Capitol storm: Several years in prison for one of the most famous attackers

Richard Barnett, who posed in the office of top politician Nancy Pelosi when the US Capitol was stormed two years ago, has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison. In their verdict, prosecutors said on Wednesday (local time) that the intruder had shown no remorse and “attempted to capitalize on his notoriety and criminal behavior” by selling “autographed photos” of himself in Pelosi’s office.

The public prosecutor had asked for a sentence of seven years in prison. Barnett, who is described in the court filings as a supporter of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, had defended his actions as exercising his constitutional right to protest. A jury in Washington in January found the Arkansas man guilty of eight counts, including obstructing an official process and entering an official building with a dangerous or deadly weapon.

Barnett is one of the most recognizable faces of the Capitol storm

Richard Barnett, together with hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump, stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when the election victory of current President Joe Biden was to be finally confirmed there. Barnett then made his way into the office of then-House Speaker Pelosi.

An AFP photographer snapped the gray-bearded man as he settled into the Democrat’s office chair at Pelosi’s desk and rested his foot on her desk. Barnett thus became one of the most famous faces of the attack on Congress – and was arrested two days later in Arkansas.

At the Capitol, the man nicknamed Bigo told journalists that he had left a note for Pelosi that said, “Nancy, Bigo was here, bitch.” Barnett also admitted under cross-examination that when a police officer asked him to leave Pelosi’s office, he replied, “You have to give up Communism.” He also admitted telling an official at the Capitol, “We’re at a war. You have to choose a side. Don’t be on the wrong side or you’ll get hurt.” Barnett was armed with a walking stick with a stun gun.

The storming of the Capitol, as a result of which five people died, shook the United States deeply and caused international horror. Since then, the police have arrested more than 950 suspects, and the legal investigation is ongoing.

In another trial, the sentence for the founder of the right-wing militia Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, is to be announced on Thursday. He had already been found guilty in November of the particularly serious charge of “seditious conspiracy” against the US government. Prosecutors have requested a 25-year prison sentence for the 57-year-old ex-soldier.