A Florida man who grabbed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s podium and posed for photographs with it during the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced …
A Florida man who grabbed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s podium and posed for photographs with it during the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced on Friday to more than two months in prison. The image of Adam Johnson smiling and waving as he carried Pelosi’s podium went viral after the pro-Trump mob’s attack on Jan.6,2021. Johnson placed the podium in the center of the Capitol Rotunda, posed for pictures and pretended to make a speech, prosecutors said. After driving home, Johnson bragged that he “broke the internet” and was “finally famous,” prosecutors said. They argued that his actions at the Capitol “illustrate his sense of entitlement and privilege.” “The now-viral podium photo portrays Johnson as confident, arguably gleeful, while converting government property to his own use during an unlawful siege,” a prosecutor wrote in a court filing. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton sentenced Johnson to 75 days in prison followed by one year of supervised release. The judge also ordered Johnson to pay a $5,000 fine and perform 200 hours of community service. Johnson will report to prison at a date to be determined. Johnson told Walton that posing with Pelosi’s podium was a “very stupid idea.” “I bear no ill will toward her or her office at all,” Johnson said. Walton said America is on a dangerous path when many citizens believe that they “have a right to do whatever in order to have the person who they want in power sitting in the White House.
