Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The Associated Press reports:
A Michigan man was sentenced on Friday to five years in federal prison for his role in the U.S. Capitol attack by a mob that disrupted Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.
Chief Judge Beryl Howell also sentenced Anthony Robert Williams, 47, of Southgate, Michigan, to three years of supervised release after his prison term and ordered him to pay $2,000 in restitution and a $5,000 fine, according to a U.S. Justice Department news release.
In June, a jury convicted Williams of a felony count of obstructing the Jan. 6, 2021, joint session of Congress for certifying the Electoral College vote. Jurors also convicted him of four related misdemeanor offenses.
From the Justice Department:
According to the government’s evidence, in the weeks leading to Jan. 6, 2021, Williams posted various statements on social media, saying, among other things, that he intended to travel to Washington to “storm the swamp.”
He posted numerous messages using hashtags such as #HOLDTHELINE and #NORETREAT NO SURRENDER.” He recorded videos of himself when he was illegally inside the Capitol Building on Jan. 6.
By 2:11 p.m. on Jan. 6, Williams was on the Northwest stairs outside the building. He used bike racks put into place by police officers to assist others in the mob in getting onto the stairs. Williams himself raised his arms as he scaled the railing after rioters broke through the line of officers.
He was in a wave of people that entered the Senate Wing door at 2:18 p.m., just five minutes after that door was breached in the first breach of the building by rioters that day. He then went to the Crypt and was close to the front of the line of officers when rioters broke through.
Williams then went to the Rotunda, where he filmed himself making statements such as “desperate times, desperate measures.”
He resisted efforts of law enforcement officers to push the mob out of the area, holding the line for his side in the Rotunda. He was one of the last people in the mob to be pushed out of that area. He was in the Capitol Building for about one hour.
He later boasted about his actions on social media. In a Facebook post on Jan. 9, 2021, he wrote, “Operation Swamp Storm veteran now lol modern day tea party. Was proudest day of my life lol felt like the founding fathers were smiling down on us in that room, and I guarantee my dad and gramps, both vets, would be proud.”
In another post, on April 19, 2021, he wrote, “I was in the Capitol and have absolutely no remorse or fear in saying or doing it.”
Anthony Robert Williams was “among the first” in the mob to enter the U.S. Capitol, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, and one of the last to be pushed out of the building’s rotunda. https://t.co/g3OsDSWbv2
— MLive (@MLive) September 16, 2022