January 6 Rioters - Part XIV - Gathering of the Proud Boys (601-665)

 

GATHERING OF THE PROUD BOYS

PART XIV

 

(Rioters #601-665)

__________ 

“You’ve heard me, you understand. Now judge.” 

Aristotle

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"Stand back, but stand by," Trump told the Proud Boys during a debate.

 

I CONTINUE TO LOSE droves of conservative Facebook friends, due to my annoying habit of searching out and exposing the truth. One gentleman questioned my “character,” because I continued to express interest in a topic which will dominate below – namely the Capitol Hill riot of 2021. 

Yesterday, after I mocked Mike Lindell, of MyPillow fame, a Trump fan accused me of having a “vendetta” against people on the right. 

So, let’s start Part XIV with Mr. Lindell. The man clearly needs therapy. He’s probably depressed since he predicted with certainty, that on August 13, 2021, Trump would be reinstated as President of the United States. And when that date passed, he changed his prediction to “it’s Trump 2021,” expecting his hero’s resurrection to come before the end of the year. 

Which also didn’t happen. 

 

Evidence that could put 300 million people behind bars! 

Poor, silly Mike remains on my radar still. First, he’s a man that Donald J. Trump listened to intently in the days after Donnie got smoked in the 2020 election. Now, we learn that in a talk with Real America’s Voice the dopey pillow producer announced that he and his crack team of voter fraud sleuths had evidence that could put 300 million people behind bars! 

To say Lindell was mixed up on math would be an epic understatement. Yet people who love Rejected-President Trump continue to listen to people like Lindell. “Everything you’re going to see over these next seven months to get rid of the [voting] machines,” Lindell assured listeners at one point, “you’re going to see the Supreme Court case coming out. All these great things, everybody.” 

The fool could hardly wait. 

Donald J. heard that news – and fans of Donald J. heard that news – and they believed. “Lock them up! Lock them up! Lock them up!” they began muttering, reflexively. Some even in their sleep. 

A sensible person, however, noticed right away that there was a slight defect in Mike’s figures. 

First, the population of the United States of America is approximately 331.9 million. If we subtract the 74.2 million who voted for Trump…um…was Mike saying tens of millions of Canadians snuck across the borders and voted? 

Was Mr. MyPillow claiming that the estimated 76 million children in this country, ages 0-11 all snuck off to the polls? I may be a “libtard,” as the saying goes. Still, I believe a reasonably competent poll watcher would notice if a toddler showed up and tried to pass him or herself off as a registered voter. 

And yet. 

Loser Donald has made claims only slightly less ridiculous – and he did let Mike into the Oval Office in the waning days of his first and (hopefully) last term in office – and he did listen as Mike suggested: Hey! You control the military, Mr. President! Why not call them out and order up a re-do of the vote in all the states you lost? 

Mike L. thought that sounded like fun.

 

* 

NOW, it turns out (allegedly, as they say), that besides Mike L., and the other Mike (Mike Flynn), and possibly Loser Donald himself, a sizeable chunk of Americans known as Oath Keepers thought that using force to change the outcome of the 2020 election would be as American as apple pie, not kneeling during the National Anthem, and keeping transgenders out of our bathrooms. 

Let them pee in the weeds. 

In a sweeping indictment, unsealed Wednesday, a federal grand jury in Washington D.C. charged 11 defendants with seditious conspiracy, as well as a variety of lesser crimes, for their part in the attack on Capitol Hill, January 6, 2021. 

We have been keeping track, as best we can, of all individuals charged with crimes related to that attack. So, most of the eleven persons named in the latest indictment already appeared on our list. 

We pick up our numbering once more. 

*

“Blood…on the streets where your family lives.” 

601. ELMER STEWART RHODES III: Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, a right-wing paramilitary group, had his fingerprints all over the January 6 riot, but he was not indicted until January 2022. 

There were plenty of people on Jan. 6 who wanted to give God and Trump a boost. Rhodes was ready with the guns, should prayer fail. 

On November 7, just four days after the election, with networks now declaring Biden the victor, Rhodes assured his circle of right-wing supporters that the battle was far from over. “The final defense,” he said, “is us and our rifles.” 

(And you thought it was ballots!) 

 

He made his sentiments clear again when he appeared on Infowars three days later. He assured his host, Rush Limbaugh, that he wasn’t going to allow the president to be removed from office illegally: 

__________ 

We have “good men on the ground already, armed, prepared to go in if the president calls us up. In case they attempt to remove the president illegally, we will step in and stop it.” 

Stewart Rhodes, appearing on Infowars, November 10.

__________ 

 

Limbaugh didn’t blanche at such sentiments. Rather, he was happy to help spread them, to help stir the embers of violence, just as was his hero, the President of the United States. 

As for Rhodes, he wasn’t arrested on January 6, or even soon after, but other Oath Keepers were swept up by law enforcement authorities by the dozens. People who listened to Rhodes. 

People who listened to Rush. 

And people who listened to Trump. 

Rhodes is a former U.S. Army paratrooper, a graduate of Yale Law, and eventually found himself staring down a possible sentence of twenty-five years behind bars. In a jury trial Rhodes, and Kelly Meggs (#217 on our list), his top Oath Keepers lieutenant, were both convicted on two key charges, seditious conspiracy, and obstructing Congress. 

In September 2022, Mr. Rhodes asked for a delay in his trial and said he wanted to dump his legal team. In essence, the judge told him to quit stalling. He was going on trial on Sept. 27. 

In November, prosecutors rested their case after showing evidence of Rhodes’ violent intent. Even after the January 6 riot, the leader of the Oath Keepers, kept pushing for more violence. According to one witness, Rhodes asked him to get a message to President Trump, in the days before Biden could be inaugurated. Like Lindell, Flynn, and others, Rhodes wanted Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807, and block the peaceful transfer of power. 

 

“And us veterans will die in combat on US soil.” 

That witness, Jason Alpers, a tech savvy veteran, said Rhodes tapped the message out to Trump on Alpers’ borrowed phone, and asked him to get it to Trump. “If you don’t, then Biden/Kamala will turn all that power on you, your family, and all of us. You and your family will be imprisoned and killed,” Rhodes warned. “And us veterans will die in combat on US soil, fighting against traitors who YOU turned over all the powers of the Presidency to.” 

Again, let’s take note. Rhodes was expressing a willingness to kill other Americans in order to keep Trump in power. 

 

Rhodes will miss voting in the next five presidential elections. 

Worried about his own legal exposure, Rhodes begged the soon-to-be ex-president to be the “savior of the Republic, not a man who surrendered it to deadly traitors and enemies, who then enslaved and murdered millions of Americans.” 

Prosecutors also played clips of the recording Alpers made of the meeting [with Rhodes]. In one snippet, Rhodes can be heard saying: “If he’s not going to do the right thing, and he’s just gonna let himself be removed illegally, then we should have brought rifles. We could have fixed it right then and there. I’d hang f****** Pelosi from the lamppost.” 

On the stand, Alpers told jurors that he did not agree with what Rhodes was saying or his message. 

“Asking for civil war to be on American ground and understanding, being a person who’s gone to war, that means blood is going to get shed on the streets where your family lives,” Alpers testified. “It was at that point that I stepped back and am questioning whether pushing this to President Trump is in the best interest.” 

Ultimately, Alpers did not pass the message to Trump. Instead, he provided recordings of the meeting where such exchanges took place, and other critical evidence against Mr. Rhodes.

 

On May 5, 2023, prosecutors in the case of Rhodes, et. al, recommend that he be sentenced to 25 years in prison. 

On May 25, the judge ruled. Rhodes will spend the next 216 months – or eighteen years –  in jail, missing any chance to vote in the next five presidential elections. This marks the longest sentence issued, so far. 

He’ll get to spend an extra three years on probation.

 

* 

In March 2021, Rhodes’ estranged wife, Tasha Adams, decided to divorce the Oath Keeper leader. 

To do so, she started a GoFundMe page, seeking $30,000 to pay off legal bills and hire a lawyer. “It is certainly not easy to find a lawyer willing to go head to head against a person who is not only a graduate of Yale Law but also commands their own private army,” Ms. Adams explained. 

“Though I can’t talk about the details of my marriage here,” she said on her GoFundMe page, “I can tell you that it was likely about exactly what you’re picturing, but probably quite a bit weirder.” 

The couple had six children.

 

UPDATE (September 25, 2021): The New York Times did offer a story about a member of the Proud Boys, who was also an F.B.I. informant. That informant was texting his handler during the January 6 attack, but had previously denied that the group had any plans for violence. Nor, he had claimed, did they plan violence ahead of time. 

This story could be fodder for a thousand QAnon tales and denials of responsibility for the violence by Trump supporters and people on the right on Newsmax, OAN, and Fox News. 

 

UPDATE #2 (July 16, 2022): In a number of articles, the Times has blown that right-wing-we-didn’t-do-it-it-was-Antifa-and-commies-and-lefties-who-did screed to atoms. Eighteen months after the attack, forty members of the Proud Boys had been arrested and charged for their roles in the riots. 

The analysis of The Times found a pattern in how the Proud Boys moved on the ground. Over and over at key moments when the Capitol was breached, the group used the same set of tactics: identifying access points to the building, riling up other protesters and sometimes directly joining in the violence. When met with resistance, leaders of the group reassessed, and teams of Proud Boys targeted new entry points to the Capitol.

 

“Lawyers for the Proud Boys have firmly denied that the group had any prearranged plan to storm the Capitol – let alone to seditiously overthrow the government,” the newspaper notes. That the Boys were enamored of President Trump, however, there can be no doubt. 

Joe Biggs (#565 on our list) believed people would fight for the president even if he lost the election, saying, “This guy is the epitome of leadership.” Members of the group attended multiple “Stop the Steal” rallies in the weeks leading up to January 6. And Enrique Tarrio (#618), another founder of the group liked to lead call and response chants of, “I am a proud western chauvinist. And I refuse to apologize for creating the modern world.” 

Nor did the following video message help their defense in court. Zachary Rehl (#242), could be seen speaking on a December 30 call to the “Ministry of Defense” (formed by leaders of the Proud Boys to coordinate their January 6 attacks). “And there’s gonna be a lot of contingencies and plans that are laid out. And there’s gonna be teams that are going to be put together,” Rehl explained. According to the Times, the Ministry leaders included Tarrio, Biggs, Rehl, Ethan Nordean (#170 on our list), “Person 3,” and one person listed as “unknown.” Regional leaders included Charles Donohoe (#241), “Person 1,” “Person 2,” and five persons “unknown.” The Ministry of Defense had  90+ members in all. 

As for the January 6 attack, itself, the Times noted that prior to that day, Biggs messaged Tarrio, “Let’s get radical and get real men.” The message sent out by leaders of Proud Boys was loud and clear. “Everyone needs to meet at the Washington Monument at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.” 

At least seven of the Boys helped lead the breach of the West Plaza police lines and rile up the larger crowd. Ryan Samsel, a Trump supporter from Pennsylvania, was one of the first persons to attack the barricades. He was not a member of the group, but later told the F.B.I. that Biggs encouraged him to challenge the police. This attack, with Samsel and others in the lead, the Times called, “the tipping point.” 

As the Times explained, when police reinforced their lines along the barricades, “three groups of Proud Boys fall back in coordinated fashion.” Biggs and his group retreat to reassess their next move. They focus on “a lightly guarded staircase covered by scaffolding.” A dozen members of the organization lead the attack on police lines there. Dominic Pezzola is the first to smash a window – and with that, the Capitol Building is breached. 

Another group of Boys heads for the east side of the building. 

