insurrection – Book of Jen

photo of a woman behind bars by Christopher Windus on Unsplash

Those who attacked their own nation’s Capitol failed to consider the consequences for doing so. This is Part 3

On January 6, 2021, a mob of Trump supporters staged an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building. The Guardian reported that people stormed the chambers of the House and Senate while the Electoral College votes were being tallied.

The Beverly Hills Salon Owner Woman

January 16, 2021: A Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) wrote a Statement of Facts for United States Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui.

Your affiant, Special Agent [redacted] of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (“FBI”), is assigned to the FBI Washington Field Office’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (“JTTF”) tasked with investigating criminal activity pertaining to international and domestic terrorism. As a special agent with the FBI, I am authorized by law or by a Government agency to engage in or supervise the prevention, detention, investigation, or prosecution of a violation of Federal criminal laws.

The U.S. Capitol is secured 24 hours a day by U.S. Capitol Police. Restrictions around the U.S. Capitol include permanent and temporary security barriers and posts manned by U.S. Capitol Police. Only authorized people with appropriate identification are allowed access inside the U.S. Capitol. On January 6, 2021, the exterior plaza of the U.S. Capitol was also closed to members of the public.

On January 6, 2021, a joint session of the United States Congress convened at the United States Capitol, which is located at First Street, SE, in Washington, D.C. During the joint session, elected members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate were meeting in separate chambers of the United States Capitol to certify the vote count of the Electoral College of the 2020 Presidental Election, which had taken place on November 3, 2021. The joint session began at approximately 1:00 p.m. Shortly thereafter, by approximately 1:30 p.m., the House and Senate adjourned to separate chambers to resolve a particular objection. Vice President Mike Pence was present and presiding, first in the joint session, and then in the Senate chamber.

As the proceedings continued in both the House and the Senate, and with Vice President Mike Pence present and presiding over the Senate, a large crowd gathered outside the U.S. Capitol. As noted above, temporary and permanent barricades were in place around the exterior of the U.S. Capitol building, and U.S. Capitol Police were present and attempting to keep the crowd away from the Capitol building and the proceedings underway inside.

At such time, the certification proceedings still underway and the exterior doors and windows of the U.S. Capitol were locked or otherwise secured. Members of the U.S. Capitol Police attempted to maintain order and keep the crowd from entering the Capitol; however, between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., individuals in the crowd forced entry into the U.S. Capitol, including by breaking windows and by assaulting members of the U.S. Capitol Police, as others in the crowd encouraged and assisted those acts.

During national news coverage of the aforementioned events, video footage which appeared to be captured on mobile devices of persons present on the scene depicted evidence of violations of local and federal law, including scores of individuals inside the U.S. Capitol building without authority to be there.

Beginning on or around January 10, 2021, the FBI received at least six tips identifying GINA BISIGNANO (“BISIGNANO”) as a participant in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. BISIGNANO was identified because, in a video filmed in the crowd directly in front of the Capitol and viewed by your affiant, BISIGNANO stated her first and last name, her place of residence, and her Instagram account. In a separate video from January 6, BISIGNANO also stated the name of her business while speaking through a bullhorn to the crowd. A California DMV photo obtained by the FBI confirmed her identity.

Video shows BISIGNANO in a crowd of rioters struggling with police officers in a sallyport in an attempt to gain entry to the Capitol. The rioters are seen repeatedly utilizing what appears to be a red aerosol spray on the officers, striking or attempting to strike the officers, and physically pushing the police line in an attempt to gain entry to the Capitol.

In this video a police officer is seen being crushed against a door while a rioter grabs his gas mask. BISIGNANO appears to be in the first few ranks of the tightly-packed rioters and is seen on video struggling with a police officer attempting to expel her and others from the Capitol sallyport. On video, BISIGNANO appears to say to the officer “… you hurt my f—ing leg.” The cropped image below is a still shot from the video, which depicts the top of BISIGNANO’s head and the helmet of a police officer. After being expelled from the Capitol sallyport by police officers, BISIGNANO raises her fist in an apparent gesture of defiance.

In these images, BISIGNANO’s hair, sunglasses, apparel, and makeup match those seen in the video in which BISIGNANO states her name, place of residence, and Instagram account. Specifically, BISIGNANO wears an identifiable Louis Vuitton sweater throughout the riot.

In a separate video, BISIGNANO is seen using a bullhorn just outside the Capitol to exhort other rioters to move into the Capitol. On video, BISIGNANO states “…Gina’s Beverly Hills… Everybody, we need gas masks… we need weapons… we need strong, angry patriots to help our boys. They don’t want to leave. We need protection.” As BISIGNANO is speaking, rioters approximately ten feet to BISIGNANO’s left are physically assaulting police officers preventing entry into the Capitol. Seconds after BISIGNANO states the foregoing, at least one individual begins striking at officers in the police line with what appears to be a baseball bat.

In another video, BISIGNANO is seen feet from police officers as the large crowd of rioters chants “Police stand down.”

In still another video, BISIGNANO is heard speaking into a bullhorn stating “We the people are not going to take it any more. You are not going to take away our [unintelligible]. You are not going to take away our votes. And our freedom, and I thank God for it. This is 1776, and we the people will never give up. We will never let our country go to the globalists. George Soros, you can go to hell.” As BISIGNANO is speaking, other members of the crowd to BISIGNANO’s immediate left assault the police officers by spraying a fire extinguisher at them, by striking their shields with what appear to be batons, and by throwing objects at the police. At the end of the video, the camera pans back to BISIGNANO, clearly showing her.

BISIGNANO physically entered the Capitol in at least two separate locations and encouraged other rioters to enter as well.

In another video, BISIGNANO appears to enter the Capitol through a small square opening that leads to the interior of the Capitol. She addresses other rioters from what appears to be inside the building, stating “…we need Americans. Come on guys. We need patriots! You guys, it’s the way in. We need some people, we need some people.” Another individual is then heard yelling “if you have a weapon, you need to get your weapon.”

A male rioter then addresses BISIGNANO: “he said, that they said, that they are gonna use lethal force” while gesturing towards the interior of the Capitol. The male then says to BISIGNANO “what did you hear?” BISIGNANO replies “I heard that they were, but if we’re Americans, we all need to stick together.” The male says “You heard it?” and BISIGNANO confirms “Yes I did.” In another video, BISIGNANO states in part “they sprayed me in the face” and gestures to the makeup in disarray on her face as apparent proof.

BISIGNANO tweeted her intention to attend the protest. According to publicly-available information, Donald Trump, using Twitter account @realDonaldTrump, tweeted on or about December 19, 2020, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” BISIGNANO appeared to reply to this message: I’ll be there.

[An image from the Statement of Facts shows a screenshot of what BISIGNANO wrote in response to the backlash on her business’s Yelp page on November 11, 2021.]

“I am there to stop the steal no one incites violence against law Enforcement we back the blue and respect law and order ! It’s a crime for you to make statements about me I am pro life pro trump and we back the blue joe Biden is who I was protesting against stop the steal for our American people ! You are a liar!!! This has nothing to do with my work I am a 50 year old woman alone no laws are broken I was let in I have the right to peaceful assembly you are defaming mei am contacting someone about this slander !this is serious”

On January 14, 2021, The Beverly Hills Courier published an article “based on more than two hours of interviews with BISIGNANO,” detailing her activities before and during the riot on January 6, 2021. BISIGNANO confirmed her prescence at the Capitol, stating she felt called upon by President Donald Trump to travel to D.C. to change the outcome of the election, which she believes was stolen. BISIGNANO admitted to traveling to D.C. with at least one other person she knew from a previous rally. BISIGNANO told the news outlet that she filmed herself at the Capitol building, during the time when rioters had stolen police shields and were deploying pepper spray on the officers. BISIGNANO also admitted entering the Capitol building itself through a window, the glass of which had been broken by another rioter.

Your affiant submits there is probable cause to believe that BISIGNANO violated 18 U.S.C. § 231 (a)(3) and § 2 which makes it unlawful to commit or attempt to commit any act to obstruct, impede, or interfere with any fireman or law enforcement officer lawfully engaging in the lawful performance of his official duties incident to and during the commission of a civil disorder which in any way obstructs, delays, or adversely affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce or the conduct or performance of any federally protected function, or aid, abet, counsel, command, induce or procure its commission. For purposes of Section 231 of Title 18, a federally protected function means any function, operation, or action carried out under the laws of the United States, by any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States or by an officer or employee thereof. This includes the Joint Session of Congress where the Senate and House count Electoral College votes.

Your affiant submits there is also probable cause to believe that BISIGNANO violated 18 U.S.C.§ 1512(c)(2), which makes it unlawful to corruptly obstruct, influence, or impede any official proceeding, or attempt to do so. Congressional proceedings are official proceedings under 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1), (2), and (4) which makes it a crime to (1) knowingly enter or remain in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do; and (2) knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly functions of Government business or official functions, engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within, such proximity to, any restricted building or grounds when, or so that, such conduct, in fact, impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions; and (4) knowingly engages in any act of physical violence against any person or property in any restricted building or grounds; or attempts or conspires to do so. For purposes of Section 1752 of Title 18, a “restricted building” includes a posted, cordoned off, or otherwise restricted area of a building or grounds where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service, including the Vice President, is or will be temporarily visiting; or any building or grounds so restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance.

Finally, your affiant submits there is also probable cause to believe that BISIGNANO violated 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D) which makes it a crime to willfully and knowingly (D) utter loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress of either House of Congress, or the orderly conduct in that building of a hearing before, or any deliberations of, a committee of Congress of either House of Congress.

According to CBS 9 Los Angeles Gina Bisignano is the owner of Gina’s Eyelashes and Skincare. She (and two others) were arrested for participating in the Capitol riots.

CBS News reported: Three people from Beverly Hills, including a salon owner, have been arrested in connection with the storming of the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.

Gina Bisignano, 52, was taken into custody by FBI agents at around 7 a.m. Tuesday at her apartment in the 300 block of North Palm Drive in Beverly Hills, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller confirmed to CSBLA.

The FBI, with the help of Beverly Hills police, also arrested 37-year-old John Strand and 55-year-old Simone Gold on Monday. Their charges were not immediately available.

All three made their first federal court appearances Tuesday. Bisignano is charged with civil disorder, destruction of government property and aiding and abetting.

She was ordered released on a $170,000 bond and is subject to home detention. A preliminary hearing was set in her case on Feb. 4 in Los Angeles.

A $20,000 bond was set for Strand, but he will remain in custody until a surety is approved. Once released, Strand also will be subject to home detention. Gold was released on a $15,000 bond and is also subject to home detention. Her next court appearance is a virtual hearing with the District of Columbia on Thursday.

“These are serious charges, and they could absolutely rack up in terms of seeing federal prison time,” Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor, to CBSLA.

Bisignano owns Gina’s Eyelashes And Skincare. Last week, Bisignano confirmed to the Beverly Hills Courier that she traveled to Washington, D.C., where she found herself among the mob who stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6.

In a cell phone video obtained by the Courier, a woman believed to be Bisignano holds a megaphone on a ledge of the Capitol and yells, “Everybody, we need gas masks, we need weapons. We need strong, angry patriots to help our boys, they don’t want to leave. We need protection.”

…The pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 while the House and Senate was meeting to certify the Electoral College results. The rioters entered the House and Senate chambers and broke into several offices. One of the rioters, a woman from San Diego, was shot and killed by Capitol police, and two others died of medical emergencies.

Two Capitol police officers who responded to the breach also died. Officer Brian Sicknick died of injuries he sustained during the attack. Officer Howard Liebengood died of unknown causes while off-duty.

According to CBS News, federal authorities have arrested at least 100 people in the Capitol riot, with charges ranging from curfew violations to felonies related to theft and weapons possession.

January 29, 2021: The United States District Court for the District of Columbia received the finding of a Grand Jury that was sworn in on January 8, 2021. The case was titled: “United States of America v. Gina Bisignano (Defendant).

The Grand Jury charges that:

COUNT ONE: On or about January 6, 2021, within the District of Columbia and elsewhere, GINA MICHELLE BISIGNANO, attempted to, and did, corruptly obstruct, influence, and impede an official proceeding, and did aid and abet others known and unknown to do so, that is, proceeding before Congress, by entering and remaining in the United States Capitol without authority and committing an act of civil disorder and engaging in disorderly and disruptive conduct and destroying federal property.

(Obstruction of an Official Proceeding and Aiding and Abetting, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1512(c)(2)and 2)

COUNT TWO: On or about January 6, 2021, within the District of Columbia, GINA MICHELLE BISIGNANO, committed and attempted to commit an act to obstruct, impede, and interfere with a law enforcement officer, lawfully engaged in the lawful performance of his/her official duties incident to and during the commission of a civil disorder, and the civil disorder obstructed, delayed, and adversely affected the conduct and performance of a federally protected function.

(Civil Disorder, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 231(a)(3)))

COUNT THREE: On or about January 6, 2021, within the District of Columbia, GINA MICHELLE BISIGNANO, did willfully injure and commit depredation, and did aid and abet others known and unknown to do so, against property of the United States, and of any department and agency thereof, and any property which has been and is being manufactured and constructed for the United States, and any department and agency thereof, that is a window at the U.S. Capitol, causing damage in an amount more than $1,000.

(Destruction of Government Property and Aiding and Abetting, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1361 and 2)

COUNT FOUR: On or about January 6, 2021, within the District of Columbia, GINA MICHELLE BISIGNANO, did unlawfully and knowingly enter and remain in a restricted building and grounds, that is, any posted, cordoned-off, and otherwise restricted area within the United States Capitol and its grounds, where the Vice President and Vice President-elect were temporarily visiting, without lawful authority to do so.

(Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code 1752(a)(1))

COUNT FIVE: On or about January 6, 2021, within the District of Columbia, GINA MICHELLE BISIGNANO, did knowingly, and with an intent to impede and disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business and official functions, engage in disorderly conduct in and within such proximity to, a restricted building and grounds, that is, any posted, cordoned-off and otherwise restricted area within the United States Capitol grounds, where the Vice President and Vice President-elect were temporarily visiting, when and so that such conduct did in fact impede and disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business and official functions.

(Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building Grounds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1752(a)(2))

COUNT SIX: On or about January 6, 2021, within the District of Columbia, GINA MICHELLE BISIGNANO, did knowingly, engage in any act of physical violence against any person and property in a restricted building and grounds, that is, any posted, cordoned-off, and otherwise restricted area within the United States Capitol and its grounds, where the Vice President and Vice President-elect were temporarily visiting.

(Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1752(a)(4))

COUNT SEVEN: On or about January 6, 2021, within the District of Columbia, GINA MICHELLE BISIGNANO, willfully and knowingly engaged in disorderly and disruptive conduct in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, and disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress and the orderly conduct in that building of a hearing before and any deliberation of, a committee of Congress or either Hosue of Congress.

(Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building, in violation of Title 40, United States Code, Section 5104(e)(2)(D))

February 8, 2021: Politico posted: “California salon owner charged in Capitol riot lingers in L.A. jail.” It was written by Josh Gerstein.

