WASHINGTON — A Colorado man linked to the Three Percenters movement pleaded guilty Monday to assaulting police inside the U.S. Capitol Building during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Robert Gieswein, 26, of Divide, Colorado, appeared before U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden to enter his guilty plea to two counts of assaulting a federal officer. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss other charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, aiding and abetting destruction of federal property and entering and remaining in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon.
According to a statement of facts read in court, Gieswein — who prosecutors have linked to the anti-government Three Percenters movement — met up with a group of Proud Boys at the Washington Monument on Jan. 6, 2021, and then marched to the Capitol – where he assaulted police with chemical irritant multiple times before becoming one of the first rioters to enter the building through a broken window. Gieswein was clad in paramilitary gear and carrying a baseball bat at the time.
Once inside, Gieswein assaulted several more officers, including one who was attempting to arrest another rioter. Police tried to place Gieswein in custody but he managed to escape their grasp.
Photos from inside the Ohio Clock Corridor just outside the Senate Chamber show Gieswein standing next to Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola, currently on trial on charges of seditious conspiracy, and just behind Douglas Jensen, an Iowa QAnon believer who was sentenced to five years in prison last year on multiple felony counts.
Gieswein was arrested in Colorado on Jan. 18, 2021, and was ordered detained without bond. He will received credit for the more than two years he has spent in pretrial detention.
A sentencing hearing was scheduled for June 9 at 10 a.m. According to Gieswein’s attorney, the estimated sentencing range was 41-50 months in prison.
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