Joshua Pruitt

Having grown up in the D.C. area, Joshua was well aware of his rights as a citizen, personally witnessing over-reaching policies, political corruption, governmental waste and incompetence.  He felt it was his sacred duty to at least speak out against yet another betrayal of the Founding Father’s visions.  Skewing elections to get the results one overwhelming party wants, was just too much.

He went to the rally to protest with no intention of violence but with his look, and build, he was labeled “menacing”. According to reports from NBC and other legacy media outlets, “Pruitt came close to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Jan. 6, sending him and his security team running in the other direction. A member of Schumer’s Capitol Police security team wrote about their near-meeting with Pruitt in his victim impact statement. “Every day I enter the beacon of our country, the U.S. Capitol, I relive the memories of that day, and none are as impactful as the moments I saw Mr. Pruitt approaching us with the intent to inflict harm to the Majority Leader,” the officer wrote. “It was only due to our teams’ preplanning of alternate evacuations procedures and quick actions that this impending meeting did not result in blood shed or serious bodily injury.”

What they aren’t telling you is that according to the independent investigation of Congressman Clay Higgins, the FBI had at least 200 FBI officers inside the Capitol building waiting for the protesters to guide them to specific offices for the purposes of the “insurrection” narrative. The Capitol building is structured like a maze and there is no way someone unfamiliar with the layout would be able to get to Chuck Schumer’s office without a guide.  This was to set up for the Democratic narrative of an insurrection which would prevent Trump from ever running again and potentially imprisoning him and his supporters.

But according to eye witnesses, Joshua was not running but walking. And to a finer point, except being God or inside Joshua Pruitt’s mind, for an officer to testify that he knew Joshua’s intent is, to put it bluntly, impossible.  This would equate to Dystopian novels and movies where people are arrested because they ‘might’ be a participant of a crime in the future.  The very reason for his protesting and inside “the people’s house”, was to challenge the results of the vote and ask Congress to slow its procedural act of confirming the electoral count.  Here’s what really happened; he made a make-shift ladder to get inside the building, threw a chair, and walked around. That’s when he saw Chuck Schumer coming down the hall but he never threated, assaulted a single person, and yet, guilt by association rained down hard on him.  It also did not bode well for Joshua once in court that he was a gun owner to boot.

After his arrest Joshua was indicted on several charges, including civil disorder, destruction of government property and acts of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.  On June 3, 2022, he pleaded guilty to a charge of obstruction of an official proceeding.  This is the charge that is being challenged before the Supreme Court because it is a financial crime statute against shredding documents. But it is a felony and enables the DOJ to maximize sentences.  Robert L. Jenkins Jr., his lawyer, said that other charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement.  In the government’s sentencing memorandum, prosecutors had argued that Mr. Pruitt should receive a 60-month sentence.

But the judge was not finished, he had to add insult to injury by saying, “There was nothing patriotic about what happened that day, far from it,” said Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the United States District Court in D.C., “It was a national disgrace.” Joshua’s lawyers had only this to say, that he and his client were disappointed with the outcome. “He did not possess any weapons; did not assault any law enforcement officers and did not get in any physical altercations with anyone else on that day,” adding that his client had received the longest sentence of anyone who had pleaded guilty and was not convicted of assaulting any law enforcement officers. “He acknowledged that what he did on Jan. 6 was wrong, but in comparison.  His sentence is particularly harsh.”

To sum it up… no one testified or reported seeing Joshua Pruitt do anything other than walking inside the Capital.  When he did “encounter” Chuck Schumer, Joshua did not even recognize the man. He did however ‘trespass’ inside the Capitol Hill complex which was basically the same thing that Stephen Colbert’s production crew did about a month after.  But the outcome was very different.  As you’d expect, Colbert’s crew was released without bail and no charges were filed. 

Mr. Jenkins says that Joshua has no plans to appeal the decision because he “just wants to move on with his life.” While Joshua regrets his behavior during the protests, he still believes the claims of election fraud.   On August 26, 2022 Joshua was sentenced to 55 months in prison as well as 3 years of supervised release with stiff fines and restitution.