A Beverly Hills salon owner charged for her involvement in the Capitol riot apparently fell through the cracks following her arrest in Los Angeles last month and has lingered in jail there for more than two weeks despite a judge’s order that she promptly be moved to Washington for further hearings, a prosecutor said Monday.

Gina Bisignano, 52, was arrested Jan. 19. on charges including interfering with police during civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding in the destruction of government property.

In social media posts and in interviews with media outlets, Bisignano boasted of her role in the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol. Authorities say she entered the building twice and can be seen close to someone who broke a window of the historic building during the mayhem.

“This is 1776, and we the people will never give up. We will never let our country go to the globalists. George Soros, you can go to hell.” Bisignano shouted into a bullhorn as other protesters clashed with police, an FBI agent said in a court filing.

Bisignano appeared in federal court in Los Angeles the same day as her arrest last month. A federal magistrate judge there ordered her pretrial release over the objection of prosecutors and declined to stay the decision to allow an appeal.

Prosecutors quickly appealed and won an order from Chief U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell temporarily blocking the magistrate’s release order and instructing that Bisignano be transported to Washington for a hearing on the government’s appeal seeking to keep her behind bars.

However Bisignano — owner of Gina’s Eyelashes and Skin Care — had already been released. When she returned to the L.A. courthouse the next day, she was arrested.

While Howell’s order called for Bisignano to be moved to Washington “forthwith,” that did not happen.

At a hearing Monday before Washington-based judge assigned to Bisignano’s case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall acknowledged the foul-up.

“We, the Department of Justice, through my counterpart in the Central District of California submitted the chief judge’s order to stay and the transport order to the U.S. Marshals in California on Jan. 20. However, it appears they did not process that request until we reached out to them on Feb. 5 to glean what happened,” Paschall said.

As of Monday, a Bureau of Prisons inmate locator accessible on the web showed Bisignano still being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.

The new judge on the case, Carl Nichols, sounded concerned about the series of events.

“Has she been detained that whole time?” he asked.

Paschall said Bisignano has been in custody since Jan. 20.

Bisignano’s lawyer, Charles Peruto of Philadelphia, asked if his client could be released and allowed to travel to D.C. on her own, rather than go “from bus to bus to bus” in the custody of federal marshals.

Pachall said the government’s preference was that Bisignano remain in custody until the appeal of the magistrate’s release is decided. That is now a matter for Nicolas to take up.

Nichols said he would hold a virtual hearing on the detention and bail issue next Wednesday. Peruto said he would wave Bisignano’s right to attend that hearing. It was not immediately clear whether her transfer across the country will proceed or await the outcome of that session.

Howell has ordered a half dozen Capitol riot defendants transported to Washington while prosecutors appeal a decision to release them. Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, those moves have not always happened quickly.

On Friday, Howell ordered the government to report by Tuesday on the status of a mother and son from Tennessee — Lisa Eisenhart and Eric Munchel — charged in the Capitol riot. Attorney’s complained last week that Eisnehart and Munchel had not yet arrived in Washington for further proceedings in their case.

March 25, 2021: Los Angeles Times posted: “Uncharted waters.’ Judges are banning some Capitol riot suspects from the internet.” It was written by Evan Halper.

Beverly Hills esthetician and eyelash stylist Gina Bisignano was also present on social media that the federal criminal complaint against her practically wrote itself.

The story of a 52-year-old salon owner who charted a dark path if disinformation to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, where she allegedly grabbed a bullhorn and urged rioters to take up weapons, is backed by one social media post after another embedded in the Department of Justice filing.

There is Bisignano in her Louis Vuitton sweater, filmed in front of the Capitol talking about her business and hometown as the riot was getting underway. There she is again, addressing rioters with a rant about globalists, George Soros and stolen votes. And again, calling for weapons and gas masks moments before a rioter attacks an officer with what appears to be a baseball bat.

Now, Bisignano has gone silent online. She is not allowed on the internet. Not because social media platforms banned her, but because a federal judge did. If Bisignano goes online while awaiting trial, she risks being jailed

Judges have long been reluctant to ban anyone from the internet, a restriction that essentially cuts a person off from much of modern society and has been reserved mostly for accused and convicted pedophiles. But as toxic disinformation becomes an increasingly dangerous threat, driving domestic terrorism and violence, the courts are facing vexing new questions around how often and under what circumstances those accused of taking part should be taken offline altogether.

“We are headed into uncharted waters,” said Nina Jankowicz, a fellow at the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank, where she studies disinformation. “Given the threats we see continuing and heightened alerts, it is clear that things are not dissipating… That is why judges are making these calls.”

In the case of Bisignano, the ban might have been an easy one of the judge to make. The defendant asked for it. Her lawyer saw it as one of the few bargaining chips the Capitol riot suspect from California had to stay out of jail for now.

“If it weren’t for social media, she wouldn’t even be a defendant,” said Bisignano’s attorney, Charles Peruto. “She knows that is what got her jammed in the first place.”

Yet, attorneys for others accused of taking part in the attack on the Capitol are aggressively fighting the restrictions, and judges are struggling with how far to take them.

Prosecutors have moved to bar at least five defendants in the Capitol insurrection from going on social media platforms or even going online at all, according to a review of court filings by The Times. Those defendants are awaiting trial dates that will be months away as the Justice Department grapples with one of the most complex and all-consuming investigations in its history.

They include John Sullivan, an Utah man accused of obstructing Congress as he allegedly joined the rampage through the Capitol in tactical gear, encouraging rioters to do damage. Over the objections of prosecutors, a federal magistrate judge ruled Sullivan may continue supervised use of Facebook, Twitter, and “encrypted platforms.”

In arguing for the ban, prosecutors pointed to video of Sullivan, threatening police, breaking a window and telling other rioter “We gotta get this s — burned.”

Yet, Sullivan’s attorney, Steve Kierch, argued that the defendant was there as a journalist, claiming he sold some footage to news networks. He accused prosecutors of trying to impede some of his client’s ability “to communicate the way the vast majority of Americans communicate.” The restriction, Kiersh wrote in a court filing, would prevent Sullivan from keeping up with friends and family online, or even checking the news, as media websites, which invite user comments, fall under the umbrella of social media.

Such concerns drove the U.S. Supreme Court in 2017 to strike down a North Carolina law that prohibited convicted sex offenders from using social media platforms. The court found that the ban unconstitutionally put out of reach “what for many are the principal sources for knowing current events, checking ads for employment, speaking and listening in the modern public square, and otherwise exploring the vast realms of human thought and knowledge.

“Courts are recognizing that social media is very important to people’s lives in a number of ways,” said Alexis Karteron, director of the Rutgers Constitutional Rights Clinic. In September, the Rutgers clinic and the American Civil Liberties Union persuaded a federal court otherwise block enforcement of a New York law broadly banning social media use by sex offenders.

“There are unquestionably serious rights at stake,” Karteron said.

The Ohio Supreme Court found as much in June, when it threw out a protective order prohibiting a man from posting on social media about his mother and sister. The man had accused each of them of foul play in the deaths of their husband, even as police found no such thing. The state’s highest court ruled 7 to 0 that the prohibition was an unwarranted infringement on his rights to free expression.

“The potential abuse of speech rights in the future cannot justify the blanket prohibition imposed here on … speech before it has been uttered,” the court wrote.

As the courts strain to navigate the implications of cutting people off from social media in a society where it’s use is increasingly an essential function, the surge of criminal behavior driven by disinformation is making the task more challenging.

“There’s some real concerns that people that have social media has led people [to] abnormal conduct … to make poor decisions,” Washington D.C. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said during a late January hearing, as he weighed whether to impose an internet ban in one of the highest-profile cases following the attack on the Capitol. The defendant, 22-year-old Riley Williams, is accused of helping steal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s laptop during the insurrection.

“I want to do everything I can to make sure that Ms. Williams stays within the conditions of release and doesn’t find herself falling back into something where she can cause herself more problems,” Faruqui said. “But, obviously … it’s a fine line between paternalism and conditions of release.”

At a court hearing, Williams’ attorney said she does not have the laptop, and a search of her house and car by law enforcement did not locate it. The attorney, A.J. Kramer, said a key government informant against Williams, described as a “former romantic partner” in court papers, has a vendetta against her.

Beyond the legal and ethical challenges at issue, Faruqui confronted simple practical ones. After prosecutors warned that Williams might use the internet to destroy evidence such as social media postings and direct others to do the same, he ruled that she must stay off the internet and use only a flip phone to make necessary calls. But then came the question of whether Williams could even watch TV.

A prosecutor at the hearing pointed out that smart TV’s can access the web. The judge noted even some refrigerators are now connected online. A back-and-forth ensued over how Williams might be able to watch television while awaiting trial. It lasted a while. There was chatter about the Netflix app.

The judge finally ruled that Williams could watch television under the supervision of her mother, and that tapping into the device’s web function could send her right back to jail.

The lengthy back-and-forth over all the ways the court’s effort to keep Williams from potential criminal behavior could spill over into isolating her from society altogether underscored the challenges ahead, as more crimes are hatched over social media, and prosecutors move to boot perpetrators offline.

“These bans are not something that should be considered for your average criminal,” said Jankowicz. “But these are not your average cases.”

December 21, 2021: HillReporter.com posted: “One Jan 6th Insurrectionist Indicted While Others Fight Charges and Whine Over Personal Privilege In Court” It was written by Tara Dublin.

Roughly 50 minutes footage that wasn’t included in Alexandra Pelosi’s HBO documentary Pelosi In The House, about her mother, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, has been turned over to the House Administration Committee.

Led by GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, the panel is embarking on a new investigation into the 2021 Capitol insurrection, including looking into the Democratic-led Select Committee’s actions from the last Congress and the security failures from that day.

Loudermilk, a Trump loyalist, has alleged that the former January 6th Committee “withheld” witness transcripts from the public that “undercut some of their most explosive claims” about the insurrection.

Trump loyalists have tried to pin the day’s security failures on Speaker Pelosi, who is depicted in the documentary as furiously angry at Trump for not taking better precautions.

In the newly-released footage, Speaker Pelosi says of Trump: “I just feel sick about what he did to the Capitol and the country today,” and that “he’s got to pay a price for that.”

In a conversation with her staff the next morning, Pelosi is shown asking for a list of Trump’s cabinet members so she might call on them to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. She adds that she was going to describe Trump as “a domestic enemy in the White House” in a statement.

“Let’s not mine words about this,” she says.

The Speaker’s anger was tempered by her worry for the safety of those still in the building. Famously, she spoke with Vice President Mike Pence to make sure he was out of harm’s way.

December 27, 2021: Law & Crime posted: “Beverly Hills Beautician who Yelled ‘You Are Not Going to Take Away Our Trumpy Bear’ on Jan. 6 is Now Cooperating with Feds” It was written by Marisa Sarnoff.

The Beverly Hills beautician with a bullhorn who helped rioters breach the Capitol building on Jan. 6 by smashing a window and then climbed through the window herself, is cooperating with the FBI after pleading guilty to multiple criminal charges.

Gina Bisignano, the owner of an eyelash and extension skincare salon, has pleaded guilty to six of the seven charges against her, according to a plea deal filed in August and unsealed last week. She has admitted to charges of obstruction of official proceedings, civil disorder, disorderly conduct, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and physical violence in a restricted building or grounds.

Bisignano was part of the mob of Donald Trump supporters that violently rushed the building from a tunnel on the Lower West Terrace in an attempt to stop the counting of the Electoral College votes and blocking the certification of Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election.

Under the plea agreement, Bisignano “shall cooperate fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly” with federal, state, and local investigations into Jan. 6. This may include answering questions, providing sworn written statements, taking polygraphy tests, and “participating in covert law enforcement activities.”

Bisignano also agreed to turn over any evidence of “any and all evidence of crimes” of which she is aware, along with any “contraband and proceeds of such crimes.” She also agreed to be interviewed by law enforcement agents without an attorney present, although if she asks for a lawyer she can have one, and will provide grand jury testimony if the government asks for it.

Bisignano did not plead guilty to a charge of destruction of government property. That charge will presumably be dropped when she is sentenced.

According to the government’s statement of offense, which outlines the facts supporting Bisignano’s guilty plea, Bisignano was “hit with a direct shot of chemical irritants deployed by the retreating officers. However, she was undeterred: “As the mob swelled inside the tunnel and officers were being assaulted, Bisignano climbed on a ledge inside the tunnel, and waived other rioters into the tunnel to assist in the effort to break into the U.S. Capitol building,” the document says.

The statement of offense also says that once Bisignano and other rioters were cleared from the tunnel she searched for — and found — a different way in.

“After her removal from the tunnel, Bisignano spoke with other rioters on the Lower West Terrace about ‘what Pence’s done’ and how to gain entry to the U.S. Capitol building. Bisignano and others were standing in front of a semi-circular window when Bisignano started shouting ‘break the window! Break the window!”

Bisignano herself subsequently climbed on to the ledge of the same windowsill. Bisignano then assisted a second rioter on to the ledge, who immediately began to bang on the glass with a large object. That rioter was pulled off the windowsill, but Bisignano remained. Several minutes later, Bisignano assisted a third rioter up on the windowsill, and that rotor used a fire extinguisher to smash the glass of the window. According to the Office of The Architect of The Capitol, the cost to repair the damaged window was approximately $1500.”

She also used a bullhorn to encourage the rioters, shouting from the windowsill:

“They will not steal our votes!”
“Everybody, we need gas masks! We need weapons! We need strong angry patriots to help our boys. They don’t want to leave. We need protection!
“We the people are not going to take it anymore. You are not going to take away our Trumpy Bear. You are not going to take away our votes!
“This is 1776! And we the people will never give up. We will never let our country go to the globalists.”

Bisignano pleaded guilty in August of six of the seven charges against her, but the plea was filed under seal. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, ordered the plea to be unsealed in a status conference on Jan. 21, after the government filed a motion to unseal. Bisignano’s attorney Charles Peruto said in the hearing that they did not oppose the unsealing of the plea agreement.

The most serious of the charges is the obstruction charge, which carries a technical potential sentence of 20 years in prison and $250,000 fine. Any sentence would more than likely be significantly lesser in severity. This particular charge has been a source of controversy in other Jan. 6 cases, as defendants argued that the Electoral College certification is not an “official proceeding” for purposes of statute, and that a corruption charge under statute is unconstitutionally vague.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, recently rejected most of these arguments, finding that the Electoral College certification is an official proceeding and that the determination whether one was “corruptly” trying to stop the proceeding depends on the facts of each case.

Bisignano did not plead guilty to a charge of destruction of government property, which could have carried a prison sentence of up to 10 years, if the damage was worth more than $1,000.

The language of the plea agreement suggests that Bisignano may still believe that Trump won the 2020 presidential election due to voter fraud, despite this conspiracy theory being repeatedly debunked.

“At the time, Bisignano believed the 2020 Presidential election results were fradulent or stolen,” the plea says. “Bisignano admits that her belief that the Electoral College results wer fradulent is not a legal justification for unlawfully entering the Capitol building and attempting to influence, stop, or delay the Congressional proceeding.”

