Hello from Judge Amit Mehta's virtual courtroom, where sentencing is underway for Capitol rioter John Lolos. He pleaded guilty to the parading misdemeanor, more on his case -->
Lolos is addressing the court, and begins by talking about how he went to DC after seeing "voter fraud on TV," notes how the affidavits that Trump allies introduced in court were rejected, says the DOJ/FBI response was "sad to see"
Lolos describes his approach to the Capitol, claiming he didn't see any violence and thought the crowd was going to a designated place to protest, and then claims that a police officer was encouraging people to go in
Lolos says he knows the plea deal says he entered the Capitol to protest, "we can stick to that version if you want." Judge stops him after a bit more of that, says it sounds like Lolos is trying to justify his conduct that day. Lolos says no, he wants to take responsibility
Lolos' lawyer asks to speak to his client. Lolos says no, he doesn't want to talk to his lawyer, he takes responsibility because he chose to go into the Capitol, but wants to continue to address the judge to put it "in context"
After Lolos says no one told him to leave, Mehta questions why he thought someone needed to tell him to leave, and Lolos says he thought they were in a designated protest place. Mehta points out he went in through a broken window, Lolos says that was so he could talk to police
Lolos is describing the events that got him kicked off an airplane two days later, claims it was wrong because half the plane was chanting "Trump 2020" and not just him, Mehta is growing impatient with this
Lolos says that between being detained after getting pulled off the plane and the media coverage about him ("fake news") he's been punished enough
AUSA is back up, says that even if he "failed miserably" to articulate the govt's case for incarceration, Lolos did it well on his own — blaming other people around him, saying he went in only to talk to police, not really taking responsibility
Mehta is going to take a moment to "collect my thoughts." Lolos makes another final plea for leniency, says he could lose his job, admits he protested, apologizes to the families of officers attacked during the riot, says his life has been ruined
Mehta takes aim at Trump: Lolos "and others were called to Washington, DC, by an elected official, prompted to walk to the Capitol by an elected official. People like Mr. Lolos were told lies and falsehoods and told that an election was stolen when it clearly was not."
Mehta: "Regrettably, people like Mr. Lolos for whatever reason are impressionable and will believe such falsehoods and such lies ... And they are the ones who are suffering the consequnces."
Mehta: We're here today to decide if Lolos should go to jail when those who created the conditions that led to Jan. 6 "in no meaningful sense of the word have been held to account."
"You are a pawn in a game that’s played and directed by people who should know better."
Mehta sentences John Lolos to 14 days in jail — less than the 30 days sought by the government, more than the probation that Lolos wanted
Mehta noted at the start that this was his first sentencing in the Capitol riot cases, and really the first time he'd had a chance to talk about what happened, and boy did he have some things to say
Lolos notes he already spent two days in jail, and asks if he'll get credit for time-served, Mehta says yes that's right. Mehta ends the hearing as Lolos starts to say something about hoping people see the video of what happened. And that's a wrap on that.
A judge today called out the lack of accountability for those who "created the conditions" for Jan. 6.
John Lolos, sentenced to 14 days in jail, was a "pawn in a game that’s played and directed by people who should know better," Judge Amit Mehta said. buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
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Hello again from Judge Carl Nichols' virtual courtroom, where sentencing is about to start for Capitol rioter David Mish. Mish pleaded guilty to the parading misdemeanor and is asking for 2 days incarceration. Govt wants 30 days in jail. s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2105…
Mish had contacted MPD the day after the Capitol riot to say he had information about Ashli Babbitt's death, and admitted being inside the building
AUSA explains one reason they're asking for jail time for Mish is his previous criminal history record - in the sentencing memo they acknowledge it's mostly low-level offenses and from his youth, but say it shows "lack of respect for the law"
Down the metaphorical hallway: Hello from Judge Dabney Friedrich's virtual courtroom, where a plea hearing is about to begin for Jan. 6 def Jason Riddle, photographed with a bottle of wine and accused of stealing/selling a Senate procedure book for $40 s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2047…
There's an issue w/ different versions of the plea agreement being signed by the defense and the govt, respectively. It doesn't sound like there are big differences, but Riddle needs time to review the doc to make sure he understands what's on paper, so they'll come back in a bit
Back on the record for Jason Riddle's plea hearing — he's pleading guilty to theft of government property (re: the Senate procedure book that he sold for $40) and the parading, demonstrating, or picketing misdemeanor that's been part of most Jan. 6 plea deals to date
Hello from Judge Carl Nichols' virtual courtroom, where Steve Bannon is set to make his next appearance (remotely) in his criminal contempt case. He's waived a formal arraignment and asked the judge to accept his initial not guilty plea on the papers: s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2111…
Assuming there's no issue with Bannon's handling of the formal arraignment, we'd expect this hearing mostly to be about setting a schedule for next steps in his case
Here's the dial-in info for Judge Nichols:
Toll Free Number: 877-873-8017
Access Code: 8692421
Jan. 6 defendant Matthew Perna intends to plead guilty to the full four-count indictment returned against him (felony obstructing Congress + misdemeanors), with no agreement with the govt, per new filing.
The only other Jan. 6 case I'm aware of so far where there's been a guilty plea and no deal with the government was for Antionne Brodnax - I didn't cover that plea hearing and we haven't gotten sentencing memos yet so I don't have more details on what happened there
In September, Perna's lawyer asked for a pre-plea analysis of the sentencing guidelines as applied to his client, to see if whatever terms the govt was offering were worth taking a deal (it appears the answer to that question was no)
Hello from Judge Royce Lamberth's courtroom, where a plea hearing is about to start for Jan. 6 def. James Little. Tipster reported texts to the FBI:
"We just took over the Capital!"
"You'll thank me for saving your freedom and [currency emoji] later!" s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2061…
Little's plea hearing got started a little late but it's underway now. He's pleading guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol, the class B misdemeanor that most Jan. 6 defendants have pleaded guilty to so far. Max sentence is 6 mos in jail
Re: $500 restitution section, Little tells Lamberth that he doesn't understand "why I'm having to pay for other damages that people did to the Capitol."
Judge explains that's what's in the plea deal, and if he wants to go to trial that's his choice. Little: "Okay I agree to it"
Hello from the DC federal courthouse (IRL!) where Steve Bannon is expected to make his first post-indictment court appearance on contempt of Congress charges at around 1:45pm. Spotted: significant media presence + one giant inflatable Trump rat
Bannon will be making his first court appearance before Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather — dial-in info attached for live audio. I'm in the media room, where we have a video feed. Bannon's lawyers are in there now at counsel table
The DC courthouse is enforcing social distancing, so the media room and the courtroom are sparsely populated compared to pre-pandemic high-profile hearings. Much less of a media circus vibe compared to years past (121 people on the public line as of now, by comparison)