“Just before 2 p.m.,” the Times continues, on the east side of the Capitol, a team of Proud Boys rouses the crowd and removes fencing at multiple barricade lines. For hours, hundreds of protesters had remained behind the police line here. But within minutes of the Proud Boys arriving, the crowd overruns the police and takes over the eastern plaza. It’s the Proud Boys’ playbook in action again. The East Door is breached soon after, when two Proud Boys hit police with chemical spray. 

Later that day, after the rioters are cleared out, and the electoral votes are counted, dooming Trump’s hopes for a second term, Rehl sends a message to the group in a Telegram chat. “That was NOT what I expected to happen today. All from us showing up and starting some chants and getting the normies all riled up.”

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: Ryan J. Reilly, an NBC journalist called Greg Brower, an F.B.I. official and former Republican office holder, on November 8, 2021, the day after Trump lost. He wanted to get Brower’s take on what was developing in the face of Donald’s defeat. Brower made it clear. He believed Trump was fueling dangerous sentiments among his followers. 

As Brower put it, 

It’s been happening for four years now, but it’s still stunning to most of us, I think, that the president does absolutely nothing to try to tamp that down. In fact, he encourages it. I know it’s very frustrating for law enforcement, but the president doesn’t appear to be willing yet to face the facts, encourage followers to remain calm and accept the fact that he has lost, and move on.

 

Bill Fulton, who had worked as an F.B.I. informer, and infiltrated right-wing militias, also explained the danger posed by the words of President Trump. “What we call it is walking them to the edge,” Fulton told Reilly. “You have the President of the United States taking these people to the edge, and the second that something happens he’s going to turn around and go, ‘Well, I didn’t tell them to do that.’ Gives him that plausible deniability, and that’s what’s scary.” 

Fulton added: 

You can’t keep people on the edge for that long. A lot of these guys think that they’re like defending the United States. They think they are patriots. That is powerful. Patriots go to war for their country all the time. … When you start mixing that, you end up with really, really bad shit happening.”

 

(Sedition Hunters by Ryan J. Reilly, pp. 81-82.)

Trump “sent us,” right-wing, believed in violence. 

 

*

“I will DIE first, and that’s only when I run out of AMMUNITION!” 

602. Edward Vallejo: Mr. Vallejo, 63, hails from Phoenix, Arizona. He was indicted along with Rhodes. 

Judge John Boyle, a federal magistrate in Arizona, rules on Jan. 20, 2022, that Vallejo remain in jail until trial. Prosecutors, he says, presented a compelling case to indicate that the defendant was an ongoing threat. Apparently, Vallejo was a slow learner, having retweeted a message earlier the same month: “The real insurrection happened in the wee hours of Nov. 4, 2020.” 

Vaccines also infuriated Vallejo. 

So why not threaten violence against the head of the World Health Organization? Vallejo let loose on Twitter, warning, “I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU … you will NEVER achieve ‘vaccine equality’ as long as I, and others like me, are alive! I will DIE first, and that’s only when I run out of AMMUNITION!” 

In January 2022, prosecutors charged Vallejo and other Oath Keepers with seditious conspiracy, a crime that could carry a sentence of twenty years in prison. They alleged that the men had three “quick reaction force” teams ready on January 6. Their job, if shooting erupted, would be to ferry arms from a Comfort Inn in Northern Virginia to the scene of battle. They were alleged to have had a drone, which they planned to use for surveillance, 30 days’ worth of supplies, and “at least three luggage carts’ worth of gun boxes, rifle cases, and suitcases filled with ammunition” stashed. 

In January 2023, Vallejo and three others are convicted by a jury of the sedition charge, and two other conspiracy charges. A U.S. Army veteran himself, prosecutors noted that on the morning of January 6, 2021, Vallejo had talked to other members of the group about a “declaration of guerrilla war.” 

Trump “sent us,” right-winger, believed in violence.

 

*

 

603. Brian Ulrich: Ulrich, 44, is from Guyton, Georgia and makes our list for the first time. 

The following co-defendants, and now Rhodes, have previously appeared on our list, so entries will be updated: 

Thomas Caldwell (#151), Jessica Watkins (#152), Kelly Meggs (#217), Joshua James (#256), Roberto A. Minuta (#257), Joseph Hackett (#278), Kenneth Harrelson (#335) and David Moerschel (#386). 

On April 29, 2022, he agrees to plead guilty to a charge of seditious conspiracy and cooperate with prosecutors. He could be facing between 63 and 78 months in prison, and during his Zoom hearing, could often be heard weeping. 

Among other admissions, Ulrich says that he and other Oath Keepers traveled to D.C. on January 4, and stashed their weapons at a hotel in northern Virginia. When they heard that the mob had attacked the Capitol Building, Ulrich says they raced to the scene in golf carts. In early December he had posed this question on social media: “I seriously wonder what it would take just to get every patriot marching around the capital armed? Just to show our government how powerless they are!” 

Also, who needs voting! 

During his latest court appearance, the judge put this question to the defendant: “Do you agree with that statement [in your plea agreement] that you agreed with Mr. Rhodes and others to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power?” 

“Yes, your honor,” Ulrich answered. 

He awaits sentencing on very serious charges, including seditious conspiracy, which can carry 20 years in prison.

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE (11/23/23): On “X,” formerly known as Twitter, Ryan J. Reilly continues to track the stories of the rioters. According to court documents, Mr. Ulrich and six other Oath Keepers are already cooperating with investigators. Those others include Graydon Young (#220 on our list), Joshua James (#256), Jason Dolan (#279), Mark Grods (#387), Caleb Berry (#417) and William Todd Wilson (#623).

Trump “sent us,” right-winger, believed in violence.  

 

* 

____________________

 

“He called us all to the Capitol and wants us to make it wild!!!”

 

Kelly Meggs

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The Department of Justice explains the charges against these eleven:

 

The seditious conspiracy indictment alleges that, following the Nov. 3, 2020, presidential election, Rhodes conspired with his co-defendants and others to oppose by force the execution of the laws governing the transfer of presidential power by Jan. 20, 2021. Beginning in late December 2020, via encrypted and private communications applications, Rhodes and various co-conspirators coordinated and planned to travel to Washington, D.C., on or around Jan. 6, 2021, the date of the certification of the electoral college vote, the indictment alleges. Rhodes and several co-conspirators made plans to bring weapons to the area to support the operation. The co-conspirators then traveled across the country to the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area in early January 2021.

 

According to the seditious conspiracy indictment, the defendants conspired through a variety of manners and means, including: organizing into teams that were prepared and willing to use force and to transport firearms and ammunition into Washington, D.C.; recruiting members and affiliates to participate in the conspiracy; organizing trainings to teach and learn paramilitary combat tactics; bringing and contributing paramilitary gear, weapons and supplies – including knives, batons, camouflaged combat uniforms, tactical vests with plates, helmets, eye protection and radio equipment – to the Capitol grounds; breaching and attempting to take control of the Capitol grounds and building on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to prevent, hinder and delay the certification of the electoral college vote; using force against law enforcement officers while inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; continuing to plot, after Jan. 6, 2021, to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power, and using websites, social media, text messaging and encrypted messaging applications to communicate with co-conspirators and others.

 

The DOJ also notes

 

While certain Oath Keepers members and affiliates breached the Capitol grounds and building, others remained stationed just outside of the city in quick reaction force (QRF) teams. According to the indictment, the QRF teams were prepared to rapidly transport firearms and other weapons into Washington, D.C., in support of operations aimed at using force to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power. The indictment alleges that the teams were coordinated, in part, by Caldwell and Vallejo.

 

The charge of seditious conspiracy carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

 

As far as where these men and women got the brilliant idea to attack the Capitol and thwart the counting of the electoral votes, let’s quote Mr. Meggs, in a Facebook post he allegedly made in days leading up to the attack on January 6: “Trump said It’s gonna be wild!!!!!!!  It’s gonna be wild!!!!!!!  He wants us to make it WILD that’s what he’s saying. He called us all to the Capitol and wants us to make it wild!!! Sir Yes Sir!!! Gentlemen we are heading to DC pack your s***!!” 

Meggs, for one, had specific ideas when it came to what shit he and his friends might want to bring. Mace. Gas masks. Batons. “If you have armor that’s good,” he added in a Christmas Day post in 2020. 

As noted in a previous indictment, Meggs and others were ready to go farther. The day after Christmas, Graydon Young (#221 on our list) emailed a Florida company that specialized in firearms and combat training. Young noted that he had recently joined the Oath Keepers, had already trained with the Florida company, and was recommending them to his “team.” “To that effect,” he explained, “four of us would like to train with you, specifically in your UTM [ultimate training munitions] rifle class.” 

The plot will no doubt continue to thicken. Mr. Young promised others that for every Oath Keeper you saw on January 6, there would be at least two, in “grey man” mode, those you didn’t see in the crowd. 

According to prosecutors, Meggs predicted “we will have at least 50 to 100 OK there,” on the day everything got wild, what they claim is a reference to the expected turnout for the Oath Keepers. 

So, other indictments for sedition are nearly certain. On June 16, 2021, Young was offered a plea deal, if he agreed to two charges, with a likely sentence, combined, ranging between 63 and 78 months in prison. On June 23, he plead guilty to the most serious of the two charges. 

We can assume he is also cooperating with prosecutors.

 

* 

“It will be a bloody and desperate fight.” 

The evidence against the eleven Oath Keepers would appear damning. Just two days after the November 2020 election, with the outcome of the vote count still not final, Rhodes was ready to drop the niceties of voting in person, or voting by mail, or maybe voting period. “We aren’t getting through this without a civil war,” he predicted in an encrypted chat on the app Signal. “Too late for that. Prepare your mind, body, spirit.” 

On November 7, the day the election was called for Joe Biden, Rhodes allegedly messaged his team again: “[W]e must now do what the people of Serbia did when Milosevic stole their election. – Refuse to accept it and march en-mass on the nation’s Capitol.” 

In fact, Rhodes explained that he was in contact with one of the leaders of the Serbian freedom fight, and steps taken in Serbia, he felt, would work in the United States, too. Quoting the Serbian leader, those included: 

We swarmed the streets and started confronting the opponents. I Know, not nice, but it must be done if the institutions stop to exist - Millions gathered in our capital. There were no barricades strong enough to stop them, nor the police determined enough to stop them! - Police and Military aligned with the people after few hours of this fight - We stormed the Parliament - And burned down fake state Television! WE WON 

 

A month later, Rhodes wrote again to members of his like-minded crew: “It will be a bloody and desperate fight. We are going to have a fight. That can’t be avoided.” For good measure, he added, “there is no standard political or legal way out of this.” 

And let’s be clear. The “bloody” part would have involved spilling the blood of other Americans. 

It doesn’t help any to know that member of the Oath Keepers were in Washington D.C. on January 6, providing “security” for none other than pardoned-seven-time felon Roger Stone, an advisor to the president who had pardoned him just two weeks before. Namely: Donald J. Trump. Or to remember that Stone has refused to cooperate with a House Select Panel investigating events surrounding the attack – and when forced by threat of arrest to appear – pled the Fifth on every question he was asked. 

In fact, in a letter the Select Panel sent to Mr. Rhodes, they asked for his cooperation (now moot in the face of his indictment), noting that on Election Day itself, Rhodes was already feeling an itch in his trigger finger. An “honest” count of the votes, he told members, could only end in a Trump victory. If the vote went otherwise, it would be time to “stock up on ammo” and prepare for a “full-on war in the streets.” 

Did I already mention whose blood would be spilled in the streets if Mr. Rhodes and his pals had their way?

 

If most Americans were appalled by what they saw happening on the day of the assault on the Capitol, Rhodes was allegedly excited by what he was witnessing.  At 1:38 p.m. he wrote on Signal, “All I see Trump doing is complaining. I see no intent by him to do anything. So the patriots are taking it into their own hands. They’ve had enough.” Enough of democracy, perhaps? 