Although Bisignano apparently has been cooperating with the government since at least August, she has not always been cooperative with court orders, as Nicholas noted in a Dec. 14 minute order after Bisignano failed to appear.

“In light of Defense Counsel’s tardiness and the Defendant’s nonappearance in the Status Conference held earlier today on Dece,ber 14, 2021 at 10:00am, it is ORDERED that the Status Conference is rescheduled for December 21, 2021 at 1:00pm,” Nichols wrote in a minute order. “This is not the first time timely attendance has been a problem in this case. Defense Counsel and Defendant are admonished that additional failures to appear timely will be looked upon even more unfavorably.”

Bisignano is far from the first Jan. 6 defendant to strike a plea deal that involves cooperating with federal authorities. Multiple members of the extremist “Oath Keepers” militia group pleaded guilty in July and agreed to cooperate with investigators, and a member of the far-right “Proud Boys” has also agreed to cooperate as part of a plea deal, perhaps even against other members of the group, according to a New York Times report.

Bisignano’s next status conference is set for March 4, 2022.

The Anti-Vax Doctor and the Anti-Lockdown Guy

January 8, 2021: The United States District Court for the District of Columbia swore in a Grand Jury for a case called United States of American v. John Herbert Strand and Simone Melissa Gold.

The Grand Jury charges that:

COUNT ONE: On or about January 6, 2021, within the District of Columbia and elsewhere, JOHN HERBERT STRAND and SIMONE MELISSA GOLD, attempted to, and did, corruptly obstruct, influence and impede an official proceeding, that is a procedure before Congress, by entering and remaining in the United States Capitol without authority and committing an act of civil disorder and engaging in disorderly and disruptive conduct.

(Obstruction of an Official Proceeding and Aiding and Abetting, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1512(c)(2)and 2)

COUNT TWO: On or about January 6, 2021, within the District of Columbia, JOHN HERBERT STRAND and SIMONE MELISSA GOLD, did unlawfully and knowingly enter and remain in a restricted building and grounds, that is, any posted, cordoned-off, or otherwise restricted area within the United States Capitol and its grounds, where Vice President and Vice President-elect were temporarily visiting, without the lawful authority to do so.

(Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1752(a)(1))

COUNT THREE: On or about January 6, 2021, within the District of Columbia, JOHN HERBERT STRAND and SIMONE MELISSA GOLD, did knowingly, and with intent to impede had disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business and official functions, engage in disorderly and disrupting conduct in and within such proximity to, a restricted building and grounds, that is, any posted, cordoned-off, or otherwise restricted area within the United States Capitol and its grounds, where the Vice President and Vice President-elect were temporarily visiting, when and so that such conduct did in fact impede and disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business and official functions.

(Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1752(a)(2))

COUNT FOUR: On or about January 6, 2021, within the District of Columbia, JOHN HERBERT STRAND and SIMONE MELISSA GOLD, willfully and knowingly engaged in disorderly and disruptive conduct in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, and disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress and either House of Congress and the orderly conduct in that building of a hearing before or any deliberation of, a committee of Congress or either House of Congress.

(Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building, in violation of Title 40, United States Code, Section 5104(e)(2)(D))

COUNT FIVE: On or about January 6, 2021, within the District of Columbia, JOHN HERBERT STRAND and SIMONE MELISSA GOLD, willfully and knowingly paraded, demonstrated, and picketed in any United States Capitol Building.

(Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building, in violation of Title 40, United States Code, Section 5104 (e)(2)(G))

January 13, 2021: an Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint and Arrest Warrant was written by a Special Agent of the FBI. It was written for U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey.

Purpose of Affidavit

This Affidavit is submitted in support of a Criminal Complaint charging JOHN HERBERT STRAND (“STRAND”) and SIMONE MELISSA GOLD (“GOLD”) with violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a) and 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2).

I respectfully submit that this Affidavit establishes probably cause to believe that STRAND and GOLD (1) did knowingly enter or remain in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, or did knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or officials functions, engage in disorderly conduct, and

(2) did willfully and knowingly engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress, or the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress, or he orderly conduct in that building of any deliberations of either House of Congress.

Specifically, on or about January 6, 2021 STRAND and GOLD traveled to Washington D.C., and knowingly and willfully joined a crowd of individuals who forcibly entered the U.S. Capitol and impeded, disrupted and disturbed the orderly conduct of business by the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate.

AGENT BACKGROUND

I have been a Special Agent with the FBI since June 2016. I am presently assigned to the Washington Field Office’s International Corruption Squad, where I am responsible for investigating Antitrust, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and Kleptocracy violations. I was assigned to the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, where I was responsible for investigating public corruption, fraud against the government, violent crime, narcotics offenses, and a host of other violations of federal law.

Prior to my employment with the FBI, I was a law enforcement officer in the State of Florida for four years, where I investigated crimes relating to fraud, narcotics, violent crimes, and a variety of other criminal acts.

I am one of the agents assigned to an ongoing investigation of riots and civil disorder that occurred on January 6, 2021 in and around the Capitol grounds by the FBI, United States Capitol Police (“USCP”), Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”) and other law enforcement agencies. Since I became involved in this investigation on January 6, 2021, I have conducted interviews, reviewed public tips, reviewed available photos and video, and reviewed relevant documents, among other things.

The facts in this affidavit come from my review of the evidence, my personal observations, my training and expertise, and information obtained from other agents and witnesses. Except as explicitly set forth below, I have not distinguished this affidavit between facts of which I have personal knowledge and facts of which I have hearsay knowledge. This affidavit is intended to show simply that there is sufficient probable cause for the request arrest warrant and does not set forth all of my knowledge about this matter.

BACKGROUND

On January 6, 2021, a joint session of the United States Congress convened at the United States Capitol, located at First Street Southeast, Washington, District of Columbia. During the joint session, elected members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate met in the United States Capitol to certify the vote count of the Electoral College for the 2020 Presidential Election, which took place on November 3, 2020.

The U.S. Capitol is secured 24 hours a day by security barriers and USCP occupy various posts throughout the grounds. Restriction around the U.S. Capitol include permanent and temporary security barriers and posts manned by USCP. USCP officer wore uniforms with clearly marked police patches, insignia, badges, and other law enforcement equipment. Only authorized people with appropriate identification are allowed inside the U.S. Capitol. On January 6, 2021, the exterior plaza of the U.S. Capitol was also closed to members of the public.

The January 6, 2021 joint session began at approximately 1:00 p.m. Shortly thereafter, by approximately 1:30 p.m., the House and Senate adjourned to separate chambers to resolve a particular objection. Vice President Michael R. Pence was present and presiding, first in the joint session, and then in the Senate chamber.

As the proceedings continued in both the House and the Senate, and with Vice President Pence present and presiding over the Senate, a large crowd gathered outside the U.S. Capitol. As noted above, temporary and permanent barricades were in place around the exterior of the U.S. Capitol building and USCP were present, attempting to keep the crowd away from the Capitol building and the proceedings underway inside. As the certification proceedings were underway, the exterior doors and windows of the Capitol were locked or otherwise secured.

At approximately 2:00 p.m., certain individuals in the crowd forced their way through, up, and over the barricades, and past police officers of the USCP, and the crowd advanced to the exterior façade of the building. The crowd was not lawfully authorized to enter or remain in the building and, prior to entering, no members of the crowd submitted to security screenings or weapons checks by the USCP or other authorized security officials.

A short time later, at approximately 2:20 p.m., members of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate, including the President of the Senate, Vice President Pence, were instructed to — and did — evacuate the chambers. As such, all proceedings of the United States Congress, including the joint session, was effectively suspended until shortly after 8:00 p.m. the same day.

In light of the dangerous circumstances caused by the unlawful entry to the U.S Capitol, including danger posed by individuals who had entered the U.S. Capitol without any security screening or had left the U.S. Capitol, the building had been confirmed secured. The proceedings resumed at approximately 8:00 pm after the building had been secured. Vice President Pence remained in the United States Capitol from the time he was evacuated from the Senate Chamber until the sessions resumed.

During national news coverage of the aforementioned events, video footage which appeared to be captures on mobile devices of persons present on the scene depicted evidence of violations of local and federal law, including scores of individuals inside the U.S. Capitol building without authority to be there.

STATEMENT OF FACTS SUPPORTING PROBABLE CAUSE

Beginning on or about January 7, 2021, the investigative agencies began receiving tips from the public related to the civil unrest and breach of the Capitol and several identified STRAND and GOLD as being involved. Many of the tips includes photographs of STRAND and GOLD inside of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

In another tip, a witness wrote, “An old acquaintance was posting pictures of himself taking over the capital yesterday. He was calling for a revolution on his social media accounts… individual broke into the capital building and is paid to promote propaganda on his website.”

Law enforcement agents retrieved a driver’s license photograph of both STRAND, DOB [redacted] and GOLD, DOB [redacted] both residents of California, and confirmed each were consistent in appearance with the pictures above.

Also on January 7, 2021, Twitter account @TheJohnStrand, believed to be used by STRAND, posted a photograph in which STRAND was seen wearing a black jacket, pink scarf, and dark sunglasses, which appeared to be consistent with the photographs of STRAND and GOLD above. The photograph appeared to be taken on the steps of the Capitol.

The photograph, shown below, also included the caption “I am incredibly proud to be a patriot today, to stand up tall in defense of liberty & the Constitution, to support Trump & #MAGAforever, & to send the message: WE ARE NEVER CONCEDING A STOLEN ELECTION.”

Several media outlets broadcasted coverage of the Capitol breach and recorded videos. In their coverage of the events, CNN posted a video to its website entitled “See stunning video of rioters inside the Capitol”

In the video, timestamped 2:27-2:29 p.m. a man and a woman consistent in appearance and with the above pictures of STRAND and GOLD can be seen walking with a companion through National Statuary Hall, which is located inside the Capitol.

January 6, 2021: a member of the news media posted a video to Twitter entitled: “Statuary Hall being slowly cleared out,” at 2:58 p.m. In the video, a man bearing a resemblance to STRAND can be seen with a recording device. The man was recording a woman, consistent in appearance with GOLD giving a speech to a small gathering of people.

January 7, 2021, at approximately 9:07 a.m, Twitter account @TheJohnStrand reposted a video entitled “Trump Supporter Gets Shot And Murdered The US State Capitol!” The video was posted with the caption “I was there. This is inexcusable.” The tweet was tagged a posted “from Washington, DC” with “Twitter for iPhone.”

A review of several tweets from account holder @TheJohnStrand include the term “Twitter for iPhone.” Based on my training and experience, I understand Twitter account holders who own or possess Apple iPhones can download the Twitter application from the “App Store.” Once the application is loaded to the phone and the user broadcasts a tweet, often it is tagged with the term “Twitter for iPhone.”

An open source search of social media depictions from January 6, 2021, uncovered several videos and photographs of persons consistent in appearance with STRAND and GOLD inside of the Capitol.

Videos posted to the Getty Images database online shows what appears to be STRAND and GOLD in a large crowd attempting to push past multiple officers blocking the entrance to the Capitol, which had visibly broken windows at the time. One of the officers, who had been pinned near the doors to the Capitol, appears to be pulled down by someone in the crowd and lands near STRAND and GOLD were standing.

I conducted an initial review of some of the surveillance footage from surveillance cameras installed inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021. During my review, I saw what appears to be STRAND and GOLD (as depicted in the pictures above) enter the Capitol through the Rotunda door and walk through various parts of the building, consistent with their locations as captured in the other various videos described above.

January 8, 2021, agents from the FBI interviewed 1 (“W1”) who identified STRAND as the person on an FBI wanted poster from the Capitol breach. W1 met STRAND approximately ten years ago and had a personal relationship with him. W1 provided a phone number for STRAND, which was consistent with the phone number the investigative agencies believed STRAND uses.

January 12, 2021: The Washington Post published an article titled: ‘I do regret being there’: Simone Gold, noted hydroxychloroquine advocate, was inside the Capitol during the riot”. The article features additional photograph of what appears to be GOLD inside the Capitol giving a speech, as captured in the video described in paragraph 17 above.

“I can certainly speak to the place that I was, and it was most emphatically not a riot,” and “Where I was, was incredibly peaceful.” According to the article, GOLD confirmed that she went inside the Capitol, saying she followed a crowd and assumed that it was legal to do so, further noting that she wa inside for about 20 minutes and regretted being there.

According to the article, GOLD added that she traveled to Washington D.C. to speak at a “Rally for Health Freedom” on the East side of the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon. According to the article, GOLD claimed to have attended the rally along with John Strand, who was there to “ensure her safety.”

CONCLUSION

For the reasons set forth above, I submit there is probable cause to believe that STRAND and GOLD, violated:

18 U.S.C. § l752(a), which makes it a crime to (1) knowingly enter or remain in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do; (2) knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within such proximity to, any restricted building or ground when, such conduct, in fact, impedes of disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions; or (3) knowingly, and with the intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, obstruct or impede ingress or egress to or from any restricted building or grounds.

For purposes of Section § l752 of Title 18, a restricted building includes posted, cordoned off, or otherwise restricted area of a building or grounds where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting; or any building or grounds so restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance; and

40 U.S.C. § 5l04(e)(2), which makes it a crime for an individual to or group of individuals to willfully and knowingly (A) enter or remain on the floor if either House of Congress or in any cloakroom or lobby adjacent to that floor, in the Rayburn Room of the House of Representatives, or in the Marble Room of the Senate, unless authorized to do so pursuant to rules adopted, or an authorization given, by that House;

(D) utter loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress; (E) obstruct, or impede passage through or within, the Grounds or any of the Capitol Buildings: or (G) parade, demonstrate, or picket in any of the Capitol Buildings.

As such, I respectfully request that the court issue a warrant for STRAND and GOLD. The statements above are true and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

January 19, 2021: NBC News posted: “Jan. 6 rioter from Beverly Hills has second thoughts on her guilty plea”. It was written by Ryan J. Reilly.

A Beverly Hills cosmetologist who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in support of the man she calls “Trumpy Bear,” recently told fellow supporters that she only pleaded guilty “to stay out of jail,” that she didn’t read the plea deal she signed, and that she doesn’t think Capitol defendants will get locked away for a long time because former President Donald Trump is “coming back.”

Gina Bisignano is a Trump supporter who wore a Louis Vuitton sweater as she used a bullhorn to call for “strong, angry patriots” in the mob to help fight the police at the Capitol. “We the people are not going to take it anymore!” Bisignano said on the bullhorn. “You are not going to take away our Trumpy Bear! You are not going to take away our votes!”

In the plea deal, she finalized under seal in August, Bisignano admitted that she had videoed herself storming the Capitol and saying she was going to “break into Congress,” encouraged other rioters to “break the window,” and then urged rioters to invade the Capitol through the broken window. Under the plea deal, Bisignano was supposed to cooperate with the government, and could receive credit at sentencing for demonstrating acceptance of responsibility.

