Rioter Who Threatened To Hang Pelosi Convicted & Facing 20+ Years

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A Capitol rioter who fought with police inside the Capitol building on the day of the violence while seeking Nancy Pelosi — who the defendant, Pauline Bauer, also called to be hung — was convicted this week by federal Judge Trevor McFadden of a series of criminal charges.

McFadden convicted Bauer of all the charges she faced, including the felony offense of obstruction of an official proceeding, which has repeatedly come up in cases related to the riot. She has been in and out of pretrial detention and will evidently be allowed to remain out of custody until her sentencing in May. The obstruction charge alone carries up to 20 years in prison. Although no rioter has yet received a sentence that long, it underlines the seriousness of the charge and potential consequences. Bauer was just 30 feet from an office for Pelosi in the Capitol when, according to a Justice Department press release, she ranted: “Bring that fucking bitch out here now. Bring her out. Bring her out here. We’re coming in if you don’t bring her out here.”

Bauer thereby joined the numerous rioters who explicitly propagated threats against Pelosi that day. When Trump talks about wanting the release of all those detained in tandem with the violence, that’s what he’s accepting and promoting. It’s not just a vague, distant concept. He is providing encouragement for violent attacks against individuals opposing him. In the Capitol building, Bauer physically fought back against an officer who attempted to remove her from a certain area, although it doesn’t appear she was charged with assault. (Those charges might be limited to rioters who themselves initiated contact.) Bauer has previously expressed belief in concepts associated with the so-called sovereign citizen movement, which posits some kind of exemption — as its name suggests — from established laws of the United States. She represented herself during the two days of trial before McFadden, although she had attorney Carmen Hernandez as an advisory counsel.

According to CBS journalist Scott MacFarlane, among the claims from Bauer in her attempted defense was that she “blacked out” during the chaos. McFadden “said Bauer’s threatening words about Pelosi, directed toward Capitol Police, showed she was situationally aware,” also according to MacFarlane. Elsewhere, new arrests connected to the riot are continuing, and in court, the rioter who infamously propped his feet on a desk in a Pelosi office was recently convicted on all counts. Four members of the far-right extremist group the Oath Keepers were also convicted of criminal charges of seditious conspiracy connected to the riot.