Julian Elie Khater
Julian Elie Khater is a second-generation Lebanese immigrant who was living in Somerset, New Jersey. He grew up in Pennsylvania but moved to New Jersey to open a business. Like many immigrants unable to afford University, Julian opened a small franchise business, Frutta Bowls. He worked very hard and came from a large Christian family. His goal was to eventually become a constitutional Sheriff. He was thirty years old at the time.
Julian was living out his American dream when the election of 2020 happened and suddenly that dream was at risk. His family had come from a country without honest elections. It couldn’t happen here. He and a fellow Lebanese immigrant, George Pierre Tanios, journeyed to Washington DC to hopefully persuade those in power to pause and take a look at the sketchy details of the 2020 election. They were hopeful.
After President Trumps speech, Julian and George joined the crowd walking to the Capitol. The Capitol Police began spraying the crowd with tear gas and bear spray. Protestors fell and an FBI agent dressed as a Trump supporter began telling protestors to take the barricade down and march into the Capitol. During the skirmish, Julian maintains he was one of the individuals sprayed by the Capitol Police. The DOJ alleges that Julian asked George, “Give me that bear shit,” and reached into the backpack on George’s backpack.
According to the DOJ, Julian then “continued to deploy the spray” as he advanced on other Capitol Police officers, spraying two more directly in the face. Initially they claimed it was a fire extinguisher, then it was bear spray and then it became pepper spray.
The wind was moving into the line of Capitol Police so the bear spray that the Capitol Police sprayed blew back on them. Brian Sicknick allegedly was hit by bear spray and several days later died of a stroke. The Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, was building the false narrative that the J6 protests were worse than 9/11 and screamed that it was George and Julian that killed Brian Sicknick. She held Brian Sicknick’s body in state at the Capitol and the J6 Committee repeated the false claim that Brian Sicknick was a victim of the rioters as well. However, the autopsy found Mr. Sicknick died of natural causes and there was no evidence that the spray contributed in any way to his death.
The DOJ maintains: “Officer Chapman’s body cam shows that at 2:23 p.m., the rioters begin pulling on a bike rack to Chapman’s left, using ropes and their hands to pull the rack away. Seconds later, Julian is observed with his right arm up high in the air, appearing to be holding a canister in his right hand and aiming it in the officers’ direction while moving his right arm from side to side,” the affidavit alleges. “Officer Chapman’s body cam confirms that Julian was standing only five to eight feet away from the officers. However, many other videos available do not support the narrative that Julian sprayed bear spray at Officer Sicknick which is why the DOJ worded it the way they did.
Julian and George did not go into the Capitol and returned to their hotel room later that day.
On Facebook, Julian criticized Capitol security following the riots, touted Trump, and slammed President Joe Biden, calling him an “idiot.”
Julian was arrested as he disembarked from an airplane at Newark Airport in New Jersey coming back from vacation on March 15 of 2021, officials said. They threw him in the DC Gulag and then into solitary confinement.
The DOJ threw the proverbial book at Julian, “stacking” him with nine misdemeanors. They then added a felony, so many of the misdemeanor charges can be upgraded to felonies, thus maximizing sentencing. Julian’s family hired Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopino. This eventually cost the family $250,000.
Julian’s attorney asked for release on bail for Julian based on the family’s entire real estate holding, 16 family members holdings, worth $15M and the DOJ denied the bail. The judge referenced the false assertion that Brian Sicknick was killed by bear spray and that Julian had an indictment of assault “with a deadly weapon.”
Tacopino, Julian’s attorney, claims that the DC Gulag conditions are “less than human.” The J6 protestors are put into a “redneck” area so they are demonized and abused. They are served breakfast at 2:30 am. Many are beaten. They are regularly denied medical treatment.
The DOJ stacks offenses to pressure defendants into pleading guilty. Tacopino felt it was in Julian’s best interest to do so.
Julian Elie Khater, 33, of Somerset, New Jersey, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia, on Sept. 1, 2022, to two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon. The DOJ accused Julian of assaulting law enforcement officers with pepper spray and causing bodily injury to the officers.
During Julian’s trial, under cross examination, the FBI investigator admitted he couldn’t know for sure that either George or Julian sprayed anything.
On January 27, 2023, Julian was sentenced to 80 months of hard time. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas F. Hogan ordered Julian to pay restitution of $2,000, a fine of $10,000, and ordered 36 months of supervised release.
He was transferred to a prison in New York which has better living conditions, normal meal times, no beatings and blankets when it drops below freezing.
Julian would appreciate your prayers as there are still court cases related to the death of Brian Sicknick that his family must fight. Also, they have mounting legal bills.
https://www.givesendgo.com/savejuliankhater
“What happened on January 6 – there are no words for it … I wish I could take it back.”
That’s what 33-year-old Lebanese American Julian Elie Khater told U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan when he plead guilty back in September of 2022 to two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon.
“I’ve taken every chance I possibly could to better myself as a person,” he continued, saying the rash actions he took that day were not in his nature.
According to the Justice Department, Khater, who’s from Somerset, N.J., and fellow demonstrator George Tanios purchased two canisters of pepper spray and two canisters of bear spray sometime before they arrived in D.C. on January 6th.
They attended former President Trump’s rally at the Ellipse, then joined the mob heading towards the Capitol, though there’s no evidence they planned to enter the building or block the certification of electoral votes.
They carried with them two canisters of bear spray, which they did not use, and two containers of pepper-spray, one of which Khater did use.
According to NPR, as the mob pushed toward the Capitol, “law enforcement officers attempted to keep protesters back by utilizing a bike rack as a barrier. At 2:23 p.m., rioters tried to pull the rack away from officers, which is when Khater pepper-sprayed Brian Sicknick in the face, forcing the officer to retreat. Khater then sprayed two other officers, who were also forced to retreat.
All three officers suffered bodily injury from the pepper spray attack and were incapacitated and unable to perform their duties.”
Open-source video captured Khater talking with Tanios about spraying police with chemicals. “Give me that bear s—,” he was quoted as saying.
Video shows Khater spraying Sicknick and at least two other officers from the Metropolitan Police Department.
Officer Sicknick died the day after the attack. Washington, D.C., Chief Medical Examiner Francisco Diaz found that Sicknick died from natural causes after suffering multiple strokes, but told the Washington Post that engaging with the Capitol rioters “played a role in his condition.”
Khater was arrested on March 14, 2021.
His lawyer noted that Sicknick died of natural causes on Jan. 7, 2021, and argued that Khater wasn’t responsible either directly or indirectly for the officer’s death.
NPR reported Judge Thomas Hogan referred to that issue as “the elephant in the room” and said “he would not sentence Khater or Tanios for a crime they had not been charged with. Having said that, Hogan also said that assaulting the officers with chemical spray was inexcusable”.
Khater was sentenced to 80 months in prison, with credit for time served, and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
Khater’s attorney said his client suffers from a history of anxiety dating back to his family’s escape from Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah war, and he said his client’s actions did not reflect the “quiet” and “introverted” person that he truly is.
Khater is scheduled to be released on November 18, 2026.
You can write to him at the following address:
Julian Elie Khater
34510-509
FCI Danbury
Federal Correctional Institution
Route 37
Danbury, CT 06811