On the evening of the attack itself, prosecutors say Rhodes, Vallejo and other members of their group met at an Olive Garden restaurant in Vienna, Va., to “celebrate their attack on the Capitol and discuss next steps.” 

“Thousands of ticked off patriots spontaneously marched on the Capitol,” Rhodes wrote that night on his Signal group chat. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

 

So, bread sticks and sedition! What could go wrong? 

The full indictment, 81 pages long, is now available.

 

* 

IN A RELATED case Donovan Crowl (#153 on our list), Connie Meggs (#216), Bennie Parker (#218), Sandra Parker (#219), Laura Steele (#220),William Isaacs (#280), James Beeks (#604), and Jonathan Walden (#605) also face charges. Those last two are now added to our list. All are alleged to be members or supporters of the Oath Keepers.

 

* 

Rare acquittal – for a dope. 

604. JAMES BEEKS: Oath Keeper – and self-professed “sovereign citizen,” meaning that he is beyond the reach of U.S. law (at least in his own noggin’) – Mr. Beeks was arrested in November 2021, while in Milwaukee. At the time, he was playing the part of Judas in a traveling production of Jesus Christ Superstar. 

Perfect casting. 

“Prosecutors noted his YouTube page describes him as one of the top Michael Jackson tribute artists in the country.” 

During a court appearance in December 2022, the defendant cited his “sovereign citizen” status, and claimed the right to represent himself in court. This was unlikely to go well. In justifying his participation in the January 6 riot, Beeks noted the wording of the Declaration of Independence. He further insisted that he and other rioters were being held “as political prisoners with no due process.” 

As of July 10, 2023, Mr. Beeks was still representing himself, but had been joined by Greg Hunter, a real attorney, acting as a “standby counsel.” Beeks still wanted the judge to render “summary judgement” in his case, and claimed the federal courts had no jurisdiction over him. 

Also, he claimed he was invisible. 

(Okay, that last line is a joke.)

 

UPDATE (July 12, 2023): In a bench trial (no jury), Judge Amit Metha today acquitted Mr. Beeks on all charges. That makes him only the second January 6 defendant to have fared so well in the courts. Matthew Martin (#874 on our list) was the first full acquittal.

Judge Metha announces that he cannot find “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Beeks was aware of the Oath Keepers’ plans for the attack on January 6. Beeks, dopey as he might be, said he only joined the group a short time before the attack in Washington D.C. 

Mr. Beeks celebrated outside the court, with his best rendition of songs by Frankie Vallie and then Frank Sinatra. 

He also called his decision to join the group a “mistake,” and said he was thinking of going back to school to study tech. 

Trump “sent us.”

 

*

 

605. Jonathan Walden: Oath Keeper. According to court documents, Walden showed up at the riot ready to riot. He came equipped with goggles, scissors, a tactical vest with attachments, gloves, a backpack, fatigues, boots, and his 82-pound dog, “Warrior,” who he claimed had been trained for security control. In one message he allegedly promises other Oath Keepers that he will have “a Jump Bag with Trauma supplies and have ALL the necessary 2A gear that the situation may require.”

That is: Second Amendment gear? 

His dog has not been charged. 

Trump “sent us,” right-wing, believed in violence.

 

*

“Proud parent of a Capitol insurrectionist.” 

606. Jeffrey Register: Register, 38, certainly looks like the quintessential Trump fan, burly, bearded, and white. Like thousands of others, he showed up for a riot in regulation MAGA gear: in his case, a hooded gray sweatshirt, with the words, “God, Guns and Trump” emblazoned on the back, below a picture of the American flag, with an assault rifle superimposed.

 

The Florida man was one of the first members of the mob to enter the building, although he has not been charged with violent offenses. He did, however, help members of the mob find a point where police defenses seemed weaker – and he was nearby when Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed. He is also alleged to have destroyed evidence of his role, and to have lied to the F.B.I. Prosecutors have said that his conduct, “renders a jail sentence both necessary and appropriate in this case.”

 

Register at first downplayed his actions on January 6. He was in the mass that tried to batter down the doors of the Speaker’s Lobby, and admitted, even when questioned by the F.B.I. that he was sorry the mob had failed. “Register stated that he thought his ‘presence at the Capitol would help affect Congress’s decision’ and that he ‘wished that they were actually able to make it into the House chamber during the certifying process to show their support for President Trump.’”

 

At one point, before his arrest, the defendant joked with his father, “Maybe when this is all said and done, government will provide me with a bumper sticker to give [you] that says Proud parent of a Capitol insurrectionist.”

 

What the government is likely to give him, is a stint behind bars.

 

(In fact, a recent check of the records shows that Register was sentenced to spend 75 days in jail.)

 

Trump supporter, believed in a “stolen election.”

 

* 

607. VIRGINIA MARIE “JENNY” SPENCER: Mrs. Spencer, mother of five, manages to snag one of the longest jail sentences handed out to any of the Capitol Hill rioters not charged with a violent offense. A judge faults her for “lack of judgment” in bringing her fourteen-year-old son to the riot, when law enforcement officers and rioter themselves were armed. 

Mrs. S. gets slapped with a sentence of three months behind bars, and an additional three years on probation. Her husband (#38 on our list) was also charged but pled innocent to a variety of charges. 

It took three years – but in February 2024, he was convicted on all charges, and is likely to be looking at a longer stay in jail. 

Trump supporter, believed in a “stolen election.”

 

* 

608. JEFFREY ETTER: This particular rioter, from Portsmouth, Virginia, was tripped up in part because of the distinctive footwear he wore to the Capitol. That, and the fact he wore a hat with his business name (CrossFit Slice) during the riot. 

According to federal authorities, in one video, “Etter is [seen] loudly screaming profanity and obscenities, while facing the MPD Officers, pointing his finger, and in one instance walking toward the MPD officers in a threatening-like manner.” All legal, if unpleasant – until he entered the Capitol. 

“At one point, Etter shouts to the crowd, ‘Inside, hey they said go inside,’ while holding his hands up motioning for the crowd to go inside the Capitol,” the filing continues. “Etter is also observed attempting to approach the MPD Officers yelling [at one female officer], ‘She’s ready to (expletive) hit somebody, go ahead hit me then … you wanna hit somebody …,’ before he’s pulled back by an individual standing next to him.”

 

Not long after his arrest, his gym had to close down and Etter faced several charges. He agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor and was sentenced on September 11, 2023. While he avoided jail, he was placed on probation for the next three years and he was fined and charged restitution to the tune of $5,500. 

As for the idea that the rioters are being treated like prisoners of war, feel free to look at the long list of court motions filed in his case, both by prosecutors and his defense attorney. He had his day(s) in court. 

P.S.: There’s still been NO evidence proven in court that Trump actually won the last presidential election. 

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER; NOT CURRENTLY KNOWN.) 

 

*

 

“Calling me a patriot.”

 

609. Edward Lang: Mr. Lang was arrested after he posted a picture of the crowd inside the Capitol on January 6 on Instagram, bearing the caption: “THIS IS ME” and allegedly pointing to himself. A tipster turned Lang in.

 

At 8:04 p.m., on the evening of the riot, Lang posted proudly, “I was the leader of Liberty today. Arrest me. You are on the wrong side of history. Video from that day allegedly shows Mr. Lang fighting for liberty by striking police shields with a baseball bat. He also came accessorized with a green gas mask.

 

The day after the attack, he expressed his indignation: “I watched a woman die yesterday in front of my eyes. I saved two others from being trampled and suffocated by Capitol Police. They murdered her and tried to murder many, many more. This is an act of war by TYRANTS against the American people.”

 

As the Highland Times explains:

 

In the charging document, the FBI said Lang was asked by a user on Instagram what would happen next and replied: “Guns…. That’s it. One word. The First Amendment didn’t work, we pull out the second.”

 

On Jan. 14, two days before his arrest, Lang allegedly said in a video on Instagram: “I want to use this time to say thank you for all the people who have been reaching out, calling me a patriot… Been really amazing to have this impact on the community, going to keep on fighting for you guys, we got some big things planned.”

 

Trump supporter, violent.

 

*

 

610. ANTHONY ROBERT WILLIAMS: Mr. Williams made headlines in January 2022, when he asked a judge if it would be okay, and could he please travel to Jamaica. Williams wanted to visit his girlfriend’s family – and even promised to do work with a local charity while he was there. 

The judge quickly nixed the alleged rioter’s request. 

According to USA Today, 

The Michigan man is on pretrial release and can’t travel outside of the country without approval from a federal judge.

  

According to a document from the FBI, Williams said in a video obtained by officials that he and others “took this (expletive) building.” Before the riot, he allegedly said in a Facebook comment “We gonna Storm the Swamp” and later called Jan. 6 the “proudest day of my life.”  

 

Mr. Williams won’t be traveling anywhere in the next five years, after being sentenced to spend that period in prison. Then: three years more on probation, and he owes $7,000 in fines and restitution. 

He helped lead the charge on January 6, and was one of the first rioters inside the building, at 2:18 p.m. that day. “I was in the Capitol and have absolutely no remorse or fear in saying or doing it,” he later boasted. 

Something tells me, he’ll be remorseful now. 

Trump supporter.

 

* 

611. MARIPOSA CASTRO: Ms. Castro’s love affair with Donald J. Trump started on a golf course (which figures, because that man was a golfing fool in the White House) in 2006. One day, she and her husband were playing the course at Pebble Beach, when an errant shot landed near them – turning out to have been launched by the future 41^st best President of the United States of America. 

On January 6, 2021, Castro climbed through a broken window and entered the U.S. Capitol, proclaiming “this is war,” and filming herself in action. 

“War just started. It’s just the beginning. As Trump says, ‘the best is yet to come,’” she said in one video. “It was so ugly. It got ugly in there. It got really ugly. I’m literally by myself. They told me not to be on my own, to find a crowd. And I’m by myself. That just shows how brave I am. If I can do this, you guys can do this,” she said – encouraging other Americans to…um…kill other Americans? 

“It’s a civil war,” she yelped in another livestream that evening after she and other rioters were driven from the Capitol by law enforcement. “We’re coming. … This is war,” she promised. 

At her sentencing, Judge Reggie B. Walton said he found her words and actions that day disturbing. She seemed “gleeful” and “happy.” He saw her behavior in a different light. She and the other rioters had tried to thwart the peaceful transfer of power. 

“I’ve been reading a couple books about how civil war starts, and so much of history is repeating itself in our country,” Walton added. “I love this country, this country has been good to me, and to see what people are trying to do to this country… is just very concerning.” 

Castro ends up with a fine of $5,000 and won’t be playing any more golf until April. She’s spending the next 45 days in the slammer. 

Trump supporter, believed in violence.

 

*

 

Dead soldier in the Civil War.

* 

He brought a gun to the riot. 

612. John Emanuel Banuelos: In this case, Banuelos was arrested last July in Utah, and accused in the fatal stabbing of a teenager. At the time, he told police, “I was in the D.C. riots. You can look me up, OK?” 

In a picture from the day of the riot, Banuelos is show with a gun tucked in his waistband, and admitted to police that the man (whose face is covered in the photo) was him. Police in Utah say Banuelos gave confusing testimony, and told reporters that the suspect had been homeless and living in the park where the teen was stabbed. 

In a video from January 6, however, Banuelos is alleged to have made his political views clear. 

“It’s a war, man,” he says during a video stream that was later uploaded to YouTube by another Trump supporter. “Let’s just do the right thing, let Trump win, we know it’s the facts, we know what’s up.” He rattled off a number of YouTube personalities who had influenced his line of thinking. “Thank you, God, for Jordan B. Peterson, thank you, God, for Dennis Prager.”

