Capitol rioter Pauline Bauer, who said at the Capitol that she wanted to hang House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), will be remaining in jail after a judge pushed off a final ruling on whether to continue Bauer’s stint in pre-trial detention. At a Monday hearing, federal Judge Trevor McFadden “immediately” dismissed motions (including a request to dismiss the case) that Bauer had filed, per reporter Scott MacFarlane, and the judge also described one of the motions as “frivolous.” Prosecutors are pressing for Bauer to admit to a felony offense if she wants a plea deal — which so far, she’s been resistant towards accepting.
Bauer has repeatedly invoked the so-called sovereign citizen movement during the course of her proceedings. The movement “is based on a decades-old conspiracy theory… that the American government set up by the founding fathers, under a common-law legal system, was secretly replaced… [swapping] common law for admiralty law, which is the law of the sea and international commerce,” as explained by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which also explains how “Sovereign citizens believe that they – not judges, juries, law enforcement or elected officials – should decide which laws to obey and which to ignore.” At one point during recent proceedings, Bauer straight-up said that she is “not a person,” apparently claiming instead to be a “living soul.” That distinction is obviously nonsensical for all practical purposes.
McFadden previously sent Bauer to pre-trial detention over her open defiance of the requirements of her pre-trial release. As the judge put it, addressing Bauer:
‘You’re a small business owner. I don’t want to lock you up. I don’t want you to lose your restaurant. I don’t like doing this, but you have made it clear that you feel you are above the law.’
After McFadden subsequently offered Bauer a “last chance” and asked if she was “going to follow my orders,” Bauer replied that “Judgment day is going to come for all of you who are making money off mankind.” McFadden said that he was going to “take that as a no.” During the hearing on Monday, McFadden declined to hear from Bauer in light of her previous outbursts in court.