But in a recording of a recent voice chat she had with supporters of Jan. 6 defendants, obtained by NBC News, Bisignano didn’t exactly strike a conciliatory tone. Bisignano confirmed that it is her on the recording.

It’s the latest indication that comments from Trump are having an impact on the ongoing prosecutions of Jan. 6 defendants, as rioters wonder if he could return to power and spare them the legal consequences for their actions. At a recent rally, Trump told supporters that if he returns to the White House, he will consider pardoning riot participants.

In her chat with supporters, Bisignano said she didn’t know why she did what she did, but that the pro-Trump mob was fueled by “very righteous anger.” Bisignano claimed in the recording that police at the U.S. Capitol “attacked” the mob of Trump supporters. She claimed that police actions — after the mob broke through the barricades and gave a female U.S. Capitol Police officer a concussion — “riled everybody up”. And she suggested that the apology she gave to a judge during her guilty plea wasn’t exactly full-hearted.

“I said, ‘Your Honor, I’m sorry for going into the Capitol,” Bisignano told supporters after her guilty plea. “I said ‘Your Honor, I apologize.” He goes ‘Thank you. Thank you.’ I said ‘You’re welcome’ but I didn’t say what I was sorry for. I’m sorry for being in a federal building and getting in trouble. But I believe what I believe, and everybody knows that.”

Bisignano in the recording called Judge Carl Nichols “a nice judge,” and said that she hoped he’d look favorably upon her cooperation. But she encouraged another Jan. 6 defendant on the call not to take a plea deal, and indicated she had regrets about her own plea.

“If you don’t have to do it, if you could hold it out, don’t do it. I wish I didn’t. Just wait it out, wait it out,” she said. “I wish that I was stronger, because I was so weak when I signed it.”

“If I could do it again,” Bisignano said of signing a plea deal, “I wouldn’t.”

However, when asked by NBC News about her statements, Bisignano said that she did not regret her plea.

“I didn’t say I regret the plea deal,” Bisignano said in an interview. “I think people should take plea deals … own up to what you did and move forward.”

That’s much different from what she said in the call with supporters.

“I was forced to do a plea deal because I was so damn scared for my life, and I don’t even know what I signed, because I couldn’t even get myself out of bed,” she told fellow Trump supporters. “I’m signing this to stay out of jail,” she told her lawyer, who she said she paid $80,000.

“They corner you into a plea deal,” she said. “I can’t spend any more money on an attorney, I can’t go back to prison.”

The plea deal also required Bisignano’s cooperation. That’s how Bisignano found herself testifying before a grand jury about Danny Rodriguez, another rioter from California, who attacked a D.C. Metro police officer with a stun gun.

One thing that Bisignano was insistent about in the voice chat with supporters of Jan. 6 defendants is that she would never turn on her favorite president.

“I’m not squealing on anybody, I don’t blame the president,” she said. “It wasn’t the president’s fault at all.”

Bisignano, video shows, was among the first group of rioters to enter the tunnel on the west side of the Capitol, where some of the most brutal battles took place. Despite being a part of the mob that overran the police line, she insisted that it was officers who were in the wrong first.

“The cops attacked us. I was the first one there in the tunnel, you guys,” she said on the supporter call. But judges and prosecutors, she claimed, “don’t care that somebody bear maced me in the face, they don’t care a cop hit me with a club, it didn’t matter. Their thing is, we weren’t supposed to be there.”

The FBI arrested more than 725 people in connection with the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack, and hundreds more arrests are in the works. The total number of individuals who could be charged for either unlawfully entering the Capitol or attacking officers or members of the media outside the building is more than 2,500.

The supporter phone call that took place the same day Trump indicated that he might pardon Jan. 6 defendants if he deemed it necessary. Bisignano, in the phone call with supporters, told another defendant that they couldn’t lock the other defendant away forever. “Trump’s coming back,” she said.

Bisignano told NBC News that she hopes Trump does come back, but isn’t holding out hope for a pardon. “I’m not banking on it,” she said.

Bisignano’s plea deal left open the question of whether she still believed in conspiracy theories about the election.

“At the time, BISIGNANO believed that the 2020 Presidential election results were fraudulent or stolen,” it stated. “BISIGNANO admits that her belief that the Electoral College results were fraudulent is not a legal justification for unlawfully entering the Capitol building and attempting to influence, stop, or delay the Congressional proceeding.”

Bisignano’s call with supporters of Jan. 6 defendants, however, left little doubt where she stands.

“I still know the election was stolen, there’s no doubt.” Bisignano said. “No doubt.”

January 22, 2021, The Guardian posted: “‘Willful ignorance’: doctor who joined Capitol attack condemned for Covid falsehoods”. It was written by Peter Stone.

A key conservative doctors’ group pushing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines faces growing fire from medical experts about its woeful scientific grounding, while its leader, Dr. Simone Gold, was charged this week for taking part in the 6 January attack on the Capitol.

The development comes as the US faces warnings about its pandemic death toll, which could hit 500,000 next month, in part because conspiracy theories and baseless skepticism — especially from rightwing groups – have hampered efforts to tackle it.

Gold, who founded America’s Frontline Doctors last spring with help from the Tea Party Patriots organization, was arrested on Monday in Beverly Hills, where she lives, and faces charges of entering a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct.

Prior to her arrest, a headshot of Gold holding a bullhorn that she used to give a talk inside the Capitol appeared on an FBI flyer headlined “Seeking Information” about suspects in the Capitol attack. The group’s communication director, John Strand, who writes for the conservative Epoch Times and was charged with Gold in the Capitol, was also arrested in Beverly Hills and faces similar charges.

A 55-year-old emergency room physician, Gold did not respond to calls and text messages asking about her role in the attack and why she baselessly calls a Covid-19 vaccine an “experimental biological agent.”

Gold first acknowledged her presence at the Capitol and voiced “regret” to the Washington Post, after a video surfaced of her walking inside the Capitol along with Strand. Gold told the Post that she thought entering the Capitol was legal, and she didn’t witness violence, even though dozens of Capitol police were hurt and five people died.

Last May, Gold’s group gained fast attention as several allied rightwing organizations, including Tea Party Patriots and the FreedomWorks Foundation, began a well-funded publicity drive attacking state lockdowns and downplaying the risks of the pandemic.

Gold and her fledging group attacked policies advocated by top scientists like Dr Anthony Fauci and other national experts on the pandemic, and they promoted misinformation at rallies in Los Angeles and Washington and on rightwing media outlets owned by Salem Radio and Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network.

Gold’s mission has included touting the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, a phoney Covid-19 cure that Donald Trump endorsed which carries serious health risks, and suggesting that the lockdown’s mental health affects were more harmful than the Covid-19 virus.

Last July, Gold delivered her message at a well-publicized rally her group hosted in front of the Supreme Court, which drew about 10 doctors, including two ophthalmologists. Gold, who had been working at two hospitals before the rally, was fired afterwards and quickly tapped the conservative attorney and Trump ally Lin Wood to represent her.

Wood last year called Gold a “truth giver” and is infamous for backing false claims of vast voting fraud and saying the former vice-president Mike Pence should be shot. He did not return calls about Gold’s defense.

Veteran doctors and ex-public health officials were dismayed by Gold’s downplaying established science.

“She and her organization show a willful ignorance of science and the scientific method, as well as a disrespect for accomplished scientific institutions and brilliant scientists,” said Dr Jeffrey Koplan, an epidemiologist and vice president for Global Health and Emory University who used to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Dr. Irwin Redlener, the director of Columbia University’s Pandemic Resource and Response Initiative, added “Simone Gold is a toxic purveyor of misinformation, now actively contributing to rightwing extremist rhetoric that continues to rile up people determined to hang on to the most egregious Donald Trump lies.”

Gold’s rise in the conservative ecosystem and her role attacking mainstream science about the pandemic was underscored by a talk she gave last November at a meeting of he secretive, Christian right Council for National Policy which drew dozens of super wealthy donors and GOP and conservative bigwigs, including Pence and the Tea Party Patriot’s leader, Jenny Beth Martin.

Conservative donors involved with CNP include members of the billionaire DeVos family and the private equity mogul Bill Watson, a key CNP figure.

A GOP fundraiser said CNP meetings were “ideal places to network with high-level conservatives and raise a lot of money.”

Anne Nelson, the author of Shadow Network, about CNP’s influence and origins, added that the group “began cultivating Simone Gold at least as of early 2020, as a medical spokesperson to support the premature reopening of the economy. Their purpose was to benefit the Trump campaign, and counter the advice of leading public health officials.

Gold’s questioning of vaccine safety was underscored the day before the Capitol attack, when she urged a rally near the White House not to take FDA-approved vaccines, labeling them “an experimental biological agent deceptively named a vaccine” and telling the crowd not to let themselves be “coerced.”

Her group took off last spring when she worked closely with Martin of Tea Party Patriots to orchestrate a letter signed by some 800 doctors to Trump urging him to end the “national lockdown” and calling it a “mass casualty” incident causing wide depression.

Last May, Gold told the AP that there was “no scientific basis that the average American should be concerned about Covid-19 – a view that has since been discredited.

Koplan offered a blunt verdict on Gold’s work: “The results of this dismissal of science takes a heavy toll on lives and health.”

March 2022: ArsTechnica posted: “Prominent peddler of COVID misinfo pleads guilty to joining the Capitol riot” It was written by Beth Mole.

Dr. Simone Gold, a prominent anti-vaccine doctor who founded a group notorious for widely peddling COVID-19 misinformation, pleaded guilty on Thursday to joining the insurrectionists who violently attacked the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

Gold is the founder of America’s Frontline Doctors (AFDS) and has spent the pandemic downplaying COVID-19, promoting unproven treatments (such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin), and casting doubt on the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.

According to her guilty plea, Gold entered a restricted area around the Capitol on January 6, joining part of the mob outside the East Rotunda door. There, she stood directly in front of a law enforcement officer as the officer was assaulted and dragged to the ground, the plea notes.

Shortly after, she entered the rotunda with rioters and began giving a speech against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and government-imposed lockdowns while co-defendent John Strand video-recorded her remarks. Multiple law enforcement officers had to intervene before Gold stopped her speech. Then she and Strand left the area.

In an interview published in The Washington Post on Jan. 12, Gold said that she did regret going into the Capitol because it could distract her from her “advocacy” work but that “it emphatically was not a riot.” She denied seeing any violence. “Where I was, was incredibly peaceful,” she told the Post.

The offense to which she pleaded guilty is a misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of six months. Her sentencing is scheduled for June 16. Meanwhile, Strand, the communications director for AFLDS, has pleaded not guilty to charges against him, according to the Associated Press. His trial is scheduled to start July 18.

The AFLDS is among the most prominent groups to spread COVID-19 misinformation amid the pandemic. A September 2021 repot by The Intercept revealed data that AFLDS and partner organization SpeakWithAnMD.com have made at least $6.7 million by offering online COVID-19 consultations that involve writing off-label prescriptions for ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine and prescribing other unproven treatments.

A month after that report, Rep. Janes Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat and chair of the House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, announced an investigation into AFLDS. In a letter, Clybrn sent directly to Gold, he wrote:

“I am deeply concerned that AFLDS is profiting from its deliberate spread of misinformation about the coronavirus. AFLDS’s promotion of falsehoods about coronavirus, questionable treatments, and vaccines is dangerous and may be putting American lives at risk and setting back our nation’s efforts to end the pandemic.”

Gold has used her medical credentials to bolster her pandemic falsehoods and misinformation. However, she told the Post last year that she was no longer working as a doctor. She said she had been “promptly fired” from jobs as an emergency room physician for two hospitals after participating in a July 2020 event, in which she and other AFLDS doctors spread COVID-19 misinformation.

The event made headlines for including Stella Immanuel, who has a history of blaming diseases on demons. The event was organized with the support of the Tea Party Patriots group and live-streamed by the conservative media outlet Breitbart, the Post reported.

June 16, 2022: CNN reported “Doctor known for spreading Covid misinformation is sentenced to prison for role in US Capitol attack” It was written by Hannah Rabinowitz.

Dr. Simone Gold, a Beverly Hills woman known for spreading debunked claims about Covid-19 was sentenced on Thursday to 60 days in prison for illegally entering and remaining in the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection.

Gold, founder of the group America’s Frontline Doctors, was also ordered to pay a $9,500 fine — the largest fine imposed to date among the almost 200 rioters who have been sentenced.

“Your organization is leaving people with the misimpression that this is a political prosecution or that it’s about free speech,” district Judge Christopher Cooper said as he imposed the sentence, slamming America’s Frontline Doctors fundraising efforts that call January 6 “political prosecution.

Cooper called the fundraising efforts, which have raised more than $400,000, “unseemly” and a “disservice to the true victims that day.”

“It ain’t about free speech,” Cooper added. “January 6 was about a lot of things, but it wasn’t about free speech or Covid vaccinations… the only reason yo are her is where and when and how you chose to express your views.

Gold spoke at the January 5 Stop the Steal rally the day before the riot, telling the crowd that “if you don’t want to take an experimental biological agent deceptively named a vaccine, you must not allow yourself to be coerced!”

The next day, according to prosecutors, she and her co-defendant John Strand joined a group of rioters who pushed past a group of offices attempting to stop the mob from breaching the Capitol. Once inside, Gold spoke through a megaphone to a crowd gathered in Statuary Hall.

Strand has pleaded not guilty.

In 2020, Gold made headlines after appearing in a viral video — which then-President Donald Trump retweeted — that was later removed from numerous social media sites for Covid misinformation.

The video shows Gold and other members of America’s Frontline Doctors, which is known for pushing lies about coronavirus vaccines, standing on the steps of the Supreme Court claiming that masks aren’t necessary to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and prompting hydroxychloroquine as a cure.

Gold has since been blocked by social media platforms like Facebook.

America’s Frontline Doctors told CNN last year that Gold “did not participate in any incident that involved violence or vandalism and has categorically rebuked any such activity,” by others and claimed the organization has recommended other vaccines to patients but that “more study and greater transparency are needed with respect to COVID-19 vaccines.”

A number of alleged rioter have pushed anti-Covid vaccine theories or have refused to be vaccinated. A husband and wife who carried anti-vaccine protest signs into the Capitol were sentenced last August to two years of probation.

Many of the defendants held in the DC jail while they await trial have complained about lack of access to jail facilities because they refuse to be vaccinated, and some judges have hesitated to have defendants who aren’t vaccinated in their courtrooms.

The Guy Who Shattered A Window To An Office At the Capitol

January 11, 2021: a Special Agent with the United States Capitol Police issued a Statement of Facts by telephone to U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

On January 6, 2021, your affiant, Special Agent [redacted], was on duty and performing my official duties as a Special Agent with the United States Capitol Police (“USCP”). Specifically, I am assigned to the Criminal Investigation Section, tasked with investigating criminal activity in and around the Capitol grounds.

As a Special Agent, I am authorized by law or by a Government agency to engage in or supervise the prevention, detention, investigation, or prosecution of a violation of Federal criminal laws. The U.S. Capitol is secured 24 hours a day by U.S. Capitol include permanent and temporary security barriers and posts manned by U.S. Capitol Police. Only authorized people with appropriate identification are allowed access inside the U.S. Capitol. On January 6, 2021, the exterior plaza of the U.S. Capitol was also closed to members of the public.

