WASHINGTON — Prosecutors on Thursday presented closing arguments in their case against five men accused of helping to cause the first breach of police barricades at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Foster said the men – Ryan Samsel, James Grant, Paul Johnson, Stephen Randolph and Jason Blythe – were among the first supporters of former President Donald Trump to take up positions on the west side of the Capitol. She argued that although their role in knocking down bike rack barricades was brief, it was a critical moment that helped kick off the larger riot.
“The breach happened over a very short period of time, but that does not diminish the seminal importance of this event,” Foster said, adding that the five men had “ignited a fire that burned for over four hours at the Capitol.”
All five men face a range of charges, including multiple accounts of assaulting police with a dangerous weapon. One of those officers, U.S. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, has said she struck her head on a concrete step and suffered a concussion that has caused lingering problems.
Samsel, of Pennsylvania, is perhaps the best known of the defendants. Samsel bragged to a friend that a photograph of him at the riot in his red “Trump” hat and t-shirt was used on the cover of TIME Magazine for being the first one over the fence.” His role in the riot has also been the subject of conspiracy theories on the riot because he can be seen speaking to both Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs and Ray Epps, a Marine Corps veteran and former Oath Keeper, before the breach. Biggs was convicted at trial of seditious conspiracy and sentenced in August to 17 years in prison. Epps pleaded guilty in September to disorderly conduct and was scheduled to be sentenced in December.
Samsel’s attorney, Stanley Woodward – who also represented Oath Keepers Florida state leader Kelly Meggs in the first Oath Keepers trial and is representing former President Donald Trump’s co-defendant Walt Nauta in the Mar-a-Lago documents case – argued the Justice Department was wrongfully trying to pin the entire riot on his client and his four co-defendants. Woodward argued Thursday that prosecutors’ case “sensationalizes and exaggerates the evidence… at every opportunity.”
Other defense attorneys largely took a similar tactic. Robert Feitel, attorney for Grant, argued the five defendants in the case were strangers who had been lumped together by the government.
“These are five misbegotten, woebegotten people who had the karmatic misfortune to be in the same place at the same time,” he said.
Several attorneys admitted their clients had committed crimes on Jan. 6 – including attorneys for Johnson and Randolph, who acknowledged they had assaulted or impeded police, and Blythe, who acknowledged being on the grounds illegally – but argued the charges they faced far exceeded their actions. One of the defendants, Grant, pleaded guilty to counts relating to illegally entering the building at the beginning of the trial.
Despite the serious charges against them, Samsel, who was arrested in late January 2021, was the only defendant initially denied bond. Another defendant, Grant, was ordered into custody in January 2022 after he was arrested on suspicion of DUI and possession of a semi-automatic rifle in North Carolina while on pretrial release.
The case was heard by U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb, who was nominated to the federal bench in 2021 by President Joe Biden. Cobb told attorneys Thursday she would reach out to schedule a time to deliver her verdict.