A Pennsylvania man who marched to the Capitol on Jan. 6 with a giant flag portraying former President Donald Trump as "Rambo" and then led the violent breach of the police line was convicted on several felony charges Friday.
Ryan Samsel, one of the first instigators of the Capitol riot, was convicted of assaulting Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards as well as felony counts of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. He remains in custody.
U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb — who oversaw the bench trial of Samsel and co-defendants James Tate Grant, Paul Russell Johnson, Stephen Chase Randolph and Jason Benjamin Blythe last year — convicted all the defendants of at least two felonies each.
She also found them not guilty on three misdemeanor offenses, reasoning that prosecutors had not proven that the five men were aware at the time that a Secret Service protectee — in this case, then-Vice President Mike Pence — was in the Capitol building.
Video from Jan. 6 showed Samsel speaking with Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs — who is serving a 17-year prison sentence after his seditious conspiracy conviction in March — at Peace Circle near the Capitol. Moments later, Samsel proceeded to the police line, took off his jean jacket, flipped his "Make America Great Again" hat backwards, and began ripping down the bike racks that were used to form a line of defense. In doing so, Edwards went sailing backwards and struck her head on a banister, briefly knocking her unconscious.
Edwards, who testified before the House Jan. 6 committee in June 2022, also testified at Samsel's trial in October.
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