On January 6, 2021, a joint session of the United States Congress convened at the United States Capitol, which is located at First Street, SE, in Washington, D.C. During the joint session, elected members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate were meeting in separate chambers of the United States Capitol to certify the vote count of the Electoral College of the 2020 Presidential Election, which had taken place on November 3, 2020. The joint session began at approximately 1:00 p.m. Vice President Mike Pence was present and presiding in the Senate Chamber.

With the joint session underway and with Vice President Mike Pence presiding, a large crowd gathered outside the U.S. Capitol. Temporary and permanent barricades surround the exterior of the U.S. Capitol building, and the proceedings underway inside.

At approximately 2:00 p.m., certain individuals in the crowd forced their way through, up, and over the barricades and officers of the U.S. Capitol Police, and the crowd advanced to the exterior façade of the building. At such time, the joint session was still underway and the exterior doors and windows of the U.S. Capitol were locked or otherwise secured.

Members of the U.S. Capitol Police attempted to maintain order and keep the crowd from entering the Capitol; however, shortly after 2:00 p.m., individuals in the crowd forced entry into the U.S. Capitol, including by breaking windows. Shortly thereafter, at approximately 2:20 p.m., members of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate, including the President of the Senate, Vice President Mike Pence, were instructed to — and did — evacuate the chambers. Accordingly, the joint session of the United States Congress was effectively suspended until shortly after 8:00 p.m. Vice President Pence remained in the United States Capitol from the time he was evacuated from the Senate Chamber until the sessions resumed.

At approximately 2:15 p.m., Capitol Police Officer Fluke, was actively holding a Civil Disturbance Unite (“CDU”) line with other officers with the United States Capitol Police on the outside of the Rotunda Door in the East side on First Street, Southeast. Your affiant has spoken to Officer Fluke about this incident and has also reviewed photos and reports of this incident described herein.

While holding back hundreds of suspects from reaching the door using CDU shields, Officer Fluke looked to the north of the Rotunda steps landing and observed an individual, later identified as Hunter Ehmke (hereinafter “Ehmke”), wearing a dark grey jacket and dark colored pants, standing on a ledge approximately 3 feet off the ground. Officer Fluke, who is familiar with the U.S. Capitol Building from his employment with the Capitol Police, knew that the ledge had access to a multi-pane window over 6 foot in height that leads to interior office of the building.

Officer Fluke observed Ehmke pointing towards the window, followed by looking at the crowd to his south and waving his hand as if to summon others over to his position. Ehmke repeated the series of gestures again. Officer Fluke shouted out, “They’re going to break the window” during this time in hopes to bring attention from fellow officers. Officer Fluke looked east back to focus back on the crowd pushing on the shields and gave orders for the growing crowd to get back.

Officer Fluke turned to look to north again and observed Ehmke with a balled fist, pulling his arm back and twisting his upper body. Ehmke then swung forward striking a pane of the window about shoulder level of Ehmke. Officer Fluke began to run toward Ehmke while continuing to hold his shield in both hands.

As Officer Fluke reached Ehmke, he shouted, “Get away from the window” and pushed the shield forward striking Ehmke in the lower torso and upper leg on Ehmke’s left side in an attempt to push Ehmke away from the window. This disoriented Ehmke, but he remained standing on the ledge.

While using the CDU shield again, Officer Fluke lost grip of the shield and fell to the ground that was covered in shards of glass. While Ehmke lay face-down on the ground, two other officers with the U.S. Capitol Police pulled Ehmke’s arms behind his back and detained him with handcuffs. Officer Fluke stood up and gave orders to the crowd to stay back and set a perimeter.

Officers moved north on the landing to set up a perimeter with CDU shields between a crowd of approximately ten individuals in the immediate area and the two officers, Officer Fluke, and Ehmke. This small perimeter line of officers also blocked possible attempts of breaching the now visibly broken window which, to Officer Fluke’s knowledge, did not show signs of breakage prior to Emhke striking the window. Ehmke was assisted onto his feet.

USCP Officer Mooney obtained Ehmke’s California driver’s license and positively identified him as HUNTER ALLEN EHMKE. You [sic] has spoked to Officer Mooney who reported that Emhke also verbally identified himself. Officer Fluke asked Ehmke if he was injured, and Ehmkle’s denied any injures and there were no injuries visible.

Officer Fluke and Mooney attempted multiple times to go over the radio to advise their situation and seek further instructions. These attempts could not be clearly heard of unable to be broadcasted due to the many other calls of service by USCP officers. As the officers discussed an action plan, the disturbance caused individuals of the crowd facing the Rotunda doors to divert their attention towards the approximately 10 officers in the northwest corner of the landing. Individuals in the throng began to show aggression by pointing fingers and shouting obscenities.

One unidentified individual threatened Officer Fluke and the other officers, stating “you’re not leaving with him”, while pointing in the direction of Officer Fluke and Ehmke. Due to the growing aggression of the large crows that far outnumbered the officers and the exigent circumstances at the time, officers made the decision to allow Ehmke depart under his own power. Officers took photos of Ehmke and the damaged window. Officers advised Ehmke that his actions were criminal and that they would seek a warrant for his arrest. Ehmke was told to immediately leave the Capitol grounds. Officers maintained custody of Ehmke’s driver’s license upon his release.

Based on the foregoing, your affiant submits that there is probably cause to believe that HUNTER EHMKE violated 18 U.S.C. § 1361, which makes it a crime to damage or destroy government property. The window of the United States Capitol that EHMKE broke is property of the United States government. The Architect of the Capitol has estimated that the cost to replace the broken window is $2,821.

Your affiant also submits that there is probably cause to believe that HUNTER EHMKE violated 18 U.S.C. § 1521(c)(2), which makes it a crime to obstruct, influence, or impede any official proceeding, or to attempt to do so.

Your affiant further submits there is also probably cause to believe that HUNTER EHMKE violated 40 U.S.C. §§ 5104(e)(2)(D) and (G), which makes it a crime to willfully and knowingly (D) engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress, or the orderly conduct in that building of a hearing before, or any deliberations of, a committee of Congress or either House of Congress; and (G) parade, demonstrate, or picket in any pf the Capitol Building.

January 14, 2021: CBS 9 Los Angeles posted “Glendora Man Hunter Ehmke Arrested for Shattering Window During Capitol Riot”

A 20-year-old Glendora man has been arrested for breaking a window during the storming of the Capitol building last week.

Hunter Allen Ehmke was taken into custody by Glendora police on Wednesday night. He was transferred into federal custody Thursday morning, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department inmate information page. He is due to appear in a federal courtroom Thursday afternoon.

Ehmke is charged with one count of each of damaging or destroying government property, obstruction of an official proceeding and violent entry and disorderly conduct on capitol grounds, per a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

On Jan. 6, as the rioters were attempting to breach the Capitol, Ehmke shattered a window that leads into an office inside the building, the federal complaint reads.

He was detained at the scene by Capitol police. However, as the violence escalated, the two officers who detained him were threatened by a large crowd who vastly outnumbered them, and were forced to let him go.

“As the officers discussed an action plan, the disturbance caused individuals of the crowd facing the Rotunda doors to divert their attention towards the approximately 10 officers in the northwest corner of the landing,” the complaint reads. “Individuals in the throng began to show aggression by pointing fingers and shouting obscenities. One unidentified individual threatened Officer Fluke and the other officers, stating ‘you’re not leaving with him’, while pointing in the direction of Officer Fluke and Ehmke.

Due to the growing aggression of the crowd that far outnumbered the officers and the exigent circumstances at the time, officers made the decision to allow Ehmke depart under his own power.”

The officers seized Ehmke’s California license and also took photos of him and the damaged window.

“Officers advised Ehmke that his actions were criminal and that they would seek a warrant for his arrest,” the complaint reads.

According to CBS News, federal authorities are investigating more than 170 people in the Capitol assault. At least 32 have been charged. Among them is former USC swimmer and two-time Olympic gold medalist Klete Keller, who was reportedly caught on video inside the Capitol Rotunda.

Pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol while the House and Senate was meeting to certify the Electoral College results. The rioters entered the House and Senate chambers and broke into several offices. One of the rioters, a woman, a woman from San Diego, was shot and killed by Capitol police, and two others died of medical emergencies

January 14, 2021: San Gabriel Valley Tribune posted: “Man accused of storming the U.S. Capitol in Jan. 6 riot arrested in Glendora”. It was written by Josh Cain and Ruby Gonzales.

A 20-year old Glendora resident was accused in federal court Thursday of taking part in the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol Building by thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump.

FBI agents arrested Hunter Allen Emhke just before 8 p.m. on Wednesday, while he was eating dinner with his family at his grandfather’s house. By around 4 p.m., Thursday, Ehmke appeared by video in federal court in downtown Los Angeles.

In court documents, a Capitol police special agent said police officers fighting with rioters near the entrance of the Capitol Rotunda during the Jan. 6 attack witnessed Ehmke attempting to break a window with his fist.

One of the officers briefly took Ehmke into custody, but a surging and swearing crowd forced the officers to release him, according to the agent’s statement.

The agent wrote that the crowd pointed fingers and shouted obscenities at the officers, with someone in the crowd shouting, “You’re not leaving with him.”

Ehmke’s arrest was one of dozens the FBI made around the country following the riot, which left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer. Among those taken into custody include local government officials, police officers, firefighters, teachers and business owners. The Department of Justice said many of those rioters descended on the seat of the legislative branch of the U.S. government to stop a mostly ceremonial vote confirming state-by-state results in the 2020 presidential election won by former Vice President Joe Biden.

Tens of thousands of people attended Trump’s rally the same day and watched others march on the Capitol. At least on Los Angeles Police Department employee attended the rally. A deputy with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department may have taken part on the insurrection, according to Sheriff Alex Villanueva.

Ehmke’s appearance Thursday by television monitor occurred in a federal courtroom downtown made sparse by the COVID-19 pandemic. Except for a federal bailiff and several plastic barriers, the room was empty. On the monitor were the judge, multiple U.S. attorneys, a defense attorney, the clerk and Ehmke in a cell.

The judge granted Ehmke’s release after his parents and grandfather signed a bail agreement or $45,000 — they’ll have to pay if he doesn’t show up for his arraignment. In the meantime Ehmke was ordered to wear an ankle monitor and to submit to a search of his home for weapons.

“Yes, your honor,” said Ehmke — with floppy brown hair and wearing a black shirt — to the judge asking him if he understood the terms of his release.

By around 4:30 p.m., Ehmke’s parents had not signed their bail agreement, threatening his ability to leave federal prison that night. His attorney, Adam Olin, said during the hearing he was getting a call from the parents.

“Perhaps they’re lost,” Olin said.

Ehmke has not been charged yet. He’ll face arraignment in Washington, D.C. on Jan 21, the day after Biden’s inauguration.

U.S. prosecutors did not say in court Thursday why they believe Ehmke was at the rally of present for the Capitol attack.

Capitol police officers first arrested Ehmke at around 2:15 p.m. on Jan. 6, according to the agent’s statement.

While holding off the crowd, an officer said he saw Ehmke in a dark gray jacket and dark-colored pants standing on a ledge. The officer told the agent that he knew the window led to some Capitol offices.

The offer said he saw Ehmke pointing toward the window, then looking at the crowd and waving his hand repeatedly as if to summon others over to his position. The officer shouted, “They’re going to break the window.”

That’s when the officer saw Ehmke hit the window with his fist. He ran over and pushed Ehmke with his riot shield. The officer fell and other officers placed handcuffs on Ehmke.

As a group of officers surrounded Ehmke, they in turn were surrounded by a large group of rioters, who demand the officers release Ehmke. Being outnumbered, they did, but took photos of Ehmke and seized his driver’s license.

Ehmke does not have a criminal record in L.A. County, according to court records.

Ehmke’s grandfather is former Glendora councilman Bob Kuhn, who served on the counsel in the early 90’s He also served for years on the Three Valleys water board.

On Thursday, after Ehmke’s bail hearing, Kuhn confirmed that a group of law enforcement authorities — including six FBI agents and two Glendora police officers — arrived at his house to take his grandson into custody.

“We knew this day was coming, I just didn’t think it would happen during dinner,” Kuhn said. “I thought we’d get a letter telling him to report to court.”

Kuhn said Ehmke went to the Trump rally to be part of a peaceful protest. But his grandson later told him he got swept up in the moment as the rally-goers besieged the Capitol. He said his grandson told him he broke a window.

“He’s a very show person. But he’s a very friendly person. He loves to play games and stuff like that,” Kuhn said of his grandson. “Of course, every grandfather says that about his grandson.”

The Guy Who Made A “Kill List” To Murder FBI Agents

November 20, 2024: Office of Public Affairs U.S. Department of Justice posted: “Federal Jury Convicts Man of Conspiring to Murder FBI Employees”

Edward Kelley, 35, of Maryville, Tennessee was convicted following a three-day trail in the Eastern District of Tennessee of conspiracy to murder federal employees, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, and influencing a federal officers by threat.

The evidence presented at trial established that Kelley — while awaiting trial for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach — developed a plan to murder law enforcement, including FBI agents and employees. The proof showed that Kelley developed a “kill list” of FBI agents and others who participated in the investigation into his conduct on Jan. 6 and that Kelley distributed this list — along with videos and containing images of certain FBI employees identified on the list — to a co-conspirator as part of his “mission”.

A cooperating defendant, who previously pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy, testified that he and Kelley planned attacks on the Knoxville FBI Field Office using car bombs and incendiary devices appended to drones. He also testified that the conspirators strategized about assassinating FBI employees in their homes and public places such as movie theaters.

At trial, the United States introduced recordings of the defendant calling for the development of a “course of action” related to his plan. In one such recording, the defendant gave the instructions to, among other things, “start it,” “attack,” and “take out their office” in the event of his arrest. Kelley was recorded saying “Every hit has to hurt. Every hit has to hurt.”

Kelley is scheduled to be sentenced on May 7, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Casey T. Arrowood and Kyle J. Wilson for the Eastern District of Tennessee prosecuted the case, with assistance from Trial Attorney’s Jacob Warren, Tanya Senanayake, and David Smith of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable evidence was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

The Knoxville Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is composed of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies investigated the case. The investigation was led by the FBI and involved the assistance of FBI offices from across the country.

November 20, 2024: “Jan 6. rioter is convicted of plotting to murder FBI agents who investigated him” (NBC News)

A Donald Trump supporter who was among the first rioters to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been convicted of plotting to kill FBI agents who investigated him over his crimes at the Capitol.

Edward Kelley, who was convicted this month of assaulting law enforcement officers and other crimes during the Capitol attack, was found guilty on Wednesday on three additional charges: conspiracy to murder employees of the United States; solicitation to commit a crime of violence; and influencing or retaliating against federal officials by threat.

