Duke Wilson, a 67-year-old Donald Trump supporter who attacked police officers on Jan. 6 while wearing a \u201cCNN FAKE NEWS\u201d hat, pleaded guilty to two felony counts on Tuesday as part of plea deal with federal prosecutors.<\/p>\n
Wilson, who was arrested in Idaho on April 15, pleaded guilty to count three and count seven of his indictment. Under count three, Wilson pleaded guilty to feloniously assaulting a U.S. Capitol Police Department officer identified as \u201cA.G.\u201d by striking the officer with his fist and striking them with a white pole. Under count seven, Wilson admitted to attempting to obstruct an official proceeding \u2015 Congress\u2019 certification of the Electoral College vote \u2015 by attempting to forcibly enter the Capitol.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth accepted Wilson\u2019s guilty plea.\u00a0Lamberth told Wilson that he didn\u2019t understand how he got himself in the posture he was in, but told him that he \u201ctook a good step forward today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson\u2019s lawyer and a federal prosecutor indicated that the defendant\u2019s sentencing guidelines range would be between 41 and 51 months in federal prison. A judge could depart from that sentencing guidelines range, and the maximum penalty for the obstruction charge is 20 years in prison.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The FBI has arrested more than 600 defendants as part of the sprawling investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Hundreds more arrests are in the works, many of them with the assistance of a network of online sleuths called #SeditionHunters who have identified many of the rioters who stormed the Capitol in support of Trump on Jan. 6. Sleuths had branded Wilson as #FakeNewsHat before his arrest.<\/p>\n
Last week, Jan. 6 defendant Robert Scott Palmer \u2015 who assaulted officers with a fire extinguisher while wearing an American flag jacket bearing Trump\u2019s name \u2015 indicated he\u2019ll enter a guilty plea. Jacob Chansley, better known as the \u201cQAnon Shaman,\u201d also pleaded guilty to a felony charge.\u00a0Chansley\u2019s attorney, Al Watkins, said his client had been under \u201ca great deal of familial pressure not to take a plea because President Trump was going to reassume office and, my goodness, pardon him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another Capitol defendant, Doug Jensen, was ordered back to jail after he was caught watching MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell\u2019s \u201ccyber symposium\u201d that made baseless claims about a stolen election (Jensen had been under strict orders to stay off the internet after he was released from jail). Another judge ordered Sam Lazar \u2015 a Pennsylvania man caught on video assaulting officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6 \u2015 held in jail until his trial. Lazar, who members of the #SeditionHunters community labeled #FacePaintBlowHard, spent months attending political events and posing for pictures with prominent Pennsylvania Republicans who have promoted the bogus \u201cStop the Steal\u201d movement, all while he was on the FBI\u2019s Capitol wanted list.\u00a0<\/p>\n