52-year-old Washington resident Mark Jefferson Leffingwell has been sentenced to six months of prison after pleading guilty to a single count of assaulting police during the Capitol riot last year. While there, Leffingwell — who is a veteran, having served as a member of the Washington National Guard and having deployed to Iraq before an eventual honorary discharge — could have faced a significantly longer sentence; prosecutors had been after a stint in jail of 27 months, or over two years. Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson “took into account Leffingwell’s military service, family situation and lack of criminal history” in delivering his sentence, The Seattle Times notes.
So the people who were obsessed with Hillary‘s emails will be largely silent about Trump flushing documents?
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) February 10, 2022
Leffingwell, who was among the comparatively few riot defendants to have been arrested on the day of the initial attack, has also expressed a considerable deal of remorse. Specifically, his offenses included punching two officers at the Capitol. While in custody on January 6, one of the officers who Leffingwell struck said that he suddenly apologized to him for the encounter. Leffingwell later said that “looking back on it, it’s just a nightmare,” adding: “I wish I could go back and make it not happen.” When originally at the Capitol, Leffingwell ended up at the front of a portion of the riot crowd that was attempting to force its way through the Capitol entrance for the Senate wing. Officers tried to keep those rioters from streaming further inside the building, and Leffingwell tried to force his way past the officers — including the one he eventually punched and then apologized to.
NEW: Trump statement about House Select Jan 6 Committee, includes this excerpt:
"The RINOs, who were recently given support by Mitch McConnell, are trying to give legitimacy to a totally illegitimate and Marxist exercise…"
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) February 11, 2022
Capitol Police officer Daniel Amendola wrote in an affidavit associated with Leffingwell’s case that when he “was deterred from advancing further into the building, Leffingwell punched me repeatedly with a closed fist,” adding: “I was struck in the helmet that I was wearing and in the chest.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Rizzoni argued that Leffingwell’s presence at the Capitol and participation in the violence wasn’t an accident, commenting that he “believed the lie that the 2020 election was stolen and he was there to do something about it.” Leffingwell’s defense attorney, Mark Carroll, observed that it “was against the law for him being there, it was against the law for him to punch the officers; we’re not minimizing that,” additionally adding: “But he knew what he did was wrong and he apologized immediately.”
Amid @maggieNYT’s reporting that Trump is saying he’s still in touch with Kim Jong Un, Jen Psaki says the Biden administration has still not received a response to its outreach to the North Koreans.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 11, 2022
Interestingly, Leffingwell apparently “didn’t text or post angry political threats leading up to the event,” The Seattle Times notes, based on Jackson’s observations of relevant evidence — distinguishing him from many riot participants (although in no way making his eventual actions less gravely serious and threatening). Hundreds of those who’ve been charged for their parts in the Capitol violence have been specifically charged with assaulting or impeding officers in some form. Some of the longest sentences that have been handed down so far in association with the attack have been related to attacks on officers. Another Capitol rioter from Washington, Devlyn Thompson, is serving 46 months in jail for having assaulted officers.
Ex-Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham to CNN on Trump taking classified docs to Mar-a-Lago: "I wasn't surprised when I saw the report. I think what's important is that this is another example of a White House and an administration that just— we had no rules."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 11, 2022
