Thread by @rparloff

Though late, I want to highlight the case of Zachary Alam, who was sentenced to 8 yrs on 11/7—tied for 16th longest prison term for a J6 defendant. His case shows how Trump’s election lies foreseeably impacted troubled individuals & led to the death of Ashli Babbitt. ...
1/16

... On J6, Alam was almost 30. He had about 20 arrests, mainly drug or alcohol related. He’d graduated from UVa, but dropped out of osteopathic med school in 2015. His father then disowned him, per his mother. Eventually he was living out of a storage unit & his truck ...
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... He would shower at a gym each morning, his atty later wrote. Then Covid hit & gyms closed. His atty’s supplemental sentencing memo—heavily redacted—suggests Alam may also suffer from a long-term medical or psychological issue. ...
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... On J6 Alam went to Trump’s Ellipse speech & then headed to the Capitol. In the restricted area, he helped other rioters scale walls using downed bike-rack barriers as ladders. He entered the bldg thru a broken window at 2:17pm, 5 minutes after the initial breach ...
/4

... He went to the crypt, but then did something unusual. He took an elevator to the 4th floor. Apparently alone, he tried to kick his way into a committee room, per govt. He descended to the 3d floor, where he threw a velvet rope from a balcony at officers below. ...
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... He then went down to 2d floor. Due to his unusual path, he emerged as a lone rioter behind police lines. This later spurred a false conspiracy theory, amplified by Sinclair Broadcast Grp, that he was a fed, as @ryanjreilly has reported here: . ...
/6 bit.ly/48OvSzP

@ryanjreilly ... Alam then joined the main mob, shouting obscenities at officers & trying to break through the main door to the House. Here are officers on the other side of that door. (I know you’ve seen this scene, but I’m trying to give context.] ...
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@ryanjreilly ... At 2:41pm, Alam & a smaller group split away. They headed east (down) & then south (left), arriving at the Speakers Lobby, very near where members & staff were still evacuating. (Model looks west.) ...
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@ryanjreilly ... There, Alam and other rioters could actually see the evacuating members & staffers through the window. At that point, they were this close. ...
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@ryanjreilly ... Alam told officers “I’m going to fuck you up” & began punching the windows with his fist, inches from their heads. He shattered windows but couldn’t bust out the glass. (Again, I know you’ve seen this, but now you get the context.) ...
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@ryanjreilly ... Alam turned & rallied the crowd, telling them that House members were “the problem.” He kicked the doors 3 times. Finally, another rioter passed him his helmet. ...
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@ryanjreilly ... Alam then smashed the windows with the helmet about 9x. That worked. He cleared all the glass from several windows. ...
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@ryanjreilly ... As he did so, officers drew their weapons. Rioters yelled that there was a gun. Nevertheless, Ashli Babbitt started to climb through a window and was shot. ...
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nbcnews.com/video/capitol-…

@ryanjreilly ... As officers tried to clear rioters from the area to get Babbitt medical assistance, Alam was captured on video telling other rioters, “We need guns, bro. We need guns.” ...
/13

@ryanjreilly ... Though Alam lived in DC, he immediately fled, hiding out with relatives in Pennsylvania. His mother saw video of him on TV. Fearing for his safety, she contacted the FBI. (Alam told her he’d been inspired by Trump, she wrote the judge, pleading for mercy.) ...
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@ryanjreilly ... When arrested, Alam had a burner phone & a journal detailing plans for living off the grid. He was convicted by jury trial of 8 felonies & 3 misdemeanors. (One felony was later dism’d after SCOTUS’s Fischer ruling.) ...
/15

@ryanjreilly ... At sentencing, Alam said he wanted a “full pardon,” & would not "accept a 2d-class pardon," per @TomJackman. Judge, a Trump appointee, said Alam’s actions contributed to the “circumstances that led the officer to use lethal force.” ...
/16
bit.ly/4fNGXmR

@ryanjreilly @tomjackman ... Alam got 8 yrs. Babbitt died. Man whose lies inspired both is president-elect. ...
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... I’m a senior editor at @lawfare . Editor-in-Chief Ben Wittes describes below what Lawfare Media is (different from the MAGA term “lawfare”), our mission in days ahead, and how you can support. /18-end
lawfaremedia.org/article/the-si…