Jan 6 rioter quizzes cameramen on Jeffrey Epstein as he’s led from court
‘We were told by the president to go there,’ Ohio man says
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A rioter who smashed a window at the US Capitol during the insurrection on January 6 2021 brought up the late convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein as he was led from court.
Troy Faulkner from Ohio was sentenced to five months in federal prison on Thursday, according to NBC News.
Faulkner said in court that he had supported former President Donald Trump because he believed he was “combatting human trafficking” – an apparent reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory – and he pointed to exaggerated figures of the number of children who go missing annually.
During the riot, Faulkner wore a jacket with the name of his painting business on it, along with its phone number.
Chief US District Judge Beryl Howell noted that Faulkner had burned the jacket, and she questioned if he had stopped believing in Mr Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was rigged, something that Faulkner’s attorney suggested in a sentencing memo.
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Faulkner’s lawyer, John Machado, said that his client “was and still is a fan” of Mr Trump. The judge asked if he still thinks everything Mr Trump says is true, to which the lawyer said his client is now aware that Mr Trump isn’t the legitimate commander-in-chief.
The judge said it was proper to probe if Faulkner was “still susceptible to a giant lie” and if he could take part in politically motivated violence again.
Faulkner brought up Epstein as he walked outside the courthouse.
“How about that Epstein Island list? How ‘bout that one? Wanna talk about that? Where’s the Epstein Island list?” he asked.
The paedophile financier, who died by suicide in a Manhatten jail cell in August 2019, has been the subject of a litany of conspiracy theories.
British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence in December for helping Epstein in the sex trafficking operation.
“After being sentenced to five months in federal prison and admitting to an anger management problem, Jan 6 defendant Troy Faulkner — who smashed in a window at the US Capitol — yelled at cameramen about Epstein,” Ryan Reilly of NBC News tweeted.
At the sentencing hearing, the lawyer said Faulkner was “at a better place” compared to January 6, 2021.
Then Faulkner seemed to intimate that the rioters had been set up by the police, according to NBC News.
“We were told by the president to go there,” Faulkner said. “I wasn’t in my best state of mind ... I’ve been remorseful every day.”