The murder plot trial, which started Monday, took place in Knoxville, Tennessee. NBC News affiliate WBIR in Knoxville reported that the jury convicted Kelley on all three counts after just an hour of deliberation. Kelley will be sentenced in the murder plot case on May 7, one month after he is set to be sentenced on his Capitol case, on April 7.

Kelley’s trial in Knoxville featured testimony from co-defendant Austin Carter, who pleaded guilty in November 2023. Carter told authorities that he and Kelley plotted “to murder employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation” in December 2022, months after Kelley’s arrest on Jan. 6 charges. Kelley provided a list of about 37 member of law enfacement who worked on his Jan. 6 case, prosecutors alleged.

Carter, according to WBIR, told jurors that Kelley thought the country was heading toward civil war and wanted to strike first, initially planning to attack the FBI Knoxville field office before deciding to target individual FBI employees who had worked on his Jan. 6 case.

Christopher Roddy, who worked with Kelley in security and tipped off the FBI, also testified during the trial, as did three FBI special agents who said they saw the list as a threat.

The Justice Department said that evidence presented in the trial showed that Kelley developed a “kill list” of FBI special agents and others who investigated his conduct and the he was recored talking about developing a “course of action” for their “mission,” giving instructions to “start it,” “attack” and “take out their office” if he was arrested again.

“Every hit has to hurt,” Kelley said in the recording, according to the DOJ. “Every hit has to hurt.”

Kelley, an anti-abortion activists, wore a sweatshirt reading TCAPP, standing for “The Church At Planned Parenthood,” when he became the fourth rioter to breach the U.S. Capitol. During his trial in Washington on the Jan. 6 charges, the government made the case that Kelley had ben armed with a weapon when he stormed the Capitol.

While prosecutors illustrated that Kelley was wearing a gun holster that could be concealed on the inside of his pants and showed what they believe to be the “printing” of a gun, they didn’t conclusively prove that allegation, and it was not central to their case.

During the Jan. 6 attack, prosecutors said Kelley’s wife messaged him to ask how things were going, writing that she didn’t believe the “fake news.” Kelley encouraged his wife to download Signal, the encrypted communications app, prosecutors said.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said that threats against members of the FBI were “reprehensible and dangerous” and would not be tolerated by the bureau.

“While awaiting trial for committing violent acts, Edward Kelley planned and conspired to attack our employees at work and at home for carrying out their duties,” Wray said in a statement. “The FBI will never tolerate violent threats against our workforce or any of our colleagues in law enforcement and will continue our work to ensure they are held accountable.”

Over 1,500 defendants have been arrested in connection with the Capitol attack, and federal prosecutors have secured the convictions of more than 1,100 Jan. 6 participants. As NBC News has reported, more than 70 rioters on the FBI’s Capitol Violence website have been identified to the bureau by online sleuths but not yet arrested.

The Justice Department is expected to focus on arresting the “most egregious” rioters before Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, 2025, when he’s expected to begin pardoning some undetermined portion of Jan. 6 rioters he’s called “warriors,” “unbelievable patriots,” political prisoners and “hostages.” The Trump-Vance transition team told NBC News that last week the pardons would be done on “a case-by-case basis.”

November 20, 2024: “Convicted Jan. 6 rioter now found guilty of plotting to kill FBI agents” (ABC News)

A convicted Jan. 6 rioter has now been found guilty of plotting to murder FBI agents who were investigating the Capitol insurrection.

Edward Kelley, 35, was convicted Wednesday in the federal case against him in Knoxville, Tennessee, according to the Department of Justice.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 7, and could face a sentence of up to life in prison.

Kelley made a “kill list” of FBI agents who were investigating the Jan. 6 riot, the Department of Justice said in a press release following the conviction.

Prosecutors said he plotted to attack the Knoxville FBI office with “car bombs and incendiary devices appended to drones,” and to assassinate FBI agents “in their homes and in public places like movie theaters.”

The safety of our men and women in law enforcement is of paramount concern,” U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III said Wednesday. “There is simply no room in society for those who would engage in this kind of reprehensible conduct and threaten to assassinate the FBI agents and others who are honorably service to uphold the law, and this office will pursue all such threats against civil servants working for the public good.”

Earlier this month, Kelley was convicted on multiple counts, including assaulting law enforcement, at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., said Kelley was identified in photos and videos from the insurrection, and was seen in an “altercation” with a United States Capitol police officer “where he and two other men throw the officer to the ground.”

Kelley was seen in the footage pushing against a metal barricade guarded by police to access the Capitol building. He then used a piece of wood to smash a window, then entered the building through the window, prosecutors said.

While inside the Capitol, Kelley confronted U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, and was also spotted in the Senate Gallery, according to prosecutors.

He is expected to be sentenced in Washington, D.C., federal court on April 7.

November 21, 2024: “Jan 6. Capitol rioter from Tennessee convicted of creating “kill list” in plot to murder FBI agents who investigated him” (CBS News)

A Tennessee man who was arrested for his involvement in the Jan 6., 2021 U.S. Capitol riot was convicted Wednesday of planning to kill federal investigators.

Edward Kelley, 35, was found guilty in Knoxville of conspiracy to murder federal employees, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, and influencing a federal official by threat, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release.

Kelly, of Maryville, was one of hundreds of rioters arrested on charges of illegally entering the U.S. Capitol. While awaiting trial, Kelley developed a plan to kill law enforcement, including FBI agents, prosecutors said. He faces up to life in prison at sentencing in May.

Kelley developed a “kill list” of FBI agents and others who participated in the investigation, according to prosecutors. He distributed the list, along with videos containing images of FBI employees, to another person as part of his “mission”. Court records show that a witness provided the list of 37 names to a police department in Tennessee.

A cooperating defendant who has pleaded guilty in the conspiracy testified that he and Kelley planned attacks on the FBI’s Knoxville office using car bombs and incendiary devices attached to drones. The strategized about assassinating FBI employees in their homes and public places such as movie theaters, prosecutors said.

Kelley was recorded saying “every hit has to hurt,” according to evidence presented at trial.

The conviction comes as waves of U.S. Capitol riot defendants are citing Donald Trump’s election in requests to delay their criminal prosecutions because of his public pledge to pardon some of the people convicted of crimes on Jan. 6. 2021.

In court filings, reviewed by CBS News, defense attorneys asked federal judges in Washington D.C. to postpone proceedings in some of the Jan. 6 cases until 2025 when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

The filings complicate the Justice Department’s ability to conclude its prosecutions — hundreds of which remain active — before the changeover in power.

November 21, 2024: “Jan. 6 defendant is convicted of conspiring to kill FBI agents investigating Capitol attack” (CNN US)

A Tennessee man found guilty of assaulting a police officer during the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack was convicted in a separate case on Wednesday for conspiring to murder FBI agents involved in the investigation into his role in the assault on the Capitol, according to the Justice Department.

Edward Kelley, 35, was found guilty in US District Court in Tennessee of conspiracy to murder federal employees, solicitation of violent crime and threatening a federal official, the department said in a press release.

Kelley created a “kill list” targeting 37 agents and others involved in the investigation, which he shared with a co-conspirator, Austin Carter, along with videos identifying the agents, according to an affidavit. Carter pleaded guilty in connected with the plot in November 2023.

A cooperating defendant testified about plans to attack the local FBI office in Knoxville, Tennessee — about 180 miles east of Nashville — using car bombs and drones, the press release said. The witness also described discussions about assassinating FBI agents both at home and in public places like movie theaters.

During the trial, prosecutors presented recordings of Kelley instructing his co-conspirators on a “course of action” for the assassination plot, the press release said. In one recording, he urged them to “start it,” “attack,” and “take out their office” if he was arrested.

“If I’m extradited to DC or you don’t hear about my status within 24 or 48 hours… if they are coming to arrest me again, start it,” Kelley said in a recorded call, according to the earlier affidavit. “You guys are taking them out at their office. What you and [Carter] need to do is recruit as many as you can … and you’re going to attack their office.”

“Every hit has to hurt. Every hit has to hurt,” Kelley stated.

Kelley faces a possible life term in prison at sentencing scheduled for May 7.

In May 2022, Kelley faced charges for assaulting a police officer during the Capitol riot.

In November, Kelley was convicted of three felonies and eight misdemeanors for his role in the Capitol breach. Evidence showed him assaulting law enforcement, breaking a Capitol window and entering the building during the riot. Kelley is set to be sentenced on those charges on April 7.

More than 1,561 individuals have been charged in connection with the Capitol breach since that day.

February 26, 2021: “Revealed: Meet the Trump Fanatic Who Used A Stun Gun On A Cop At the Capitol Insurrection” (HuffPost) It was written by Ryan J. Reilly and Jesselyn Cook.

The man in the red “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” hat seemed to think he was untouchable. He joined the mob as they yelled “HEAVE! HO!” and tried to force his way through a police line into the capitol building. Once inside, he used a pole to ram against a window, trying to shatter it and bring more people into the Capitol.

In the most disturbing footage of all, he was caught on camera appearing to shock D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Mike Fanone with a stun gun. As rioters push Fanone down the stairs and away from other cops, video shows the man in the red cap pressing a small black device against the officer’s neck. Fanone instantly drops to the ground, swallowed by the mob.

The story of Fanone’s battle with Donald Trump supporters trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election went viral soon after their Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Fanone self-deployed to the Capitol that day, hoping to aid his fellow officers in a fight he’d later describe as “some medieval shit.” Fanone recalled a many yelling to other rioters to kill him with his own gun.

“I have kids!” Fanone screamed, wondering if he’d ever see his four daughters again. He was beaten. He described being hit in the neck with a stun gun. he suffered a mild heart attack.

His assailant in the red MAGA hat, who has been at large since the insurrection, is 38-year-old Daniel Joseph Rodriguez from Fontana, California, Huffpost can confirm.

Rodriguez, who goes by “Danny” and “DJ,” is well known among Trump supporters in the Los Angeles area as a superfan of the former president. Multiple news outlets have featured him in their coverage of the local pro-Trump movement in recent years, in articles that included his name and photo. He regularly attended the weekly Trump rallies in Beverly Hills las year. He was recognizable there by his dark-rimmed glasses and the many distinctive pins on his hat, which has a big GOP elephant symbol on the brim.

Videos from the attack on the Capitol, as highlighted by the sleuthing group Deep State Dogs and anti-fascist activists, show a man who’s identical to Rodriguez, wearing the same glasses, hat, pins and sticker. In the clip of him trying to bust out the window, he yells, “Get in here!” Another video shows him picking up furniture and distributing it to fellow rioters, seemingly to use as battering tools.

Two separate anti-fascist activists — as well as a third witness who supported Trump and called himself a former friend of Rodriguez — reviewed footage of the man at the Capitol and told HuffPost they recognize Rodriguez from the California rallies.

The FBI received tips about Rodriguez last month, including one from a man he assaulted on video at a Los Angeles-area rally. But it wasn’t until hours after a HuffPost inquiry to the bureau for this story that the tipster heard from an FBI special agent with questions specifically about a man named “Danny Rodriguez.”

The lack of public law enforcement action against Rodriguez thus far illustrates the tensions that can arise when FBI relies on online sleuths to help them identify the hundreds of suspects in the unprecedented investigation into the Capitol attacks. The FBI wants photos of Capitol insurrectionists to go viral, and has published images of more than 200 suspects. But what happens when online sleuthing communities identify suspect and then see weeks go by without any signs of action?

The extent of the sprawling FBI investigation is difficult to comprehend. There are hundreds of suspects, thousands of hours of video, hundreds of thousands of tips, and millions of pieces of evidence. It’s a logistical nightmare, one the FBI’s bureaucracy isn’t necessarily designed to keep organized.

The cases the feds continue to churn out are a mixed bag. Some reveal serious, well-organized criminal conspiracies, while others are easy misdemeanor cases against suspects who openly bragged about their criminal activity on social media. Some tipsters who called the FBI in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack didn’t hear back from the bureau until February…

…In 2018, Rodriguez was named, photographed and quoted in a local news story about anti-Trump protests during the then-president’s brief visit to Los Angeles…

…Information on Rodriguez’s Facebook page — which features pro-Trump, anti-Muslim, and right-wing memes, as well as posting about the “deep state” and a 2017 YouTube video about how “Pedophiles rule the World” — matches the birth month and year in public records for Rodriguez, as well as locations where he has resided. His Facebook profile also lists a high school, North Canyon High School in Phoenix; the school’s 2022 yearbook includes his name…

…The car linked to Rodriguez, which he was often seen driving at the California rallies, was sold last month. It featured “1776” and “III%” stickers, the latter of which the government has labeled a “radical militia group” and “anti-government patriot movement.” The groups name refers to the myth that only 3% of Americans took up arms against the British government during the Revolution…

June 21, 2023: United States Attorney’s Office District of Columbia posted: “California Man Sentenced to Prison for Felony Charges, Including Conspiracy and Assaulting Police Officer During Capitol Breach.”

Defendant Electroshocked Metropolitan Police Department Officer

A California man, who used an electroshock device on a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced today for the assault and other charges. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

Daniel Joseph “DJ” Rodriguez, 40, of Fontana, California, was sentenced to 151 months in prison for conspiracy obstruction of an official proceeding, obstruction of justice, and assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon. In addition to the prison terms, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered 36 months of supervised release, restitution of $2,000 to the Architect of the Capitol, and $96,927 to the Metropolitan Police Department for damages to the victim.

According to court documents, in the fall of 2020, Rodriguez was the administrator of a Telegram group chat titled PATRIOTS45MAGA Gang. The group, initially created to bring together supporters of former President Trump in the lead-up to the 2020 Presidential election, because a forum for Rodriguez’s plans for violence against the seat of the federal government. In the group, Rodriguez and his co-conspirator, defendant Edward Badalian, wrote hundreds of messages about war and revolution, about traitors and tyrants.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Rodriguez and his group traveled from California to Washington, D.C., to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall. After the rally, Rodriguez made his way to the Ellipse to the Capitol building, illegally traversing the west front of the Capitol grounds and entering the lower west terrace tunnel at approximately 2:46 p.m. A short while later, court documents state that video footage taken from the incident depicts Rodriguez at the first set of double doors of the Capitol building facing the police line and deploying a fire extinguisher at the line of officers present.

Shortly afterward, court documents say that Rodriguez is seen using a long wooden pole and shoving it toward officers in the line. Rodriguez then participated in an unsuccessful coordinated shove against law enforcement officers in the police line in an attempt to gain access to the building.

At approximately 2:52 p.m., Rodriguez is seen waving his arms at the rioters outside the tunnel, encouraging them to push forward toward the police line. It is then, court records say, that fellow rioter Kyle Young tapped Rodriguez on the shoulder and provided him with a small, black, rectangular electroshock weapon. Rodriguez is then observed activating the weapon and lunging at officers in the police line. Rodriguez is then seen leaving the tunnel only to return a short while later.

After Rodriguez returned to the lower west terrace tunnel, court documents state that video footage taken from the scene of the incident depicts one rioter, Albuquerque Head, wrapping his arm around the neck of an MPD officer and dragging the officer out on the steps of the lower west terrace. Rodriguez is then seen making his way toward the officer and, with the electroshock weapon in hand, plunging it into the officer’s neck. As the officer attempted to escape, court records state that Rodriguez struck again, placing the electroshock weapon on the back of the officer’s neck.