 

UPDATE: In February 2024, new evidence emerges – allegedly showing Mr. Banuelos twice firing his pistol in the air, while standing on scaffolding set up in front of the Capitol Building.

 

UPDATE: In March, Mr. Banuelos is officially charged with participating in the attack on Capitol Hill. According to the Statement of Facts in his case, federal agents first questioned the suspect in October 2023 – after evidence from a tipster pointed them toward Banuelos as the man who fired the shots. 

Among other developments, agents found a social media post from an “X” account said to be linked to the suspect, 

which appears to show BANUELOS racking the slide of a semi-automatic weapon in a video. This tweet was directed to an X account that had tweeted BANUELOS’ FBI- AMO poster. In response to that post by “John Banuelos” on X, your affiant interviewed BANUELOS during which BANUELOS denied intending to threaten anyone and claimed that many of his posts were done by artificial intelligence. BANUELOS stated that any weapons seen in his posts on X were fake and/or done by artificial intelligence. BANUELOS agreed to refrain from posting any further threatening messages.

 

So, on March 7, 2024, the Department of Justice, arrests another man. 

Trump supporter, believed in a “stolen election,” violent.

 

* 

“She’s not there that day unless people who knew better…” 

613. SHELLY STALLINGS: The Owensboro, Kentucky woman was charged with using pepper spray to attack police officers on January 6. She faced a battery of six federal charges for her role in the riot. (See Peter Schwartz, #192, her husband, Jeffrey Scott Brown #502, and Markus Maly #614.) 

She and her husband were both charged with using a large cannister of pepper spray to douse police lines. 

Or, as the judge put it, “the conduct here is hard to defend…[chemical] spray directed like a garden hose at police.” He tells Stallings, “You’ve had a hard life…your husband didn’t make it any better.” 

Then he adds: “She’s not there that day unless people who knew better didn’t fill average Americans’ heads with lies and deceit.” But they did. And she was. 

On August 24, 2022, she agreed to plead guilty to a raft of charges, including no less than five felonies. 

In April 2023, Shelly Stallings – who was led on by people like President Trump, and the frauds at Fox News – learns she will have to spend the next two years in prison and pay $2,000 in restitution. The former fork truck driver will also spend three years on probation. 

Trump supporter, believed in violence.

 

* 

“What do we expect our citizens to do?” 

614. MARKUS MALY: Maly was charged along with Ms. Stallings, her husband Peter Schwartz, and Jeffrey Scott Brown and faced similar charges. 

The day after the riot, Maly posted on Facebook, admitted he took part, and explained why he and his friends were there. “There were lots of pissed off patrios [sic] there,” he wrote, “and we wanted our voices to be heard. I myself [sic] one of them. We were there to support President Trump and the voting process. A voting process that was hijacked and stolen from us.” 

He also messaged his girlfriend and said he had had “fun.” 

Now, he’s a convicted felon, having been found guilty in December 2022, on multiple counts, including assault on a police officer. Going to jail isn’t going to be “fun.” 

Let’s hope his girl waits for him till he gets out. 

At his sentencing, Maly’s lawyer notes correctly, that Americans celebrate a tradition of ordinary citizens standing up for their liberties. We ask every child to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school, he says. “What do we expect our citizens to do,” he wonders, “when the leader of the country (and someone often referred to as the leader of the free world) asks them to “fight like hell” in support of his cause?” 

Well, from now on, we must ensure that every American realizes Trump’s cause was “his cause” alone, not the cause of freedom. Trump lost in 2020. Trump lied. Trump still lies. Now Maly and others are paying for those lies. On June 9, 2023, Maly is sentenced to sit out the next six years in a federal prison. 

Then he gets to spend three more years on probation. 

Trump supporter, believed in a “stolen election,” violent. 

 

* 

615. ERIC GERWATOWSKI: A resident of New Hyde Park, New York, Gerwatowski, 31, was arrested in February 2022 and charged with civil disorder, among other crimes, related to his role in the Capitol Hill attack. 

According to the criminal complaint against him, “Gerwatowski pulled open a door that Capitol Police had just closed and let in the crowd of rioters. He allegedly yelled ‘Let’s go!’ and directed others into the building before entering himself. Police officers had just gotten the doors closed after a struggle to prevent more rioters from entering the building.” 

In an interview outside the Capitol Building, on the day of the riot, Gerwatowski said he had to act because “the commies are trying to steal the country” and he believed the election had been stolen. 

He has now plead guilty to one felony offense. And…he gets off very lightly (I will need to check his plea deal.) 

Mr. G. gets 30 days of home confinement, and two years of fun, reporting to his new probation officer. 

Trump supporter, believed in a “stolen election.”

 

*

“We made a statement.” 

616. Jacob Wiedrich: Mr. Wiedrich traveled from Salt Lake City, Utah to the nation’s capital, only the get involved in a riot, face arrest, and plead guilty to a single charge, and get placed on probation for three years. That doesn’t include 90 days of home confinement. He is also required to pay $500 in restitution – and perform 100 hours of community service. 

He showed up for the riot wearing a “Space Force” t-shirt, and later explained his motivation for being in D.C. that day. As his charging document explains, the young rioter appeared  in a video on January 7. He set out to describe the difference between what “we” did yesterday and “Black Lives Matter” rioter the previous year. “We marched to the Capitol,” Wiedrich explained, “broke a few windows, but we made a statement that we won’t put up with this fraud – the election of 2020.” 

The real difference between what Wiedrich did, and any other rioters in U.S. history, was that on January 6, he and others tried to stop the peaceful transition of power. And they did it, believing the president’s lies. 

He ends up with a sentence of 90 days, home confinement, a bill for restitution, and a requirement to complete a hundred hours of community service. 

Trump supporter, he believed the “stolen election” lie.

 

*

 

617. JOHN DAVID ROSS GOULD: Mr. Gould has the bad luck to check on a sick co-worker, Jonathan Davis Laurens (#395 on our list), who fails to show up on the job. It just so happens that Laurens is being interviewed by law enforcement at the time. A little digging reveals text messages between Laurens and Gould. 

F.B.I. agents find a “selfie” Gould took on the day of the riot – which puts him squarely inside the Capitol Building. 

Bummer. Gould gets arrested and charged. At his sentencing, he tells the judge, “I don’t agree with anything that happened that day.” 

Neither does the judge; but Gould gets off lightly, with a sentence of two months on house arrest, and a bonus year on probation. 

As for how Gould ended up in D.C. and joining a mob attacking the seat of democracy, his lawyer is clear: 

In a brief submitted before sentencing, Gould’s attorney, Peter Cooper, painted his client as an unwitting accomplice to the riot who had fallen victim to Trump’s message that he was cheated out of the White House, which was amplified by right-wing media. That message of political grievance was an “incredibly powerful narcotic,” he wrote.

 

Once he’s sprung from house arrest, he must also perform 60 hours of community service and pay $500 in restitution. 

Trump supporter, he believed the election was stolen. 

 

*

 

“Riling up the normies.” 

618. ENRIQOUE TARRIO: It takes time, but in March 2022, Tarrio is arrested and charged with a plethora of crimes related to his role in helping plan the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill. 

He and five other members of the Proud Boys are named in a superseding indictment. Those others include: “Ethan Nordean, 31, of Auburn, Washington; Joseph Biggs, 38, of Ormond Beach, Florida; Zachary Rehl, 36, of Philadelphia; Charles Donohoe, 34, of Kernersville, North Carolina; and Dominic Pezzola, 44, of Rochester, New York. All were previously detained. They pleaded not guilty to charges. Pezzola is #135 on our list, Nordean #170, Donohoe #241, Rehl #242, and Biggs is #565. 

On June 6, 2022, Tarrio was slapped with an additional charge: seditious conspiracy. As the Washington Post explains: 

A 10-count superseding indictment returned Monday morning charges Tarrio, Pezzola and three other existing defendants – Ethan Nordean of Washington state, Joe Biggs of Florida and Zachary Rehl of Pennsylvania – with “opposing the lawful transfer of presidential power by force,” eventually mustering and coordinating the movements of as many as 300 people [emphasis added] around the Capitol that day.

 

According to law enforcement authorities, Tarrio was in communication with Stewart Rhodes (#167 on the list) and Roger Stone (not charged in the attack), who, as early as November 5, 2020, were planning a “Stop the Steal” rally. Their intent from the start was to block the election of Mr. Biden. 

The Post further notes: 

On Dec. 30 and 31, prosecutors said, Tarrio exchanged messages with an individual who sent him a plan called “1776 Returns″ to occupy “crucial buildings” in Washington, including the House and Senate, with “as many people as possible.” After sending it, the individual allegedly messaged Tarrio that the “revolution is [sic] important than anything,” to which Tarrio allegedly replied, “That’s what every waking moment consists of … I’m not playing games.” 

 

A key piece of exculpatory evidence? 

Additional information surfaces in June 2022. For once, this new information seemed like it might help one of the defendants – but would also blow another giant hole in the Matt Gaetz Myth. That myth being: Antifa did it! 

As we continue to prove, by using facts, and not succumbing to conspiracy nonsense, the people who rioted on January 6 were what they appeared to be: Trump supporters and far-right extremists. 

Did some of the defendants listed above, and below, simply roam around, get caught up in the excitement, and enter the Capitol Building like dopes, with no ill intent? Evidence shows that they did. See, for example, Michael Orangias (#294), above, and Matthew Bokoski (#650), below. 

Did others have insurrection in mind? The evidence shows that many defendants did. See #601, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, et. al. 

But it seemed Tarrio might catch a break in court in days ahead. The New York Times reported that during a “foul-mouthed video conference” a week before the attack, Tarrio told other Proud Boys on the call to, in the words of the Times, “adopt a defensive posture,” and to “obey police lines.” 

“We’re never going to be the ones to cross the police barrier or cross something in order to get to somebody,” Mr. Tarrio said. 

By the way, this is not “Fake News.” It’s reporting. Tape of the video conference has been seen. 

That statement, above, appeared to help Mr. Tarrio’s defense. His lawyers described the tape as a key piece of exculpatory evidence. The problem for many of the Boys is that they disobeyed. They instigated the crowd – what they described later, in private messages, as, “riling up the normies.” 

As for who and what these people were, the Times explains: 

Throughout the meeting, Mr. Tarrio and others used blatantly misogynistic, homophobic and antisemitic language, disparaging the Proud Boys’ female supporters and making references to the “J.Q.” — or the Jewish Question, a phrase that harks back to Nazi ideology. Mr. Tarrio also threatened participants in the video conference with expulsion from the Ministry of Self-Defense if they drank too much at the Jan. 6 event, noting that too many Proud Boys were sloppily intoxicated at earlier pro-Trump rallies.

 

The call of the “Ministry” lasted one hour and thirty-eight minutes. But there was also fresh evidence that helped sink various members of the group into legal quicksand up to their necks. 

 

“It was Donald Trump’s words. It was his motivation.” 

Again, the Times simply reported: 

Three days before Jan. 6, one member of the group posted a message in a ministry group chat saying, “Time to stack those bodies in front of Capitol Hill.”

 

Another member of the group then asked his compatriots in the private chat: “What would they do if 1 million patriots stormed and took the capital building. Shoot into the crowd? I think not.”

 

Vanity Fair quotes another member of the Proud Boys, describing his vision in the hours leading up to the January 6 riot: “I want to see thousands of normies burn that city to ash today.” 

With his case going to the jury in April 2023, Tarrio’s lawyer placed the blame for what happened on Jan. 6 on the shoulders of Donald J. Trump. “It was Donald Trump’s words. It was his motivation. It was his anger that caused what occurred on January 6th in your beautiful and amazing city,” he tells the twelve men and women who would decide Tarrio’s fate. Prosecutors, his lawyer insisted, “want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald J Trump and those in power.” 

