Trump supporter Joshua Pruitt, a Proud Boy member who nearly came face-to-face with then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer during the attack of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was sentenced to four years and seven months behind bars for his role in the deadly insurrection that day.
“You were at the forefront of that mob,” Judge Timothy Kelly said before handing down his sentence Monday, adding that Pruitt and the mob’s actions that day “snapped our previously unbroken tradition of the peaceful transition of power.”
Prosecutors said that Pruitt, who pleaded guilty in early June to obstructing an official proceeding, was part of a Proud Boys group message where members discussed plans to march to the Capitol and use violence on January 6 to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
“Their plans were not limited to fighting Antifa: they anticipated going to the Capitol to stop the certification of the election and confronting police who might try to stand in their way,” prosecutors argue.
Before being sentenced, Pruitt told Judge Kelly that he still believed the 2020 election was stolen but admitted he broke the law.