Following the assault on the officer, Rodriguez then entered the Capitol building and continued to vandalize offices, ransack rooms, break windows, and steal other items. Before, during, and after the Capitol breach, Rodriguez sent multiple images and text messages to members of the Telegram group, documenting his assault on the Capitol and the MPD officers, as well as his desire to commit violence and destruction.

This case was prosecuted by The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s National Security Division. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

This case was investigated with the FBI’s Los Angeles and Washington Field Offices, with valuable assistance from the Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Capitol Police.

In the 29 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,000 individuals have been arrested in nearly 50 states for crimes retailed to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including nearly 350 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.

June 21, 2023: “Jan. 6 rioter who used a stun gun on Office Michael Fanone sentenced to prison” (NPR)

The California man who used a stun gun on Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has been sentenced to 12.5 years in prison, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Daniel Joseph “DJ” Rodriguez, 40, of Fontana, Calif, pled guilty to several charges in February. He was officially sentenced to “conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding, obstruction of justice, and assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon,” the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia said in a statement.

In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered another 36 months of supervised release and for Rodriguez to pay $2,000 in restitution to the Architect of the Capitol and $96,927 to the Metropolitan Police Department for damages to Fanone.

In the fall of 2020, Rodriguez was part of a group that started a Telegram chat called PATRIOTS45MAGA Gang, which brought together supporters of then-President Trump. It “became a forum for Rodriguez’s plans for violence against the seat of the federal government,” according to court documents.

Rodriguez and other members of the group traveled from California to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, for a “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall. He entered the Capitol and, according to court documents, “video footage taken from the incident depicts Rodriguez at the first set of double doors of the Capitol building facing the police line and deploying a fire extinguisher at the line of officers present.”

He was then seen using a long wooden pole and shoving it toward officers in the line, the documents said.

“After Rodriguez returned to the lower west terrace tunnel, court documents state that the video footage taken form the scene of the incident depicts one rioter, Albuquerque Head, wrapping his arm around the neck of an MPD officer and draging the officer out on to the steps of the lower west terrace,” the statement said. “Rodriguez is then seen making his way toward the officer and, with the electroshock weapon in hand, plunging it into the officer’s neck. As the officer attempted to escape, court records state that Rodriguez struck again, placing the electroshock weapon on the back of the officer’s neck.”

That officer was later identified as Fanone. He served on the Metropolitan Police Department for nearly two decades before resigning nearly a year after the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Fanone has spoken publicly about what he experienced that day. He was tased repeatedly while the attacking mob threatened to shoot him with his own gun, before pulled to safety. Doctors later told him he suffered a mild heart attack from this experience, he’s said.

After attacking Fanone, Rodriguez entered the Capitol, vandalizing officers, ransacking rooms, breaking windows and stealing items, prosecutors said. During all of this, he continued to update other members of his Telegram group of his assault on Fanone and the other law enforcement officers on the scene that day.

In the 29 months since the Jan. 6 riot, more than 1,000 people have been arrested in nearly 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol; nearly 350 people have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation is ongoing.

Capitol Rioter Starts Militia From Inside Prison

January 15, 2021: The United States District Court For The District of Columbia posted “United States Of America v. Edward Jacob Lang defendent

AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AND ARREST WARRANT

I [redacted], Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), being duly sworn, deposes and states under penalty of perjury that the following is true to the best of my information, knowledge and belief.

PURPOSE OF AFFIDAVIT

This Affidavit is submitted in support of a Criminal Complaint charging EDWARD JACOB LANG (“LANG”) with violations of 18 U.S.C. 111(b), 231(a)(3), 1752(a) and 40 U.S.C. 5104(e)(2). Specifically, on or about January 6, 2021, LANG traveled to Washington D.C., and knowingly and willfully joined a crowd of individuals who forcibly entered the grounds of the United States Capitol and impeded, disrupted, and disturbed the orderly conduct of business by the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.

AGENT BACKGROUND

I was previously assigned to the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, where I was responsible for investigating public corruption, fraud against the government, violent crime, narcotics offenses, and a host of other violations of federal law. Prior to my employment with the FBI, I was a law enforcement officer in the State of Florida for four years, where I investigated crimes relating to fraud, narcotics, violent crimes, and a variety of other criminal acts.

I am one of the agents assigned to an ongoing investigation by the FBI, United States Capitol Police (“USCP”), Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”), and other the United States Capitol grounds. Since I became involved in this investigation on January 6, 2021, I have conducted and reviewed relevant documents, among other things.

The facts in this affidavit come from my review of the evidence, my personal observations, my training and experience, and information obtained from other agents and witnesses. Except as explicit set forth below, I have not distinguished in this affidavit between facts of which I have personal knowledge and facts of which I have hearsay knowledge. This affidavit is intended to show simply that there is sufficient probably cause for the requested arrest warrant and does not set forth all of my knowledge about this matter.

BACKGROUND

The United States Capitol is secured 24 hours a day by security barriers and USCP occupy various posts throughout the grounds. Restrictions around the United States Capitol include permanent and temporary security barriers and posts manned by USCP. USCP officers wore uniforms that with clearly marked police patches, badges, and other law enforcement equipment. Only authorized people with appropriate identification are allowed access inside the United States Capitol. On January 6, 2021, the exterior plaza of the United State Capitol was closed to the members of the public.

As the proceedings continued in both the House and the Senate, and with Vice President Pence present and presiding over the Senate, a large crowd gathered outside the United States Capitol. As noted above, temporary and permanent barricades were in place around the exterior of the United States building and USCP were present, attempting to keep the crowd away from the Capitol building and the proceedings underway inside. As the certification proceedings were underway, the exterior doors and windows of the Capitol were locked or otherwise secured.

At approximately 2:00 p.m., certain individuals in the crowd forced they way through, up, and over the barricades, past officers of the USCP, and the crowd advanced to the exterior façade of the building. The crowd was not lawfully authorized to enter or remain in the building and, prior to entering the building, no members of the crowd submitted to security screenings or weapons checks by the USCP or other authorized security officials.

A short time later, at approximately 2:20 p.m., members of the United States House of Representative, and United States Senate, including the President of the Senate, Vice President Pence, were instructed to — and did — evacuate the chambers.

As such, all proceedings of the United States Congress, including the joint session, was effectively suspended until shortly after 8:00 p.m. the same day. In light of the dangerous circumstances caused by the unlawful entry to the United States Capitol, including the danger posed by individuals who had entered the United States Capitol without any security screening or weapons check, Congressional proceedings could not resume until every unauthorized occupant had left the United States Capitol, and the building had been confirmed secured.

The proceedings resumed at approximately 8:00 pm after the building had been secured. Vice President Mike Pence remained in the United States Capitol from the time he was evacuated from the Senate Chamber until the sessions resumed.

After the Capitol was breached, USCP requested assistance from MPD and other law enforcement agencies in the area to protect the Capitol, keep more people from entering the Capitol, and expel the crowd that was inside the Captiol. Multiple MPD officers and other law enforcement officers came to assist.

During the news coverage of the aforementioned events, video footage which appeared to be captured on mobile devices of persons present on the scene depicted evidence of violations of local and federal law, including scores of individuals inside the United States Capitol building without authority to be there.

STATEMENT OF FACTS SUPPORTING PROBABLE CAUSE

Beginning on or about January 7, 2021, the investigative agencies began receiving tips from the public related to the civil unrest and breach of the United States Capitol and multiple identified LANG as being involved. The tips included photographs of LANG on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

At least one photograph, shown below, identified Instagram @realjakelang (the “Subject’s Instagram”) as the account used by LANG. The photograph appears to have been posted at some point during or after the attack on the Capitol, and depicts LANG wearing a black jacket with numerous silver pillars and a ribbed pattern on the shoulders, standing on the steps of the Capitol. LANG captioned the photograph, is “1776 has commenced.”

On January 9, 2021, the FBI interviewed witness 1 (“W1”) who identified LANG as a person involved in the riot at the Capitol. W1 met LANG when they were children and has maintained a social media connection with him in excess of ten years. W1 provided photographs and video of LANG actively participating in the attack on the Capitol. W1 identified www.facebook.com/JAKExLANG as the account belonging to LANG, which was consistent with the Facebook account attributed to LANG by investigators.

W1 also provided April 7th as a potential birth month and day for LANG and believed LANG was born in either 1995 or 1996. Law enforcement agents retrieved a driver’s license photograph of LANG, a resident of New York, DOB [redacted] and asked if W1 if IT recognized the person in that photograph. W1 confirmed that the person in the photograph was LANG.

W1 also provided the below photograph of LANG, which was posted to LANG’s Facebook page, and an accompanying video showing him and a large crowd at the lower west terrace door of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Additional photographs provided by W1 from LANG’s Facebook page included more references to LANG’s participation in the attack on the Capitol …

Based on my training and experience, I understand that Instagram account holders can post photographs, videos and temporary stories, among other things. Photographs and videos posted to a user’s account remain displayed indefinitely, unless intentionally deleted by the user of Instagram, while stories automatically vanish after 24 hours.

Between on or around January 6, 2021 and the present, the Subject’s Instagram posted several stories, videos, and pictures depicting the riot that occurred at the Capitol. Some of the depictions are described below in greater detail.

On or about January 7, 2021, LANG posted a photograph on the Subject’s Instagram, which tagged the location as “Capitol Hill” and showed LANG smiling and wearing a blue and white floral-pattered short, which matches the shirt in the still shot from the video referenced above. The caption read: “Pepper spray really does wonders for your complexion #1776.” The photograph, shown below, appeared to be taken on the Capitol grounds and the images in he background are consistent with known images of the Capitol breach.

On or about January 8, 2021, LANG posted a video on the Subject’s Instagram which appeared to be a compilation of multiple videos with the caption “GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH.” The video depicted the following two moments:

a. The video initially showed LANG in a crowd saying “I ain’t done yet.” LANG wore a black leather jacket with a blue floral-patterned shirt underneath, consistent with the ones depicted and pictured in paragraphs 12, 15, and 19.

b. As the video progressed, another video including in the compilation showed an individual consistent with LANG with a green gas mask on and the same black and blue floral-patterned shirt underneath. LANG appears to film himself directly in front of law enforcement personnel and to be pointing at them.

Screenshots of the stories posted to the Subject’s Instagram were captured and provided to the FBI by witnesses. One of the screenshots, shown below, depicted an entrance to the Capitol guarded by law enforcement officers, who were violently attacked by rioters attempting to gain entry into the Capitol. The story had the words “THIS IS ME” and an icon pointed at the front crowd.

Based on my review of documents, videos, photographs and my conversations with other law enforcement agents, I know the entrance depicted in the photograph above is the lower west terrace door of the Capitol. Several open-source videos and photographs captured the events that transpired at the lower west terrace door. The images show LANG violently engaging with law enforcement officers and they attempted to keep rioters out of the Capitol. Some of the videos and photos reviewed consisted of the following:

a. A recording of the video story (that the screenshot depicted above apparently came from) was posted on Twitter. In the video recording, you can see an individual raising a riot shield over his head as the crowd sheers and then violently slam the shield down on the ground repeatedly near where the officers are visibly lined up. That individual in the black jacket, MPD helmet, and gas mask consistent with LANG in the photos above and is directly below the “This is me” sign added to the video.

b. Multiple high resolution videos uploaded to Getty images also capture the same event and surrounding activity from a different angle. Videos posted to the Getty images database online. shows what appears to be LANG in a large crowd holding a protective shield bearing resemblance to the ones used by law enforcement during the Capitol breach. He raised the shield above his head and thrusted it in the direction of the law enforcement officers.

c. Video posted to Getty images database online shows what appears to be LANG in a crowd, holding a protective shield as other members of the crowd swing bats and batons at officers, as well as throw projectiles at them. LANG went on to retrieve a riot helmet with the letters “MPDC” from the ground and wear it for the duration of the video. The helmet was consistent with the equipment used by officers of MPD protecting the Capitol, for which the abbreviation “MPDC” means Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia.

d. Video posted to Getty images database online shows what appears to be LANG in the crows of the lower terrace door, wearing a black jacket and green gas mask, leaving his face exposed, which is consistent with LANG’s photographs above through from a significant distance.

e. Photographs posted to Reuters online picture database show what appears to be LANG carrying the protective shield and engaging with law enforcement.

f. Photographs on Pacific Press Agency similarly show an individual consistent with LANG near the arch as those around him strike at the officers with poles, along with later close up images of his face.

An open source of social media depictions from January 6, 2021, uncovered several videos and photographs at the Capitol during the breach and of LANG. Video posted to a Facebook account shows an individual consistent in appearance with LANG in the front of a crowd outside the lower west terrace for with a dark and red colored baseball bat.

(The individual has the same appearance, jacket, and gas mask from the earlier photos and is in the same position as the other videos and photos, including the video and photos, including the video labeled “This is Me” on his Facebook and Instagram accounts.

In the video, LANG swung, thrusted, and/or jabbed the bat a law enforcement officers multiple times. In doing so, LANG struck at least the shields the officers held in front of them. As the video progresses, others in the crowd assist in the attack, with some throwing items and one individual spraying the officers with a fire extinguisher. (This is in addition to the actions in the videos described above where various individuals near LANG repeatedly strike at law enforcement officers with weapons as LANG is in the front with the shield.)

An open-source search of social media depictions from January 6, 2021, also uncovered additional videos and photographs of LANG discussing his thoughts about what would follow the attack on the Capitol. In a video posted by a Twitter account holder, LANG had a conversation with an unidentified female (“UF”), which was streamed on Instagram. The following was an excerpt of the conversation posted online:

UF: “So, what do you think happens next?”

LANG: “Guns … That’s it. One word. The First Amendment didn’t work, we pulled out the Second. We’re all civilized people and we love going to work and praying to God on Sundays and having nice family barbeques … and that was every single person there. No one wants to take this and die for our rights, but dying for our rights is the only option that any person with a logical brain sees right now. This is it.”

On January 14, 2021, LANG posted a story to the Subject’s Instagram. Among other things, he stated: “I want to use this time to say thank you for all the people that 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. We are not going to let them take our Constitutional Liberties. Our God-given rights are safe within the hearts of patriots. So we won’t give up. You guys should not give up. Contact me if you want to be a part of the patriot movement.”

CONCLUSION

For the reasons set forth above, I submit there is probably cause to believe LANG violated:

18 U.S.C. § 111(b), which makes it a crime to forcibly assault or interfere with any person designated in section 1114 of this title 18 while engaged in or on account of the performance of official duties and uses a deadly or dangerous weapon (including a weapon intended to cause death or danger but that fails to do so by reason of a defective component). (Persons designated within section 1114 include any person assisting an officer or employee of the United States in the performance of their duties.)

18 U.S.C. § 231(a)(3), which makes it a crime to commit or attempt to commit any act to obstruct, impede, or interfere with any fireman or law enforcement officers lawfully engaged in the lawful performance of his official duties incident to and during the commission of a civil disorder which in any way or degree obstructs, delays or adversely affects commerce of the movement of any article or commodity in commerce or the conduct of performance of any federally protected function.

