Joshua Pruitt, a proud hardliner who nearly came face-to-face with then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer during the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, was sentenced to four years and seven months in prison for obstructing the validation of the constituency vote that endorsed Joe Biden’s victory. in the presidential election. “I was at the forefront of this crowd,” Judge Timothy Kelly said before sentencing, adding that the actions of Pruitt and the crowd that day “broke our continuing tradition of peaceful transition of power.”
According to prosecutors, Pruitt, who pleaded guilty in early June to obstructing official proceedings, was part of a Proud Boys chat where members discussed plans for the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill. “They didn’t mean just to fight Antifa: They planned to go to the Capitol to stop the election’s certification and confront police who might try to disrupt the election,” prosecutors wrote in court proceedings. At the time of the uprising, Pruitt was just a conscript waiting to be formally inducted into the far-right group, but he was sworn in two weeks later to become a full member of the organization. Prior to his conviction, Pruitt told Judge Kelly that he still believed the 2020 election had been stolen, but that he admitted to violating the law. “I wish I had seen it from a restaurant,” Pruitt said of the attack, adding that January 6 “wasn’t a good day.”
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