(CNN) 鈥� Two people have been charged after they allegedly at the National Archives, the Justice Department announced Friday.
Donald Zepeda, 35, and Jackson Green, 27, were charged with felony destruction of government property, according to a department news release. They have both pleaded not guilty.
CNN has reached out to attorneys for Zepeda and Green for comment.
shows the two men standing in front of the coated encasement and giving a speech regarding climate change. Prosecutors say those two people are Green and Zepeda.
The video shows one individual shouting, 鈥淭his country is founded on the conditions that all men are created equally and endowed with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and presumed happiness.鈥�
鈥淲e all deserve clean air, water, food and a livable climate,鈥� the individual said.
Green and Zepeda are members of the Declare Emergency climate protest group, prosecutors say. The group has been a part of several recent high-visibility protests regarding climate change like the April 2023 vandalism of the National Gallery of Art.
This is the latest incident in a trend of vandalism targeting iconic artwork and historical documents as part of climate protests. UK activist group Just Stop Oil聽聽on Vincent van Gogh鈥檚 鈥淪unflowers鈥� painting in 2023. Activists also 聽to the protective glass on 鈥淭he Artist鈥檚 Garden at Giverny鈥� in Stockholm.
The National Archives said in a聽聽at the time of the incident that the Constitution was 鈥渦naffected in its encasement. No damage was done to the document itself.鈥� The attack cost over $50,000 to clean up and closed the Rotunda for four days, prosecutors say.
Green was previously charged with painting the words 鈥淗ONOR THEM鈥� in red on the Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial at the National Gallery of Art, according to court documents. As part of his conditions of release in that case, Green was ordered to 鈥渟tay away from the District of Columbia and stay away from all museums or public monuments.鈥�
But days after he was charged, prosecutors say in court filings, 鈥淢r. Green entered the National Archives and dumped red powder on the case containing the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights.鈥�
As a result, a federal judge ordered that Green be detained while he awaits trial because 鈥渉e poses a risk of danger to the continued integrity of historical artifacts, works of art, and other government property, to the public鈥檚 right to visit and enjoy those items of historic, artistic, symbolic, and monetary value, and to the safety and wellbeing of the employees whose duty it is to preserve and protect them.鈥�
The Constitution is located on the upper level of the Archives in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom along with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
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