(“Civil disorder” means any public disturbance involving acts of violence by assemblages of three or more persons, which causes an immediate danger of or results in damage or injury to the property or person of any other individual. “Federally protected function” means any function, operation, or action carried out, under the United States or by an officer or employee thereof; and such term shall specifically include, but not be limited to, the collection and distribution o the United States mails. 18 U.S.C 18 U.S.C. §232(1).)

18 U.S.C. § l752(a), which makes it a crime to (1) knowingly enter or remain in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so; (2) knowingly, and with intent to impede, disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within such proximity to, any restricted building or grounds when, or so that, such conduct, in fact, impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions; (3) knowingly, and with the intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, obstruct or impede ingress or egress to or from any restricted building on the grounds; or (4) knowingly engage in any act of physical violence against any person or property in any restricted buildings or grounds; or attempts or conspires to do so.

For purposes of Section 1752 of Title 18, a restricted building includes a posted, cordoned off, or otherwise restricted area of a building or grounds where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting or any building on the grounds so restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance; and

40 U.S.C. § 5l04(e)(2), which makes it a crime for an individual or group of individuals to willfully and knowingly (D) utter loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress, or the overly conduct in that building of a hearing before, or any deliberations of, a committee of Congress or either House of Congress; (E) obstruct, or impede passage through or within, the Grounds or any of the Capitol Buildings; or (F) engage in an act of physical violence in the Grounds or any of the Capitol Buildings.

As such, I respectfully request that the court issue an arrest warrant for LANG. The statements above are true and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

August 6, 2021: United States Attorney’s Office District of Columbia posted: “LANG, Edward Jacob”

Case number: 1:21-cr-53

Location of Arrest: New York

Case Status: Charges: Civil Disorder, Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officer; Assaulting, Resisting or Impeding Certain Officers Using a Dangerous Weapon; Obstruction of an Official Proceeding; Aiding and Abetting; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Dangerous Weapon; Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building; Act of Physical Violence in the Capitol Grounds or Buildings

June 12, 2024: Edward “Jake” Lang, who has been in jail for nearly 40 months awaiting trial on multiple counts of assaulting law enforcement officers, civil disorder, and obstruction of an official proceeding during the January 6 Capitol riot, has taken to social media to organize a militia.

Lang, who is a well-known Internet personality and self-described “January 6 political prisoner,” was arrested 10 days after the riot and has pleaded not guilty to all 11 criminal counts. He has mainly been held in the nation’s capital, but March he was transferred to a detention center in Brooklyn, New York. He is scheduled to stand trial in September.

While imprisoned, Lang has taken to social media to organize like-minded supporters — most of whom promote conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and that Donald Trump won, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

In early June, Lang posted on X, formerly Twitter, a call to join a new “national constitutional militia” — North American Patriot and Liberty Militia, or NAPALM. The group’s mission statement reads: “We The People, to Uphold The Constitution: will Protect America from Any Enemy, Foreign or Domestic.” NAPALM says “Jesus Christ is our Commander in Chief” and calls itself “not a fringe/extremist group” but instead “we represent the People of the core of America.”

Since then, NAPALM has started 50 state-specific militia Telegram channels, a popular messaging app. According to a WIRED article, Lang claims the group’s Telegram chats have over 20,000 members. However, this number has been disputed by experts who have reviewed the channels, with some channels having fewer than 200 participants.

The group, chaired by Lang, features QAnon promoter Ann Vandersteel as vice chair, Couy Griffin, leader of the Cowboys for Trump and a former New Mexico county commissioner, and Stew Peters, whole the Anti-Defamation League describes as an “antisemitic conspiracy theorist.”

Regarding the militia’s origin of formation, Lang told WIRED: “There is a tyrannical wave that has hit America that we’ve never seen before. And so it’s time that people get organized in case they escalate to something that basically puts our very lives in danger.”

Amy Cooter, director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism (CTEC) out of Middlebury College, told Newsweek in an email: “We [CTEC] think that Napalm, like many militias, is claiming a larger membership base than they truly have. However, regardless of their real size, Napalm’s emergence is future confirmation that some Americans have not moved on from the fiction of a ‘stolen’ 2020 election and are exploring options to circumvent democratic processes should the upcoming Presidential election not go their way.”

NAPALM’s creation comes when many Republicans have not confirmed whether they will accept the 2024 presidential election results, regardless of who wins. President Joe Biden faces presumptive Republican nominee former President Donald Trump in a 2020 rematch.

In her email statement, Cooter added: “Most militias who identify as “constitutionalist’ typically try to follow the law and reject members with criminal convictions. Many of them were quite upset about January 6th and what it meant for the country. In this case, Napalm is one of several groups using ‘constitutionalist’ to falsely assert the legality of their actions (both past and future); the group’s name was similarly chosen to be appealing, titillating, even, to people who want to envision themselves as warrior-patriots willing to put their own safety on the line for what they believe to be the good of the country.”

Cooter warned: “Identifying which, if any, member of online communities will convert their feelings into action is incredibly difficult, but it’s important to be aware of the potential violence from groups like this while also not assigning them undue agency and power.”

Jonathan Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, told Newsweek in an email Wednesday afternoon: “this ‘militia’ much like other anti-government groups like Oath Keepers, twist the constitution in an attempt to suit their anti-democratic goals.

“However, it is crucial to make clear, this is barely a coherent group, and by all accounts Lang is massively overstating the following he has here. This is his latest effort to remain relevant before his trial, where he will almost certainly be found guilty.

In reference to the upcoming 2024 election, Lewis said that “as we saw the coalitional ‘stop the steal’ movement bring together this disparate network of extremists and average Americans under this banner against a common enemy. The threat is the network, not one singular group.”

Travis McAdam, senior research analyst on the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told Newsweek on Wednesday: “The militia’s [NAPALM] leaders are not people who engage our democratic processes for change. Instead, they prefer democracy at the end of a gun barrel.

In its bylaws, the organization cites the Second Amendment as granting it the power to assemble and the right to bear arms. It claims membership is open to all “lawful citizens” who are “committed to the defense of liberty.” NAPALM said this may require “regular training exercises to ensure members are proficient in the use of firearms, tactics, and other necessary skills for the defense of liberty.” The organizations emblem features what appears to be a bomb exploding in front of an American flag.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is a nonprofit known for his classification of hate groups and extremist organizations, among other legal advocacy avenues.

McAdam added: “NAPALM may be trying to fill the void at the national level by the decimation of groups like Oath Keepers. Additionally, many NAPALM leaders bring with them existing extremist connections, including with hard right media figures, white nationalists, and sovereign citizens. Unfortunately, this opens a wide net of potential recruits.

“We saw on Jan. 6 the vivid and horrific lengths antigovernment militias and other extremists will go in targeting our country’s democratic process. Given NAPALM’s leadership, it appears the militia is positioning itself to take up the mantle of the insurrection going forward. That should concerns us all.”

According to ProPublica reporting, Lang previously tried to organize a militia in the days following January 6. ProPublica obtained thousands of Lang’s messages, one of which said: “We need each person to go out and fight for new members of this Militia like our lives depend on it.”

Arrested on 1/16/21. Indicted 1/29/21

Initial appearance held 2/9/21 and he pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Status conference set for 9/15/21 at 11 am. Defendant remains committed.

November 19, 2024: Politico posted: Trump-appointed judge opposes ‘blanket pardons’ for Jan. 6 defendants” It was written by Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein.

A Trump-appointed judge on Tuesday said it would be “beyond frustrating and disappointing” if the incoming president grants sweeping clemency to most of the defendants charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols leveled his criticism against the prospect of “blanket pardons” or “anything close” during a hearing for a felony defendant facing eight assault charges as a result of his actions during the mob violence.

Nichols’ comments were a surprise from the typically restrained judge and came at the end of a hearing in which he and federal prosecutors grappled at length with the potential impact of Donald Trump’s election on ongoing Jan. 6 cases. He added that “anything close” to blanket clemency would be similarly frustrating.

Nichols’ comments come as Trump threatens to lay waste to the Justice Department’s four-year effort to prosecute the defendants charged with storming the Capitol in his name. Trump repeatedly said during the 2024 campaign that, if elected, he would pardon most Jan. 6 defendants, though he’s left his precise plans vague.

“I would say it will be a large portion of them,” Trump said during a CNN town hall last year.

Federal prosecutors, who have charged more than 1,500 people with crimes connected to the riot, can do little but guess how quickly and sweepingly he will act. And their uncertainty — whom will Trump pardon, when and for what crimes? — has snarled some of the most significant cases that have arising since Jan. 6 attack.

That uncertainty flared most dramatically Tuesday in the case of Jake Lang, who was set to go on trial next month on eight charges of assaulting police officers — including three related to his use of a metal bat.

Lang, a mercurial defendant who has represented himself for much of his case, has been held in pretrial detention for nearly four years, and prosecutors are eager to get the case in front of a jury. But Lang insists clemency from Trump or a reprieve from a Justice Department led by Attorney General-designate Matt Gaetz is a virtual certainty, and he asked Nichols to postpone the case deep into next year.

Nichols reluctantly agreed to Lang’s delay request, saying the decision was based not only on the possibility of a pardon but other complications with the timing of the trial that were tied to arguments made under seal.

Nichols is now the second judge to postpone a Jan. 6 trial based at least in part on the potential for Trump to issue clemency or his attorney general to dismiss charges. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras made a similar call last week. Nichols indicated Tuesday that he had spoken with Contreras and agreed with his broad concerns about hauling in a jury for a trial that could be erased in weeks.

Other federal judges in Washington D.C., have wrestled with the question as well and have largely agreed that proceedings in Jan. 6 cases — guilty pleas, sentencings and short trials — should continue. Judge Dabney Friedrich, another Trump appointee, maintained a Jan. 6 felony trial scheduled for Jan. 13, saying it would be “unimaginable” to rearrange court schedules based on speculation about pardons. And other judges have said it’s not their role to consider what a future executive branch might do.

Nichols, too, emphasized that he would not be postponing any sentencing hearings as a result of Trump’s election. Jury trials, he said, were a more complicated question.

Nichols spent about an hour Tuesday speculating with Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Rochlin about the “probabilities” and “possibilities” of Trump’s potential decisions to upend Jan. 6 cases — and how those hypotheticals should influence Lang’s case.

“We just don’t know what the future has in store,” Rochlin said, emphasizing the Justice Department’s blanket position to stay the course in all Jan. 6 cases and noting that any further actions by a Trump administration are “speculative” at best.

“There is value in letting the public see that evidence and make its own conclusion as to if there has been justice,” Rochlin said. “I think we should proceed under regular order … We are in a bit of an uncertain world.”

Prosecutors had urged Nichols to keep Lang’s trial on track of a Dec. 2 start. They agreed that they could not guarantee the case would ever reach sentencing given Trump’s public posture about Jan. 6 defendants — but they also said Nichols should sidestep the speculation.

“It is possible I could learn to flap my eyelids and fly to the moon,” Rochlin said. She similarly said that there might be a simultaneous tornado and hurricane outside the windowless courtroom — but that likelihood was slim.

Lang, arguing on his own behalf, issued a pointed rejoinder: “There is a tornado and a hurricane outside this building right now and his name is Donald Trump and its sweeping through the Department of Justice.”

Lang used the hearing to make fierce political arguments about Jan. 6 cases. He contended that the Justice Department’s drive to take his case to trial next month demonstrated a “bloodlust” for the Jan. 6 defendants. He argues that D.C. residents, stung by Trump’s election, would seek vengeance on him. And he repeatedly suggested the prosecutors preparing to put him in trial would likely be fired by Trump in just two months.

“I don’t think this is a very helpful line of argument,” Nichols interjected.

When Lang referred to the proceedings as a “Soviet show trial,” Nichols again bristled.

“There’s no Soviet show trial happening in this courtroom,” he said.

November 21, 2024: New York Post reported: “NY man who’s spent 4 years in jail on Capitol riot charges gets trial delay as he angles for Trump pardon”

A New York man who has spent nearly four years behind bars on federal charges tied to the Jan. 6. 2021 Capitol riot got his trial pushed back Tuesday after arguing President-elect Donald Trump could pardon him when he takes office.

Jake Lang, who is the longest serving Jan. 6 defendant awaiting trial after he allegedly swung a baseball bat at law enforcement outside the Capitol during the rampage, notched the legal win when a judge delayed his trial over objections by federal prosecutors.

Lang, helping to represent himself, claimed in legal papers that Trump’s win over Vice President Kamala Harris indicated “a seismic shift in federal policy regarding January 6 defendants.”

The Sullivan County local added there is a “high likelihood of a Presidential Pardon or dismissal of the charges by the incoming administration,” according to the legal paper.

Trump has said numerous times pardons are on the table for offenders charged in connection to the riot.

“It is neither just nor efficient to subject the Defendant to a show trial in front of a prejudiced jury pool under a prosecution marred by political bias,” he argued, requesting a trial date be set after Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

He and his lawyer, Steven Metcalf, also cited Trump nominating Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to the attorney general post, though the firebrand ex-congressman dropped his bid for the job on Thursday under a cloud of disturbing allegations.

“There is a tornado and hurricane outside this building right now and his name is Donald Trump,” Lang said in court Tuesday in a response to a prosecutor’s argument, according to WUSA. “And he’s sweeping through the Department of Justice.”

Lang is among a number of January 6 defendants citing Trump’s election and the possible pardons he could dole out in their cases.

His trial was scheduled for Dec. 2 after other delays before it was pushed off again this week.

Lang was initially busted on Jan 16, 2021 for his alleged role in the riot after he posted an image of the mob on social media with the words “THIS IS ME” with a pointing emoji superimposed on it.

He was hit with a slew of charges tied to the violent siege including counts on assaulting law enforcement. Lang is accused of taking a bat to officers during the chaos.

Since his arrest, he’s been detained in a DC prison awaiting trial.

US District Judge Carl Nichols reluctantly put off Lang’s trial not just based on the possible pardon, but other issues with the timing of the court date hashed out over arguments made under seal, Political reported.

Other arguments the defense offered in a bid to delay the trial included other January 6 cases clinching delays and the defendants’s lawyer recovering from surgery, according to court docs.

Prosectors argued that Lang’s claim he could be pardoned by Trump is “purely speculative and does not warrant delay of his trial.”

“With few exceptions, efforts to continue proceedings arising from the events of January 6, 2021 based on hopes of a presidential pardon have failed,” a Department of Justice lawyer wrote while also citing the alleged assault on police officers.

Trump addressed the potential pardons for Jan. 6 defendants multiple times during his campaign to recapture the White House, including staying at a CNN town hall last year, “I would say it will be a large portion of them.”

He told TIME in April he would pardon every defendant before noting, “If somebody was evil and bad, I would look at that differently.”

The feds said they have more than 1,500 defendants have been charged for their roles in the riot.

Tag: insurrection

Insurrectionists Are Facing Consequences – Part 3