On May 4, 2023, the jury decides. Trump isn’t on trial (yet). Tarrio is. They convict him on all counts, including seditious conspiracy. 

Meaning: Tarrio is up a creek. 

During the sentencing phase of his trial, Tarrio admits that what happened on January 6 was a tragedy. “What happened on January 6 was a national embarrassment.” 

The judge is blunt. “What happened that day...broke our previously unbroken tradition of peacefully transferring power. It's going to take time to fix it.” 

He adds, “What happened that day did not honor our Founders. It's the kind of thing they wrote the Constitution to prevent.” 

Tarrio’s mother speaks to the judge, “The man sitting to my right in the orange jumpsuit is my only son.” He’s had “difficult moments,” she adds. Enrique is giving up politics, she promises. “This mother stands before you today begging you for leniency,” she finally says. 

On September 5, 2023, her son learns just how far up that creek he paddled on Jan. 6. A sentence of 22 years is handed down, the longest for any rioter, so far. 

Trump supporter, right-winger, ready for violence.

* 

619. DUKE EDWARD WILSON: The Idaho man, 68, pays a stiff penalty for participation in the attack on Capitol Hill. In March 2022, he pleads guilty to two felonies, including assaulting a police officer during the melee. 

He is sentenced to 51 months in prison. 

In a letter to the judge, asking for leniency, Wilson claims (like many others) to have seen Antifa types agitating the crowd. “A bad bunch of people,” he calls them. His son Ryan was with him, but has not been charged. Wilson says they visited as many monuments as they could in D.C. during their visit, including Arlington Cemetery. “I love my Country,” he wrote, “and hate to see people want to run it down and not respect the people that died in wars that gave us our freedom.” He says that when he first saw the huge crowd gathering around the Capitol Building, “A real sense of pride came over me to see this many people showing their support for our Country but I had no idea what was to come.” Ryan, he adds, was, for a time, a complete quadriplegic after an operation that went bad – but was determined to walk again, and despite some disability, now does. They lost track of each other at some point during all the confusion, dad says. 

He claims he was “shoved” into a tunnel entrance where some of the wildest fighting took place, and that he was “shoved” to the front, where police were battling rioters. He saw police pepper spraying rioters, rioters pepper spraying police, and “heard electric stun guns” being employed. 

His lawyer noted that Wilson believed claims the election was stolen – made by none other than Donald J. Trump. 

Trump supporter, believed in a “stolen election.”

(CLAIMED TO SEE ANTIFA.)

 

*

“Own it for a few days.” 

620. VINCENT GILLESPIE: For whatever reason, it took some time, but Mr. Gillespie, who lives in Athol, Massachusetts was finally charged with participating in the attack on January 6. 

In tape from that day, he can be seen boasting of the part he played in trying to force entry, through a tunnel, into the Capitol Building. 

Gillespie told the AP at the scene that day that he was among those attempting to storm the building. Gillespie said he and others tried to burst through an opening.

 

“I was with some other guys. And then we were starting to push against them and they were beating us and putting that pepper spray stuff in your eyes. But there were a bunch of people pushing behind us,” Gillespie told the AP.

 

“What you guys need to know, and no one is going to listen to this, we were very (expletive) close.” If more people had been behind him, he said, “then there’s that second set of doors we would have just burst through it.”

 

What was apparently less clear to Gillespie that day was what he and the others with him would do if they had been able to take control of the Capitol.

 

“I would hope they would flood in so there’s nothing they can do. That’s what I would hope they would do. Take it over. Take it over. Own it for a few days. I’m not an anarchist, but you can’t let stand what happened in this election,” he said, an apparent reference to former President Donald Trump’s claims of a stolen election. 

He initially faced a total of seven charges, including assault on an officer of the law. Two days before Christmas, 2022, he received a giant lump of coal in his stocking. He is convicted on four counts, including multiple felonies. Having rejected a plea deal that would have netted him between 41 and 51 months behind bars, Gillespie ends up being sentenced to 68 months. 

On top of that, he will face 36 months on supervised release, and have to pay a fine of $25,000, as well as $2,000 in restitution. 

Trump supporter, believed in a “stolen election.”

 

* 

621. GRAYSON SHERRILL: Mr. Sherrill is seen in pictures, inside the Capitol on January 6, sometimes in company with Elias Irizarry (#364 on our list) and Elliot Bishai (#403). He was turned in to authorities by relatives. 

In one photo – posted by his father on social media – which led to other relatives turning him in, he is proudly wearing a red “Make America Great” sweatshirt and holding a cylindrical object, “approximately two to three feet long, in his left hand.” 

Good for clubbing police? 

As noted by the Department of Justice, 

Sherrill and a co-defendant each picked up a metal pole that had been broken off from a metal bicycle barricade. They carried the metal poles with them throughout the remainder of their time on restricted grounds and inside the Capitol building. While standing in the crowd of rioters, a platoon of officers from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Civil Disturbance Unit (CDU), attempted to make their way through the crowd of rioters to the front of the crowd to protect the Capitol building. A mob of rioters initiated violent confrontations with those officers. While other rioters pushed, struck, and wrestled with MPD Officers, including MPD Officer D.H., Sherrill stepped toward Officer D.H. and swung at the officer with the metal pole. 

 

Young Mr. Sherill, 23, pleads guilty in February 2023, and on May 5, 2023 learns that he will be spending seven months in prison. Add on a year of probation, and an order to cough up $2,000. 

The judge in his case agreed with his lawyer’s claim – that this one act of violence was “out of character” for Sherill, and that Sherill’s one swing at Officer Daniel Hodges that day (Hodges being beaten by others and nearly crushed to death), was not enough to doom him to years in prison. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan did note, however: “There’s a lot of rhetoric around (Jan. 6) about ‘patriots. The only true patriots that day were the law enforcement officers working to keep the mob from hurting members of Congress and their staffs ... just trying to stay alive ... slipping in their own blood.” 

Trump supporter.

 

*

 

622. OLIVER SARKO: In Snapchat posts used as evidence against him at trial, the Columbus, Ohio man could be heard explaining why he joined the attack on Capitol Hill. “We won’t let you steal this country,” he shouted at one point. “Fight for Trump,” he also shouted to others.

 

In April 2022, Sarko gets convicted and sentenced to spend thirty days in jail.

 

Trump supporter, believed in a “stolen election.”

 

*

 

623. William Todd Wilson: On May 4, 2022, Mr. Wilson, a member of the Oath Keepers, agrees to plead guilty and cooperate with investigators. 

As the Washington Post reports, 

On Jan. 5, 2021, according to court records, he drove to a hotel in Tysons Corner in Virginia with an AR-15-style rifle, a 9mm pistol, about 200 rounds of ammunition, body armor, pepper spray and a large walking stick “intended for use as a weapon,” according to court records filed Wednesday.

 

Now he has told federal authorities, that after he helped break into the Capitol Building, he met with Stewart Rhodes, head of the Oath Keepers and others that same night. 

When the Capitol was finally cleared, Wilson joined Rhodes in a suite at the Phoenix Park Hotel, just blocks from the Capitol, and listened to Rhodes call someone on a speaker phone, Wilson admitted. Wilson told investigators he heard “Rhodes repeatedly implore the individual to tell President Trump to call upon groups like the Oath Keepers to forcibly oppose the transfer of power,” the court records state. “This individual denied Rhodes’s request to speak directly with President Trump. After the call ended, Rhodes stated to the group, ‘I just want to fight.’”

 

According to Wilson, Rhodes continued to advocate for violent resistance even after the halls of Congress were cleared. That night, he alleges, Rhodes said members of the group needed to prepare for “a larger fight against the government akin to the American Revolutionary War.” 

Under his plea agreement, Wilson – who had no previous criminal record – is now likely to spend between 63 and 78 months in prison. 

Unless… 

BLOGGER’S NOTE (11/23/23): On “X,” formerly known as Twitter, Ryan J. Reilly continues to do brilliant work, tracking the stories of the rioters. According to court documents, Mr. Wilson and six other Oath Keepers are cooperating with investigators. Those others include Graydon Young (#220 on our list), Joshua James (#256), Jason Dolan (#279), Mark Grods (#387), Caleb Berry (#417), and Brian Ulrich (#603). 

Trump supporter, right-winger, believed in violence.

 

*

 

624. Michael Fitzgerald: The former Marine runs a business selling patriotic-themed clothing, and showed up for the riot, one suspects, dressed in a shirt of his own design. It is emblazoned with a flag (of course) and on the flag are written the words:

 

THERE WILL BE

 

WILD PROTEST

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.

 

(LIKELY TRUMP FAN.)

 

*

Don’t tell your Uber driver. 

625. Jerry Braun: Poor, dopey, riotous, Mr. Braun was not charged for his role in the Capitol Hill attack until April 2022. In fact, he might have escaped justice had he not bragged about his role to an Uber driver, who gave him a lift on the evening of the Capitol Hill uprising. Braun had been hit in the face by some object, which the driver noted, and developed a nasty shiner. 

Among other charges, Mr. Braun stands accused of walloping a member of the free press with a board – which is the absolute worst way possible to stand up for freedom and keep Joe Biden from destroying the U.S. Constitution. 

As NBC notes, based on a variety of tips, including video from a dash cam from the Uber driver, 

The FBI served a search warrant of Braun’s residence in South El Monte, California, in November 2021, and Braun confessed he’d been in Washington at the Capitol attack, according to the affidavit.

 

“After being asked by the agents if BRAUN had anything he wanted to tell them before he departed the search location, BRAUN responded, “Guilty,’” the FBI affidavit stated. “When asked what he was guilty of, BRAUN responded, ‘Everything.’”

 

Braun is likely to end up serving a lengthy stretch behind bars, mainly because he fell for the lies peddled by people like President Trump. 

Braun traveled across the country to D.C., he explained, to “stop the steal” of an election all evidence shows was never stolen.

Trump supporter, believed in “stolen election” myth.

* 

“We love our president Donald Trump.” 

626. JOSHUA COLGAN: Colgan, 35, was first interviewed by authorities in August 2021, but denied entering the Capitol on January 6. Additional evidence surfaced, proving the Trump fan from Maine was indeed inside the building. A Facebook post, somewhat garbled, from Colgan, reads: 

Today is the start of the chaos, the start of a revolution, the end of a chapter, (UI) states several million Brothers and Sisters united at our nation’s capitol to over throw this corrupt government and to form a new brotherhood of Patriots that will be permanently carved into our history books to never be forgotten,” the post reads. “We love our president Donald Trump, his family, everything he’s done for us since day one even while being slandered, cheated and pourded (sic) on. His continuous fight for his people to ensure their future has not stopped, its time we return the favor.

 

Fortunately, the “overthrowing” failed, and Colgan plead guilty to one misdemeanor in January 2023. 

In April Colgan pays the price for his belief in Donald J. Trump. A judge sentences him to 28 days behind bars, to be served intermittently, on weekends, another 90 days’ home confinement, and fines him $500. 

When not rioting, Colgan runs a floor sanding and finishing business, and says his daughter is “his life.”

Trump supporter, believed in a “stolen election.”

 

* 

627. MATTHEW MONTALVO: On a good day, Mr. Montalvo, 45, will sell you real estate in Florida. On January 6, 2021, he was inside the Capitol Building, doing his small part to overturn an election. 

Phone records placed him inside for at least 25 minutes that day; and in September 2022, he agreed to a plea deal, and admitted to committing one misdemeanor. The most time he could be sentenced to spend in prison would be six months. He could, however, also lose his real estate agent’s license. 

Instead, at his sentencing, he gets off with 90 days of location monitoring, but also gets hammered for $500 in restitution, and a fine of $5,000. 

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER.)

