Washington, D.C. resident Mark K. Ponder has pleaded guilty to a single felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon in connection to his actions during last year’s Trump-inspired attack on the Capitol. According to authorities, Ponder swung poles at officers who were involved in the attempted defense of the Capitol grounds. One of the poles made contact with an officer’s riot shield and broke, after which point Ponder got another, sturdier pole that was striped with the colors of the American flag and used it against two other officers. That pole also made contact with another officer’s riot shield before Ponder struck a different officer in the shoulder with it.
New: Jan. 6 committee member Adam Schiff suggests on CBS the panel wants to know why Trump acknowledged to McCarthy that he bore some responsibility for the Capitol attack: “This is an admission of guilt.”
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) April 23, 2022
According to a Justice Department press release, during a confrontation with D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officers Ponder “swung the same striped pole and banged it against the ground in a menacing manner. Then, as the police officers advanced to move the crowd, Ponder wildly swung the pole at the advancing police line, striking an officer in the left shoulder.” In other words: he sounds like a maniac. Now, Ponder is facing up to 20 years in prison, because the version of the assaulting law enforcement charge to which he pleaded guilty is one of the more serious forms of the offense. Ponder could end up with significantly less time in prison, however — 20 years is simply the maximum jail-term for the charge, as established in the law.
NEW: Jan. 6 committee got testimony that Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows was told by White House counsel the scheme to have alternate Trump slates of electors in states that he lost would be unlawful — but WH went ahead anyway, per new court filing.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) April 23, 2022
Two other rioters also recently pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement during the Capitol violence and are facing up to eight years in prison apiece. Those individuals are Cody Mattice and James Phillip Mault, who at one juncture were in a “group that assaulted the police line. They stood at or near the front of the group, pushing forward against the officers, who attempted to keep the rioters from advancing,” federal authorities say. That confrontation apparently unfolded around the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace. Later in the same area, Mattice and Mault both used chemical spray against some of the officers who were there that day and fighting off the maniacal Trump supporters. That latter confrontation took place in the tunnel that leads into the Capitol from the building’s Lower West Terrace. Hours passed from the beginning of Mattice and Mault’s confrontations with police to the end; the first time identified in a Friday press release from the Justice Department in association with their actions is approximately 2:30 p.m., and the department’s recap extends to about 4 p.m.
New: Sources say former Trump aide Stephanie Grisham told the Jan. 6 committee to talk to Trump’s onetime lead US Secret Service agent Anthony Ornato — who gave Meadows the intel around Jan. 4 that there could be violence at the Capitol
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) April 24, 2022
Ponder, Mattice, and Mault will all be sentenced in July; Ponder’s sentencing date is July 18, while Mattice and Mault’s is July 15. So far, all three jury trials for Capitol rioters have ended with convictions on all counts, and additional jury trials are on the horizon.
Trump-loving Michigan Republicans have been handing out candidate questionnaires to make sure the candidates are all in on Stop the Steal and Jan. 6 denialism. Really. And those candidates who pledge allegiance to the lies are succeeding. From me. https://t.co/LeaCRizhLE
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) April 25, 2022
