Capitol rioter who rappelled from Senate balcony agrees to cooperate with prosecutors

by Rachel Scully - 07/14/21 4:11 PM ET

Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that a rioter who charged the Capitol and rappelled into the Senate chamber during the Jan. 6 insurrection has agreed to a plea deal, HuffPost reported.

Josiah Colt, 34, pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of an official proceeding and has agreed to cooperate with the government on other investigations. Colt joins more than a dozen other defendants from the riots who have agreed to work with prosecutors.

Colt will help police investigations into other rioters, potentially including two of his colleagues, Ronald Sandlin and Nathaniel DeGrave, with whom he allegedly conspired before the riot, according to WUSA9.

U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan said federal guidelines call for a sentence between 51 and 63 months, though the charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, according to HuffPost.

Hundreds of people have been charged in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, when a mob of supporters of former President Trump stormed the building in an attempt to prevent the certification of the 2020 Electoral College vote.

In a video he posted to Instagram, Colt bragged that he was the first person to go into the chamber and incorrectly claimed to have sat in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) chair, calling her “treasonous.” A photo of Colt dangling from the Senate balcony went viral during the coverage of the insurrection.

At one point Colt yelled atop the Senate dais, “Trump won that election!”

They’re in the chamber. One is up on the dais yelling “Trump won that election!” This is insane pic.twitter.com/p6CXhBDSFT

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) January 6, 2021