 

* 

Breaking open a door.

628. BRANDON SCOTT PEERY: Early on, Federal authorities were tipped off to Mr. Peery’s presence inside the Capitol. But it was not until May 16, 2022, that they managed to sit down and talk with him.

As NPR explains, 

Peery allegedly told the agent that on Jan. 6, he traveled to Washington, D.C. on a charter bus from Wisconsin and that he felt he needed to be there to “stand with President Trump.”

In part, evidence against him is described as follows:

At approximately 2:43 PM on January 6, 2021, PEERY can be seen on Capitol surveillance video entering the Senate Wing door, near the west stairs and room S131. He was wearing a black, knit cap, face mask, and black jacket over a royal blue jacket, and with a red Trump flag tied around his neck like a cape. As PEERY entered, he could be seen turning and gesturing vigorously to protestors coming behind him. He advanced down the hall, past the first set of doors, before moving back to the entrance, where he stood, apparently congratulating other protestors and looking on as protestors forcibly broke open the doors leading to room S131. At one point, PEERY also pulled aside a protestor, coming from the direction of room S132, and used a water bottle from his bag to flush the protestors apparently burning eyes.

At one point, Peery removed a mask he was wearing, apparently because he had been hit with tear gas. 

Evidence also includes a video Peery posted to YouTube on January 2, 2021, explaining his plans to go to D.C., and calling on others to participate. 

When finally interviewed by F.B.I. agents, Peery explained, 

he felt he needed to be there to “stand with President Trump.” Peery walked from former-President Trump’s speech down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol and was at the Capitol for approximately one and a half hours. Peery confirmed that he entered the Capitol, and he marked his route through the Capitol grounds and building on a map provided by your affiant. Peery indicated that the crowd he was a part of adopted a “mob mentality” when they heard that then-Vice President Pence planned to confirm the results of the election and certify the votes.

 

By 4:30 p.m., Peery was back on the charter bus he took from Wisconsin to D.C., and heading home with the memories. 

His words help refute (if you still needed evidence) the idea that the protesters were “let into the Capitol” by police, as well as the claim that Trump’s words about Pence that fatal day did not incite the attack. 

Peery, unwittingly, admitted they did. 

In December 2023, he finally pleads guilty to a single misdemeanor charge. In April 2024, he is placed on probation for three years, and fined $500. 

Trump supporter.

 

* 

629. Matthew Lebrun: Lebrun works as a bail bondsman in New Orleans – and now needs his own services. 

He was arrested in April 2022, and charged for his role in the attack on Capitol Hill. (He’s a member of the right-wing “Three Percenters.”) 

So: Still no Antifa. 

In October 2023, LeBrun pleads guilty to a misdemeanor charge. 

Right-winger.

 

* 

630. STEVEN MILES: Arrested along with Mr. Lebrun, we also had Mr. Miles. The 39-year-old was charged with entering the Capitol through a window he smashed. Inside, he spent his time assaulting at least one police officer. 

Just another Proud Boy, standing up for “democracy,” and free elections, except if his favorite candidate should lose. 

We also learn later that Miles is an “adult film actor,” which is unique. And he came all the way from Tampa, Florida, just in time to hear his idol, Donald Trump speak at the “Stop the Steal” rally, and then headed down to the Capitol with the rest of the Boys, and rioted, and got arrested. 

Also: Sentenced to two years in jail in February 2024, and hit with a bill for $2,100. 

Trump supporter, right-winger, violent.

 

*

631. CHAD HEATHCOTE: Mr. Heathcote, 41, hails from Adel, Iowa. During the riot he was caught on video several times, roaming the halls of Congress, at one point wearing what appears to be a pink protective mask, similar to what a person stripping paint might wear – save for the incongruous color. 

In February 2023, his case is wrapped up. The judge gives him 15 days in jail, and places him on probation until 2026. Mr. Heathcote is married, has one child, and explained in court that he only went to D.C. to hear Trump speak at his “Save America” rally. (A long way to travel, only to get arrested.) He had previously had a pilot’s license – but that has also been revoked. 

Trump supporter.

 

*

Chip off the old blockhead. 

632. John Anthony Schubert III: We plugged in John here, after we noticed we had listed another rioter twice. John’s elderly parents, Amy (#699 on our list) and John Anthony (#700) were arrested long before their son. Both pled guilty to misdemeanor offenses – and got hit with hefty fines. 

Now their boy faced justice, which could be harsh. He was charged with felony assault on a police officer, among other crimes, and helped break the first police barricades around the Capitol Building, then threw a punch at one officer who tried to stop him from advancing. For his troubles that day Schubert got a shot of chemical spray in the face. By 2:21 p.m., however, he had wiped his face clean, and he was inside the Capitol, in the first wave of the attack. 

He even helped his parents enter through a broken window. Once inside, young John roamed around like a dope, had a good time with his rioter pals, and exited around 2:56 that afternoon. 

In April 2024, he agrees to plead guilty and meet his fate at sentencing soon. 

Trump supporter (like mom and dad), violent.

 

* 

633. JACOB ZERKLE: In the indictment against him, Mr. Zerkle is described as “a white male, approximately 45-55 years of age, grey in hair color, heavy build, with distinctive grey facial hair fashioned with large ‘mutton chops,’” which helped authorities to identify him. 

Now he’s a two-time felon. 

Zerkle has pled guilty to having thrown a punch at an officer defending the Capitol and was fighting with other officers. As described by authorities in his case, “Ofc. C.W. approached the subject and grabbed his backpack. The subject then threw several punches at Ofc. C.W. Ofc. C.W. then pushed the subject away then the subject charged Ofc. C.W. and rammed into him.” 

When first questioned, Mr. Zerkle admitted that he was in D.C. on January 6, having come to “protest about election integrity.” He said he might have done something “dumb,” but insisted he was “pushed into police officers” and did not intend to assault them. The feds did not believe him and he was initially charged with four offenses, including assault. He had a plea agreement hearing scheduled for 10/30/23. 

We now know that he took it; and we know the price he paid for believing Trump’s lies. Two years in prison, and three more on supervised release, are his portion of the January 6 bill. 

Trump supporter, violent, believed in a “stolen election.”

 

* 

634. ABIGAIL YAZDANI-ISFEHANI: Abigail traveled to D.C. with her brother Loammi (#546) and sister Loruhamah (#635). Their intention was to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally, where President Trump suggest marching to Capitol Hill. When not roaming the halls of Congress, trying to impede an election, the young lady roams the soccer field for Shawnee State College. 

Abigail had the best chance of escaping conviction because she wore a red mask during her time inside the building. 

(It didn’t save her in the end; and she plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge in July 2022. She gets hit for $500 in restitution, has to complete a hundred hours of community service, and spend two years on probation.) 

Trump supporter.

 

* 

635. LORUHAMA YAZDANI-ISFEHANI: Ms. Yazdani-Isfehani traveled to D.C. with her brother, Loammi (#546 on our list) and sister (above.) It’s never a good sign to have authorities identify you, in part based on a family photo, from a happier occasion, posted by your mother. 

The three siblings faced two charges each. Like her sister Abigail, Loruhamah plead guilty to one misdemeanor charge in July 2022. 

She gets nailed for $500 in restitution, a hundred hours of community service, and two fun years on probation. 

Trump supporter.

 

* 

In service to a lying President of the United States. 

636. MATTHEW MARK WOOD: The young Winston-Salem, North Carolina defendant admitted to being inside the Capitol Building on January 6. In one picture he is holding a large Trump flag on a pole in his right hand. 

It’s “America that’s at stake,” he had warned earlier, in  a social media post. 

In another post, he promised, “If they want to raid Congress, sign me up, I’ll be brave heart in that bitch!” 

(See: Sedition Hunters by Ryan J. Reilly, p. 130.)

 

Evidence also shows him as the tenth rioter to enter through a broken window, during the initial stages of the breach of the building. 

In the wake of the riot, he posted on Facebook: 

SOME condemned my actions today on Capitol Hill. I hear a lot of complaining about the issues and you keep calling for something to be done. Yet, nothing has been done. Our election was stolen. The system is against us. I stood up to our tyrannical government. You can keep sitting or you can do something about it like we did today. Our nation has experienced necessary revolts before. Hopefully, Congress will listen to the PEOPLE.

 

Under certain circumstances, the defendant’s stand might be admirable; but the problem is briefly stated: 

1.     There is no evidence the election was stolen. 

2.     The defendant wasn’t talking about what would have been a “revolt” against a tyrannical government. 

3.     He was talking about what would have become a civil war. 

 

On Friday, May 27, 2022, he pled guilty to all six charges, admitting he went to D.C. on January 6, 2021 “to obstruct the electoral vote count.” 

All six of his crimes, you could argue, were committed in service to a lying President of the United States. 

* 

Wood lucked out, on the Monday after Thanksgiving, 2022, when U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced him to a year of home confinement, and three years of probation. Metha has not been sympathetic to most rioters – but decided not to send Wood, 25, to federal prison. (Prosecutors had sought a term of 57 months behind bars.) The defendant had not been violent at any time during the attack on Capitol Hill. Judge Metha did tell Wood that he had been guilty of a “serious error in judgment.” 

He reminded the defendant that he will have a serious criminal record going forward – not to mention being stuck at home for a year. 

He was also hit with a bill for $2,000 restitution. 

Trump supporter, believed in a “stolen election.”

 

* 

637. SHAWN WITZEMANN: Mr. Witzemann left his home in Farmington, New Mexico to journey to D.C. for what became a riot. As has so often been the case, one lesson from this awful day is that if you plan to participate in a storming of Congress, avoid posting or being posted about on social media. 

According to his indictment: 

On or about January 15, 2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received a tip in the form of a link to a Facebook page that contained a video that was taken on January 6, 2021 from inside the Capitol building. The video was posted to the Facebook page of The Armenian Council for Truth in Journalism by an Instagram user with the username “@krampusnatch.” The caption for the video read, in part, “moments ago… Shawn was inside the capitol building!”

 

Witzemann has also admitted doing a nightly podcast called “The Armenian Council for Truth in Journalism.” 

He says he went inside the building mainly to gather material for his show, and now faces two charges. 

Plumber by day, the defendant claims he cannot be charged for his actions on January 6, because he is a journalist by night, and he was simply exercising his First Amendment rights. 

It turns out he can be charged – and he takes a plea deal on July 21, 2022. He gets hit for $500 in restitution, gets to spend a week in jail, and  two years on probation, plus community service. 

After the riot ended, Witzemann returned to his hotel room, and called on President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. Judge Thomas F. Hogan tells Witzemann he came close to committing sedition. 

Trump supporter.

 

* 

638. John George Todd III: Mr. Todd, 32, may have hoped his participation in the January 6 riot would go unnoticed; but on May 10, 2022, he joined the growing list of those arrested. 

Reading between the lines, in the Statement of Facts in his case, I believe he was likely bragging – to a woman – in a bar in Lee’s Summit, Missouri – about having been one of the Capitol rioters. 

She, I’m assuming, turned him in to the F.B.I. 

(This turns out later to be the case.) 

A friend on social media is said to have invited him to D.C. on that fateful day in order to “wreak havoc.” Todd agreed, and the friend graciously paid for his ticket. 

While inside the Capitol Rotunda, Todd is said to be seen threatening a member of the Metropolitan Police Force. At one point he howls at police manning the defenses, “I swear to God, I’ll hip toss your ass into the fuckin’ crowd, motherfucker.” 

Evidence also showed he inured at least one police officer that day. When police tried to clear the Capitol, Todd refused to obey. Instead, 

he engaged in a scuffle with DC Police Officer Noah Rathbun that resulted in Todd’s flagpole snapping. Splintered fragments of the pole sliced open Rathbun’s finger, requiring stitches. Todd then yelled at Rathbun, “Throw down your badge and gun, let’s go one-on-one!”

