kalm wrote: ↑Fri May 03, 2024 10:24 am
This guy seemed to care a lot about J6.
WASHINGTON — A federal judge sentenced a Marine Corps veteran to five years in prison and a $200,000 fine Thursday for assaulting police and brandishing a crowbar to encourage the mob at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
"Arriving at the protest wearing a ballistic plate carrier and armed with a crowbar," Lamberth said, "this is not a case where it's just a political protest gone awry."
In their memo, prosecutors described how Nichols, upset by former President Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, began preparing and calling – “repeatedly and voraciously” – for violence in the weeks before Jan. 6. On Christmas Eve 2020, Nichols posted, “It’ll be fixed January 6th, or the Patriots will fix it ourselves. When the Patriots move to fix it, we’re bringing the wrath of God, and there’s not a F***ING thing you can do to stop it.”
Nichols then posted an image of a bullet with the caption, “By Bullet or Ballot, Restoration of the Republic is Coming!”
Nichols also recruited a fellow Marine Corps veteran, his co-defendant Alex Harkrider, to come to come to D.C. with him on Jan. 6 – describing the event as “front seat tickets to the REAL revolution.” Nichols also discussed building a gun container in his truck which he used to transport firearms to the Greater Washington D.C. area as well as the need for body armor. On Jan. 6, Nichols in fact wore a ballistic plate in a plate carrier as he faced off with and ultimately assaulted police.
Once in D.C., Nichols can be heard on numerous videos – including several he recorded himself – calling for violence beginning on Jan. 5 and continuing even after he’d returned to his hotel room on the evening of Jan. 6.
In a video recorded on the evening before the riot, Nichols can be heard berating police and warning of violence the following day, yelling at one point, “Heads will f***ing roll! We will not be told ‘no’ any longer!”
On the day of the riot, prosecutors said Nichols “bayed for the blood” of politicians, including then-Vice President Mike Pence. In a video he recorded himself, Nichols can be seen walking to the Capitol from the Ellipse alongside Harkrider and hundreds of others while he says, “I’m hearing reports that Pence caved. If Pence caved, I’m telling you, we’re going to drag motherf***ers through the streets. You f***ing politicians are going to get drug through the streets.”
The best way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of opinion but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - Noam Chomsky
