Jay” Fairlamb III.
Obama even wrote in her recent memoir that she and the agent “became real friends,” HuffPost noted.
HuffPost also reported that a website for Scott Fairlamb’s 2019 wedding listed his best man as “Jay.”
An acquaintance also confirmed to the outlet that the agent — who is listed on LinkedIn as the Secret Service’s agent-in-charge of the Trenton, NJ, office — was in his brother’s wedding party.
There’s no indication that Fairlamb III was aware of his brother’s alleged activities at the Capitol on Jan. 6 — and the arrest affidavit against Scott Fairlamb does not give any specific indication that the agent helped bring his brother to justice, HuffPost reported.
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to the outlet’s request for comment.
Scott Fairlamb’s arrest affidavit described contacts from four concerned citizens who told the FBI that he was at the Capitol on the day of the insurrection and posted videos of himself on Facebook that he later deleted.
In the clip, according to the FBI, Fairlamb “is carrying a collapsible baton and says ‘What Patriots do? We f—- disarm them and then we storm f— the Capitol,’” HuffPost reported.
At least one person submitted a video that allegedly showed Fairlamb shove and punch an officer on the West Front of the Capitol. Another showed him on the scaffolding outside the Capitol, and an officer’s body cam shows him standing in the crowd wearing a camouflage jacket and red shoes, WRNJ reported.
Fairlamb, who owns Fairlamb Fit in Pompton Lakes, NJ, told CBS New York in May that he planned to reopen his gym in defiance of the state’s COVID lockdown because Gov. Phil Murphy “overstepped his boundaries” in ordering closures.
But one associate told HuffPost that Fairlamb had been drawn to conspiracy theories long before the coronavirus hit the US.
“Over the last eight to 10 years, Scott got pulled more and more into the conspiracy theory vortex and pushed everything in his life aside for it,” the person told the outlet.
“Trump’s first campaign set his targets on [Hillary Clinton] and ‘lock her up,’ then it moved to QAnon type stuff over the last few years and ultimately resulted in his participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot,” the associate continued.
“I feel for his wife, family, employees and community, but I have zero empathy for him. He’s had too many chances over the years to correct his pattern of bullying behavior ― all while portraying himself as a ‘good guy with a Batman cape’ in his hometown.”
The gym’s website claims Fairlamb was a “top ultimate fighter” until he was diagnosed with a form of leukemia while training for his MMA debut.
In addition to the assault and weapon counts, Fairlamb also was charged with civil disorder, knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
US Magistrate Judge James B. Clark III ordered him released on a $50,000 unsecured appearance bond and subject to home detention with electronic monitoring, NJ.com reported.