 

After being removed from the building, Todd remained on Capitol grounds and continued to yell at police. He approached a line of officers on the Upper West Terrace and shouted, “Put your shields down and fight!”

 

The Kansas City Star also reports that he was carrying a knife and razor blades during the attack. 

As of February 6, 2024, Mr. Todd is a convicted felon and looking at doing some hard time behind bars. 

(Todd is also accused of harassing Officer Jeffrey Smith, who was battered by other rioters that day, suffered a concussion, and committed suicide a few days later. You can see footage from Smith’s body camera, taken that day.) 

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION NOT KNOWN.)

 

* 

639. CHARLES HAND III: In one court appearance Mr. Hand made a request that two guns he owned, which were confiscated after his arrest, related to the attack on Capitol Hill, be returned. Living in rural Georgia, his lawyer said, Hand needed his shooting irons to defend himself against snakes. 

He and his wife (#640) came to D.C. to attend the big Trump rally that morning, although Mr. Hand complained later, “I had heard this same speech from him over the course of the last 2 months.” The couple was in Washington to “protest the certification of a Biden/Harris victory in the 2020 presidential election.” 

Hand saw people dressed in tactical gear, and posited the idea that these had to be Antifa types – whereas in reality, plenty of right-wing extremists and garden-variety Trump fans showed up ready for battle. 

Hand plead guilty to one misdemeanor and (bad pun) was handed a sentence of 20 days in jail, with other assorted “goodies.” 

Trump supporter, believed in a “stolen election.”

(CLAIMED TO SEE ANTIFA.)

 

* 

640. Mandy Robinson-Hand: Also arrested and charged in connection with the attack on January 6, is Charles’ wife. Investigators were tipped off to their presence inside the Capitol that day, and phone records allegedly place them on the premises. They face four misdemeanor charges each. 

Video evidence shows the couple holding hands as they take in scenes of rioting. Mandy has plead guilty. 

Trump supporter, believed in a “stolen election.”

 

* 

“Yes, I’m a Trump girl.”

641. JAMIE FERGUSON: “Yes, I’m a Trump girl,” Ms. Ferguson’s sweatshirt read on the day she allegedly did her small part to hamstring democracy by joining the riot. A member of the West Virginia National Guard, on a good day, she was finally arrested in May 2022, on a bad one. 

According to WDTV in Bridgeport, West Virginia: 

On Jan. 3, 2021, [Ferguson’s] Facebook account had shared an article with a picture of a crowd in front of the Capitol with a storm cloud and Mount Rushmore above it. A caption in the woman’s post read, “I pray this is exactly what D.C. will look like on Jan. 6^th. #HoldTheLine.” A comment on the post asked whether the woman was going to the Capitol and she replied, “I am,” according to a statement of facts filed by an FBI special agent.

 

(In July 2022, Ferguson signs a deal and agrees to plead guilty. In the end, she gets a bit of a Christmas present when the judge notes her cooperation with federal authorities when first arrested. Members of the mob, the judge in her case notes, were “subjected to propaganda and lies.” Ferguson gets probation instead of jail time and must perform sixty hours of community service.) 

Trump supporter.

 

* 

642. DOUGLAS MACRAE: Macrae, 59, didn’t have far to travel on January 6, to join in the riot. 

The Arlington, Virginia man ended up facing four misdemeanor charges for his role in the attack. 

Once again, the moral of the story is that if you plan to break the law, and help destroy democracy, don’t post about your actions on social media. According to authorities, Macrae posted about “invading Congress.” In another post, he bragged, “I made it deep into the Capitol building.” 

(He pleads guilty to a single misdemeanor in the end, and get sentenced to 120 hours of community service, and a year on probation, for being so dumb.) 

Trump supporter.

 

* 

643. DEVIN ROSSMAN: Federal authorities were tipped off in January 2022, by someone who had seen social media posts that indicated Rossman had been involved in the attack on Congress. Cell phone data and pictures and videos allegedly place the Missouri man inside the building for nearly two hours. 

He faces four misdemeanor charges. 

At his trial, his lawyer argues for mercy on the grounds that Rossman “held a good faith belief the 2000 [sic] presidential election was in the process of being stolen by Joe Biden and Democrat operatives,” as well as “similar cult-like beliefs.” 

His good-faith belief – ill-informed as it was – costs him: 32 days behind bars, served intermittently, and $2,500 in fines and restitution. 

Trump supporter, he believed the election was stolen.

 

* 

644. CONLIN WEYER: Weyer, 21, from Plover, Wisconsin, was arrested in May 2022 and charged in connection to events of Jan. 6. At least one of his old high school classmates placed the young man inside the Capitol during the riot. 

He pled guilty to a single misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 18 months of probation, with the judge admitting, the defendant’s youth nineteen at the time of the riot, was a mitigating factor. In court, Weyer said he “had gone astray from the person he was.” He made a “series of bad decisions…acting on complete falsehoods.” 

He admitted he should have fact-checked claims the election was stolen. 

FACT CHECK: Duh. It wasn’t. 

Trump supporter, he believed the election was stolen.

 

*

 

645. David Geitzen: Not until May 2022, is Geitzen arrested – and charged with eight counts, including assaulting multiple police officers – for his role in the attack on Capitol Hill.

 

Geitzen and his brother went to D.C. to stop the election of Joseph Biden, and David allegedly came prepared for trouble, carrying a large pole, and wearing a white baseball helmet with face protector.

 

Trump supporter, “stop the steal” believer.

 

 

* 

646. JENNIFER HORVATH: Ms. Horvath, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, was arrested in May 2022, and charged with four misdemeanors for her role in the riot. Her boyfriend, Wes Croy (#211 on our list) has already been sentenced. 

Video evidence indicated that Horvath and Croy were forced out of the Capitol once, but later returned. Horvath, herself, was taken down by officers at one point, because they believed she had pepper spray. 

She plead guilty to a single charge on August 12, 2022, and ended up getting 14 days in jail, 90 more on home confinement, and an order to pay restitution and complete three years of probation. 

Trump supporter.

 

*

“I trusted the President.” 

647. LEONARD GRUPPO: Gruppo, a retired Special Forces soldier, was charged with participating in the riot, plead guilty, and earned three months of house arrest. His big mistake? “I trusted the President.” 

Trust also cost him $3,500 in fines and restitution, not to mention a chance to visit with his probation officer for the next two years. 

Trump supporter.

 

* 

“They got undressed and went home.”

648. RILEY KASPER: Kasper, 23, admitted on social media to pepper spraying three police officers during the attack, noting that there was “something satisfying about pepper-spraying cops in riot gear.” 

“I pepper sprayed 3 cops so bad they got undressed and went home,” he later bragged to a friend. 

On January 7, he was still pleased with himself, telling someone on social media: “You charge that line and start spraying they start running for cover like you’re coming at them with an ak [AK-47].” 

Maybe next time, right, Riley? You come with an AK and kill cops because you think Trump won the election? 

The case was investigated by the F.B.I.’s Milwaukee and Washington field offices. 

Kasper later joked that he “basically organized my own little militia and we (expletive) took over Congress.” He told a friend he planned to return to D.C. to protest during the inauguration of Joe Biden. 

Instead, he has to return for several court appearances. On September 15, 2023, he pleads guilty, and now it’s only a matter of how much time he’s going to spend, living the good life, behind bars.

 

UPDATE: The end of the line comes for Kasper on February 6, 2024. He won’t be voting for Trump again in November. Rather, he’ll be spending the next 37 months in prison. Plus he owes $2,000 in restitution. And that fat ass Trump still lost the election. 

And there’s still no evidence proven in any court that he was cheated out of the win. 

Four days before the attack, Kasper posted this on Facebook:

Like an Uncle Sam poster, if Uncle Sam was nuts.

Trump “sent us,” violent.

 

* 

“An avowed white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer.” 

649. THOMAS HALE-CUSANELLI: What kind of people joined the assault on January 6? People like Hale-Cusanelli, a U.S. Army reservist and contractor for the U.S. Navy, with a “secret” security clearance. He was busted when an anonymous Navy Criminal Investigation Service source managed to get him to talk in a secretly recorded conversation. 

Court documents related to his arrest specify: 

On January 12, 2021, I received information from an individual who has been enrolled as a Confidential Human Source (“CHS”) with NCIS. The CHS reported that HALE-CUSANELLI told the CHS that HALE-CUSANELLI was present at the riot at the United States Capitol Building and, as part of the riot, he entered the Capitol building itself.

 

HALE-CUSANELLI then showed CHS videos on his cell phone which depicted HALECUSANELLI making harassing and derogatory statements toward Capitol Police officers both inside and outside the Capitol building.

 

During our meeting on January 12, 2021, the CHS reported to me that HALE-CUSANELLI is an avowed white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer who posts video opinion statements on YouTube proffering extreme political opinions and viewpoints under the title the “Based Hermes Show.” HALE-CUSANELLI also posts similar content in other forums. Prior to traveling to the rally and protest on January 6, 2021, HALE-CUSANELLI wrote “Trust the plan, it’s the final countdown, stay tuned next episode” and “Trust the plan, major announcement soon.”

 

On January 14, 2021, the CHS was able to utilize an NCIS-approved recording device to record a conversation between the CHS and HALE-CUSANELLI. During this conversation, HALE-CUSANELLI admitted to entering the Capitol and encouraging other members of the mob to “advance” – giving directions via both voice and hand signals. HALE-CUSANELLI told the CHS that if they’d had more men they could have taken over the entire building. HALE-CUSANELLI also admitted to taking a flag and flagpole that he observed another rioter throw “like a javelin” at a Capitol Police officer, which HALE-CUSANELLI described as a “murder weapon.” HALE-CUSANELLI stated his intent to destroy or dispose of the flag and flagpole as soon as he could. 

 

Described by prosecutors as a neo-Nazi, Hale-Cusanelli opted for a jury trial. Let’s just say it didn’t go well. The anonymous source turned out to have been a roommate of the defendant – who had agreed to wear a wire. That source testified that Hale-Cusanelli often brought up the idea for a civil war, whites vs. Jews and other minorities, which he called “the simplest solution, the most likely outcome and the best shot at a clean bill of health for our society.” Co-workers also added testimony, explaining how the defendant believed Biden and the Democrats were “puppets” of the Jews, suggesting that “Hitler should have finished the job.” 

Even claiming idiocy proved no help. “I know this sounds idiotic, but I’m from New Jersey,” the defendant told the jury. “In all my studies, I didn’t know there was an actual building that was called the ‘Capitol.’ It’s embarrassing and idiotic.” He should have plenty of time in jail to read up on U.S. history. 

As Fox News reported, 

One Navy seaman said Hale-Cusanelli told him “he would kill all the Jews and eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and he wouldn’t need to season them because the salt from their tears would make it flavorful enough,” according to prosecutors. Other coworkers recalled Hale-Cusanelli making derogatory remarks about women, Black people and other minorities, prosecutors said.

 

At one point, the defendant tried to convince the jury that his Hitler-like pose on camera was a joke, but the judge interjected. Hale-Cusanelli, he reminded jurors had clearly expressed “sexist, racist, and antisemitic” views. 

(Sedition Hunters, p. 326)

 

His lawyer tried to win sympathy, noting that his client had believed President Trump’s lies about the “stolen election.” 

(He was found guilty on five charges, including one felony, in May 2022, and in September he was sentenced to spend the next four years in prison.) 

Trump supporter, believed in “stolen election,” right-winger.

An unfortunate look: Hale-Cusanelli.

