Washington:
The man who was photographed with his feet on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office after joining the crowd marching into the US Capitol in 2021 was convicted of several crimes on Monday.
Richard Barnett, 62, reclined comfortably in a chair and put his boots on the desk in the powerful politician’s office as an AFP photographer snapped photos on Jan. 6, 2021.
He had joined supporters of then-President Donald Trump crashing through the offices and halls of the Capitol to shut down the legislature as it convened to certify Joe Biden as the next president.
A Washington court convicted Barnett on eight counts, including obstructing Congress’s certification of the election, illegally entering the Capitol and disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon, the latter referring to an electric stun weapon disguised as a cane.
He faces up to 20 years in prison for the most serious charge, obstructing official government proceedings.
Barnett, who has been described in court cases as a supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory alleging a global liberal plot to kidnap children, had defended his actions as an exercise of his constitutional right to protest.
But while in Pelosi’s office, he wrote her a rude message and then took an envelope she signed.
After he left the room, he told the media that he bled on the desk.
“I put a quarter on her desk, even though she’s not fucking worth it,” he said, according to a court file.
“And I left her a note on her desk that said ‘Nancy, Bigo was here, you son of a bitch,'” he said, using his nickname.
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