WASHINGTON – A far-right internet figure has livestreamed a video of him doing it stormed the US Capitol On Tuesday, he was sentenced to two months in prison for participating in a mob attack on the building.
Known as “Pied Alaska” to his followers on social media, Anthem Geonet refused to address the court before US District Judge Trevor McFadden sentenced him to 60 days in prison followed by two years of probation. Jeuni faced a maximum prison sentence of six months.
Jeunette incriminated himself and other troublemakers with the video, which he broadcast to a live audience of nearly 16,000 followers. The 27-minute video showed him encouraging other rioters to stay in the Capitol.
“You have done everything in your power to make your misconduct public,” the judge told Gionet. “You were there cheering and fully participating in what was going on.”
Inside Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office, Geonet filmed himself picking up a phone and pretending to report a “rigged election,” echoing former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
“We need our son, Donald J. Trump, to take office,” Geonet added.
Geonet joined the others in chanting, “Patriots in control!” and “Whose home? Our home!” Before he left, he brusquely called a Capitol police officer a “sworn breaker.”
Jeunette, 35 years old He pleaded guilty in July to the number of misdemeanors of walking, demonstrating, or picketing inside the Capitol Building.
spp He recommended that Jeunette be sentenced to 75 days in prisonThree years probation and 60 hours of community service.
Jeunette worked for BuzzFeed before using his social media videos to become an influential figure in far-right political circles. He was scheduled to speak at The white nationalist Unite the Right rally In 2017, just before street violence broke out in Charlottesville, Virginia.
On January 6, Gionet was a “professional troll engaging in increasingly provocative and criminal behavior in an apparent effort to drive online engagement and increase his fame and earning power,” Assistant US Attorney Anthony Franks said in a court filing.
Gewent was originally scheduled to be sentenced by US District Court Judge Emmett Sullivan. Sullivan recently withdrew from the Gionet case and several other cases for reasons unspecified in court filings, even though he held “high standing” and retired from full-time service nearly two years ago.
Gionet celebrated online when his case was reassigned to McFadden, Trump’s nominee. In a live broadcast, Jeoni hailed McFadden as “an absolutely amazing judge who is pro-Trump and one of the judges who let one man innocent at his trial.”
McFadden acquitted a man from New Mexico Matthew Martin, on riot-related charges in April 2022 after hearing testimony from the trial without a jury. Martin is the only January 6 defendant to be acquitted of all charges after trial.
More than 900 people have been charged with federal crimes related to January 6th. Nearly 500 of them pleaded guilty, most to misdemeanours, and more than 350 of them were sentenced.
Federal authorities used the GewNet video to prosecute other rioters, including three men from New York City. Antonio Ferrigno, Frances Connor and Anton Lonik pleaded guilty last year and were sentenced to home imprisonment. Geonet’s live feed showed them in Merkley’s office.
Defense attorney Zachary Thornley said Geonet went to the Capitol to “document” and did not engage in any violence or destruction. The attorney argued in a lawsuit that Geonet “never crossed the line from being a protester to a troublemaker.”
“He’s stubborn and was there to support former President Trump, but his real purpose for being here was to document.” Thornley Books.
Major internet platforms, including Twitter, suspended Gionet accounts prior to January 6. At the Capitol, he was broadcasting live video using a fringe service called DLive. He told authorities that viewers had paid him $2,000 for the live broadcasts on January 5 and January 6.
Under the ownership of Elon MuskTwitter reinstated accounts affiliated with Gionet and other far-right figures.
Jeunette, who grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, was arrested in Houston less than two weeks after the riot and jailed for five days. He moved from Arizona to Florida after his release.
Jeunette was sentenced to 30 days in jail for misdemeanor convictions stemming from a December 2020 encounter in which authorities said he fired pepper spray at an employee of a bar in Scottsdale, Arizona.
geonet I initially refused to admit guilt to the January 6 charge during an earlier hearing. Sullivan refused to accept Gaunt’s guilty plea in May after he pleaded not guilty at the start of what was to be a plea agreement hearing.
Before Jewnett pleaded guilty in July, Thornley told Sullivan that a protester was outside Jewnett’s home in Florida and recorded the virtual hearing by phone, a violation of court rules.
“What are you protesting?” the judge asked.
The defense attorney replied, “I think it’s a person.”