  

* 

650. MATTHEW BOKOSKI: Young Mr. Bokoski and his father (#651) were inside the Capitol on January 6 for only five minutes. He has admitted his presence, but insists, the “...only thing I’m guilty of is trespassing on federal property if you want to get down to it. I kept my distance from police and even thanked them for being out and making sure things don’t get insane.” 

Of course, it did get “insane.” 

Matthew was hoping to shut down the counting of the electoral votes. On October 13, 2022, he agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor count. He’ll be on probation for the next three years, and he owes $500 in restitution. 

Trump supporter.

 

* 

651. BRADLEY BOKOSKI: Dad has also confirmed he was inside the Capitol Building on January 6. 

Father and son may have been inside for only five minutes; and if so, punishment should be light. 

In fact, he pleads guilty, on October 13, 2022, to a single misdemeanor count. Punishment: three years on probation, and $500 in restitution.

Trump supporter. 

 

* 

“I was a patriot…and picked up trash.” 

652. Chadwick Clifton: Clifton was not arrested until May 2022. According to charging documents, videos, still pictures, phone records and social media posts put Mr. Clifton squarely inside the Capitol. 

For example: 

On 01/09/2021, conversation between Facebook User Chad Clifton and Facebook User Jewel Clifton. Chad Clifton: I’m telling you right now don’t say anything out loud that you don’t want somebody else to hear We are in a war and 95% of the people don’t even know it When I went to DC that was an experience of a lifetime. I’m sorry that I went inside a broken door where we could have potential he got in trouble but I was a patriot and I made sure that people didn’t destroy things and picked up trash and we respectful. The medium made it look like we were a bunch of demons destroying things in which we were not in anyway.

 

That message is garbled, but seems to relate to his neighbor, David Johnston (#653), with whom he traveled to D.C. 

“Exciting times are coming,” he predicted in a video, while the two men were walking toward the Capitol Building. 

Now jail times may be coming. Mr. Clifton has agreed to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge. 

Trump supporter.

 

* 

653. DAVID CHARLES JOHNSTON: Like Mr. Clifton, Mr. Johnston was arrested in May 2022. Cell phone data and social media posts, including TikTok video, placed him inside the Capitol Building, along with his friend. 

On September 24, 2022, he plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge and got hit pretty hard. He was sentenced to twenty-one days of intermittent home confinement, ordered to serve three years’ probation, fined $2,000, and ordered to pay an additional $500 in restitution. 

The South Carolina lawyer also paid a price when he was fired from his job. 

His friend, Mr. Clifton, is said to be considering a plea deal, likely one similar in kind. 

Trump supporter.

 

* 

654. Lynwood Nester: Free PA is a right-leaning group that talks a great deal about patriotism on its website. The organization opposes abortion, wants to end almost all mail-in balloting, and early balloting, and elect as many conservative candidates as possible.  Nester and several other alleged members of the group can be seen walking through the Capitol on January 6, according to the FBI. The website describes the group as “Pennsylvania Patriots volunteering together to restore and protect our rights and freedoms by using ​ACTION, ACTION, ACTION!” 

Apparently, up to and including, insurrection. Nester was arrested May 20, 2022, in Dillsburg, Penn. 

Trump supporter.

 

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655. MICHAEL POMEROY: Free PA’s mission is to organize “physical meetings for like-minded patriots to gather, communicate and strategize.” Surveillance video shows Pomeroy entering the Capitol’s second floor, along with other members of the group, which I think classifies as a “physical meeting.” 

Pomeroy was also arrested in May 2022. He agrees to a plea deal in January 2023, and ends up spending 30 days in jail, and paying a fine of $500. 

Trump supporter.

 

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656. BRIAN KORTE: The defendant admitted he was inside the Capitol. Like Nester and Pomeroy, he traveled to D.C. as part of the group “Free PA.” 

He pled guilty to a single misdemeanor charge and was scheduled for sentencing on July 12, 2023. 

His prize for believing Trump lies: 21 days in the hoosegow, and $500 in restitution. 

Trump supporter.

 

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Getting “jacked” and ready for a little skull cracking. 

657. RODNEY K. MILSTREED: In days following the 2020 election, Milstreed’s mind bubbled with anger. As NPR explains, “On Nov. 25, 2020, court documents state, he posted on Facebook, “I pray every night . I hope we dont [sic] have to hurt anyone. THESE JUDGES BETTER DO THE RIGHT THING.” 

He wanted a recount of all the votes or a new election, top to  bottom. Do the whole thing over, he said. 

Or else. 

But the judges in case after case ruled against Trump. 

As for Milstreed, he was taking steroids, he told others, prepping for trouble. He felt like he was getting into great shape, and posted pictures on social media of all his guns. “I’m ready to stand with patriots to overthrow this shit Live [sic] or dead,” adding, “We cannot walk away from this shit. 

“Watch and see what happens. These folks are very crazy if they think we're gonna stand for this.” 

Yeah, judges and shit. 

So Mr. Milstreed went to D.C. 

On Jan. 6, 2021, Millstreed [sic] allegedly threw a flagpole “javelin-style” at a group of Capitol Police officers guarding the outside of the U.S. Capitol building. Later that day, Millstreed can allegedly be seen on video trying to move bike racks that police had set up as a barricade around the building and taking a smoke grenade that was on the ground on the side of the rioters and throwing it towards police. Millstreed then allegedly pulled and shoved a photographer working for the Associated Press, who was covering that day’s events.

 

That evening, prosecutors say he messaged a Facebook friend, “We f***** them federal cops up. They all ran when we got physical.” He added, “Time for war.” 

Millstreed was arrested on May 24, 2022, in Brighton, Colo. 

According to the charging document in his case, Milstreed also pledged allegiance to the Proud Boys on social media. 

One other reporter who saw the crowd attack his AP associate, described the scene as “harrowing.” 

We also learned that Milstreed was ready to cause serious harm – all in the name of patriotic hatred. 

In asking later for a stiff sentence in his case, prosecutors added detail to a description of the defendant’s behavior that day: 

Milstreed, a machinist from Maryland, began planning to commit violence at the Capitol long before January 6. In late 2020, he began injecting steroids to get “jacked,” procured a wooden club, sought out ammunition supplies for his collection of assault rifles and other firearms, and prepared himself for battle. As he said on social media, he intended to “crack some skulls” at the Capitol. And Milstreed followed through with those plans. On January 6, 2021, with his four-foot wooden club disguised as a flagpole, he made his way to the restricted grounds of the U.S. Capitol just as it was first being breached, got to the front of the mob, and broke through the police line, where he went on the offensive. He attacked a line of police officers. He assaulted a member of the news media, nearly pushing him down a set of three or four stairs. He attempted to break through bike-rack barriers, screamed at the police, and hurled a smoke grenade into the police line. Afterwards, he bragged that he had “fucked them federal cops up,” and said that punching the camera man “felt good.” All this, in Milstreed’s words, was done in an effort to “get our hands on the politicians. We want to drag them in the street and put the fear of God in their soul.” His actions were calculated to influence and affect the conduct of government by intimidation and coercion, and to retaliate against government conduct. All the while, Milstreed was sitting on a stash of weapons and ammunition at his Maryland home, including an unregistered short-barrel AR-15 variant assault rifle.

 

In July 2023, Milstreed pled guilty to three serious charges, including giving one police officer a concussion, and awaited sentencing. I predicted that he was likely to spend at least the next two presidential elections in prison. In September, my prediction was proven correct. 

Milstreed will spend five years in prison. 

And Trump still has no proof he won. 

Trump supporter, violent, believed in a “stolen election.”

 

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658. BENJAMIN SCOTT ROBINSON: the 24-year-old North Carolina man was identified after video cameras inside the U.S. Capitol showed him and his family walking inside the building and remaining there for at least half an hour. 

Members of the family were identified in part, by matching photos from a wedding with photos taken from inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. 

Now Benjamin will be out $500 in restitution, and not out (of jail) for four months, having pled guilty.

Trump supporter.

 

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659. BRITTANY NICOLE ROBINSON: Ms. Robinson, 29, breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, along with four other family members.  

She’ll get to spend a month in jail, as a result, and she’ll be $500 lighter in the purse, as a result of her actions.

Trump supporter.

 

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660. LINWOOD ALAN ROBINSON II: The Robinson family no doubt has been looking, cumulatively, at serious legal bills. 

Linwood II was nabbed after law enforcement identified his father, Linwood Alan Robinson, with the help of old arrest photos. 

According to one newspaper account, Linwood II’s Facebook page was “filled with memes promoting Trump and conservative causes while ridiculing Democrat Hillary Clinton, Black Lives Matter, Muslim causes and other targets of the far right.”  

He has pled guilty to one misdemeanor – and now gets to spend two months in prison, and had over $500 in restitution.

Trump supporter.

 

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“Handcuffs and ankle chains.” 

661. LINWOOD ALAN ROBINSON, SR.: Evidence from the day of the riot matches up with Robinson Sr.’s mug shot from a 2019 arrest, according to court documents. The F.B.I. called Robinson, who confirmed to agents that he was inside the Capitol. According to court documents, Robinson entered the building alongside his two sons, Benjamin and Linwood, his daughter-in-law, and his grandson – a minor. 

A witness who has known the family for years confirmed the identity of all the individuals shown in surveillance videos. 

According to one newspaper account, the Robinsons were some of the first rioters to breach the building. Benjamin was kicking at the doors to Speaker Pelosi’s lobby, at almost the same time Ashli Babbitt was shot. 

Linwood Sr., Linwood II and Brittany Robinson were taken into custody by federal SWAT teams, during predawn raids at their South Carolina homes. “All three were brought into the courtroom … in handcuffs and ankle chains.” 

In court Thursday, Linwood Alan Robinson Sr. was wearing a navy T-shirt with an American flag and the words, “We are not descended from fearful men,” on the back. The stripes on the American flag were red and white alternating rifles. He operates a towing and automotive garage in the Fort Mill area, according to the Better Business Bureau and the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

He was facing misdemeanor charges – until, in August 2023, he pulled the plug on his defense and pled guilty. 

Two months behind bars for him, too, and another $500 wasted by the Robinson family.

Trump supporter.

 

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662. JEREMIAH CAROLLO: Mr. Carollo, 45, from Glen Carbon, Illinois was charged with two federal offenses related to his minor part in the January 6 riot – which at least one source describes as “wandering” around near Nancy Pelosi’s office. He then identified his brother, Anthony Carollo, as someone else who breached the Capitol, and also his cousin, Cody Vollan. 

All three men have plead guilty. All three have been ordered to perform sixty hours of community service, cough up $500 good American dollars in restitution, and placed on probation for a year. 

Jeremiah gets a bonus 21 days in jail, after the judge in his case examines video, and notes that the older brother was urging other rioters to attack. At his sentencing hearing, the Marine veteran said he regretted involving his younger brother and cousin. “I am embarrassed and ashamed,” he admitted, to have been “part of something that has caused more division among Americans and has sent a very negative image to the rest of the world when America is not how it should be [it was] on January 6.” 

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER.)

 

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663. ANTHONY CAROLLO: See #662, above. 

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER.)

 

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664. CODY VOLLAN: See #662, above. Both brothers and Cousin Cody have plead guilty for participating in the attack on the Capitol. 

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER.)

 

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665. SAMUEL CHRISTOPHER FOX: Fox has already plead guilty. His politics were clear, when he posted on social media: “Al [sic] the lefties pissing and moaning right now can take comfort in the fact we walked into a building that was ours instead of using politics to loot stores, We actually have reasons to be there, not virtue signalling twitter points.... I’d do it again, fight me.” 

Mr. Fox has been sentenced to 60 days of home confinement, three years of probation, and fines and fees of $3,000. 

(Also arrested – but much later – Mr. Fox’s friend, William Irvin Fuller, #1456 on our list.) 

Trump supporter.