WASHINGTON – A man from Pennsylvania Capitol on Jan. 6 with a giant flag depicting the former president Donald Trump As “Rambo” and later leading a violent breach of police lines, he was convicted on Friday of several felony charges.
Ryan SamselOne of the first instigators of the Capitol riots was convicted of assaulting a Capitol Police officer. Caroline Edwards as well as civil disturbances and felony obstruction of justice. He remains in prison.
Last year, U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb, who oversaw the trial of Samsel and co-defendants James Tate Grant, Paul Russell Johnson, Stephen Chase Randolph and Jason Benjamin Blythe, found each of the defendants guilty of at least two felonies.
He also found them not guilty of three felonies, arguing that prosecutors failed to prove that the five knew a Secret Service bodyguard — in this case, then-Vice President Mike Pence — was in the Capitol at the time.
In a video shot on January 6, Samsel talks to the leader of the Proud Boys Joe Biggs — serving 17 years in prison after a seditious conspiracy conviction in March – at the Peace Circle near the Capitol. A few minutes later, Samsel walked over to the police line, took off his denim jacket, turned his “Make America Great Again” hat backwards, and began ripping off the bike racks used to form a defensive line. As he did so, Edwards sailed backwards and hit his head on the barrier, knocking him briefly unconscious.
Edwards, who He testified in the January 6 committee of the House of Representatives Also in June 2022 He testified at Samsel’s trial in October.
“The lights were on,” Edwards he saiddescribed his mental state after hitting his head on a metal handle, “but no one was home.”
Samsel and Grant remained in custody, and the government sought to arrest the other three defendants after their convictions, citing federal regulations. stipulates that persons convicted of violence should be “detained” after conviction, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
The judge allowed the other three defendants, who have not been arrested, to leave the courthouse Friday and asked prosecutors and defense attorneys to write a legal brief outlining what will happen to them before a sentencing hearing in June.
The January 6 video also showed this Ray Epps — a Trump supporter who has faced threats after becoming the target of conspiracy theories in far-right media outlets and Fox News — Epps whispered to Samsel before Samsel stormed the police line. Both Epps and Samsel testified in separate interviews with the FBI that Epps told Samsel to calm down and Police at the Capitol were on duty that day, but Samsel withdrew after describing himself as a “political prisoner” in an interview with a far-right media outlet.
of Randolph Arrest in 2021 It came after the FBI ran her picture through facial recognition software and found a hit on her boyfriend’s Instagram page. Later, two undercover special agents were sent to his workplace and forced him to talk about his involvement in the attack.
It was one of the few times the FBI admitted to using facial recognition software. Publicly accessible facial recognition websites are a tool often used by online “suicide hunters” who have helped the FBI in hundreds of cases against Capitol rioters.
More than 1,250 people have been indicted in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and the Justice Department has secured nearly 900 convictions on charges ranging from illegal picketing to seditious conspiracy.
More arrests were made this week, including a A New Jersey man wearing Philadelphia Eagles pants on Jan. 6 and used the bull to stage a breach on the east side of the Capitol, according to authorities.